Design a Dependency-Aware Concurrent Tool Scheduler

Last updated: August 16, 2026

Quick Overview

Design a tool scheduler that can handle multiple agents and their tool calls while respecting dependencies between those calls.

OpenAI
Software Engineering Fundamentals
Software Engineer
OpenAI
August 16, 2026
Software Engineer
Technical Screen
Software Engineering Fundamentals
Hard

12

0

125 solved


Design a tool scheduler that can handle multiple agents and their tool calls while respecting dependencies between those calls.

This question is typically asked in the technical screen round for software engineering roles at OpenAI to assess a candidate's ability to design complex systems. The interviewer is evaluating the candidate's understanding of concurrency, dependency management, and system design principles. A strong candidate should demonstrate a clear thought process in designing a scheduler that can efficiently manage multiple requests while respecting dependencies.

What the Interviewer Expects
  • Explain the requirements and constraints of the scheduler.
  • Provide a high-level design of the system, including components and interactions.
  • Discuss the handling of dependencies between tool calls.
  • Consider concurrency and potential bottlenecks in the design.
  • Identify trade-offs and scaling considerations.
Key Topics to Cover
Concurrency
Dependency Management
System Design
Scheduling Algorithms
Performance Optimization
How to Approach This
  1. Apply SOLID principles. Single Responsibility makes code testable, Open/Closed makes it extensible.
  2. Choose data structures based on access patterns, not familiarity.
  3. Prefer immutable data and message passing over shared mutable state for concurrency.
  4. Design APIs with RESTful conventions, versioning, meaningful errors, and pagination from day one.
Possible Follow-up Questions
  • How would you handle a situation where a tool call fails?
  • What strategies would you use to optimize the performance of your scheduler?
  • Can you explain how your design would scale with an increasing number of agents?
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Sample Answer
Requirements

To design a dependency-aware concurrent tool scheduler, we first need to outline the requirements:

  • Multiple Agents: Each agent can make multiple tool calls.
  • Dependency Management: Tool cal...
High-Level Design

The high-level design of the scheduler includes:

  1. Agent Manager: Manages the lifecycle of agents and their requests.
  2. Request Queue: Holds incoming requests from agents, organized by prior...

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