PC-Agent: A Hierarchical Multi-Agent Collaboration Framework for Complex Task Automation on PC
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
- 2024Agent S: An Open Agentic Framework that Uses Computers Like a Human10 Oct
- 2024Windows Agent Arena: Evaluating Multi-Modal OS Agents at Scale12 Sep
- 2024OSWorld: Benchmarking Multimodal Agents for Open-Ended Tasks in Real Computer Environments11 Apr
- 2024Mobile-Agent: Autonomous Multi-Modal Mobile Device Agent with Visual Perception29 Jan
- 2023AppAgent: Multimodal Agents as Smartphone Users21 Dec
- 2023CogAgent: A Visual Language Model for GUI Agents14 Dec
Other references · 9
- 2024Qwen2-VL: Enhancing Vision-Language Model's Perception of the World at Any Resolutioncited by 4,234
- 2024LLaVA-OneVision: Easy Visual Task Transfercited by 2,719
- 2023InternVL: Scaling up Vision Foundation Models and Aligning for Generic Visual-Linguistic Taskscited by 2,565
- 2023mPLUG-Owl2: Revolutionizing Multi-modal Large Language Model with Modality Collaborationcited by 547
- 2023A Real-World WebAgent with Planning, Long Context Understanding, and Program Synthesiscited by 353
- 2023Set-of-Mark Prompting Unleashes Extraordinary Visual Grounding in GPT-4Vcited by 299
- 2024UFO: A UI-Focused Agent for Windows OS Interactioncited by 148
- 2024OSCAR: Operating System Control via State-Aware Reasoning and Re-Planningcited by 38
- 2024PC Agent: While You Sleep, AI Works -- A Cognitive Journey into Digital Worldcited by 12
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Citing papers per year: 2025: 21; 2026: 19.
40 papers.
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- 2026Evo-Attacker: Memory-Augmented Reinforcement Learning for Long-Horizon Tool Attacks on LLM-MAS25 May 2026
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- 2026Rethinking KV Cache Eviction via a Unified Information-Theoretic Objective28 Apr 2026
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- 2025Trading-R1: Financial Trading with LLM Reasoning via Reinforcement Learning14 Sep 2025
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- 2025A Survey on the Safety and Security Threats of Computer-Using Agents: JARVIS or Ultron?16 May 2025
- 2025Towards Trustworthy GUI Agents: A Survey30 Mar 2025
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- 2026Software Engineering for and with GUI Agent10 Aug 2026
- 2026Xiaomi-GUI-0 Technical Report30 Jun 2026
- 2026Workflow-GYM: Towards Long-Horizon Evaluation of Computer-use Agentic tasks in Real-World Professional Fields9 Jun 2026
- 2026Evo-Attacker: Memory-Augmented Reinforcement Learning for Long-Horizon Tool Attacks on LLM-MAS25 May 2026
- 2026ToolCUA: Towards Optimal GUI-Tool Path Orchestration for Computer Use Agents12 May 2026
- 2026LiteGUI: Distilling Compact GUI Agents with Reinforcement Learning8 May 2026
- 2026Bridging Values and Behavior: A Hierarchical Framework for Proactive Embodied Agents30 Apr 2026
- 2026AndroTMem: From Interaction Trajectories to Anchored Memory in Long-Horizon GUI Agents19 Mar 2026
- 2026OpAgent: Operator Agent for Web Navigation14 Feb 2026
- 2026AgentOCR: Reimagining Agent History via Optical Self-Compression8 Jan 2026
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- 2026A Survey of Agentic Reasoning for Large Language Models: Towards Recursively Self-Improving and Collective Agentscited by 50
- 2025Look Before You Leap: A GUI-Critic-R1 Model for Pre-Operative Error Diagnosis in GUI Automationcited by 27
- 2025Trading-R1: Financial Trading with LLM Reasoning via Reinforcement Learningcited by 15
- 2025Dyna-Mind: Learning to Simulate from Experience for Better AI Agentscited by 8
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- 2026Rethinking KV Cache Eviction via a Unified Information-Theoretic Objectivecited by 5
- 2025Learning, Reasoning, Refinement: A Framework for Kahneman's Dual-System Intelligence in GUI Agentscited by 2
- 2025An Auditable Agent Platform For Automated Molecular Optimisationcited by 2
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- 2026ReTool-Video: Recursive Tool-Using Video Agents with Meta-Augmented Tool Grounding13 May 2026
- 2026Rethinking KV Cache Eviction via a Unified Information-Theoretic Objective28 Apr 2026
- 2026A Survey of Agentic Reasoning for Large Language Models: Towards Recursively Self-Improving and Collective Agents18 Jan 2026
- 2025Dyna-Mind: Learning to Simulate from Experience for Better AI Agents10 Oct 2025
- 2025Trading-R1: Financial Trading with LLM Reasoning via Reinforcement Learning14 Sep 2025
- 2025MVISU-Bench: Benchmarking Mobile Agents for Real-World Tasks by Multi-App, Vague, Interactive, Single-App and Unethical Instructions12 Aug 2025
- 2025An Auditable Agent Platform For Automated Molecular Optimisation5 Aug 2025
- 2025Learning, Reasoning, Refinement: A Framework for Kahneman's Dual-System Intelligence in GUI Agents22 Jun 2025
- 2025Look Before You Leap: A GUI-Critic-R1 Model for Pre-Operative Error Diagnosis in GUI Automation5 Jun 2025
- 2025Recon-Act: A Self-Evolving Multi-Agent Browser-Use System via Web Reconnaissance, Tool Generation, and Task Executioncited by 5
- 2025From Virtual Agents to Robot Teams: A Multi-Robot Framework Evaluation in High-Stakes Healthcare Contextcited by 3
- 2026GPA: Learning GUI Process Automation from Demonstrationscited by 1
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- 2025Recon-Act: A Self-Evolving Multi-Agent Browser-Use System via Web Reconnaissance, Tool Generation, and Task Execution25 Sep 2025
- 2025From Virtual Agents to Robot Teams: A Multi-Robot Framework Evaluation in High-Stakes Healthcare Context4 Jun 2025
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