# Focused ReAct: Improving ReAct through Reiterate and Early Stop

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.10779 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.10779/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Test-time compute and efficient thinking, one of 17 directions in LLM reasoning.
- Builds on 6 of its 7 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 14 Oct 2024.

## Placed in

- LLM reasoning / [Test-time compute and efficient thinking](https://mlsanity.com/lr/test-time-compute-and-efficient-thinking/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [The Llama 3 Herd of Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.21783/) (2024)
- [ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.03629/) (2022)
- [HotpotQA: A Dataset for Diverse, Explainable Multi-hop Question Answering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1809.09600/) (2018)
- [A Survey on Large Language Model based Autonomous Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.11432/) (2023)
- [Gemma 2: Improving Open Language Models at a Practical Size](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.00118/) (2024)
- [Phi-3 Technical Report: A Highly Capable Language Model Locally on Your Phone](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.14219/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [Towards Foundation-model-based Multiagent System to Accelerate AI for Social Impact](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.07880/) (2024)
- [Data Augmentation Through Random Style Replacement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.10563/) (2025)
- [Enhancing Exchange Rate Forecasting with Explainable Deep Learning Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.19241/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Large language models (LLMs) have significantly improved their reasoning and decision-making capabilities, as seen in methods like ReAct. However, despite its effectiveness in tackling complex tasks, ReAct faces two main challenges: losing focus on the original question and becoming stuck in action loops. To address these issues, we introduce Focused ReAct, an enhanced version of the ReAct paradigm that incorporates reiteration and early stop mechanisms. These improvements help the model stay focused on the original query and avoid repetitive behaviors. Experimental results show accuracy gains of 18% to 530% and a runtime reduction of up to 34% compared to the original ReAct method.