ABSTRACTThis article investigates the bipartite time‐varying formation‐containment (BTVFC) tracking problem of linear multi‐agent systems (MASs) with bounded and unknown inputs for the virtual leader. This article proposes adaptive BTVFC tracking protocols suitable for MASs based on bipartite control. It has been demonstrated that real leaders can realize the expected formation and track the virtual leaders' trajectory, and followers can enter the convex envelope that the leaders cross by utilizing Lyapunov stability. In addition, this article also designs the state observer to observe the states of agents that are difficult to measure in the system. Finally, the validity of the main results in the article was verified through numerical simulations.