mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

MatchTIR: Fine-Grained Supervision for Tool-Integrated Reasoning via Bipartite Matching

arXiv 2601.10712 ↗First posted 15 Jan 2026cs.CL cs.AIcited by 10

On the map: LLM reasoning → Reasoning for agents, planning and code

also in 1 more
Abstract (arXiv)

Tool-Integrated Reasoning (TIR) empowers large language models (LLMs) to tackle complex tasks by interleaving reasoning steps with external tool interactions. However, existing reinforcement learning methods typically rely on outcome- or trajectory-level rewards, assigning uniform advantages to all steps within a trajectory. This coarse-grained credit assignment fails to distinguish effective tool calls from redundant or erroneous ones, particularly in long-horizon multi-turn scenarios. To address this, we propose MatchTIR, a framework that introduces fine-grained supervision via bipartite matching-based turn-level reward assignment and dual-level advantage estimation. Specifically, we formulate credit assignment as a bipartite matching problem between predicted and ground-truth traces, utilizing two assignment strategies to derive dense turn-level rewards. Furthermore, to balance local step precision with global task success, we introduce a dual-level advantage estimation scheme that integrates turn-level and trajectory-level signals, assigning distinct advantage values to individual interaction turns. Extensive experiments on three benchmarks demonstrate the superiority of MatchTIR. Notably, our 4B model surpasses the majority of 8B competitors, particularly in long-horizon and multi-turn tasks. Our codes are available at https://github.com/quchangle1/MatchTIR.

Key facts. Cited by 10 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Reasoning for agents, planning and code, one of 17 directions in LLM reasoning. Builds on 19 of its 42 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 15 Jan 2026.

Builds on

19 of 42 references.

Closest ancestors · 5

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2025VerlTool: Towards Holistic Agentic Reinforcement Learning with Tool Use1 Sep
  2. 2025Understanding Tool-Integrated Reasoning26 Aug
  3. 2025AutoTIR: Autonomous Tools Integrated Reasoning via Reinforcement Learning29 Jul
  4. 2025Nemotron-Research-Tool-N1: Exploring Tool-Using Language Models with Reinforced Reasoning25 Apr
  5. 2025ReTool: Reinforcement Learning for Strategic Tool Use in LLMs15 Apr

Other references · 14

  1. 2024DeepSeekMath: Pushing the Limits of Mathematical Reasoning in Open Language Modelscited by 9,379
  2. 2025Qwen3 Technical Reportcited by 8,820
  3. 2025Group Sequence Policy Optimizationcited by 835
  4. 2025DeepResearcher: Scaling Deep Research via Reinforcement Learning in Real-world Environmentscited by 286
  5. 2025Agentic Reinforced Policy Optimizationcited by 172
  6. 2025ToRL: Scaling Tool-Integrated RLcited by 169
  7. 2025SimpleTIR: End-to-End Reinforcement Learning for Multi-Turn Tool-Integrated Reasoningcited by 146
  8. 2025SPA-RL: Reinforcing LLM Agents via Stepwise Progress Attributioncited by 73
  9. 2025Information Gain-based Policy Optimization: A Simple and Effective Approach for Multi-Turn Search Agentscited by 48
  10. 2025CriticSearch: Fine-Grained Credit Assignment for Search Agents via a Retrospective Criticcited by 30
  11. 2025Promoting Efficient Reasoning with Verifiable Stepwise Rewardcited by 28
  12. 2025Exploiting Tree Structure for Credit Assignment in RL Training of LLMscited by 27
2 more
  1. 2025Feedback-Driven Tool-Use Improvements in Large Language Models via Automated Build Environmentscited by 19
  2. 2025THOR: Tool-Integrated Hierarchical Optimization via RL for Mathematical Reasoningcited by 9

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 14 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2026: 10.

10 papers.

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2025AWPO: Enhancing Tool-Use of Large Language Models through Adaptive Integration of Reasoning Rewards
  2. 2026AdaTIR: Adaptive Tool-Integrated Reasoning via Difficulty-Aware Policy Optimization
  3. 2026MATCH: Model-Aware Tool Learning with Curriculum Scheduling and Hierarchically Gated Rewards
  4. 2026TRACE: Turn-level Reward Assignment via Credit Estimation for Long-Horizon Agents
  5. 2025ToolRL: Reward is All Tool Learning Needs
  6. 2025PORTool: Importance-Aware Policy Optimization with Rewarded Tree for Multi-Tool-Integrated Reasoning
  7. 2026Discovery and Reinforcement of Tool-Integrated Reasoning Chains via Rollout Trees
  8. 2026GRIP: Granular Reward-Guided Parameter Interpolation for Efficient Reasoning