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Orchestration is how you split one agent into parts. There are three shapes, and the difference that matters is whether control comes back. On this page: New here? Read How a package fits together first. It is one page, it answers “I want two agents, each with tasks, where do I start?”, and everything below assumes it.

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The three shapes

The difference that matters most is whether control comes back. A task returns. A handoff does not.
These shapes need a code target, Pipecat or LiveKit. SLNG compiles one agent with one prompt, so it refuses tasks, task groups and handoffs today. unmute validate says so and names the way out: fold the step into the agent’s instructions, or compile to LiveKit or Pipecat.Tasks on SLNG are coming.
None of these is how you reach a person: that is an escalation, and what it can do depends on the phone route. Whichever shape you reach for, you write it the same way: as a name in one of the agent’s five lists. The five things an agent can do shows the lists and which ones come back.

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What each shape does to the call

Each picture answers two questions: who is talking to the caller, and does control come back to the agent that started.

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A tool

The agent stays in charge. It calls the tool, reads the result, and keeps talking.

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A task

The owner enters the task. The task talks to the caller with its own prompt and tools. When the model calls finish, the values in assign: are saved and the owner continues, reading them through its own placeholders.

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A task with finish:

The same, except the tool decides. When the tool’s result matches success:, the task saves and ends by itself. The model makes no finish call, and the owner speaks next.

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A handoff

The first agent hands the caller to a second agent. The second agent owns the rest of the call. Nothing comes back.

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Read one example against the other

Two shipped packages are the same salon, built two ways. examples/salon-concierge-single-prompt is one agent with one prompt: no tasks, no handoffs, no variables. examples/salon-concierge is the structured one, with tasks, a task group, handoffs and saved values. Read one against the other to see what the structure bought.

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Read them in order, then choose

Start with the first page: it adds one task to the package you already have, one key at a time. The next three pages are one shape each, with the example package that uses it. The last page is the one to come back to when you are deciding: it pairs the symptom you have with the shape that fixes it, and says what each shape costs.

Your first task

From no task to a task that says what success looks like, on your own package.

Tasks

Run a step, keep the answer.

Task groups

A fixed order, and shared context.

Handoffs

Two agents, two sets of rules.

Choosing a structure

Which split to reach for, and what it costs.