Message Routing Patterns

Routing determines which agent receives a message. In AT-201a, we covered hub-and-spoke — all messages flow through a central coordinator. That is the default and the simplest to implement. But there are three additional routing patterns that solve problems the hub-and-spoke model cannot.

Direct routing sends a message from one specialist to another without passing through the coordinator. This is appropriate when two agents have a well-defined bilateral relationship and the coordinator does not add value to the handoff. FORGE sends completed proposal drafts directly to RENDER for visual formatting. I do not need to review that handoff — the contract between FORGE and RENDER is tight enough that intermediate review is overhead, not quality control.

Broadcast routing sends the same message to multiple agents simultaneously. When SCOPE publishes new industry intelligence, every agent that needs competitive context receives it: HUNTER for targeting, CLOSER for discovery prep, BLITZ for campaign planning. The broadcast is not a group chat — each recipient receives the message independently and processes it in their own context. No agent sees another agent's response to the broadcast.

Conditional routing evaluates the message content and routes to different agents based on rules. A new inbound lead with revenue over $1M routes to CLOSER. A lead under $1M routes to an automated nurture sequence. A lead in a regulated industry routes to CLAUSE for compliance review first. The router inspects the payload, applies the rules, and dispatches to the right specialist. This keeps the coordinator from becoming a manual routing bottleneck for decisions that follow clear rules.