UltraCUA: A Foundation Model for Computer Use Agents with Hybrid Action
On the map: LLM agents and tool use → GUI and mobile agents
Abstract (arXiv)
Computer-use agents face a fundamental limitation. They rely exclusively on primitive GUI actions (click, type, scroll), creating brittle execution chains prone to cascading failures. While API-driven agents harness rich capabilities through structured interfaces and tools, computer-use agents remain constrained to low-level visual interactions. We present UltraCUA, a foundation model that transcends this limitation through hybrid action-seamlessly unifying primitive GUI operations with high-level tool execution. Our innovation rests on four critical advances. First, an automated pipeline extracts and scales tool capabilities from software documentation and code repositories. Second, a synthetic data engine produces 17,000+ verifiable tasks capturing real-world computer-use complexity. Third, comprehensive hybrid action trajectory collection incorporates both GUI primitives and strategic tool calls. Fourth, a two-stage training methodology combines supervised fine-tuning with online reinforcement learning, enabling intelligent action selection between GUI and API. Evaluation with our 7B and 32B UltraCUA models reveals transformative performance gains. On OSWorld, UltraCUA achieves 22% relative improvement while executing 11% faster than existing approaches, averagely. Cross-domain validation on WindowsAgentArena demonstrates robust generalization with 21.7% success rate, surpassing Windows-trained baselines. The hybrid action paradigm proves essential, reducing error propagation while improving execution efficiency. This work establishes a scalable paradigm bridging primitive GUI interactions and high-level tool intelligence, enabling more resilient and adaptable computer use agents for diverse environments and complex real-world tasks.
Key facts. Cited by 31 papers in the map (data through 13 Oct 2026). Placed in GUI and mobile agents, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 34 of its 42 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 20 Oct 2025.
Builds on
34 of 42 references.
Closest ancestors · 10
Same direction, newest first
- 2025Ferret-UI Lite: Lessons from Building Small On-Device GUI Agents30 Sep
- 2025UI-TARS-2 Technical Report: Advancing GUI Agent with Multi-Turn Reinforcement Learning2 Sep
- 2025OpenCUA: Open Foundations for Computer-Use Agents12 Aug
- 2025Scaling Computer-Use Grounding via User Interface Decomposition and Synthesis19 May
- 2025Agent S2: A Compositional Generalist-Specialist Framework for Computer Use Agents1 Apr
- 2025UI-TARS: Pioneering Automated GUI Interaction with Native Agents21 Jan
- 2024Windows Agent Arena: Evaluating Multi-Modal OS Agents at Scale12 Sep
- 2024OSWorld: Benchmarking Multimodal Agents for Open-Ended Tasks in Real Computer Environments11 Apr
- 2023AppAgent: Multimodal Agents as Smartphone Users21 Dec
- 2023CogAgent: A Visual Language Model for GUI Agents14 Dec
Other references · 24
- 2024DeepSeekMath: Pushing the Limits of Mathematical Reasoning in Open Language Modelscited by 9,091
- 2025Qwen2.5-VL Technical Reportcited by 5,499
- 2023Toolformer: Language Models Can Teach Themselves to Use Toolscited by 4,117
- 2025DAPO: An Open-Source LLM Reinforcement Learning System at Scalecited by 2,729
- 2023WebArena: A Realistic Web Environment for Building Autonomous Agentscited by 1,953
- 2023ToolLLM: Facilitating Large Language Models to Master 16000+ Real-world APIscited by 1,904
- 2023Gorilla: Large Language Model Connected with Massive APIscited by 1,313
- 2023Mind2Web: Towards a Generalist Agent for the Webcited by 1,222
- 2023GAIA: a benchmark for General AI Assistantscited by 1,102
- 2024GPT-4V(ision) is a Generalist Web Agent, if Groundedcited by 551
- 2024AndroidWorld: A Dynamic Benchmarking Environment for Autonomous Agentscited by 456
- 2023ToolAlpaca: Generalized Tool Learning for Language Models with 3000 Simulated Casescited by 387
12 more
- 2025ReTool: Reinforcement Learning for Strategic Tool Use in LLMscited by 383
- 2025ToolRL: Reward is All Tool Learning Needscited by 350
- 2023Tool Learning with Foundation Modelscited by 302
- 2023Large Language Models as Tool Makerscited by 294
- 2024Ferret-UI: Grounded Mobile UI Understanding with Multimodal LLMscited by 173
- 2023GPT-4V in Wonderland: Large Multimodal Models for Zero-Shot Smartphone GUI Navigationcited by 137
- 2024Aria-UI: Visual Grounding for GUI Instructionscited by 137
- 2025GTA1: GUI Test-time Scaling Agentcited by 102
- 2023From Pixels to UI Actions: Learning to Follow Instructions via Graphical User Interfacescited by 68
- 2024Ferret-UI 2: Mastering Universal User Interface Understanding Across Platformscited by 51
- 2024AgentStore: Scalable Integration of Heterogeneous Agents As Specialized Generalist Computer Assistantcited by 27
- 2025Scaling Synthetic Task Generation for Agents via Explorationcited by 20
Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2025: 1; 2026: 30.
