Rethinking Software Agents as Building Blocks of Software Systems

Federico Bergenti; Stefania Monica

doi:10.1007/978-3-032-22940-3_7

Rethinking Software Agents as Building Blocks of Software Systems

Federico Bergenti, Stefania Monica

Viviana Mascardi, Andrea Omicini (eds.)

The Agents Journey: Twenty-Five Years of Multi-agent Systems, chapter 7, pages 181–212

Lecture Notes in Computer Science (State-of-the-Art Survey) 16395

Springer Nature Switzerland

April 2026

The idea of using software agents as fundamental building blocks within software systems has been a subject of relevant interest over the past three decades. This chapter seeks to contextualize the longstanding debate surrounding the role of software agents as building blocks of software systems within the framework of contemporary software development. Specifically, the focus of this chapter is on the programmatic dimension of development with the intent to emphasize the integration of cognitive agents as fine-grained modular units within software architectures. The metaphors that characterize cognitive agents are explored as promising means to enable the treatment of agents as effective building blocks of fine-grained software architectures. A relevant part of this chapter is dedicated to examine the implications of adopting cognitive agents within mainstream software development practice. Additionally, this chapter presents a preliminary proposal of a novel system level to use cognitive agents in the scope of contemporary software development.

keywords Agent-oriented software engineering, Agent-based software systems, Software agents, Agent-oriented programming

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Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS)

container publication

The Agents Journey (edited volume, 2026) — Viviana Mascardi, Andrea Omicini

companion publication

Preface (editorial/introduction/preface, 2026) — Viviana Mascardi, Andrea Omicini

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Trust Evolution in Agent and Multi-agent Systems: A Computational Modeling Perspective (book chapter, 2026) — Alessandro Sapienza, Filippo Cantucci, Cristiano Castelfranchi, Rino Falcone

Interaction Protocols: From AUML to Social Commitments, from Artifacts to BSPL (book chapter, 2026) — Matteo Baldoni, Cristina Baroglio, Roberto Micalizio

Coordination of Software Agents: Models and Languages (book chapter, 2026) — Giacomo Cabri, Letizia Leonardi, Stefano Mariani, Franco Zambonelli

Self-organisation with Aggregate Computing: A Reflection Under the Lenses of Multi-agent Systems Engineering (book chapter, 2026) — Gianluca Aguzzi, Roberto Casadei, Danilo Pianini, Mirko Viroli

Designing Agent-Oriented Systems (book chapter, 2026) — Massimo Cossentino, Luca Sabatucci, Valeria Seidita

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25 Years of Declarative Agent Technologies in Italy (book chapter, 2026) — Davide Ancona, Daniela Briola, Angelo Ferrando, Maurizio Martelli, Viviana Mascardi

Intelligent Agents from Symbolic to Neurosymbolic Systems: The Quest for Integration (book chapter, 2026) — Andrea Agiollo, Roberta Calegari, Giovanni Ciatto, Matteo Magnini, Andrea Omicini, Federico Sabbatini

From Objects to Agents, and Back to Smart Objects: Software Agents for Intelligent Internet of Things (IoT) Systems (book chapter, 2026) — Daniel-Costel Bouleanu, Marco Loaiza, Claudio Savaglio, Costin Bădică, Raffaele Gravina, Giancarlo Fortino

AI Infrastructure: From Gigastructure to Edge Intelligence with Multi-Agent Systems (book chapter, 2026) — Andrea Omicini, Alessandro Ricci, Viviana Mascardi

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