Status: Experimental
Version: Added in 2026.1.9
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 or DM — all using one phone number.
Current scope: WhatsApp only (web channel).
Broadcast groups are evaluated after channel allowlists and group activation rules. In WhatsApp groups, this means broadcasts happen when CoderClaw would normally reply (for example: on mention, depending on your group settings).
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.
Group: "International Support"
Agents:
- Agent_EN (responds in English)
- Agent_DE (responds in German)
- Agent_ES (responds in Spanish)
Group: "Customer Support"
Agents:
- SupportAgent (provides answer)
- QAAgent (reviews quality, only responds if issues found)
Group: "Project Management"
Agents:
- TaskTracker (updates task database)
- TimeLogger (logs time spent)
- ReportGenerator (creates summaries)
Add a top-level broadcast section (next to bindings). Keys are WhatsApp peer ids:
[email protected])+15551234567){
"broadcast": {
"[email protected]": ["alfred", "baerbel", "assistant3"]
}
}
Result: When CoderClaw would reply in this chat, it will run all three agents.
Control how agents process messages:
All agents process simultaneously:
{
"broadcast": {
"strategy": "parallel",
"[email protected]": ["alfred", "baerbel"]
}
}
Agents process in order (one waits for previous to finish):
{
"broadcast": {
"strategy": "sequential",
"[email protected]": ["alfred", "baerbel"]
}
}
{
"agents": {
"list": [
{
"id": "code-reviewer",
"name": "Code Reviewer",
"workspace": "/path/to/code-reviewer",
"sandbox": { "mode": "all" }
},
{
"id": "security-auditor",
"name": "Security Auditor",
"workspace": "/path/to/security-auditor",
"sandbox": { "mode": "all" }
},
{
"id": "docs-generator",
"name": "Documentation Generator",
"workspace": "/path/to/docs-generator",
"sandbox": { "mode": "all" }
}
]
},
"broadcast": {
"strategy": "parallel",
"[email protected]": ["code-reviewer", "security-auditor", "docs-generator"],
"[email protected]": ["support-en", "support-de"],
"+15555550123": ["assistant", "logger"]
}
}
broadcastNote: broadcast groups do not bypass channel allowlists or group activation rules (mentions/commands/etc). They only change which agents run when a message is eligible for processing.
Each agent in a broadcast group maintains completely separate:
agent:alfred:whatsapp:group:120363... vs agent:baerbel:whatsapp:group:120363...)This allows each agent to have:
In group [email protected] with agents ["alfred", "baerbel"]:
Alfred’s context:
Session: agent:alfred:whatsapp:group:[email protected]
History: [user message, alfred's previous responses]
Workspace: /Users/pascal/coderclaw-alfred/
Tools: read, write, exec
Bärbel’s context:
Session: agent:baerbel:whatsapp:group:[email protected]
History: [user message, baerbel's previous responses]
Workspace: /Users/pascal/coderclaw-baerbel/
Tools: read only
Design each agent with a single, clear responsibility:
{
"broadcast": {
"DEV_GROUP": ["formatter", "linter", "tester"]
}
}
âś… Good: Each agent has one job
❌ Bad: One generic “dev-helper” agent
Make it clear what each agent does:
{
"agents": {
"security-scanner": { "name": "Security Scanner" },
"code-formatter": { "name": "Code Formatter" },
"test-generator": { "name": "Test Generator" }
}
}
Give agents only the tools they need:
{
"agents": {
"reviewer": {
"tools": { "allow": ["read", "exec"] } // Read-only
},
"fixer": {
"tools": { "allow": ["read", "write", "edit", "exec"] } // Read-write
}
}
}
With many agents, consider:
"strategy": "parallel" (default) for speedAgents 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
Broadcast groups currently work with:
Broadcast groups work alongside existing routing:
{
"bindings": [
{
"match": { "channel": "whatsapp", "peer": { "kind": "group", "id": "GROUP_A" } },
"agentId": "alfred"
}
],
"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.
Check:
agents.list[email protected])Debug:
tail -f ~/.coderclaw/logs/gateway.log | grep broadcast
Cause: Peer ID might be in bindings but not broadcast.
Fix: Add to broadcast config or remove from bindings.
If slow with many agents:
{
"broadcast": {
"strategy": "parallel",
"[email protected]": [
"code-formatter",
"security-scanner",
"test-coverage",
"docs-checker"
]
},
"agents": {
"list": [
{
"id": "code-formatter",
"workspace": "~/agents/formatter",
"tools": { "allow": ["read", "write"] }
},
{
"id": "security-scanner",
"workspace": "~/agents/security",
"tools": { "allow": ["read", "exec"] }
},
{
"id": "test-coverage",
"workspace": "~/agents/testing",
"tools": { "allow": ["read", "exec"] }
},
{ "id": "docs-checker", "workspace": "~/agents/docs", "tools": { "allow": ["read"] } }
]
}
}
User sends: Code snippet
Responses:
process_data”{
"broadcast": {
"strategy": "sequential",
"+15555550123": ["detect-language", "translator-en", "translator-de"]
},
"agents": {
"list": [
{ "id": "detect-language", "workspace": "~/agents/lang-detect" },
{ "id": "translator-en", "workspace": "~/agents/translate-en" },
{ "id": "translator-de", "workspace": "~/agents/translate-de" }
]
}
}
interface CoderClawConfig {
broadcast?: {
strategy?: "parallel" | "sequential";
[peerId: string]: string[];
};
}
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
Planned features: