Network-AI

TypeScript/Node.js multi-agent orchestrator — shared state, guardrails, budgets, and cross-framework coordination

Network-AI is a TypeScript/Node.js multi-agent orchestrator that adds coordination, guardrails, and governance to any AI agent stack.

• Shared blackboard with locking — atomic propose → validate → commit prevents race conditions and split-brain failures across parallel agents
• Guardrails and budgets — FSM governance, per-agent token ceilings, HMAC audit trails, and permission gating
• 14 adapters — LangChain (+ streaming), AutoGen, CrewAI, OpenAI Assistants, LlamaIndex, Semantic Kernel, Haystack, DSPy, Agno, MCP, Custom (+ streaming), OpenClaw, A2A, and Codex — no glue code, no lock-in

The silent failure mode in multi-agent systems: parallel agents writing to the same key use last-write-wins by default — one agent's result silently overwrites another's mid-flight. The outcome is split-brain state: double-spends, contradictory decisions, corrupted context, no error thrown. Network-AI's propose → validate → commit mutex prevents this at the coordination layer, before any write reaches shared state.

Use Network-AI as:

• A TypeScript/Node.js library — import { createSwarmOrchestrator } from 'network-ai'
• An MCP server — npx network-ai-server --port 3001
• An OpenClaw skill — clawhub install network-ai

5-minute quickstart →  |  Architecture →  |  All adapters →  |  Benchmarks →

Try the control-plane stress test — no API key, ~3 seconds:

npx ts-node examples/08-control-plane-stress-demo.ts

Runs priority preemption, AuthGuardian permission gating, FSM governance, and compliance monitoring against a live swarm. No external services required.

If it saves you from a race condition, a ⭐ helps others find it.

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Why teams use Network-AI

Problem	How Network-AI solves it
Race conditions in parallel agents	Atomic blackboard: propose → validate → commit with file-system mutex
Agent overspend / runaway costs	FederatedBudget — hard per-agent token ceilings with live spend tracking
No visibility into what agents did	HMAC-signed audit log on every write, permission grant, and FSM transition
Locked into one AI framework	14 adapters — mix LangChain + AutoGen + CrewAI + Codex + custom in one swarm
Agents escalating beyond their scope	AuthGuardian — scoped permission tokens required before sensitive operations

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Architecture

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flowchart TD
    classDef app        fill:#1e3a5f,stroke:#3b82f6,color:#bfdbfe,font-weight:bold
    classDef security   fill:#451a03,stroke:#d97706,color:#fde68a
    classDef routing    fill:#14532d,stroke:#16a34a,color:#bbf7d0
    classDef quality    fill:#3b0764,stroke:#9333ea,color:#e9d5ff
    classDef blackboard fill:#0c4a6e,stroke:#0284c7,color:#bae6fd
    classDef adapters   fill:#064e3b,stroke:#059669,color:#a7f3d0
    classDef audit      fill:#1e293b,stroke:#475569,color:#94a3b8

    App["Your Application"]:::app
    App -->|"createSwarmOrchestrator()"| SO

    subgraph SO["SwarmOrchestrator"]
        AG["AuthGuardian\n(permission gating)"]:::security
        AR["AdapterRegistry\n(route tasks to frameworks)"]:::routing
        QG["QualityGateAgent\n(validate blackboard writes)"]:::quality
        BB["SharedBlackboard\n(shared agent state)\npropose → validate → commit\nfilesystem mutex"]:::blackboard
        AD["Adapters — plug any framework in, swap freely\nLangChain · AutoGen · CrewAI · MCP · LlamaIndex · …"]:::adapters

        AG -->|"grant / deny"| AR
        AR -->|"tasks dispatched"| AD
        AD -->|"writes results"| BB
        QG -->|"validates"| BB
    end

    SO --> AUDIT["data/audit_log.jsonl"]:::audit

FederatedBudget is a standalone export — instantiate it separately and optionally wire it to a blackboard backend for cross-node token budget enforcement.

→ Full architecture, FSM journey, and handoff protocol

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Install

npm install network-ai

No native dependencies, no build step. Adapters are dependency-free (BYOC — bring your own client).

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Use as MCP Server

Start the server (no config required, zero dependencies):

npx network-ai-server --port 3001
# or from source:
npx ts-node bin/mcp-server.ts --port 3001

Then wire any MCP-compatible client to it.

