Products & Surfaces

Surface orchestration modes

Orchestration controls how a Surface routes incoming requests to its connected Capabilities. Chat Surfaces route messages. Agent-to-Agent (A2A) Surfaces route skills.

Choose a mode

Use Single Orchestrator when one Capability handles every message on a Chat Surface. The Surface sends each message to the Capability that you select.

Use this mode when you want direct routing without a router model:

  • Send every message to one Flow or Agent.
  • Keep the routing path fixed.
  • Let the Surface choose the Capability instead of the calling application.

Use the Multi-Capability Router mode when message content determines the destination. The dashboard labels this mode Router.

The router model classifies each message and evaluates the names and descriptions of the connected Capabilities. Choose the router model, add an optional routing prompt, and set a fallback Capability. The router uses the fallback when it cannot match a Capability or the routing call fails. It uses the first Capability when you do not set a fallback.

Use Router mode in these cases:

  • Route natural-language messages among multiple Capabilities.
  • Route messages across overlapping domains.
  • Let the router choose the destination for each message.

For example, when someone asks where an order is, the router can send the message to an order-status Agent instead of an FAQ Flow.

Configure chat routing

To configure routing for a Chat Surface with at least two connected Capabilities, follow these steps:

  1. Open your Product and the Chat Surface that you want to configure.
  2. Open the Orchestration tab.
  3. Choose one of these modes:
    • Single Orchestrator: select the Capability that handles every message.
    • Router: choose a Router Model, optionally enter a Routing Prompt, and choose a Fallback Capability.
  4. Click Save.

The Orchestration tab also appears on a Chat Surface that uses an external A2A Agent as its orchestrator. In that case, configure skill orchestration in the same tab.

Configure A2A skill orchestration

A2A Surfaces use two skill-routing modes:

  • Delegate mode: expose each enabled Capability skill on the Agent Card. The calling Agent selects the skill to invoke.
  • Managed mode: add one orchestrator skill to the Agent Card. Runtype uses the orchestrator to route requests to the visible Capability skills.

Delegate mode is the default. Use it when the calling Agent selects a specific skill. Use Managed mode when Runtype selects a skill from the request.

To configure an A2A Surface, follow these steps:

  1. Open your Product and the A2A Surface that you want to configure.
  2. Open the Orchestration tab.
  3. Keep the Orchestrator Skill switch off for Delegate mode. Use the skill list to choose which Capability skills appear on the Agent Card.
  4. Turn on the Orchestrator Skill switch for Managed mode. Configure the Skill name, Description, and Model fields. You can also add a System prompt.
  5. Click Save to save the Surface configuration.

The following table compares request routing by Surface type.

Surface typeDefault or routing behaviorHow the caller selects a Capability
ChatSingle Orchestrator sends each message to the selected Capability. Router classifies each message.The Surface selects the Capability, or Router mode selects it from the message.
APIDirect endpoint dispatch.The calling application selects a Capability endpoint.
MCPDirect tool dispatch.The MCP client selects a Capability tool.
A2ADelegate exposes skills. Managed adds an orchestrator skill.The calling Agent selects a skill, or Managed mode routes the request.

API and MCP Surfaces do not use the Chat routing modes. An API Surface exposes a separate endpoint for each connected Capability. An MCP Surface exposes connected Capabilities as tools.

Next steps

Continue with one of these guides: