AI Agent Architecture Patterns: Engineering for Autonomy, Resilience, and Control

The New Architectural Frontier: Transitioning from deterministic, service-oriented APIs to truly autonomous agents is the “microservices moment” of the current decade. This article provides a comprehensive technical deep-dive into designing, scaling, and governing multi-agent AI systems. We will explore the fundamental paradigm shift required for senior engineers and architects, with a relentless focus on trade-offs, reliability patterns, and the pragmatic reality of enterprise-grade implementation. 1. Executive Summary The integration of Large Language Models (LLMs) and autonomous agents into enterprise systems represents a fundamental architectural inflection point comparable to the shift from monoliths to microservices a decade ago. Yet unlike that transition — which came with well-documented patterns, proven frameworks, and predictable failure modes — the current rush to embed AI agents into production systems is characterized by architectural improvisation and a dangerous conflati