mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Training Multi-Image Vision Agents via End2End Reinforcement Learning

arXiv 2512.08980 ↗First posted 5 Dec 2025cs.CV cs.AIcited by 4

On the map: LLM agents and tool use → Multimodal and embodied agents

Abstract (arXiv)

Recent VLM-based agents aim to replicate OpenAI O3's "thinking with images" via tool use, yet most open-source methods restrict inputs to a single image, limiting their applicability to real-world multi-image QA tasks. To address this gap, we propose IMAgent, an open-source visual agent trained with end-to-end reinforcement learning for fine-grained single/multi-image reasoning. During inference, VLMs tend to gradually neglect visual inputs; to mitigate this issue, we design two dedicated tools for visual reflection and verification, enabling the model to actively refocus attention on image content. Beyond that, we, for the first time, reveal how tool usage enhances agent performance from an attention perspective. Equipped with a carefully designed two-layer motion trajectory masking strategy and tool-use reward gain, IMAgent acquires an effective tool-use paradigm through pure reinforcement learning, eliminating the need for costly supervised fine-tuning data. To further unleash the inherent tool-usage potential of the base VLM and fill data gaps, we construct a challenging, visually enriched multi-image QA dataset via multi-agent system. Extensive experiments validate that IMAgent achieves SOTA performance across mainstream single and multi-image benchmarks, and our in-depth analysis offers actionable insights for the community. Code and data will be released soon.

Key facts. Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Multimodal and embodied agents, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 57 of its 69 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 5 Dec 2025.

Builds on

57 of 69 references.

Closest ancestors · 4

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2025Skywork-R1V4: Toward Agentic Multimodal Intelligence through Interleaved Thinking with Images and DeepResearch2 Dec
  2. 2025DeepEyesV2: Toward Agentic Multimodal Model7 Nov
  3. 2025WebWatcher: Breaking New Frontier of Vision-Language Deep Research Agent7 Aug
  4. 2025VTool-R1: VLMs Learn to Think with Images via Reinforcement Learning on Multimodal Tool Use25 May

