Claude Code Agent Swarm: Communication Through Files, Not Protocols
Discovered how Claude Code's Agent Swarm actually works: no complex protocols, just simple file-based communication between master and workers.
How It Actually Works
Today I dove into Claude Code's Agent Swarm mode, expecting to find some sophisticated inter-agent communication protocol. You know, message queues, WebSockets, maybe some fancy RPC layer. But nope. The architecture is beautifully simple: the master agent just talks to worker agents through files.
This is actually brilliant when you think about it. No need for complex networking layers or message brokers. The master writes instructions to files, workers read them, execute their tasks, and write results back. It's asynchronous, it's debuggable (you can literally see the files), and it leverages the filesystem as the communication medium. Sometimes the simplest solution is the best one.
Key discoveries:
- No complex communication protocols or networking layers
- Master agent coordinates workers entirely through file I/O
- Workers read instructions from files, write results back to files
- Filesystem acts as the message bus between agents
- Makes debugging transparent — you can inspect the communication files
- Asynchronous by nature, perfect for parallel task execution
To Remember
Simple beats complex: File-based communication eliminates networking complexity while remaining fully functional and debuggable.
The filesystem is underrated: Using files as a communication layer provides persistence, visibility, and simplicity without sacrificing capability.
Question your assumptions: I expected sophisticated protocols, but the actual implementation proves that elegant simplicity often outperforms over-engineered solutions.