31 papers.
Sort:
By area:
- 2026EvoCUA: Evolving Computer Use Agents via Learning from Scalable Synthetic Experiencecited by 52
- 2026CUA-Skill: Develop Skills for Computer Using Agentcited by 33
- 2026WebXSkill: Skill Learning for Autonomous Web Agentscited by 24
- 2026CUA-Gym: Scaling Verifiable Training Environments and Tasks for Computer-Use Agentscited by 22
- 2026OS-Symphony: A Holistic Framework for Robust and Generalist Computer-Using Agentcited by 20
- 2026ToolCUA: Towards Optimal GUI-Tool Path Orchestration for Computer Use Agentscited by 10
- 2026Qwen-UI-Agent Technical Report: Toward Next-Generation Real-World Centric Foundation GUI Agentscited by 10
- 2026Expanding LLM Agent Boundaries with Strategy-Guided Explorationcited by 9
- 2026Ares: Adaptive Reasoning Effort Selection for Efficient LLM Agentscited by 7
- 2026From Chatbot to Digital Colleague: The Paradigm Shift Toward Persistent Autonomous AIcited by 6
- 2026Autonomous Continual Learning for Environment Adaptation of Computer-Use Agentscited by 5
- 2026TreeCUA: Efficiently Scaling GUI Automation with Tree-Structured Verifiable Evolutioncited by 4
19 more
- 2026The Tool Illusion: Rethinking Tool Use in Web Agentscited by 4
- 2026Scaling GUI Agents with Visual State Transitionscited by 4
- 2025AppSelectBench: Application-Level Tool Selection Benchmarkcited by 3
- 2026GUI Agents with Reinforcement Learning: Toward Digital Inhabitantscited by 3
- 2026StateAct: Program State, before Pixels, for Long-Horizon Computer-Use Agentscited by 3
- 2026Automating SKILL.md Generation for Computer-Using Agents via Interaction Trajectory Miningcited by 2
- 2026MacAgentBench: Benchmarking AI Agents on Real-World macOS Desktopcited by 2
- 2026Plover: Steering GUI Agents through Plan-Centric Interactioncited by 2
- 2026Screenshots or Tools? Eliciting Tool Use and Managing Multimodal Context in Hybrid GUI-MCP Computer-Use Agentscited by 2
- 2026Echoverse: Deep, Evolving Environments for Training Computer-Use Agents at Scalecited by 1
- 2026CUA-Universe: A Scalable and Dynamic Environment for Hybrid GUI+CLI Agentscited by 1
- 2026CI4A: Semantic Component Interfaces for Agents Empowering Web Automationcited by 0
- 2026Web Agents Should Use Typed Actions Instead of Click-Based Browsingcited by 0
- 2026Sidekick: Designing Communication for Effective Multitasking with Computer Use Agentscited by 0
- 2026Improving Proficiency and Efficiency of Android GUI Agents via Self-Generating Tool Actionscited by 0
- 2026BlueLM-GUI Technical Report: A Real-Device-Centric Flywheel for Self-Improving Mobile GUI Agentscited by 0
- 2026MintAct: A Unified Visual Agent for Digital Environmentscited by 0
- 2026From Tapping to Hopping: Augmenting Mobile GUI Agents with App-Native Deeplinkscited by 0
- 2026HybridCUA: Learning to Orchestrate GUI and CLI for Computer-Use Agentscited by 0
- 2026HybridCUA: Learning to Orchestrate GUI and CLI for Computer-Use Agents29 Sep 2026
- 2026From Tapping to Hopping: Augmenting Mobile GUI Agents with App-Native Deeplinks25 Sep 2026
- 2026MintAct: A Unified Visual Agent for Digital Environments18 Sep 2026
- 2026BlueLM-GUI Technical Report: A Real-Device-Centric Flywheel for Self-Improving Mobile GUI Agents11 Sep 2026
