---
Title: "What Is AI Agent Orchestration? Definition"
Url: "https://computer.io/glossary/agent-orchestration"
Topic: "Agentic AI"
Description: "AI agent orchestration coordinates multiple agents, tools and people so complex workflows run reliably. How orchestration works, patterns and tools."
---

# What is AI agent orchestration?

AI agent orchestration is the coordination of multiple AI agents, tools and human steps so a complex workflow runs reliably: deciding which agent handles each step, passing context between them, managing approvals and errors, and tracking the overall result.

## What an orchestrator does

| Job | Example |
| --- | --- |
| Routing | Send billing tasks to the billing agent |
| Context passing | Share customer history |
| State | Track progress |
| Error handling | Retry or escalate |
| Approvals | Pause for a human |

## Orchestration vs automation

Traditional automation follows fixed steps. Agent orchestration lets agents decide steps within guardrails.

## FAQ

### What is an orchestrator agent?

An agent that plans and delegates work to other agents.

### Do you need orchestration for one agent?

Less so, though tools and approvals still need coordination.

### What are agent orchestration frameworks?

Libraries and platforms for building and running multi-agent workflows.

## Related terms

- [Multi-agent system](https://computer.io/glossary/multi-agent-system)
- [Agent2Agent protocol (A2A)](https://computer.io/glossary/agent2agent-protocol)
- [AI observability](https://computer.io/glossary/ai-observability)

## How Computer helps

- [Agent studio](https://devrev.ai/agent-studio)
- [How computer works](https://computer.io/how-computer-works)

## Further reading

- [Build enterprise ai agents](https://devrev.ai/blog/build-enterprise-ai-agents)