diff --git a/src/phage/action/PhageAgentAction.php b/src/phage/action/PhageAgentAction.php
--- a/src/phage/action/PhageAgentAction.php
+++ b/src/phage/action/PhageAgentAction.php
@@ -11,6 +11,13 @@
   private $isExiting = false;
   private $isActive = false;
 
+  private $limit = 0;
+  private $throttle = 0;
+  private $waitUntil;
+
+  private $queued = array();
+  private $active = array();
+
   final public function isContainerAction() {
     return true;
   }
@@ -20,14 +27,49 @@
     // explicit or by making agents execute actions?
 
     if (!($action instanceof PhageExecuteAction)) {
-      throw new Exception(pht('Can only add execute actions to an agent.'));
+      throw new Exception(
+        pht(
+          'Can only add execute actions to an agent.'));
     }
+
+    if ($this->isExiting) {
+      throw new Exception(
+        pht(
+          'You can not add new actions to an exiting agent.'));
+    }
+
+    $key = 'command/'.$this->commandKey++;
+
+    $this->commands[$key] = array(
+      'key' => $key,
+      'command' => $action,
+    );
+
+    $this->queued[$key] = $key;
   }
 
   public function isActiveAgent() {
     return $this->isActive;
   }
 
+  final public function setLimit($limit) {
+    $this->limit = $limit;
+    return $this;
+  }
+
+  final public function getLimit() {
+    return $this->limit;
+  }
+
+  final public function setThrottle($throttle) {
+    $this->throttle = $throttle;
+    return $this;
+  }
+
+  final public function getThrottle() {
+    return $this->throttle;
+  }
+
   abstract protected function newAgentFuture(PhutilCommandString $command);
 
   protected function getAllWaitingChannels() {
@@ -52,25 +94,62 @@
 
     $channel = new PhutilJSONProtocolChannel($channel);
 
-    foreach ($this->getActions() as $command) {
-      $key = 'command/'.$this->commandKey++;
+    $this->future = $future;
+    $this->channel = $channel;
+    $this->isActive = true;
+  }
+
+  private function updateQueue() {
+    // If we don't have anything waiting in queue, we have nothing to do.
+    if (!$this->queued) {
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    $now = microtime(true);
+
+    // If we're throttling commands and recently started one, don't start
+    // another one yet.
+    $throttle = $this->getThrottle();
+    if ($throttle) {
+      if ($this->waitUntil && ($now < $this->waitUntil)) {
+        return false;
+      }
+    }
+
+    // If we're limiting parallelism and the active list is full, don't
+    // start anything else yet.
+    $limit = $this->getLimit();
+    if ($limit) {
+      if (count($this->active) >= $limit) {
+        return false;
+      }
+    }
+
+    // Move a command out of the queue and tell the agent to execute it.
+    $key = head($this->queued);
+    unset($this->queued[$key]);
+
+    $this->active[$key] = $key;
+    $command = $this->commands[$key]['command'];
+
+    $channel = $this->getChannel();
 
-      $this->commands[$key] = array(
+    $channel->write(
+      array(
+        'type' => 'EXEC',
         'key' => $key,
-        'command' => $command,
-      );
-
-      $channel->write(
-        array(
-          'type' => 'EXEC',
-          'key' => $key,
-          'command' => $command->getCommand()->getUnmaskedString(),
-        ));
+        'command' => $command->getCommand()->getUnmaskedString(),
+      ));
+
+    if ($throttle) {
+      $this->waitUntil = ($now + $throttle);
     }
 
-    $this->future = $future;
-    $this->channel = $channel;
-    $this->isActive = true;
+    return true;
+  }
+
+  private function getChannel() {
+    return $this->channel;
   }
 
   public function updateAgent() {
@@ -81,6 +160,10 @@
     $channel = $this->channel;
 
     while (true) {
+      do {
+        $did_update = $this->updateQueue();
+      } while ($did_update);
+
       $is_open = $channel->update();
 
       $message = $channel->read();
@@ -112,9 +195,9 @@
               fprintf(STDOUT, '%s', $exit_code);
             }
 
-            unset($this->commands[$key]);
+            unset($this->active[$key]);
 
-            if (!$this->commands) {
+            if (!$this->active && !$this->queued) {
               $channel->write(
                 array(
                   'type' => 'EXIT',