Self-Optimizing Multi-Agent Systems for Deep Research
Organizations: Zeta Alpha, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Abstract
Given a user's complex information need, a multi-agent Deep Research system iteratively plans, retrieves, and synthesizes evidence across hundreds of documents to produce a high-quality answer. In one possible architecture, an orchestrator agent coordinates the process, while parallel worker agents execute tasks. Current Deep Research systems, however, often rely on hand-engineered prompts and static architectures, making improvement brittle, expensive, and time-consuming. We therefore explore various multi-agent optimization methods to show that enabling agents to self-play and explore different prompt combinations can produce high-quality Deep Research systems that match or outperform expert-crafted prompts.
Figures & tables
| Optimizer | Minimal Prompt | Minimal Prompt + Optimizer | Expert Prompt | Expert Prompt + Optimizer |
| TextGrad | 0.513 | 0.654 | 0.667 | 0.672 |
| GEPA | 0.685 | 0.670 | ||
| GEPA custom | 0.705 | 0.701 | ||
| OpenAI | 0.583 | 0.667 |
Appendix figures & tables1 asset
Supplementary material from the paper’s appendix.
Appendix
Deep Research Agents
Deep research agents plan long-horizon searches, synthesize cited evidence, and produce reports for complex open-ended questions.
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