> Markdown version of [/events/conference-india-2026/sessions/2039-too-many-agents](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/conference-india-2026/sessions/2039-too-many-agents). Every page supports `.md` or `Accept: text/markdown`. Links point to the HTML versions so they work for humans too. Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md).

---

# Too Many Agents: Deciding When to Use Agents, MCP Tools, Skills, Prompt or Just a Script


- **Event:** Conference India 2026

## Description

As multi-agent systems become popular, many teams are beginning to turn every workflow into an agent—even when simpler approaches would be safer and easier to maintain.

While building MCP-driven troubleshooting workflows for infrastructure systems, we encountered recurring cases where agent-based orchestration added unnecessary complexity, introduced retry storms, and made debugging harder than traditional automation. In several situations, replacing agents with well-designed tools or scripts significantly improved reliability and observability.

This session introduces a practical decision framework for choosing between scripts, MCP tools, reusable skills, and agents. We will explore real orchestration tradeoffs, common failure patterns caused by excessive agent usage, and patterns for simplifying multi-agent systems without sacrificing flexibility.

Rather than focusing on how to build more agents, this talk focuses on how to build better systems by choosing the right level of automation.

## Speaker

### [Suriyaa Thiyagarajan](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/@suriyaa-thiyagarajan)

Oracle DBA | GoldenGate Expert | Kubernetes & AI Enthusiast


## Related talks at this congress

- [Teaching AI Coding Agents to Build It Right the First Time](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/conference-india-2026/sessions/1995-teaching-ai-coding) — Sajeetharan Sinnathurai
- [What I Got Wrong Shipping an MCP Server for Live Infrastructure](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/conference-india-2026/sessions/1999-what-i-got-wrong) — Pritesh Kiri
- [Speed or Security? Why Not Both for Your Coding Agents](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/conference-india-2026/sessions/2004-speed-or-security) — Ajeet Raina
- [Autopsy of an Autonomous Incident: When the Agent Made It Worse](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/conference-india-2026/sessions/1977-autopsy-of-an) — Navin Pai

## Watch remotely

Can’t make it to Bengaluru? Watch this session live with Pro. You also get:

- All full videos, bookmarks, and playlists
- World Congress livestreams

[See pricing](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/pricing)

## Links

- [Get tickets](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/conference-india/tickets)