Claude Desktop — add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "network-ai": {
      "url": "http://localhost:3001/sse"
    }
  }
}

Cursor / Cline / any SSE-based MCP client — point to the same URL:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "network-ai": {
      "url": "http://localhost:3001/sse"
    }
  }
}

Verify it's running:

curl http://localhost:3001/health   # { "status": "ok", "tools": <n>, "uptime": <ms> }
curl http://localhost:3001/tools    # full tool list

Tools exposed over MCP:

• blackboard_read / blackboard_write / blackboard_list / blackboard_delete / blackboard_exists
• budget_status / budget_spend / budget_reset — federated token tracking
• token_create / token_validate / token_revoke — HMAC-signed permission tokens
• audit_query — query the append-only audit log
• config_get / config_set — live orchestrator configuration
• agent_list / agent_spawn / agent_stop — agent lifecycle
• fsm_transition — write FSM state transitions to the blackboard

Each tool takes an agent_id parameter — all writes are identity-verified and namespace-scoped, exactly as they are in the TypeScript API.

Options: --no-budget, --no-token, --no-control, --ceiling <n>, --board <name>, --audit-log <path>.

---

Two agents, one shared state — without race conditions

The real differentiator is coordination. Here is what no single-framework solution handles: two agents writing to the same resource concurrently, atomically, without corrupting each other.

import { LockedBlackboard, CustomAdapter, createSwarmOrchestrator } from 'network-ai';

const board   = new LockedBlackboard('.');
const adapter = new CustomAdapter();

// Agent 1: writes its analysis result atomically
adapter.registerHandler('analyst', async () => {
  const id = board.propose('report:status', { phase: 'analysis', complete: true }, 'analyst');
  board.validate(id, 'analyst');
  board.commit(id);                           // file-system mutex — no race condition possible
  return { result: 'analysis written' };
});

// Agent 2: runs concurrently, writes to its own key safely
adapter.registerHandler('reviewer', async () => {
  const id = board.propose('report:review', { approved: true }, 'reviewer');
  board.validate(id, 'reviewer');
  board.commit(id);
  const analysis = board.read('report:status');
  return { result: `reviewed phase=${analysis?.phase}` };
});

createSwarmOrchestrator({ adapters: [{ adapter }] });

// Both fire concurrently — mutex guarantees no write is ever lost
const [, ] = await Promise.all([
  adapter.executeAgent('analyst',  { action: 'run', params: {} }, { agentId: 'analyst' }),
  adapter.executeAgent('reviewer', { action: 'run', params: {} }, { agentId: 'reviewer' }),
]);

console.log(board.read('report:status'));   // { phase: 'analysis', complete: true }
console.log(board.read('report:review'));   // { approved: true }

Add budgets, permissions, and cross-framework agents with the same pattern. → QUICKSTART.md

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Demo — Control-Plane Stress Test (no API key)

Runs in ~3 seconds. Proves the coordination primitives without any LLM calls.

npm run demo -- --08

What it shows: atomic blackboard locking, priority preemption (priority-3 wins over priority-0 on same key), AuthGuardian permission gate (blocked → justified → granted with token), FSM hard-stop at 700 ms, live compliance violation capture (TOOL_ABUSE, TURN_TAKING, RESPONSE_TIMEOUT, JOURNEY_TIMEOUT), and FederatedBudget tracking — all without a single API call.

8-agent AI pipeline (requires OPENAI_API_KEY — builds a Payment Processing Service end-to-end):

npm run demo -- --07

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Adapter System

14 adapters, zero adapter dependencies. You bring your own SDK objects.

Adapter	Framework / Protocol	Register method
CustomAdapter	Any function or HTTP endpoint	registerHandler(name, fn)
LangChainAdapter	LangChain	registerAgent(name, runnable)
AutoGenAdapter	AutoGen / AG2	registerAgent(name, agent)
CrewAIAdapter	CrewAI	registerAgent or registerCrew
MCPAdapter	Model Context Protocol	registerTool(name, handler)
LlamaIndexAdapter	LlamaIndex	registerQueryEngine(), registerChatEngine()
SemanticKernelAdapter	Microsoft Semantic Kernel	registerKernel(), registerFunction()
OpenAIAssistantsAdapter	OpenAI Assistants	registerAssistant(name, config)
HaystackAdapter	deepset Haystack	registerPipeline(), registerAgent()
DSPyAdapter	Stanford DSPy	registerModule(), registerProgram()
AgnoAdapter	Agno (formerly Phidata)	registerAgent(), registerTeam()
OpenClawAdapter	OpenClaw	registerSkill(name, skillRef)
A2AAdapter	Google A2A Protocol	registerRemoteAgent(name, url)
CodexAdapter	OpenAI Codex / gpt-4o / Codex CLI	registerCodexAgent(name, config)

Streaming variants (drop-in replacements with .stream() support):

Adapter	Extends	Streaming source
LangChainStreamingAdapter	LangChainAdapter	Calls .stream() on the Runnable if available; falls back to .invoke()
CustomStreamingAdapter	CustomAdapter	Pipes AsyncIterable<string> handlers; falls back to single-chunk for plain Promises

Extend BaseAdapter (or StreamingBaseAdapter for streaming) to add your own in minutes. See references/adapter-system.md.