Other references · 53

  1. 2024DeepSeekMath: Pushing the Limits of Mathematical Reasoning in Open Language Modelscited by 8,851
  2. 2023Direct Preference Optimization: Your Language Model is Secretly a Reward Modelcited by 7,916
  3. 2025DeepSeek-R1: Incentivizing Reasoning Capability in LLMs via Reinforcement Learningcited by 6,146
  4. 2025Qwen2.5-VL Technical Reportcited by 5,418
  5. 2024GPT-4o System Cardcited by 4,467
  6. 2025Gemini 2.5: Pushing the Frontier with Advanced Reasoning, Multimodality, Long Context, and Next Generation Agentic Capabilitiescited by 3,655
  7. 2024LLaVA-OneVision: Easy Visual Task Transfercited by 2,669
  8. 2025Qwen3-VL Technical Reportcited by 2,534
  9. 2025Search-R1: Training LLMs to Reason and Leverage Search Engines with Reinforcement Learningcited by 1,371
  10. 2024BLINK: Multimodal Large Language Models Can See but Not Perceivecited by 529
  11. 2025Video-R1: Reinforcing Video Reasoning in MLLMscited by 464
  12. 2023V*: Guided Visual Search as a Core Mechanism in Multimodal LLMscited by 459
38 more
  1. 2023RLHF-V: Towards Trustworthy MLLMs via Behavior Alignment from Fine-grained Correctional Human Feedbackcited by 404
  2. 2025ReTool: Reinforcement Learning for Strategic Tool Use in LLMscited by 377
  3. 2024MME-RealWorld: Could Your Multimodal LLM Challenge High-Resolution Real-World Scenarios that are Difficult for Humans?cited by 284
  4. 2023ToRA: A Tool-Integrated Reasoning Agent for Mathematical Problem Solvingcited by 276
  5. 2025Pixel Reasoner: Incentivizing Pixel-Space Reasoning with Curiosity-Driven Reinforcement Learningcited by 267
  6. 2024Monte Carlo Tree Search Boosts Reasoning via Iterative Preference Learningcited by 238
  7. 2025Seg-Zero: Reasoning-Chain Guided Segmentation via Cognitive Reinforcementcited by 234
  8. 2024MANTIS: Interleaved Multi-Image Instruction Tuningcited by 212
  9. 2025The Landscape of Agentic Reinforcement Learning for LLMs: A Surveycited by 195
  10. 2025R1-Zero's "Aha Moment" in Visual Reasoning on a 2B Non-SFT Modelcited by 163
  11. 2025OpenThinkIMG: Learning to Think with Images via Visual Tool Reinforcement Learningcited by 163
  12. 2025Thyme: Think Beyond Imagescited by 160
  13. 2024Divide, Conquer and Combine: A Training-Free Framework for High-Resolution Image Perception in Multimodal Large Language Modelscited by 151
  14. 2025SimpleTIR: End-to-End Reinforcement Learning for Multi-Turn Tool-Integrated Reasoningcited by 145
  15. 2025Mini-o3: Scaling Up Reasoning Patterns and Interaction Turns for Visual Searchcited by 116
  16. 2025Agentic Reasoning and Tool Integration for LLMs via Reinforcement Learningcited by 107
  17. 2024ZoomEye: Enhancing Multimodal LLMs with Human-Like Zooming Capabilities through Tree-Based Image Explorationcited by 99
  18. 2025R1-Omni: Explainable Omni-Multimodal Emotion Recognition with Reinforcement Learningcited by 99
  19. 2024MMSearch: Benchmarking the Potential of Large Models as Multi-modal Search Enginescited by 98
  20. 2025Unified Multimodal Chain-of-Thought Reward Model through Reinforcement Fine-Tuningcited by 86
  21. 2025ReFocus: Visual Editing as a Chain of Thought for Structured Image Understandingcited by 81
  22. 2025Vision-R1: Evolving Human-Free Alignment in Large Vision-Language Models via Vision-Guided Reinforcement Learningcited by 68
  23. 2025VRAG-RL: Empower Vision-Perception-Based RAG for Visually Rich Information Understanding via Iterative Reasoning with Reinforcement Learningcited by 68
  24. 2024MLLM-Tool: A Multimodal Large Language Model For Tool Agent Learningcited by 66
  25. 2025R1-Reward: Training Multimodal Reward Model Through Stable Reinforcement Learningcited by 65
  26. 2025RedStar: Does Scaling Long-CoT Data Unlock Better Slow-Reasoning Systems?cited by 60
  27. 2024Multi-modal Agent Tuning: Building a VLM-Driven Agent for Efficient Tool Usagecited by 49
  28. 2025DyFo: A Training-Free Dynamic Focus Visual Search for Enhancing LMMs in Fine-Grained Visual Understandingcited by 47
  29. 2025Ground-R1: Incentivizing Grounded Visual Reasoning via Reinforcement Learningcited by 46
  30. 2024MIBench: Evaluating Multimodal Large Language Models over Multiple Imagescited by 36
  31. 2025MoDoMoDo: Multi-Domain Data Mixtures for Multimodal LLM Reinforcement Learningcited by 29
  32. 2025Promoting Efficient Reasoning with Verifiable Stepwise Rewardcited by 27
  33. 2025ViCrit: A Verifiable Reinforcement Learning Proxy Task for Visual Perception in VLMscited by 25
  34. 2025Identifying and Mitigating Position Bias of Multi-image Vision-Language Modelscited by 24
  35. 2025Simple o3: Towards Interleaved Vision-Language Reasoningcited by 24
  36. 2025Migician: Revealing the Magic of Free-Form Multi-Image Grounding in Multimodal Large Language Modelscited by 22
  37. 2025RLFactory: A Plug-and-Play Reinforcement Learning Post-Training Framework for LLM Multi-Turn Tool-Usecited by 17
  38. 2025Mixed-R1: Unified Reward Perspective For Reasoning Capability in Multimodal Large Language Modelscited by 13

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2025: 1; 2026: 3.

4 papers.

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2025Visual Agentic Reinforcement Fine-Tuning
  2. 2025V-Thinker: Interactive Thinking with Images
  3. 2026Insight-V++: Towards Advanced Long-Chain Visual Reasoning with Multimodal Large Language Models
  4. 2025SenseNova-MARS: Empowering Multimodal Agentic Reasoning and Search via Reinforcement Learning
  5. 2025Scaling Agentic Reinforcement Learning for Tool-Integrated Reasoning in VLMs
  6. 2026DeepLatent: Think with Images via Parallel Latent Visual Reasoning
  7. 2026ImageEdit-R1: Boosting Multi-Agent Image Editing via Reinforcement Learning
  8. 2026PyVision-RL: Forging Open Agentic Vision Models via RL