Message Format Effects in Multi-Hop LLM Agent Relays Are Tier-Dependent

Jul 14, 2026

A new study introduces a controlled relay testbed to examine how message format affects information fidelity across multiple hops in LLM agent relays. Results show that strong relays are nearly lossless regardless of format, while weak relays exhibit large fidelity differences driven by encoding tolls and drift resistance. Structured formats provide faithful, error-localizing channels but do not correct errors.

Why it matters: This research clarifies when and why message format matters in multi-agent systems, guiding developers to choose formats based on the weakest relay in the pipeline.

Full story at: arXiv AI/ML ↗