mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Understanding the planning of LLM agents: A survey

arXiv 2402.02716 ↗First posted 5 Feb 2024cs.AI cs.CL cs.LGcited by 414

On the map: LLM agents and tool use → General LLM agent frameworks and benchmarks

Abstract (arXiv)

As Large Language Models (LLMs) have shown significant intelligence, the progress to leverage LLMs as planning modules of autonomous agents has attracted more attention. This survey provides the first systematic view of LLM-based agents planning, covering recent works aiming to improve planning ability. We provide a taxonomy of existing works on LLM-Agent planning, which can be categorized into Task Decomposition, Plan Selection, External Module, Reflection and Memory. Comprehensive analyses are conducted for each direction, and further challenges for the field of research are discussed.

Key facts. Cited by 414 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in General LLM agent frameworks and benchmarks, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 51 of its 62 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 5 Feb 2024.

Builds on

51 of 62 references.

Closest ancestors · 4

Same direction, newest first

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  2. 2023A Survey on Large Language Model based Autonomous Agents22 Aug
  3. 2023AgentBench: Evaluating LLMs as Agents7 Aug
  4. 2023SwiftSage: A Generative Agent with Fast and Slow Thinking for Complex Interactive Tasks27 May

Other references · 47

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  7. 2022Large Language Models are Zero-Shot Reasonerscited by 4,323
  8. 2023Reflexion: Language Agents with Verbal Reinforcement Learningcited by 4,064
  9. 2018HotpotQA: A Dataset for Diverse, Explainable Multi-hop Question Answeringcited by 3,686
  10. 2023Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behaviorcited by 3,500
  11. 2023Self-Refine: Iterative Refinement with Self-Feedbackcited by 3,317
  12. 2023Tree of Thoughts: Deliberate Problem Solving with Large Language Modelscited by 3,155
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  4. 2023A Survey on Hallucination in Large Language Models: Principles, Taxonomy, Challenges, and Open Questionscited by 1,582
  5. 2021Decision Transformer: Reinforcement Learning via Sequence Modelingcited by 1,528
  6. 2018FEVER: a large-scale dataset for Fact Extraction and VERificationcited by 1,362
  7. 2023MemGPT: Towards LLMs as Operating Systemscited by 1,295
  8. 2023Mind2Web: Towards a Generalist Agent for the Webcited by 1,210
  9. 2020ALFWorld: Aligning Text and Embodied Environments for Interactive Learningcited by 1,143
  10. 2022Program of Thoughts Prompting: Disentangling Computation from Reasoning for Numerical Reasoning Taskscited by 1,057
  11. 2023Graph of Thoughts: Solving Elaborate Problems with Large Language Modelscited by 873
  12. 2023Reasoning with Language Model is Planning with World Modelcited by 846
  13. 2023CRITIC: Large Language Models Can Self-Correct with Tool-Interactive Critiquingcited by 751
  14. 2023Siren's Song in the AI Ocean: A Survey on Hallucination in Large Language Modelscited by 695
  15. 2023Unifying Large Language Models and Knowledge Graphs: A Roadmapcited by 663
  16. 2023Visual ChatGPT: Talking, Drawing and Editing with Visual Foundation Modelscited by 659
  17. 2023Plan-and-Solve Prompting: Improving Zero-Shot Chain-of-Thought Reasoning by Large Language Modelscited by 550
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  19. 2023LLM+P: Empowering Large Language Models with Optimal Planning Proficiencycited by 496
  20. 2023Language Models can Solve Computer Taskscited by 371
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  29. 2020Keep CALM and Explore: Language Models for Action Generation in Text-based Gamescited by 108
  30. 2023Learning From Mistakes Makes LLM Better Reasonercited by 97
  31. 2015Deep Reinforcement Learning with a Natural Language Action Spacecited by 88
  32. 2023Think-in-Memory: Recalling and Post-thinking Enable LLMs with Long-Term Memorycited by 64
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  34. 2023Coupling Large Language Models with Logic Programming for Robust and General Reasoning from Textcited by 59
  35. 2023LLM A*: Human in the Loop Large Language Models Enabled A* Search for Roboticscited by 26

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2024: 62; 2025: 232; 2026: 120.

