COORDINATION MECHANICS

CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING • What is the difference between a handoff and calling a subagent as a tool? ◦ Answer: In a handoff the receiving agent takes over ownership and the sender steps out, while with a subagent-as-tool the main agent stays in control and just receives a result. • Name two things that can go wrong at the fan-in step. ◦ Answer: Missing results from failed or slow subagents, inconsistent result formats, or disagreements between subagents. • Give two reasons to prefer a structured handoff object over a full history. ◦ Answer: It uses fewer tokens and keeps the receiver focused, and it reduces errors and exposure of sensitive data. • How can you prevent write conflicts in shared state? ◦ Answer: Give each field a single owner who writes it, while allowing many agents to read. • Why treat a handoff object as untrusted input? ◦ Answer: The sending agent might have been influenced by malicious content it read, so validating field types and values protects the receiver.