Agent orchestrators and agent coordinators are not the same layer

In a recent technical deep dive, developer Naw103 clarifies the distinction between two emerging categories in autonomous agent systems: orchestrators and coordinators. While often used interchangeably, the author argues they serve fundamentally different roles in the stack. An orchestrator acts as a control-path manager, responsible for spawning sessions, scheduling tasks, and maintaining the run loop; if it fails, the agent fleet stalls. In contrast, a coordinator operates on the side of the control path, focusing on evidentiary authority. It validates declared intents and scopes to ensure that concurrent agent plans do not conflict, without needing to control the agents themselves. The author emphasizes that while orchestrators are essential for managing multiple active sessions, coordinators are critical for preventing silent failures where agents perform incompatible actions on a shared codebase. Understanding this structural split is vital for developers building robust multi-agent systems.