Build with SwarmExplainer
What is an agent swarm?
An agent swarm is a group of AI agents working on one goal at the same time. One agent plans and hands out the parts; others write code, research or design, each on its own copy of the work; their results come back to be checked and combined. The point is speed and focus: several narrow agents in parallel instead of one agent doing everything in a row.
Where the name comes from
"Swarm" borrows from swarm intelligence: many simple agents that together do something none of them could alone. In AI agents the word took off with OpenAI's experimental Swarm library, an educational project about handing a conversation from one agent to another. OpenAI has since replaced it with the Agents SDK. Today people say "agent swarm" for any setup where several agents share one job.
What an agent swarm does
- Plan. One agent reads the goal and splits it into parts that can run on their own: "add CSV export", "write the docs for it", "check how other tools name the flag".
- Hand out. Each part goes to an agent suited to it: a coder for code, a researcher for questions, a designer for pages.
- Work in parallel. Each agent works on its own branch or copy, so they do not overwrite each other.
- Check. A reviewer, or the planning agent, reads each result against what was asked and sends back what is not right.
- Combine. The parts that pass are merged into one result for the person.
What makes one work, and what breaks it
| Works | Breaks | |
|---|---|---|
| Splitting | Parts that do not depend on each other | Parts that wait on each other, so nothing runs in parallel |
| Isolation | Each agent on its own branch | Agents editing the same files at once |
| Checking | A review step with a limit on rounds | No review, or endless back-and-forth |
| Cost | Every run reports what it cost; budgets per worker | Nobody sees the bill until the month ends |
| Record | What each agent did is kept and readable | Only the final answer survives |
An agent swarm on your own machine
Swarm (the open-source platform this site is about) is built around this pattern. The AI you already use plans the goal and starts Swarm's built-in agents in parallel: a coder for code, a finder for research, a designer for pages. Each job runs on its own branch, comes back with a report, a diff and its cost, and nothing reaches your folder until it is merged. A workflow adds a reviewer that sends weak work back, with a limit on rounds.
Add a --csv flag to tally.sh, document it, and check how other command-line tools name a CSV option. Run the research and the code at the same time.
swarm_run_task × 2swarm_wait_taskswarm_task_result
Both are back. The finder recommends --csv, as cloc does (-e.03). The coder added it with tests and docs on its own branch (-e.21), and the reviewer passed it.
The full walkthrough, with a real run, is in multi-agent orchestration with Swarm.
Agent swarm or one agent?
- One agent is enough for a single clear change, a question, or anything where every step depends on the last.
- A swarm pays off when the goal has several independent parts, when you want a second agent to review the first, or when work should keep running while you do something else.
Questions
What is an agent swarm?
Several AI agents working on one goal at once: one plans and splits the work, others do the parts in parallel, and the results are checked and combined.
Is an agent swarm the same as multi-agent orchestration?
Nearly. Multi-agent orchestration is the general term for coordinating several agents; an agent swarm usually means many agents working in parallel on parts of one goal.
What happened to OpenAI Swarm?
OpenAI's Swarm was an experimental, educational library. Its repository says it is replaced by the OpenAI Agents SDK, which it calls the production-ready evolution of Swarm.
Can I run an agent swarm on my own computer?
Yes. Swarm is open source and runs on an Ubuntu 24.04 x86-64 machine: your PC, a VPS or a cloud VM. Its agents run on your ChatGPT plan, your Claude plan through Claude Code, or an API key.
Updated 28 October 2026