clawdbot/docs/broadcast-groups.md

Broadcast Groups

Status: Experimental
Version: Added in 2026.1.9

Overview

Broadcast Groups enable multiple agents to process and respond to the same message simultaneously. This allows you to create specialized agent teams that work together in a single WhatsApp group, DM, or channel - all using one phone number.

Use Cases

1. Specialized Agent Teams

Deploy multiple agents with atomic, focused responsibilities:

Group: "Development Team"
Agents:
  - CodeReviewer (reviews code snippets)
  - DocumentationBot (generates docs)
  - SecurityAuditor (checks for vulnerabilities)
  - TestGenerator (suggests test cases)

Each agent processes the same message and provides its specialized perspective.

2. Multi-Language Support

Group: "International Support"
Agents:
  - Agent_EN (responds in English)
  - Agent_DE (responds in German)
  - Agent_ES (responds in Spanish)

3. Quality Assurance Workflows

Group: "Customer Support"
Agents:
  - SupportAgent (provides answer)
  - QAAgent (reviews quality, only responds if issues found)

4. Task Automation

Group: "Project Management"
Agents:
  - TaskTracker (updates task database)
  - TimeLogger (logs time spent)
  - ReportGenerator (creates summaries)

Configuration

Basic Setup

Add a broadcast section to your routing config:

{
  "routing": {
    "broadcast": {
      "120363403215116621@g.us": ["alfred", "baerbel", "assistant3"]
    }
  }
}

Result: All three agents process every message in this WhatsApp group.

Processing Strategy

Control how agents process messages:

Parallel (Default)

All agents process simultaneously:

{
  "routing": {
    "broadcast": {
      "strategy": "parallel",
      "120363403215116621@g.us": ["alfred", "baerbel"]
    }
  }
}

Sequential

Agents process in order (one waits for previous to finish):

{
  "routing": {
    "broadcast": {
      "strategy": "sequential",
      "120363403215116621@g.us": ["alfred", "baerbel"]
    }
  }
}

Complete Example

{
  "routing": {
    "defaultAgentId": "main",
    "broadcast": {
      "strategy": "parallel",
      "120363403215116621@g.us": ["code-reviewer", "security-auditor", "docs-generator"],
      "120363424282127706@g.us": ["support-en", "support-de"],
      "+15555550123": ["assistant", "logger"]
    },
    "agents": {
      "code-reviewer": {
        "name": "Code Reviewer",
        "workspace": "/path/to/code-reviewer",
        "sandbox": { "mode": "all" }
      },
      "security-auditor": {
        "name": "Security Auditor", 
        "workspace": "/path/to/security-auditor",
        "sandbox": { "mode": "all" }
      },
      "docs-generator": {
        "name": "Documentation Generator",
        "workspace": "/path/to/docs-generator",
        "sandbox": { "mode": "all" }
      }
    }
  }
}

How It Works

Message Flow

1. Incoming message arrives in a WhatsApp group
2. Routing check: System checks if peer ID is in routing.broadcast
3. If in broadcast list:
   • All listed agents process the message
   • Each agent has its own session key and isolated context
   • Agents process in parallel (default) or sequentially
4. If not in broadcast list:
   • Normal routing applies (first matching binding)

Session Isolation

Each agent in a broadcast group maintains completely separate:

• Session keys (agent:alfred:whatsapp:group:120363... vs agent:baerbel:whatsapp:group:120363...)
• Conversation history (agent doesn't see other agents' messages)
• Workspace (separate sandboxes if configured)
• Tool access (different allow/deny lists)
• Memory/context (separate IDENTITY.md, SOUL.md, etc.)

This allows each agent to have:

• Different personalities
• Different tool access (e.g., read-only vs. read-write)
• Different models (e.g., opus vs. sonnet)
• Different skills installed

Example: Isolated Sessions

In group 120363403215116621@g.us with agents ["alfred", "baerbel"]:

Alfred's context:

Session: agent:alfred:whatsapp:group:120363403215116621@g.us
History: [user message, alfred's previous responses]
Workspace: /Users/pascal/clawd-alfred/
Tools: read, write, bash

Bärbel's context:

Session: agent:baerbel:whatsapp:group:120363403215116621@g.us  
History: [user message, baerbel's previous responses]
Workspace: /Users/pascal/clawd-baerbel/
Tools: read only

Best Practices

1. Keep Agents Focused

Design each agent with a single, clear responsibility:

{
  "broadcast": {
    "DEV_GROUP": ["formatter", "linter", "tester"]
  }
}

✅ Good: Each agent has one job
❌ Bad: One generic "dev-helper" agent

2. Use Descriptive Names

Make it clear what each agent does:

