> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://splinter.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Introduction
> Control and coordination infrastructure for multi-agent AI systems
# What is Splinter?
Splinter is **control and coordination infrastructure** for multi-agent AI systems. It sits between your agents and LLM providers, ensuring your agents don't go rogue.
Runtime controls. Budget limits, rate limiting, circuit breakers, decision locks.
Multi-agent collaboration. Shared state, checkpointing, handoffs, goal tracking.
## The Problem
Without proper controls, AI agents will:
* **Spend unlimited money** — A single agent can rack up thousands in API costs
* **Loop forever** — Agents get stuck repeating the same actions
* **Overwrite each other** — Multiple agents writing to the same state = chaos
* **Crash with no recovery** — Hours of work lost when something fails
## The Solution
```python theme={null}
from splinter import Splinter
s = Splinter(
openai_key="sk-...",
max_budget=5.0, # Stop at $5
max_steps=50, # Stop after 50 calls
)
result = await s.run("researcher", "Research AI trends")
print(f"Cost: ${s.cost:.4f}") # Always know what you spent
```
Splinter prevents all of these problems with a simple, pluggable architecture.
## Architecture
```mermaid theme={null}
flowchart TB
Agents["YOUR AGENTS
Agent 1 | Agent 2 | Agent 3 | ..."]
Splinter["SPLINTER (Local - Free)
🛡️ CONTROL | 🤝 COORDINATION
─────────────────────────
Budget limits | Shared state
Rate limiting | Checkpointing
Circuit breakers | Schema validation
Decision locks | Goal tracking
Loop detection | Action eligibility"]
LLM[OpenAI / Claude
Gemini / Grok]
Cloud[☁️ Splinter Cloud
(Paid API Key)]
Agents --> Splinter
Splinter --> LLM
Splinter --> Cloud
style Agents fill:#DBEAFE,stroke:#3B82F6,stroke-width:2px,color:#000
style Splinter fill:#8B0000,stroke:#6c0404,stroke-width:3px,color:#fff
style LLM fill:#D1FAE5,stroke:#10B981,stroke-width:2px,color:#000
style Cloud fill:#E0E7FF,stroke:#6366F1,stroke-width:2px,color:#000
```
## Local vs Cloud
All Control and Coordination features run entirely on your machine. No external dependencies.
Add an API key for live dashboard, remote control, deadlock detection, and more.
## Quick Links
Get up and running in 5 minutes
Understand the core ideas
Full API documentation