The Scatter-Gather routes a request message to the a number of recipients. It then uses an Aggregator to collect the responses and distill them into a single response message.

There are two variants of the Scatter-Gather that use different mechanisms to send the request messages to the intended recipients:

Distribution via a Recipient List allows the Scatter-Gather to control the list of recipients but requires the Scatter-Gather to be aware of each recipient's message channel.

Auction-style Scatter-Gathers use a Publish-Subscribe Channel to broadcast the request to any interested participant. This option allows the Scatter-Gather to use a single channel but at the same time relinquishes control.