mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

SimpleMem: Efficient Lifelong Memory for LLM Agents

arXiv 2601.02553 ↗First posted 5 Jan 2026cs.AIcited by 140

On the map: LLM agents and tool use → Agent memory systems

Abstract (arXiv)

To support long-term interaction in complex environments, LLM agents require memory systems that manage historical experiences. Existing approaches either retain full interaction histories via passive context extension, leading to substantial redundancy, or rely on iterative reasoning to filter noise, incurring high token costs. To address this challenge, we introduce SimpleMem, an efficient memory framework based on semantic lossless compression. We propose a three-stage pipeline designed to maximize information density and token utilization: (1) Semantic Structured Compression, which distills unstructured interactions into compact, multi-view indexed memory units; (2) Online Semantic Synthesis, an intra-session process that instantly integrates related context into unified abstract representations to eliminate redundancy; and (3) Intent-Aware Retrieval Planning, which infers search intent to dynamically determine retrieval scope and construct precise context efficiently. Experiments on benchmark datasets show that our method consistently outperforms baseline approaches in accuracy, retrieval efficiency, and inference cost, achieving an average F1 improvement of 26.4% in LoCoMo while reducing inference-time token consumption by up to 30-fold, demonstrating a superior balance between performance and efficiency. Code is available at https://github.com/aiming-lab/SimpleMem.

Key facts. Cited by 140 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Agent memory systems, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 29 of its 41 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 5 Jan 2026.

Builds on

29 of 41 references.

Closest ancestors · 11

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2025Memory in the Age of AI Agents15 Dec
  2. 2025General Agentic Memory Via Deep Research23 Nov
  3. 2025O-Mem: Omni Memory System for Personalized, Long Horizon, Self-Evolving Agents17 Nov
  4. 2025ReasoningBank: Scaling Agent Self-Evolving with Reasoning Memory29 Sep
  5. 2025MIRIX: Multi-Agent Memory System for LLM-Based Agents10 Jul
  6. 2025Agent KB: Leveraging Cross-Domain Experience for Agentic Problem Solving8 Jul
  7. 2025Memory OS of AI Agent30 May
  8. 2025A-MEM: Agentic Memory for LLM Agents17 Feb
  9. 2025Zep: A Temporal Knowledge Graph Architecture for Agent Memory20 Jan
  10. 2024Evaluating Very Long-Term Conversational Memory of LLM Agents27 Feb
  11. 2024A Human-Inspired Reading Agent with Gist Memory of Very Long Contexts15 Feb

Other references · 18

  1. 2020Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Knowledge-Intensive NLP Taskscited by 9,160
  2. 2023Lost in the Middle: How Language Models Use Long Contextscited by 3,383
  3. 2023Self-RAG: Learning to Retrieve, Generate, and Critique through Self-Reflectioncited by 1,800
  4. 2024From Local to Global: A Graph RAG Approach to Query-Focused Summarizationcited by 1,411
  5. 2023MemGPT: Towards LLMs as Operating Systemscited by 1,295
  6. 2024LongMemEval: Benchmarking Chat Assistants on Long-Term Interactive Memorycited by 656
  7. 2023Active Retrieval Augmented Generationcited by 506
  8. 2024Agent Workflow Memorycited by 342
  9. 2024LightRAG: Simple and Fast Retrieval-Augmented Generationcited by 310
  10. 2025LightMem: Lightweight and Efficient Memory-Augmented Generationcited by 163
  11. 2025Alita: Generalist Agent Enabling Scalable Agentic Reasoning with Minimal Predefinition and Maximal Self-Evolutioncited by 114
  12. 2023SCM: Enhancing Large Language Model with Self-Controlled Memory Frameworkcited by 98
6 more
  1. 2025MemOS: An Operating System for Memory-Augmented Generation (MAG) in Large Language Modelscited by 68
  2. 2025Agent0: Unleashing Self-Evolving Agents from Zero Data via Tool-Integrated Reasoningcited by 68
  3. 2025ContextAgent: Context-Aware Proactive LLM Agents with Open-World Sensory Perceptionscited by 44
  4. 2024AI PERSONA: Towards Life-long Personalization of LLMscited by 30
  5. 2025Agent0-VL: Exploring Self-Evolving Agent for Tool-Integrated Vision-Language Reasoningcited by 28
  6. 2025Position: The Hidden Costs and Measurement Gaps of Reinforcement Learning with Verifiable Rewardscited by 11

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2026: 140.

140 papers.

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By area:

