Composable AI Agent Pipelines: The Middleware Approach

Building scalable AI agent systems requires a composable architecture. This article explores the middleware pattern for constructing AI agent pipelines, similar to how DelegatingChatClient decorates IChatClient in .NET. By using DelegatingAIAgent middleware, developers can create modular, reusable components that chain together to form complex agent workflows. This approach enables separation of concerns, easier testing, and flexible composition of agent capabilities. The pattern is particularly useful for enterprise applications where multiple agents need to collaborate, each handling specific tasks like authentication, logging, or domain-specific processing. Developers familiar with middleware patterns in web frameworks will find this concept intuitive and powerful for agent orchestration.