Multi-Agent Teams: From 5-Agent Squads to 10-Server Swarms
One agent is useful. Multiple agents working together is transformative.
The OpenClaw community is pushing the boundaries of multi-agent setups. Some run 5-agent teams for daily operations. Others manage fleets of 10+ instances across servers. Here's what they've built.
The 5-Agent Team
"5-agent team: daily tasks, project management, data, writer, coder" — @UncleJAI
A complete operational team:
| Agent | Role | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Task Manager | Operations | Assigns work, tracks progress, sends daily summaries |
| Project Lead | Coordination | Manages timelines, identifies blockers, syncs agents |
| Data Analyst | Research | Pulls data, generates reports, finds insights |
| Writer | Content | Drafts copy, edits documents, creates deliverables |
| Developer | Engineering | Writes code, fixes bugs, deploys changes |
Each agent has its own persona, tools, and scope. They communicate through shared workspace files and Slack channels.
The key: Each agent stays in its lane. The writer doesn't touch code. The developer doesn't draft marketing copy. Clear boundaries prevent chaos.
The Sub-Agent Architecture
"3 sub-agents: demand mapping, pipeline audit, research — runs while you sleep" — @ykgup
A more focused setup with specialization:
- Demand Mapper — Scans market data for customer signals
- Pipeline Auditor — Reviews sales pipeline for issues and opportunities
- Researcher — Gathers competitive intelligence and industry trends
These agents run overnight. By morning, the founder has fresh analysis waiting in their inbox.
Why sub-agents work: Complex tasks break down naturally. Instead of one agent trying to be good at everything, three specialists each handle what they're best at.
The 10-Server Swarm
"10 servers, each with own instance, building agent swarm" — @xSoloTrades
This is the ambitious end of the spectrum:
- 10 separate OpenClaw instances
- Each running on its own server
- Coordinated through shared data and webhooks
- Building toward an autonomous agent swarm
Why 10 separate instances instead of 10 agents on one server?
- Isolation — If one crashes, the others keep running
- Resource limits — Each agent gets dedicated compute
- Security — Blast radius is limited to one instance
- Scaling — Add or remove servers independently
The Agentic Flywheel
"Fleet of OpenClaws running agentic coding flywheel" — @telecasterrok
A self-reinforcing system:
- One agent identifies what needs building
- Another agent writes the code
- A third agent reviews and tests
- The first agent validates the result
- Repeat
Each cycle produces output that feeds the next cycle. The flywheel spins faster as the agents learn the codebase and patterns.
Fleet Management
"Manage a fleet of agents that run @doodlestein" — @telecasterrok
When you have multiple agents, you need management tooling:
- Central dashboard — See all agents, their status, and recent activity
- Health monitoring — Know when an agent crashes or goes idle
- Cost tracking — Understand token spend across the fleet
- Audit aggregation — Search actions across all agents in one place
This is where Clawctl's dashboard shines. Each agent runs in an isolated tenant, but you can manage them from a single interface.
Architecture Patterns
Pattern 1: Hub and Spoke
One coordinator agent delegates to specialized workers:
- Coordinator receives requests
- Routes to the right specialist
- Aggregates results
- Delivers final output
Best for: Teams with clear task boundaries.
Pattern 2: Pipeline
Agents form a chain where each one's output becomes the next one's input:
- Research → Analysis → Writing → Review → Publish
Best for: Content production, data processing workflows.
Pattern 3: Swarm
Multiple identical agents work on a shared pool of tasks:
- Tasks go into a queue
- Any available agent picks the next task
- Results are aggregated centrally
Best for: High-volume, homogeneous work (code review, data labeling, monitoring).
Security at Scale
Multi-agent setups multiply security concerns:
- More credentials — Each agent may need its own API keys
- Agent-to-agent communication — Data flowing between agents needs protection
- Blast radius — One compromised agent could affect others
- Audit complexity — Tracking who did what across 10 agents
What you need:
- Per-agent isolation — Each agent in its own sandbox
- Encrypted secrets per tenant — No shared credentials
- Unified audit logging — All agent actions in one searchable log
- Kill switch per agent — Stop one without stopping all
- Network segmentation — Agents can't access each other's data by default
Clawctl provides isolated tenants for each agent with independent security policies, audit logs, and controls.
Get Started
- Sign up at clawctl.com/checkout (Team plan supports 5 agents)
- Start with 2 agents — one coordinator and one specialist
- Add agents as you validate each role
- Use shared workspace files or Slack for inter-agent communication
Scaling advice: Don't start with 10 agents. Start with 2. Get the coordination right. Then add one at a time. Each new agent adds complexity, and the coordination overhead isn't linear.