  1. 2026SkillRL: Evolving Agents via Recursive Skill-Augmented Reinforcement Learningcited by 252
  2. 2026SKILL0: In-Context Agentic Reinforcement Learning for Skill Internalizationcited by 82
  3. 2026SkillClaw: Let Skills Evolve Collectively with Agentic Evolvercited by 76
  4. 2026AMA-Bench: Evaluating Long-Horizon Memory for Agentic Applicationscited by 46
  5. 2026MetaClaw: Just Talk -- An Agent That Meta-Learns and Evolves in the Wildcited by 35
  6. 2026Dynamic Dual-Granularity Skill Bank for Agentic RLcited by 33
  7. 2026ARISE: Agent Reasoning with Intrinsic Skill Evolution in Hierarchical Reinforcement Learningcited by 28
  8. 2026Skill1: Unified Evolution of Skill-Augmented Agents via Reinforcement Learningcited by 28
  9. 2026SkillRevise: Improving LLM-Authored Agent Skills via Trace-Conditioned Skill Revisioncited by 21
  10. 2026Anatomy of Agentic Memory: Taxonomy and Empirical Analysis of Evaluation and System Limitationscited by 20
  11. 2026RetroAgent: From Solving to Evolving via Retrospective Dual Intrinsic Feedbackcited by 16
  12. 2026MemOCR: Layout-Aware Visual Memory for Efficient Long-Horizon Reasoningcited by 15
38 more
  1. 2026SkillGraph: Skill-Augmented Reinforcement Learning for Agents via Evolving Skill Graphscited by 15
  2. 2026Omni-SimpleMem: Autoresearch-Guided Discovery of Lifelong Multimodal Agent Memorycited by 13
  3. 2026Toward Efficient Agents: Memory, Tool learning, and Planningcited by 11
  4. 2026MemMA: Coordinating the Memory Cycle through Multi-Agent Reasoning and In-Situ Self-Evolutioncited by 11
  5. 2026EvolveMem:Self-Evolving Memory Architecture via AutoResearch for LLM Agentscited by 11
  6. 2026Are We Ready For An Agent-Native Memory System?cited by 11
  7. 2026ClawArena: Benchmarking AI Agents in Evolving Information Environmentscited by 10
  8. 2026Dynamic Skill Lifecycle Management for Agentic Reinforcement Learningcited by 10
  9. 2026MemEye: A Visual-Centric Evaluation Framework for Multimodal Agent Memorycited by 10
  10. 2026MementoGUI: Learning Agentic Multimodal Memory Control for Long-Horizon GUI Agentscited by 9
  11. 2026Auto-Dreamer: Learning Offline Memory Consolidation for Language Agentscited by 9
  12. 2026Jev-Mem: System-One-Controlled Agentic Memory for Efficient AI Agentscited by 9
  13. 2026SkillMaster: Toward Autonomous Skill Mastery in LLM Agentscited by 8
  14. 2026UMEM: Unified Memory Extraction and Management Framework for Generalizable Memorycited by 7
  15. 2026Agent Memory: Characterization and System Implications of Stateful Long-Horizon Workloadscited by 7
  16. 2026Query-focused and Memory-aware Reranker for Long Context Processingcited by 6
  17. 2026ActMem: Bridging the Gap Between Memory Retrieval and Reasoning in LLM Agentscited by 6
  18. 2026Self-Evolving Multi-Agent Systems via Decentralized Memorycited by 6
  19. 2026SKILLC: Learning Autonomous Skill Internalization in LLM Agents via Contrastive Credit Assignmentcited by 6
  20. 2026MemRefine: LLM-Guided Compression for Long-Term Agent Memorycited by 6
  21. 2026Dynamic Agent Skills: A Lifecycle Survey and Taxonomy of Evolving Skill Librariescited by 6
  22. 2026Toward a Theory of Hierarchical Memory for Language Agentscited by 5
  23. 2026RewardHarness: Self-Evolving Agentic Post-Trainingcited by 5
  24. 2026Mitigating Provenance-Role Collapse in Long-Term Agents via Typed Memory Representationcited by 5
  25. 2026Skill0.5: Joint Skill Internalization and Utilization for Out-of-Distribution Generalization in Agentic Reinforcement Learningcited by 5
  26. 2026MemTrace: Tracing and Attributing Errors in Large Language Model Memory Systemscited by 5
  27. 2026SIRI: Self-Internalizing Reinforcement Learning with Intrinsic Skills for LLM Agent Trainingcited by 5
  28. 2026Co-Evolving Skill Generation and Policy Optimizationcited by 5
  29. 2026RaMem: Contextual Reinstatement for Long-term Agentic Memorycited by 5
  30. 2026Memory as a Controlled Process: Learned Adaptive Memory Management for LLM Agentscited by 5
  31. 2026SwiftMem: Fast Agentic Memory via Query-aware Indexingcited by 4
  32. 2026HyMem: Hybrid Memory Architecture with Dynamic Retrieval Schedulingcited by 4
  33. 2026AriadneMem: Threading the Maze of Lifelong Memory for LLM Agentscited by 4
  34. 2026Governed Memory: A Production Architecture for Multi-Agent Workflowscited by 4
  35. 2026StreamingClaw Technical Reportcited by 4
  36. 2026Memory-Induced Tool-Drift in LLM Agentscited by 4
  37. 2026Learning to Retrieve: Dual-Level Long-Term Memory for Text-to-SQL Agentscited by 4
  38. 2026MemTrace: Probing What Final Accuracy Misses in Long-Term Memorycited by 4

50 most cited of 140 All 140 (JSON)

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  1. 2026RecMem: Recurrence-based Memory Consolidation for Efficient and Effective Long-Running LLM Agents
  2. 2026LazyMem: Retrieve Broadly, Construct Selectively for Efficient Long-Term Agent Memory
  3. 2026Lightweight LLM Agent Memory with Small Language Models
  4. 2026Human-Inspired Memory Architecture for LLM Agents
  5. 2026QUMem: Personalized Memory for Query-Conditioned User-State Inference in LLM Agents
  6. 2026ElasticMem: Latent Memory as a Learnable Resource for LLM Agents
  7. 2026LycheeMemory V2: Efficient Long-Term Memory for LLM Agents via Semantic Segment-Level Consolidation
  8. 2026Evaluating Memory Structure in LLM Agents