{
  "agents": {
    "security-scanner": { "name": "Security Scanner" },
    "code-formatter": { "name": "Code Formatter" },
    "test-generator": { "name": "Test Generator" }
  }
}

3. Configure Different Tool Access

Give agents only the tools they need:

{
  "agents": {
    "reviewer": {
      "tools": { "allow": ["read", "bash"] }  // Read-only
    },
    "fixer": {
      "tools": { "allow": ["read", "write", "edit", "bash"] }  // Read-write
    }
  }
}

4. Monitor Performance

With many agents, consider:

• Using "strategy": "parallel" (default) for speed
• Limiting broadcast groups to 5-10 agents
• Using faster models for simpler agents

5. Handle Failures Gracefully

Agents fail independently. One agent's error doesn't block others:

Message → [Agent A ✓, Agent B ✗ error, Agent C ✓]
Result: Agent A and C respond, Agent B logs error

Compatibility

Providers

Broadcast groups currently work with:

• ✅ WhatsApp (implemented)
• 🚧 Telegram (planned)
• 🚧 Discord (planned)
• 🚧 Slack (planned)

Routing

Broadcast groups work alongside existing routing:

{
  "routing": {
    "bindings": [
      { "agentId": "alfred", "match": { "peer": { "id": "GROUP_A" } } }
    ],
    "broadcast": {
      "GROUP_B": ["agent1", "agent2"]
    }
  }
}

• GROUP_A: Only alfred responds (normal routing)
• GROUP_B: agent1 AND agent2 respond (broadcast)

Precedence: broadcast takes priority over bindings.

Troubleshooting

Agents Not Responding

Check:

1. Agent IDs exist in routing.agents
2. Peer ID format is correct (e.g., 120363403215116621@g.us)
3. Agents are not in deny lists

Debug:

tail -f ~/.clawdbot/logs/gateway.log | grep broadcast

Only One Agent Responding

Cause: Peer ID might be in bindings but not broadcast.

Fix: Add to broadcast config or remove from bindings.

Performance Issues

If slow with many agents:

• Reduce number of agents per group
• Use lighter models (sonnet instead of opus)
• Check sandbox startup time

Examples

Example 1: Code Review Team

{
  "routing": {
    "broadcast": {
      "strategy": "parallel",
      "120363403215116621@g.us": [
        "code-formatter",
        "security-scanner", 
        "test-coverage",
        "docs-checker"
      ]
    },
    "agents": {
      "code-formatter": {
        "workspace": "~/agents/formatter",
        "tools": { "allow": ["read", "write"] }
      },
      "security-scanner": {
        "workspace": "~/agents/security",
        "tools": { "allow": ["read", "bash"] }
      },
      "test-coverage": {
        "workspace": "~/agents/testing",
        "tools": { "allow": ["read", "bash"] }
      },
      "docs-checker": {
        "workspace": "~/agents/docs",
        "tools": { "allow": ["read"] }
      }
    }
  }
}

User sends: Code snippet
Responses:

• code-formatter: "Fixed indentation and added type hints"
• security-scanner: "⚠️ SQL injection vulnerability in line 12"
• test-coverage: "Coverage is 45%, missing tests for error cases"
• docs-checker: "Missing docstring for function process_data"

Example 2: Multi-Language Support

{
  "routing": {
    "broadcast": {
      "strategy": "sequential",
      "+15555550123": ["detect-language", "translator-en", "translator-de"]
    },
    "agents": {
      "detect-language": {
        "workspace": "~/agents/lang-detect"
      },
      "translator-en": {
        "workspace": "~/agents/translate-en"
      },
      "translator-de": {
        "workspace": "~/agents/translate-de"
      }
    }
  }
}

API Reference

Config Schema

interface RoutingConfig {
  broadcast?: {
    strategy?: "parallel" | "sequential";
    [peerId: string]: string[] | "parallel" | "sequential";
  };
}

Fields

• strategy (optional): How to process agents

  • "parallel" (default): All agents process simultaneously
  • "sequential": Agents process in array order

• [peerId]: WhatsApp group JID, E.164 number, or other peer ID

  • Value: Array of agent IDs that should process messages

Limitations

1. Max agents: No hard limit, but 10+ agents may be slow
2. Shared context: Agents don't see each other's responses (by design)
3. Message ordering: Parallel responses may arrive in any order
4. Rate limits: All agents count toward WhatsApp rate limits

Future Enhancements

Planned features:

• Shared context mode (agents see each other's responses)
• Agent coordination (agents can signal each other)
• Dynamic agent selection (choose agents based on message content)
• Agent priorities (some agents respond before others)

See Also

• Multi-Agent Configuration
• Routing Configuration
• Session Management