agent-result-relay

Agent Result Relay

Rules for how orchestrators MUST handle sub-agent results to prevent information corruption in the relay chain.

The Problem

When an orchestrator receives results from a sub-agent, three failure modes commonly corrupt information:

Failure 1: Lossy Re-Summarization

Agent output:  "Found 7 items with details. 3 sources returned HTTP 403."
Orchestrator:  "Research complete. Found some items, the rest don't exist."
                                                    ^^^ CORRUPTED

Failure 2: Count Dropping

Agent output:  "Analyzed 15 files: 12 pass validation, 2 have warnings, 1 has errors."
Orchestrator:  "Most files pass validation."
                ^^^ COUNTS LOST

Failure 3: Status Escalation

Agent output:  "Unable to access 3 URLs (connection timeout)."
Orchestrator:  "3 URLs are not available."
               ^^^ "UNABLE TO ACCESS" ≠ "NOT AVAILABLE"

Relay Rules

Rule 1: Preserve Exact Counts

When an agent reports numbers, the orchestrator MUST relay those exact numbers.

Agent Says	Orchestrator MUST Say	Orchestrator MUST NOT Say
"7 of 10 found"	"7 of 10 found"	"most found"
"3 errors, 2 warnings"	"3 errors, 2 warnings"	"several issues"
"12 files analyzed"	"12 files analyzed"	"files were analyzed"
"0 results"	"0 results found"	"nothing relevant"

Rule 2: Preserve Failure Reasons

When an agent reports failures, the orchestrator MUST relay the specific reason.

Agent Says	Orchestrator MUST Say	Orchestrator MUST NOT Say
"HTTP 403 Forbidden"	"access denied (HTTP 403)"	"not available"
"Connection timeout"	"connection timed out"	"doesn't exist"
"File not found at path X"	"file not found at X"	"no such file"
"Rate limited, try later"	"rate limited"	"unavailable"
"3 sources not accessible"	"3 sources not accessible"	"3 sources don't exist"

Rule 3: Reference Files Instead of Re-Summarizing

When an agent wrote detailed results to a file, the orchestrator MUST reference the file rather than re-summarizing it.

Required pattern:

Research complete. 7 of 10 items documented. 3 sources were inaccessible (connection timeout).
Full results: ./research-output.md

Prohibited pattern:

Research complete. Here's a summary of the summary:
- Item 1 was about X
- Item 2 was about Y
[lossy re-interpretation of agent's already-summarized output]

Rule 4: Relay Structure, Not Interpretation

When an agent returns structured output (STATUS, SUMMARY, ARTIFACTS, etc.), the orchestrator MUST preserve that structure.

Agent returns:

STATUS: DONE
SUMMARY: Validated 15 plugins. 12 pass, 2 warnings, 1 critical error.
ARTIFACTS:
  - Report: ./validation-report.md
  - Critical: plugin-X has invalid manifest
WARNINGS:
  - plugin-Y: description exceeds 200 chars
  - plugin-Z: missing homepage field

Orchestrator MUST relay:

Plugin validation complete. 12 of 15 pass, 2 warnings, 1 critical error.
Critical: plugin-X has invalid manifest.
Full report: ./validation-report.md

Orchestrator MUST NOT relay:

Validation done. Most plugins are fine, a couple have minor issues.

Rule 5: Distinguish Agent Conclusions from Agent Observations

When an agent reports both observations and conclusions, the orchestrator MUST clearly distinguish between them.

Agent reports:

Observation: The config file does not contain a "timeout" field.
Conclusion: Using default timeout of 30s.

Orchestrator relays:

Config has no "timeout" field; agent reports default of 30s will be used.

Not:

Timeout is 30 seconds.

The distinction matters because the observation (no field) is verifiable, while the conclusion (default 30s) is the agent's interpretation.

When to Summarize vs When to Relay

The orchestrator MAY summarize agent output ONLY when:

1. The user explicitly asked for a summary ("give me a quick overview")
2. Multiple agents returned results and the user needs a combined view
3. The agent output exceeds what the user needs for their immediate decision

Even when summarizing is appropriate, the orchestrator MUST:

• Preserve all counts
• Preserve all failure reasons
• Reference the full output file
• Not upgrade absence to nonexistence
• Include the "What Was NOT Found" category

Checklist for Orchestrators

Before relaying agent results, verify:

• All numbers from agent output are preserved in relay
• All failure reasons are preserved (not generalized)
• File references are included if agent wrote output files
• "Not found" has not been upgraded to "doesn't exist"
• "Inaccessible" has not been upgraded to "unavailable" or "nonexistent"
• Structured sections (STATUS, ARTIFACTS, WARNINGS) are preserved
• Agent observations are distinguished from agent conclusions