Introduction

open-multi-agent is a multi-agent orchestration framework for TypeScript backends. Give it a goal; a coordinator agent decomposes it into a task DAG, parallelizes independents, and synthesizes the result. Three runtime dependencies, drops into any Node.js backend.

Your engineers describe the goal, not the graph.

Graph-first frameworks make you enumerate every node and edge up front. open-multi-agent is goal-first: you describe the outcome and the coordinator builds the task DAG at runtime, so the orchestration adapts to the goal instead of being hand-wired for one.

Ready to run something? Jump to the Quick Start.

How is this different from X?

A quick router; the mechanism breakdown follows.

If you need	Pick
Fixed production topology with a mature persistence + time-travel ecosystem	LangGraph JS
Full-stack platform, workflows wired by hand	Mastra
Python stack with mature multi-agent ecosystem	CrewAI
AI app toolkit with broad model-provider support	Vercel AI SDK
TypeScript, goal to result with auto task decomposition	open-multi-agent

vs. LangGraph JS. LangGraph compiles a declarative graph (nodes, edges, conditional routing) into an invokable; OMA runs a Coordinator that decomposes the goal into a task DAG at runtime and auto-parallelizes independents. Same end, opposite directions: graph-first vs goal-first. Both checkpoint and resume — OMA snapshots completed tasks over any MemoryStore and resumes after a crash with restore() — but LangGraph’s persistence ecosystem is deeper, so reach for it when time-travel over durable state history is the deciding factor.

vs. Mastra. Both are TypeScript-native; the difference is who drives the orchestration. With Mastra you wire the workflow by hand. OMA is goal-driven: give its Coordinator a goal and it builds the task DAG at runtime, adapting the plan to the goal instead of running a graph you wired step by step. runTeam(team, goal) in one call.

vs. CrewAI. CrewAI is the mature multi-agent option in Python. OMA targets TypeScript backends with three runtime dependencies and direct Node.js embedding. Roughly comparable orchestration surface; the choice is the language stack.

vs. Vercel AI SDK. AI SDK provides the LLM-call layer — provider abstraction, streaming, tool calls, and structured outputs. It does not orchestrate goal-driven multi-agent teams. The two are complementary: AI SDK for app surfaces and single-agent calls, OMA when you need a team.

How it works

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  OpenMultiAgent (Orchestrator)                                  │
│                                                                 │
│  createTeam()  runTeam()  runTasks()  runAgent()  getStatus()   │
└──────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────┘
                       │
            ┌──────────▼──────────┐
            │  Team               │
            │  - AgentConfig[]    │
            │  - MessageBus       │
            │  - TaskQueue        │
            │  - SharedMemory     │
            └──────────┬──────────┘
                       │
         ┌─────────────┴─────────────┐
         │                           │
┌────────▼──────────┐    ┌───────────▼───────────┐
│  AgentPool        │    │  TaskQueue             │
│  - Semaphore      │    │  - dependency graph    │
│  - runParallel()  │    │  - auto unblock        │
└────────┬──────────┘    │  - cascade failure     │
         │               └───────────────────────┘
┌────────▼──────────┐
│  Agent            │
│  - run()          │    ┌────────────────────────┐
│  - prompt()       │───►│  LLMAdapter            │
│  - stream()       │    │  - 13 built-in         │
└────────┬──────────┘    │    providers           │
         │               │  - OpenAI-compatible   │
         │               │  - AI SDK bridge       │
         │               └────────────────────────┘
┌────────▼──────────┐
│  AgentRunner      │    ┌──────────────────────┐
│  - conversation   │───►│  ToolRegistry        │
│    loop           │    │  - defineTool()      │
│  - tool dispatch  │    │  - 6 built-in tools  │
└───────────────────┘    │  + delegate (opt-in) │
                         └──────────────────────┘

The Quick Start runs this end to end; Three Ways to Run covers when to reach for runAgent, runTeam, or runTasks.