- 2026Improving Proficiency and Efficiency of Android GUI Agents via Self-Generating Tool Actions6 Sep 2026
- 2026CUA-Universe: A Scalable and Dynamic Environment for Hybrid GUI+CLI Agents4 Sep 2026
- 2026Screenshots or Tools? Eliciting Tool Use and Managing Multimodal Context in Hybrid GUI-MCP Computer-Use Agents4 Aug 2026
- 2026Qwen-UI-Agent Technical Report: Toward Next-Generation Real-World Centric Foundation GUI Agents30 Jul 2026
- 2026Echoverse: Deep, Evolving Environments for Training Computer-Use Agents at Scale30 Jul 2026
- 2026Scaling GUI Agents with Visual State Transitions27 Jul 2026
- 2026StateAct: Program State, before Pixels, for Long-Horizon Computer-Use Agents24 Jul 2026
- 2026Sidekick: Designing Communication for Effective Multitasking with Computer Use Agents20 Jul 2026
19 more
- 2026Plover: Steering GUI Agents through Plan-Centric Interaction16 Jul 2026
- 2026MacAgentBench: Benchmarking AI Agents on Real-World macOS Desktop21 Jun 2026
- 2026Automating SKILL.md Generation for Computer-Using Agents via Interaction Trajectory Mining18 Jun 2026
- 2026From Chatbot to Digital Colleague: The Paradigm Shift Toward Persistent Autonomous AI12 Jun 2026
- 2026CUA-Gym: Scaling Verifiable Training Environments and Tasks for Computer-Use Agents25 May 2026
- 2026ToolCUA: Towards Optimal GUI-Tool Path Orchestration for Computer Use Agents12 May 2026
- 2026GUI Agents with Reinforcement Learning: Toward Digital Inhabitants30 Apr 2026
- 2026WebXSkill: Skill Learning for Autonomous Web Agents14 Apr 2026
- 2026The Tool Illusion: Rethinking Tool Use in Web Agents3 Apr 2026
- 2026Ares: Adaptive Reasoning Effort Selection for Efficient LLM Agents9 Mar 2026
- 2026Expanding LLM Agent Boundaries with Strategy-Guided Exploration2 Mar 2026
- 2026Web Agents Should Use Typed Actions Instead of Click-Based Browsing19 Feb 2026
- 2026Autonomous Continual Learning for Environment Adaptation of Computer-Use Agents10 Feb 2026
- 2026TreeCUA: Efficiently Scaling GUI Automation with Tree-Structured Verifiable Evolution10 Feb 2026
- 2026CUA-Skill: Develop Skills for Computer Using Agent28 Jan 2026
- 2026EvoCUA: Evolving Computer Use Agents via Learning from Scalable Synthetic Experience22 Jan 2026
- 2026CI4A: Semantic Component Interfaces for Agents Empowering Web Automation21 Jan 2026
- 2026OS-Symphony: A Holistic Framework for Robust and Generalist Computer-Using Agent12 Jan 2026
- 2025AppSelectBench: Application-Level Tool Selection Benchmark25 Nov 2025
- 2026EvoCUA: Evolving Computer Use Agents via Learning from Scalable Synthetic Experiencecited by 52
- 2026WebXSkill: Skill Learning for Autonomous Web Agentscited by 24
- 2026CUA-Gym: Scaling Verifiable Training Environments and Tasks for Computer-Use Agentscited by 22
- 2026ToolCUA: Towards Optimal GUI-Tool Path Orchestration for Computer Use Agentscited by 10
- 2026Qwen-UI-Agent Technical Report: Toward Next-Generation Real-World Centric Foundation GUI Agentscited by 10
- 2026Expanding LLM Agent Boundaries with Strategy-Guided Explorationcited by 9
- 2026Autonomous Continual Learning for Environment Adaptation of Computer-Use Agentscited by 5
