Blackboard
A shared space where multiple agents post partial results and read each other’s work.
Think of it like
A whiteboard in a war room — everyone scribbles findings on it and glances up to see what others added.
Example
Three research agents each write their notes to a common blackboard, and a fourth agent reads the whole board to write the final summary.
How it actually works
The blackboard is an old AI idea reborn for agents: instead of agents messaging each other directly, they all read and write one common store. It decouples them — an agent doesn’t need to know who will use its output, just where to put it. The risk is contention and staleness: agents acting on half-finished notes, or overwriting each other, unless you’re careful about how the board is structured.
For product teams
A blackboard lets agents collaborate without tight wiring, but shared scratch space needs structure to stay useful.
For engineers
A shared read/write store agents post intermediate results to, decoupling producers from consumers.
Related
- Shared Memory — The memory the board is made of.
- Swarm — A pattern swarms often use to coordinate.
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