# The Thundering Herd Problem in Agentic AI: Why Traditional Fixes Fall Short

DevFeed: [The Thundering Herd Problem in Agentic AI: Why Traditional Fixes Fall Short](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/the-thundering-herd-problem-in-agentic-ai-why-traditional-fixes-fall-short-23739.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://cockroachlabs.com/blog/agentic-ai-thundering-herd-problem>)

Author: Quentin Packard

Published: 2026-06-19T00:00:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Cockroach Labs](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/cockroach-labs.md>)

Topics: [Agentic AI Architecture](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/agentic-ai-architecture.md>), [agent orchestration](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/agent-orchestration.md>), [AI Agent](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ai-agent.md>), [Artificial Intelligence](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ai.md>), [Concurrency](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/concurrency.md>)

Tags: [agent-orchestration](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/agent-orchestration.md>), [agentic-ai](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/agentic-ai.md>), [ai-architecture](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai-architecture.md>), [load-testing](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/load-testing.md>), [parallel](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/parallel.md>), [thundering-herd](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/thundering-herd.md>)

## AI overview

This article examines how agentic AI can create a thundering herd through intentional fan-out and parallel execution. It argues that traditional mitigations only partly transfer because agent-generated synchronization can produce a sharp saturation point that staging load tests may not reveal.

## Source excerpt

The thundering herd of the past was externally triggered.