Agent Hierarchy
AETHER organizes 34 AI agents in a 3-tier hierarchy: Master →
Manager → Worker. Each agent is defined as an
.agent.md file with YAML frontmatter metadata and a
system prompt body.
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The Three Tiers
Master Tier Master
Strategic oversight and final escalation target. Uses the most capable (and expensive) model.
- cortex-0 — CORTEX-0 Master Intelligence. Top-level orchestrator. Decomposes complex tasks, manages priorities, spawns sub-agents.
Manager Tier Manager
Domain coordinators. They receive complex tasks, decompose them, delegate to workers, and consolidate results. Escalate to master if unresolvable.
-
system-architect — Backend architecture, API
design, code review, tech stack decisions. Sections:
FRONTEND,BACKEND,TOOLS,MCP_SERVER -
product-visionary — Product strategy, feature
prioritization, market analysis, roadmap. Section:
RESEARCH -
cyber-sentinel — Security ops: vulnerability
assessment, threat modeling, penetration testing, compliance.
Sections:
SECURITY,AUDIT -
marketing-lead — Copywriting direction, growth
strategy, brand voice, campaign planning. Section:
MARKETING -
qa-audit-director — Test strategy, quality
gates, security/performance/accessibility audit. Sections:
AUDIT,TOOLS
Worker Tier Worker
Specialized task executors. Cheapest to run (Haiku/Flash models). Each handles a specific domain.
Frontend Workers
- react-specialist — React components, TypeScript, modern patterns
- ui-designer — UI/UX design, layout, visual design
- ux-psychologist — User experience research, cognitive load analysis
Backend Workers
- bun-runtime-master — Bun runtime, server-side TypeScript
- postgres-db-architect — PostgreSQL schema design, queries, optimization
- redis-state-guard — Redis caching, state management, pub/sub
Security Workers
- code-hardener — Code security hardening
- dependency-sentinel — Dependency auditing, supply chain security
- threat-architect — Threat modeling, security architecture
- vuln-hunter — Vulnerability discovery and exploitation
Marketing Workers
- copywriter — Copy, content writing
- fomo-logic-engine — FOMO mechanics, conversion optimization
Research Workers
- market-analyst — Market research, competitive analysis
- ragx-indexer — RAG indexing, knowledge management
Tool Workers
- cli-wizard — CLI tool development
- playwright-tester — E2E testing with Playwright
MCP Workers
- mcp-server-creator — MCP server development
- skill-logic-generator — Skill/logic generation
Meta Workers
- agent-breeder — Creating new agents
- general — General-purpose fallback
Workflow Workers
- script-automator — Script automation, workflow scripting
Infrastructure Agents
These agents manage the runtime itself — they are not routed tasks directly but operate autonomously to keep the system healthy.
- forge-0 — Agent Forge: dynamic agent spawning and retirement
- sentinel-0 — System Sentinel: health monitoring, constitutional oversight
External Agents
Agents that interface with external services and tools outside the core LLM pipeline.
- local-comfyui — Local ComfyUI image generation
- mcp-filesystem — MCP filesystem operations
- nano-banana-pro — Banana.dev image generation
- remote-aether-images — Remote AETHER image generation
- replicate-sdxl — Replicate SDXL image generation
Agent Definition Format
Agents are .agent.md files with YAML frontmatter:
Frontmatter Fields
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
id |
Yes | Unique agent identifier |
name |
Yes | Human-readable name |
tier |
Yes | master, manager, or worker |
sections |
Yes | Domain buckets for coarse routing (e.g., FRONTEND, BACKEND) |
capabilities |
Yes | Fine-grained skill descriptors for capability matching |
dependencies |
No | Other capabilities this agent needs available |
llmRequirement |
No | Model tier hint (opus, sonnet, haiku, flash) |
format |
No | Output format (markdown, json, code) |
escalationTarget |
No | ID of the agent to escalate failures to |
Agent File Locations
Agents can be placed in:
-
agents/— The main agents directory (with subdirectories) .aether/agents/— Project-local agents.github/agents/— GitHub-integrated agents
aether init after adding
new agent files to discover and register them automatically.
Routing & Resolution
When a task arrives, the AgentRouter uses 6 strategies to find the best agent:
- Capability match — keyword matching against capabilities array
- Section match — domain bucket filtering
- RAG semantic search — vector similarity across agent descriptions
- File ownership — file patterns mapped to specific agents
- Escalation chain — walk escalation targets upward
- Random fallback — pick any available agent
0.6) before
assigning a task. Below that threshold, it falls through to the
next strategy. Configure via
routing.confidenceThreshold in settings.
Escalation Flow
When an agent fails a task, it escalates upward through the hierarchy:
The circuit breaker at the master tier prevents low-priority noise from overwhelming the most expensive model. Each tier has its own failure budget.
3 failures within 5 min) is
hit, further escalations are blocked until the window resets.
Configure via escalation.threshold and
escalation.windowMs.