# Infinite Debate

> Launching a multi-agent debate with no termination rule — and watching agents argue forever.

- **Category**: Agentic AI
- **Subcategory**: Anti-Patterns
- **Canonical URL**: https://designpattern.fyi/patterns/infinite_debate/

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## Description
**Intent**: Letting a multi-agent debate loop rely on the agents "eventually agreeing" — with no external stop condition.

**Context**: A proponent, skeptic, and synthesizer are set up to debate a question. The orchestrator waits for them to converge. There''s no round cap, no judge with a veto, no measurable convergence signal. They don''t stop.

**Solution**: Add a round cap and a termination predicate before launching any debate loop. Always pair debate with a judge or aggregator that can emit a terminal verdict. See debate, step-budget, the-stop-hook.



## Use Cases
- Never use this; multi-agent debate without a termination rule loops indefinitely.
- Pair debate with a hard round cap and an explicit termination predicate.
- Use a judge or aggregator to emit a terminal verdict (see debate, step-budget, the-stop-hook).






## Trade-offs




### Considerations & Drawbacks

- Cost blows up — agents keep generating tokens with no exit condition

- The user-visible result is non-termination; the system hangs or spins







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**Reference**: [Original Source](https://www.agentpatternscatalog.org/patterns/infinite-debate/)