- 2026TreeCUA: Efficiently Scaling GUI Automation with Tree-Structured Verifiable Evolutioncited by 4
- 2026The Tool Illusion: Rethinking Tool Use in Web Agentscited by 4
- 2026Scaling GUI Agents with Visual State Transitionscited by 4
- 2026GUI Agents with Reinforcement Learning: Toward Digital Inhabitantscited by 3
- 2026MacAgentBench: Benchmarking AI Agents on Real-World macOS Desktopcited by 2
12 most cited of 23 All 23 (JSON)
- 2026HybridCUA: Learning to Orchestrate GUI and CLI for Computer-Use Agents29 Sep 2026
- 2026From Tapping to Hopping: Augmenting Mobile GUI Agents with App-Native Deeplinks25 Sep 2026
- 2026BlueLM-GUI Technical Report: A Real-Device-Centric Flywheel for Self-Improving Mobile GUI Agents11 Sep 2026
- 2026Improving Proficiency and Efficiency of Android GUI Agents via Self-Generating Tool Actions6 Sep 2026
- 2026CUA-Universe: A Scalable and Dynamic Environment for Hybrid GUI+CLI Agents4 Sep 2026
- 2026Screenshots or Tools? Eliciting Tool Use and Managing Multimodal Context in Hybrid GUI-MCP Computer-Use Agents4 Aug 2026
- 2026Qwen-UI-Agent Technical Report: Toward Next-Generation Real-World Centric Foundation GUI Agents30 Jul 2026
- 2026Echoverse: Deep, Evolving Environments for Training Computer-Use Agents at Scale30 Jul 2026
- 2026Scaling GUI Agents with Visual State Transitions27 Jul 2026
- 2026Sidekick: Designing Communication for Effective Multitasking with Computer Use Agents20 Jul 2026
- 2026Plover: Steering GUI Agents through Plan-Centric Interaction16 Jul 2026
- 2026MacAgentBench: Benchmarking AI Agents on Real-World macOS Desktop21 Jun 2026
12 newest of 23 All 23 (JSON)
- 2026CUA-Skill: Develop Skills for Computer Using Agentcited by 33
- 2026From Chatbot to Digital Colleague: The Paradigm Shift Toward Persistent Autonomous AIcited by 6
- 2025AppSelectBench: Application-Level Tool Selection Benchmarkcited by 3
- 2026StateAct: Program State, before Pixels, for Long-Horizon Computer-Use Agentscited by 3
- 2026Automating SKILL.md Generation for Computer-Using Agents via Interaction Trajectory Miningcited by 2
- 2026StateAct: Program State, before Pixels, for Long-Horizon Computer-Use Agents24 Jul 2026
- 2026Automating SKILL.md Generation for Computer-Using Agents via Interaction Trajectory Mining18 Jun 2026
- 2026From Chatbot to Digital Colleague: The Paradigm Shift Toward Persistent Autonomous AI12 Jun 2026
- 2026CUA-Skill: Develop Skills for Computer Using Agent28 Jan 2026
- 2025AppSelectBench: Application-Level Tool Selection Benchmark25 Nov 2025
Similar, not cited
Close in wording, no citation either way
- 2025Computer-Use Agents as Judges for Generative User Interface
- 2026Computer-Using World Model
- 2025GUI-360^circ: A Comprehensive Dataset and Benchmark for Computer-Using Agents
- 2026Step-level Optimization for Efficient Computer-use Agents
- 2026MagicGUI-RMS: A Multi-Agent Reward Model System for Self-Evolving GUI Agents via Automated Feedback Reflux
- 2026GUI-CC: Benchmarking Contextual Consistency of GUI World Models as Agent Environments
- 2025WorldGUI: An Interactive Benchmark for Desktop GUI Automation from Any Starting Point
- 2024OS-Genesis: Automating GUI Agent Trajectory Construction via Reverse Task Synthesis