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# Market-based task allocation for agent swarms
Market mechanisms can turn swarm chaos into coordinated execution. This guide shows how to use auctions and bids to allocate work across autonomous agents.
## Why markets?
- Decentralized, scalable, and robust to local failures.
- Agents express private costs/preferences via bids; the system converges without global micromanagement.
## Core loop
1. Announce a task with constraints and value.
2. Agents compute local bid = f(cost, confidence, budget).
3. Run an auction (first-price, Vickrey, or custom).
4. Award, execute, and report.
## Safety at the edges
- Cap per-agent budgets and concurrent awards.
- Penalize risky bids; require proofs for access escalation.
- Re-auction on failure with backoff.
## MCP wiring
- Tools: `announce_task`, `submit_bid`, `award_task`, `report_result` with JSON Schemas.
- Telemetry: stream bids and awards; store audit trails for disputes.
## Variants
- Combinatorial auctions for coupled tasks.
- Dutch auctions to speed allocation under load.
- Spot markets for opportunistic work.
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Markets are not a silver bullet—but used well, they unlock flexible, resilient coordination for complex multi‑agent systems.
Market-based task allocation for agent swarms
Use auctions and market-based planning to allocate tasks across multi‑agent swarms efficiently and safely.
