mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

PC-Agent: A Hierarchical Multi-Agent Collaboration Framework for Complex Task Automation on PC

arXiv 2502.14282 ↗First posted 20 Feb 2025cs.CVcited by 40

On the map: LLM agents and tool use → GUI and mobile agents

Abstract (arXiv)

In the field of MLLM-based GUI agents, compared to smartphones, the PC scenario not only features a more complex interactive environment, but also involves more intricate intra- and inter-app workflows. To address these issues, we propose a hierarchical agent framework named PC-Agent. Specifically, from the perception perspective, we devise an Active Perception Module (APM) to overcome the inadequate abilities of current MLLMs in perceiving screenshot content. From the decision-making perspective, to handle complex user instructions and interdependent subtasks more effectively, we propose a hierarchical multi-agent collaboration architecture that decomposes decision-making processes into Instruction-Subtask-Action levels. Within this architecture, three agents (i.e., Manager, Progress and Decision) are set up for instruction decomposition, progress tracking and step-by-step decision-making respectively. Additionally, a Reflection agent is adopted to enable timely bottom-up error feedback and adjustment. We also introduce a new benchmark PC-Eval with 25 real-world complex instructions. Empirical results on PC-Eval show that our PC-Agent achieves a 32% absolute improvement of task success rate over previous state-of-the-art methods. The code is available at https://github.com/X-PLUG/MobileAgent/tree/main/PC-Agent.

Key facts. Cited by 40 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in GUI and mobile agents, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 15 of its 27 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 20 Feb 2025.

Builds on

15 of 27 references.

Closest ancestors · 6

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2024Agent S: An Open Agentic Framework that Uses Computers Like a Human10 Oct
  2. 2024Windows Agent Arena: Evaluating Multi-Modal OS Agents at Scale12 Sep
  3. 2024OSWorld: Benchmarking Multimodal Agents for Open-Ended Tasks in Real Computer Environments11 Apr
  4. 2024Mobile-Agent: Autonomous Multi-Modal Mobile Device Agent with Visual Perception29 Jan
  5. 2023AppAgent: Multimodal Agents as Smartphone Users21 Dec
  6. 2023CogAgent: A Visual Language Model for GUI Agents14 Dec

Other references · 9

  1. 2024Qwen2-VL: Enhancing Vision-Language Model's Perception of the World at Any Resolutioncited by 4,234
  2. 2024LLaVA-OneVision: Easy Visual Task Transfercited by 2,719
  3. 2023InternVL: Scaling up Vision Foundation Models and Aligning for Generic Visual-Linguistic Taskscited by 2,565
  4. 2023mPLUG-Owl2: Revolutionizing Multi-modal Large Language Model with Modality Collaborationcited by 547
  5. 2023A Real-World WebAgent with Planning, Long Context Understanding, and Program Synthesiscited by 353
  6. 2023Set-of-Mark Prompting Unleashes Extraordinary Visual Grounding in GPT-4Vcited by 299
  7. 2024UFO: A UI-Focused Agent for Windows OS Interactioncited by 148
  8. 2024OSCAR: Operating System Control via State-Aware Reasoning and Re-Planningcited by 38
  9. 2024PC Agent: While You Sleep, AI Works -- A Cognitive Journey into Digital Worldcited by 12

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 14 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2025: 21; 2026: 19.

40 papers.

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By area:

