Macha Concepts

Sub-Agents

Definition

In Macha, a sub-agent is an agent that a parent agent can delegate to. Once assigned, the sub-agent appears to the parent as a callable tool — the parent hands it a task, gets a result back, and folds it into its own reply.

Also known as: specialist agentschild agentsdelegated agents

How it works

You build focused specialist agents first — one for billing, one for shipping, one for technical — each with its own instructions, model, connectors, and knowledge. You then assign them to a parent (routing) agent and describe in the parent's instructions when to delegate. At runtime each sub-agent shows up as a tool the parent can call; the parent decides whether to delegate, what task to pass, and how to use the response.

Delegation is seamless to the end user — they chat with one agent. Every sub-agent run is captured inline as an expandable card showing the handoff message, each tool call and result, and the sub-agent's final reply, so autonomous runs stay auditable.

Permissions & guardrails

Sub-agent permissions depend on how the parent is running. In interactive chat, sub-agents are read-only — a human stays in the loop for any write. In autonomous mode (parent fired by a trigger), sub-agents can execute writes because there's no human present.

Depth limit: sub-agents nest up to 3 levels deep (A calls B calls C)
Circular references are blocked — if A is a sub-agent of B, B can't be a sub-agent of A
Keeps each agent's instructions focused, which is easier to test and trust

Frequently asked

How are sub-agents different from one big agent?

A single agent handles every case from one bloated prompt; sub-agents split the work into focused specialists a parent delegates to, which stays more accurate as complexity grows.

Can a sub-agent take actions on its own?

Only in autonomous mode. When the parent runs interactively, sub-agents are read-only so a human confirms any write; when the parent is trigger-driven, sub-agents can execute writes.

Sub-Agents docs Build agents in Macha

Related terms

Agent Orchestration

Agent orchestration is coordinating multiple Macha agents — and the tools each can call — so a complex request is broken into the right steps.

AI Agent Builder

The AI Agent Builder is Macha's Build-with-AI flow: describe the agent you want in plain language and it configures the name, instructions, tools, triggers, and even sub-agents based on the integrations you've connected..

Multi-Agent System

A multi-agent system is a setup where several specialized AI agents work together — each handling a specific task or domain — coordinated so they can solve problems that a single agent would handle less reliably..

Human Handoff

Human handoff is Macha's principle of keeping a person in the loop on anything customer-facing — most concretely through confirmation gates that pause an agent before any write action in interactive chat, and escalation patterns that route hard cases to your team..

Put these ideas to work

Macha is an AI agent layer that sits on top of the help desk you already run — Zendesk, Freshdesk, Front, Intercom, or Gorgias.

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