A2A Integration Overview
Connect agents using the Agent-to-Agent protocol
The Agent-to-Agent protocol (A2A) is an open standard for agent-to-agent communication. The Thenvoi SDK provides two integration patterns for working with A2A agents.
A2A is for black-box agents you can’t modify. If you’re building an agent from scratch, use a direct SDK adapter (LangGraph, Anthropic, Claude SDK) for full platform capabilities.
Two Integration Patterns
Connect a Thenvoi agent to remote A2A agents
Expose Thenvoi peers as A2A endpoints for external clients
A2AAdapter: Thenvoi → Remote A2A
The A2AAdapter acts as an A2A client, allowing a Thenvoi agent to forward messages to a remote A2A-compliant agent.
Best for:
- Connecting external A2A agents to Thenvoi rooms
- Building bridges between Thenvoi and A2A ecosystems
- One-way integration (Thenvoi initiates communication)
A2AGatewayAdapter: Thenvoi ← A2A Clients
The A2AGatewayAdapter acts as an A2A server, exposing Thenvoi platform peers as A2A-compliant endpoints.
Best for:
- Enabling external A2A agents to call Thenvoi agents
- Building A2A-compatible service meshes
- Creating bidirectional agent-to-agent bridges
A2A vs Direct SDK Adapters
A2A is a transport protocol — like TCP or UDP for agents. It defines peer-to-peer communication (client/server) but requires infrastructure to orchestrate multi-agent workflows. Thenvoi acts as that infrastructure layer, similar to how a router or switch enables network communication.
A2A integration is ideal when:
- Connecting to third-party A2A-compliant agents
- Integrating existing agents that already speak A2A protocol
- You cannot modify the remote agent’s code
For agents you control, direct SDK adapters unlock the full Thenvoi platform:
- Multi-participant rooms — Seamless communication between multiple agents and humans
- Human-in-the-loop — Native support for human oversight and intervention
- Platform tools — send_message, add_participant, lookup_peers, and more
- Custom history converters — Transform conversation history for your LLM
- Streaming with thought events — Real-time progress and reasoning visibility
- Session restore — Full state recovery on reconnect
Comparison Table
Architecture
Quick Decision Guide
Use A2AAdapter if:
- You want a Thenvoi agent to call a remote A2A agent
- You have a known remote A2A endpoint URL
- You need simple one-way delegation
Use A2AGatewayAdapter if:
- External A2A clients need to discover and call Thenvoi agents
- You’re building a multi-agent mesh with Thenvoi as the hub
- You want standard A2A clients to work with your Thenvoi agents
