What Is Agent Orchestration?

Agent orchestration is the coordination of multiple agents and tools toward an outcome — assigning sub-tasks, sequencing calls, handling failures and aggregating results. An orchestrator can be a dedicated planner or an agent that delegates to others. Orchestration inside one trust boundary is a workflow problem; orchestration across organisations is an accountability problem, because each hand-off crosses an authority boundary that must be established and recorded, not assumed.

Does

Assigns, sequences, recovers, aggregates

Orchestrator

A planner or a delegating agent

Within a boundary

A workflow problem

Across boundaries

An accountability problem

Every hand-off is an authority boundary

When an orchestrator delegates to an agent at another organisation, it crosses from one authority domain into another. That hand-off must carry attenuated authority — the delegate can do no more than the delegator held — and leave a record. Orchestration that ignores the boundary works in a demo and fails the moment a third party asks who authorised a step.

Questions

Is orchestration the same as a workflow engine?

A workflow engine runs predefined steps; orchestration includes an agent deciding the steps. Many systems combine a declarative plan with imperative guardrails.

Who is accountable in an orchestrated system?

The human each acting agent ultimately acts for, with authority attenuated at every hand-off and the chain recorded.