414 papers.

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  2. 2025UI-TARS: Pioneering Automated GUI Interaction with Native Agentscited by 584
  3. 2025Multi-Agent Collaboration Mechanisms: A Survey of LLMscited by 424
  4. 2024Data Interpreter: An LLM Agent For Data Sciencecited by 222
  5. 2024Tool Learning with Large Language Models: A Surveycited by 221
  6. 2024Two Tales of Persona in LLMs: A Survey of Role-Playing and Personalizationcited by 203
  7. 2025The Landscape of Agentic Reinforcement Learning for LLMs: A Surveycited by 195
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  9. 2024The Landscape of Emerging AI Agent Architectures for Reasoning, Planning, and Tool Calling: A Surveycited by 164
  10. 2024Large Language Model-Brained GUI Agents: A Surveycited by 160
  11. 2024The BrowserGym Ecosystem for Web Agent Researchcited by 152
  12. 2025From LLM Reasoning to Autonomous AI Agents: A Comprehensive Reviewcited by 146
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  4. 2024The Emerged Security and Privacy of LLM Agent: A Survey with Case Studiescited by 127
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  7. 2026SoK: Agentic Skills -- Beyond Tool Use in LLM Agentscited by 120
  8. 2025G-Memory: Tracing Hierarchical Memory for Multi-Agent Systemscited by 112
  9. 2025AgenTracer: Who Is Inducing Failure in the LLM Agentic Systems?cited by 105
  10. 2024GUI Agents: A Surveycited by 101
  11. 2025Monte Carlo Tree Search for Comprehensive Exploration in LLM-Based Automatic Heuristic Designcited by 100
  12. 2024Large Language Models as Urban Residents: An LLM Agent Framework for Personal Mobility Generationcited by 99
  13. 2025A Survey of WebAgents: Towards Next-Generation AI Agents for Web Automation with Large Foundation Modelscited by 87
  14. 2025From Automation to Autonomy: A Survey on Large Language Models in Scientific Discoverycited by 86
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  16. 2025PlanGenLLMs: A Modern Survey of LLM Planning Capabilitiescited by 82
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  18. 2025From AI for Science to Agentic Science: A Survey on Autonomous Scientific Discoverycited by 74
  19. 2024Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Natural Language Processing: A Surveycited by 70
  20. 2025InfiGUIAgent: A Multimodal Generalist GUI Agent with Native Reasoning and Reflectioncited by 67
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  22. 2025A Survey on (M)LLM-Based GUI Agentscited by 61
  23. 2025Hierarchical Memory for High-Efficiency Long-Term Reasoning in LLM Agentscited by 60
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  25. 2025SagaLLM: Context Management, Validation, and Transaction Guarantees for Multi-Agent LLM Planningcited by 58
  26. 2025Evaluating LLM-based Agents for Multi-Turn Conversations: A Surveycited by 56
  27. 2025MobileGUI-RL: Advancing Mobile GUI Agent through Reinforcement Learning in Online Environmentcited by 51
  28. 2026Taming Various Privilege Escalation in LLM-Based Agent Systems: A Mandatory Access Control Frameworkcited by 50
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  30. 2024Autoformulation of Mathematical Optimization Models Using LLMscited by 48
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  32. 2024Large Language Models Can Solve Real-World Planning Rigorously with Formal Verification Toolscited by 47
  33. 2024Project Sid: Many-agent simulations toward AI civilizationcited by 46
  34. 2025TRAJECT-Bench:A Trajectory-Aware Benchmark for Evaluating Agentic Tool Usecited by 46
  35. 2025A Survey on the Optimization of Large Language Model-based Agentscited by 45
  36. 2025AgentCPM-GUI: Building Mobile-Use Agents with Reinforcement Fine-Tuningcited by 44
  37. 2024Can Graph Learning Improve Planning in LLM-based Agents?cited by 42
  38. 2025ChemAgent: Self-updating Library in Large Language Models Improves Chemical Reasoningcited by 41

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