Architecting Agentic Communities using Design Patterns

TL;DR

This paper introduces a structured approach for designing agentic communities with LLMs and AI, using formal patterns and verification to ensure governance, coordination, and ethical compliance in enterprise systems.

Contribution

It presents a novel classification of design patterns for agentic systems, grounded in formal methods, to guide the development of complex, governed AI communities.

Findings

Formal framework enables verification of governance rules

Case study demonstrates practical application in clinical trial matching

Patterns facilitate coordination among AI agents and humans

Abstract

The rapid evolution of Large Language Models (LLM) and subsequent Agentic AI technologies requires systematic architectural guidance for building sophisticated, production-grade systems. This paper presents an approach for architecting such systems using design patterns derived from enterprise distributed systems standards, formal methods, and industry practice. We classify these patterns into three tiers: LLM Agents (task-specific automation), Agentic AI (adaptive goal-seekers), and Agentic Communities (organizational frameworks where AI agents and human participants coordinate through formal roles, protocols, and governance structures). We focus on Agentic Communities - coordination frameworks encompassing LLM Agents, Agentic AI entities, and humans - most relevant for enterprise and industrial applications. Drawing on established coordination principles from distributed systems, we ground these patterns in a formal framework that specifies collaboration agreements where AI agents and humans fill roles within governed ecosystems. This approach provides both practical guidance and formal verification capabilities, enabling expression of organizational, legal, and ethical rules through accountability mechanisms that ensure operational and verifiable governance of inter-agent communication, negotiation, and intent modeling. We validate this framework through a clinical trial matching case study. Our goal is to provide actionable guidance to practitioners while maintaining the formal rigor essential for enterprise deployment in dynamic, multi-agent ecosystems.