AgentDefinition Configuration

Advanced

Configure subagent invocation, context passing, and spawning · Difficulty 3/5

agent-definitionconfigurationcontext-passing

Prerequisites

The AgentDefinition configures each subagent type in a multi-agent system, specifying its role, capabilities, and constraints.

Description: What the subagent does, used by the coordinator to decide when to invoke it

System prompt: Sets the subagent's behavior, context, and constraints

Tool restrictions: Limits which tools the subagent can access (principle of least privilege)

Structured data formats: Separate content from metadata when passing between agents

- Include source URLs, document names, page numbers alongside content

- Preserves attribution through the pipeline

Complete findings: Include full prior agent outputs in the subagent prompt

- Don't summarize away details the subagent might need

- Pass web search results AND document analysis outputs to synthesis agents

Goal-oriented prompts: Specify research goals and quality criteria

- Avoid step-by-step procedural instructions

- Enable the subagent to adapt its approach to the specific query

✓AgentDefinition includes description, system prompt, and tool restrictions per subagent type
✓Use structured data formats to preserve attribution when passing context between agents
✓Include complete findings from prior agents -- don't summarize away needed details

All communication flows through the coordinator (hub-and-spoke)