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Works with LangGraph, CrewAI, and AutoGen

Network-AI is the coordination layer you add on top of your existing stack. Keep your LangChain chains, CrewAI crews, and AutoGen agents — and add shared state, governance, and budgets around them.

Capability	Network-AI	LangGraph	CrewAI	AutoGen
Cross-framework agents in one swarm	✅ 14 built-in adapters	⚠️ Nodes can call any code; no adapter abstraction	⚠️ Extensible via tools; CrewAI-native agents only	⚠️ Extensible via plugins; AutoGen-native agents only
Atomic shared state (conflict-safe)	✅ propose → validate → commit mutex	⚠️ State passed between nodes; last-write-wins	⚠️ Shared memory available; no conflict resolution	⚠️ Shared context available; no conflict resolution
Hard token ceiling per agent	✅ FederatedBudget (first-class API)	⚠️ Via callbacks / custom middleware	⚠️ Via callbacks / custom middleware	⚠️ Built-in token tracking in v0.4+; no swarm-level ceiling
Permission gating before sensitive ops	✅ AuthGuardian (built-in)	⚠️ Possible via custom node logic	⚠️ Possible via custom tools	⚠️ Possible via custom middleware
Append-only audit log	✅ plain JSONL (data/audit_log.jsonl)	⚠️ Not built-in	⚠️ Not built-in	⚠️ Not built-in
Encryption at rest	✅ AES-256-GCM (TypeScript layer)	⚠️ Not built-in	⚠️ Not built-in	⚠️ Not built-in
Language	TypeScript / Node.js	Python	Python	Python

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Testing

npm run test:all          # All suites in sequence
npm test                  # Core orchestrator
npm run test:security     # Security module
npm run test:adapters     # All 14 adapters
npm run test:streaming    # Streaming adapters
npm run test:a2a          # A2A protocol adapter
npm run test:codex        # Codex adapter
npm run test:priority     # Priority & preemption

1,334 passing assertions across 16 test suites (npm run test:all):

Suite	Assertions	Covers
test-phase4.ts	147	FSM governance, compliance monitor, adapter integration
test-phase5f.ts	127	SSE transport, McpCombinedBridge, extended MCP tools
test-phase5g.ts	121	CRDT backend, vector clocks, bidirectional sync
test-phase6.ts	121	MCP server, control-plane tools, audit tools
test-adapters.ts	140	All 14 adapters, registry routing, integration, edge cases
test-phase5d.ts	117	Pluggable backend (Redis, CRDT, Memory)
test-standalone.ts	88	Blackboard, auth, integration, persistence, parallelisation, quality gate
test-phase5e.ts	87	Federated budget tracking
test-phase5c.ts	73	Named multi-blackboard, isolation, backend options
test-codex.ts	51	Codex adapter: chat, completion, CLI, BYOC client, error paths
test-priority.ts	64	Priority preemption, conflict resolution, backward compat
test-a2a.ts	35	A2A protocol: register, execute, mock fetch, error paths
test-streaming.ts	32	Streaming adapters, chunk shapes, fallback, collectStream
test-phase5b.ts	55	Pluggable backend part 2, consistency levels
test-phase5.ts	42	Named multi-blackboard base
test-security.ts	34	Tokens, sanitization, rate limiting, encryption, audit

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Documentation

Doc	Contents
QUICKSTART.md	Installation, first run, PowerShell guide, Python scripts CLI
ARCHITECTURE.md	Race condition problem, FSM design, handoff protocol, project structure
BENCHMARKS.md	Provider performance, rate limits, local GPU, max_completion_tokens guide
SECURITY.md	Security module, permission system, trust levels, audit trail
ENTERPRISE.md	Evaluation checklist, stability policy, security summary, integration entry points
AUDIT_LOG_SCHEMA.md	Audit log field reference, all event types, scoring formula
ADOPTERS.md	Known adopters — open a PR to add yourself
INTEGRATION_GUIDE.md	End-to-end integration walkthrough
references/adapter-system.md	Adapter architecture, writing custom adapters
references/auth-guardian.md	Permission scoring, resource types
references/trust-levels.md	Trust level configuration

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Contributing

1. Fork → feature branch → npm run test:all → pull request
2. Bugs and feature requests via Issues

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MIT License — LICENSE  ·  CHANGELOG  ·  CONTRIBUTING  · 

<details> <summary>Keywords</summary>

multi-agent · agent orchestration · AI agents · agentic AI · agentic workflow · TypeScript · Node.js · LangGraph · CrewAI · AutoGen · MCP · model-context-protocol · LlamaIndex · Semantic Kernel · OpenAI Assistants · Haystack · DSPy · Agno · OpenClaw · ClawHub · shared state · blackboard pattern · atomic commits · guardrails · token budgets · permission gating · audit trail · agent coordination · agent handoffs · governance · cost-awareness

</details>