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Sidecar Pattern (Agent)

Reviewed 19 July 2026 Canonical definition Part of: Agent Orchestration & Workflow Terms →

The sidecar pattern deploys a governance or observability agent as a co-located process alongside the main AI agent, intercepting its calls to inject logging, policy enforcement, or telemetry without modifying the agent's code. It is a common pattern for retrofitting governance onto agents that cannot be modified directly.

§01 / QUESTIONSterm: Sidecar Pattern (Agent)
Questions

Common questions.

What is Sidecar Pattern (Agent)?

The sidecar pattern deploys a governance or observability agent as a co-located process alongside the main AI agent, intercepting its calls to inject logging, policy enforcement, or telemetry without modifying the agent's code.

How is Sidecar Pattern (Agent) used in production?

It is a common pattern for retrofitting governance onto agents that cannot be modified directly.

Which terms are related to Sidecar Pattern (Agent)?

Closely related concepts include Delegation Control, Multi-Agent System, Orchestrator Agent, Agent Framework. Each is defined in the Prefactor glossary.

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