Search Agent and Agent Delegation in Agentforce Coworker

When you turn on Agentforce Coworker, Salesforce creates a platform-managed Search Agent that you can’t modify. To expand its capabilities, Agentforce Coworker instead hands off requests to other Agentforce agents that you have access to. Agentforce Coworker matches each request to agent and topic descriptions and can delegate to up to 50 agents. When a delegated agent returns a custom Lightning type (CLT), Agentforce Coworker shows that interactive card instead of converting the response to markdown.

After you turn on Agentforce Coworker, the Search Agent appears in the Agentforce agent list in Setup. You can’t modify the preconfigured Search Agent because it facilitates search and reasoning in Agentforce Coworker. Changes to the agent break that functionality.

When your users make a request that Agentforce Coworker can’t complete, Agentforce Coworker reads the agent and topic descriptions for Agentforce agents that those users can access. Topics are also called sub-agents. Agentforce Coworker compares the request with each agent’s capabilities and delegates when there’s a match. Agentforce Coworker uses only those descriptions to route the request. It doesn’t use topic instructions.

Agentforce Coworker can hand off a request to any Agentforce agent that your users have access to, such as Tableau, Sales Agent, or a custom agent. It supports up to 50 agents.

During delegation, Agentforce Coworker:

  • Streams the delegated agent’s thinking steps in real time so that your users can see what that agent is doing
  • Shows a confirmation and waits for explicit approval when a delegated topic asks one of your users to confirm an action
  • Shows the delegated agent’s response, including interactive cards from custom Lightning types (CLTs) and Headless Experience Layer (HXL) widgets

Agentforce Coworker times out if it can’t direct the request to another agent within 90 seconds. If a timeout happens, rephrase the request, ask Agentforce Coworker to delegate to an accessible agent, or try again later.

Agentforce Coworker formats its own answers in markdown, such as headings, lists, bold text, tables, and links.

Some Agentforce agents are built to return a custom Lightning type (CLT) response, such as a card, badge, button, table, or chart, instead of plain text. This capability includes agents built with Headless Experience Layer (HXL) widgets. When configured for CLT or HXL responses, Agentforce Coworker shows the interactive card and its card links as they appear in Lightning Experience. Without this configuration, Agentforce Coworker shows a markdown summary instead.

Agentforce Coworker shows these interactive cards only for delegated agent responses that are already configured to return CLT or HXL. Agentforce Coworker’s own responses remain in markdown. To build or update custom Lightning types, see Custom Lightning Types.

Agentforce Coworker routes requests most reliably when the agents that receive them are tightly scoped. Use these practices when you create or update those agents.

  • Scope each agent to one job: When a use case is well-defined, build a dedicated agent for it rather than handling every request in one agent. Don’t give sub-agents overlapping capabilities.
  • Keep responses inside 90 seconds: Design sub-agents to respond well within the 90-second timeout so that your users get a reliable handoff.
  • Write specific agent and topic descriptions: Agent and topic descriptions act as routing rules. Be specific about the types of questions the agent handles best, including specialized questions that other assistants don’t handle as well.
    • For example, “This agent helps sales executives and managers answer data questions about Pipeline Health and Deal Detail, Forecast and Commit, ACV Performance, Pipeline Generation, Velocity and Deal Movement, and Specialist Performance using Tableau Next.”
  • Keep custom Lightning types on the agent: If an agent already returns custom Lightning types or Headless Experience Layer widgets, Agentforce Coworker can show those interactive responses during delegation. You don’t create a separate user interface for Agentforce Coworker.