  1. 2025Scaling Computer-Use Grounding via User Interface Decomposition and Synthesiscited by 139
  2. 2025ScaleCUA: Scaling Open-Source Computer Use Agents with Cross-Platform Datacited by 60
  3. 2026A Survey of Agentic Reasoning for Large Language Models: Towards Recursively Self-Improving and Collective Agentscited by 50
  4. 2025Step-GUI Technical Reportcited by 39
  5. 2025Towards Trustworthy GUI Agents: A Surveycited by 34
  6. 2025MAGPIE: A benchmark for Multi-AGent contextual PrIvacy Evaluationcited by 29
  7. 2025Look Before You Leap: A GUI-Critic-R1 Model for Pre-Operative Error Diagnosis in GUI Automationcited by 27
  8. 2025A Survey on the Safety and Security Threats of Computer-Using Agents: JARVIS or Ultron?cited by 23
  9. 2026AgentOCR: Reimagining Agent History via Optical Self-Compressioncited by 22
  10. 2026OS-Symphony: A Holistic Framework for Robust and Generalist Computer-Using Agentcited by 21
  11. 2025Efficient Agent Training for Computer Usecited by 18
  12. 2025Trading-R1: Financial Trading with LLM Reasoning via Reinforcement Learningcited by 15
28 more
  1. 2025Dyna-Think: Synergizing Reasoning, Acting, and World Model Simulation in AI Agentscited by 14
  2. 2025Evolutionary Perspectives on the Evaluation of LLM-Based AI Agents: A Comprehensive Surveycited by 13
  3. 2025Atomic-to-Compositional Generalization for Mobile Agents with A New Benchmark and Scheduling Systemcited by 12
  4. 2026ToolCUA: Towards Optimal GUI-Tool Path Orchestration for Computer Use Agentscited by 11
  5. 2026InfiAgent: An Infinite-Horizon Framework for General-Purpose Autonomous Agentscited by 10
  6. 2026AndroTMem: From Interaction Trajectories to Anchored Memory in Long-Horizon GUI Agentscited by 10
  7. 2025Dyna-Mind: Learning to Simulate from Experience for Better AI Agentscited by 8
  8. 2026OpAgent: Operator Agent for Web Navigationcited by 8
  9. 2025MVISU-Bench: Benchmarking Mobile Agents for Real-World Tasks by Multi-App, Vague, Interactive, Single-App and Unethical Instructionscited by 7
  10. 2025FineState-Bench: A Comprehensive Benchmark for Fine-Grained State Control in GUI Agentscited by 5
  11. 2025Recon-Act: A Self-Evolving Multi-Agent Browser-Use System via Web Reconnaissance, Tool Generation, and Task Executioncited by 5
  12. 2026Rethinking KV Cache Eviction via a Unified Information-Theoretic Objectivecited by 5
  13. 2026FineState-Bench: Benchmarking State-Conditioned Grounding for Fine-grained GUI State Settingcited by 5
  14. 2026Workflow-GYM: Towards Long-Horizon Evaluation of Computer-use Agentic tasks in Real-World Professional Fieldscited by 5
  15. 2026Xiaomi-GUI-0 Technical Reportcited by 5
  16. 2025InfiAgent: Self-Evolving Pyramid Agent Framework for Infinite Scenarioscited by 4
  17. 2026LiteGUI: Distilling Compact GUI Agents with Reinforcement Learningcited by 4
  18. 2025From Virtual Agents to Robot Teams: A Multi-Robot Framework Evaluation in High-Stakes Healthcare Contextcited by 3
  19. 2026Evo-Attacker: Memory-Augmented Reinforcement Learning for Long-Horizon Tool Attacks on LLM-MAScited by 3
  20. 2025Learning, Reasoning, Refinement: A Framework for Kahneman's Dual-System Intelligence in GUI Agentscited by 2
  21. 2025An Auditable Agent Platform For Automated Molecular Optimisationcited by 2
  22. 2025Interaction as Intelligence Part II: Asynchronous Human-Agent Rollout for Long-Horizon Task Trainingcited by 1
  23. 2026GPA: Learning GUI Process Automation from Demonstrationscited by 1
  24. 2026ReTool-Video: Recursive Tool-Using Video Agents with Meta-Augmented Tool Groundingcited by 1
  25. 2026Software Engineering for and with GUI Agentcited by 1
  26. 2026NetConfArena: An Executable Benchmark for LLM Agents in Closed-Loop Network Configurationcited by 1
  27. 2026Bridging Values and Behavior: A Hierarchical Framework for Proactive Embodied Agentscited by 0
  28. 2026Reflection with Action-Induced Visual Differences for Desktop GUI Agentscited by 0

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2025COLA: A Scalable Multi-Agent Framework For Windows UI Task Automation
  2. 2025Instruction Agent: Enhancing Agent with Expert Demonstration
  3. 2023ASSISTGUI: Task-Oriented Desktop Graphical User Interface Automation
  4. 2025MMBench-GUI: Hierarchical Multi-Platform Evaluation Framework for GUI Agents
  5. 2026UI-Venus-2 Technical Report
  6. 2025Agent S2: A Compositional Generalist-Specialist Framework for Computer Use Agents
  7. 2026WindowsWorld: A Process-Centric Benchmark of Autonomous GUI Agents in Professional Cross-Application Environments
  8. 2025UI-Vision: A Desktop-centric GUI Benchmark for Visual Perception and Interaction