GenAgent: Scaling Text-to-Image Generation via Agentic Multimodal Reasoning
On the map: LLM reasoning → Multimodal reasoning
also in 1 more
Abstract (arXiv)
We introduce GenAgent, unifying visual understanding and generation through an agentic multimodal model. Unlike unified models that face expensive training costs and understanding-generation trade-offs, GenAgent decouples these capabilities through an agentic framework: understanding is handled by the multimodal model itself, while generation is achieved by treating image generation models as invokable tools. Crucially, unlike existing modular systems constrained by static pipelines, this design enables autonomous multi-turn interactions where the agent generates multimodal chains-of-thought encompassing reasoning, tool invocation, judgment, and reflection to iteratively refine outputs. We employ a two-stage training strategy: first, cold-start with supervised fine-tuning on high-quality tool invocation and reflection data to bootstrap agent behaviors; second, end-to-end agentic reinforcement learning combining pointwise rewards (final image quality) and pairwise rewards (reflection accuracy), with trajectory resampling for enhanced multi-turn exploration. GenAgent significantly boosts base generator(FLUX.1-dev) performance on GenEval++ (+23.6%) and WISE (+14%). Beyond performance gains, our framework demonstrates three key properties: 1) cross-tool generalization to generators with varying capabilities, 2) test-time scaling with consistent improvements across interaction rounds, and 3) task-adaptive reasoning that automatically adjusts to different tasks. Our code will be available at hrefhttps://github.com/deep-kaixun/GenAgentthis url.
Key facts. Cited by 24 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Multimodal reasoning, one of 17 directions in LLM reasoning. Builds on 29 of its 42 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 26 Jan 2026.
Builds on
29 of 42 references.
Closest ancestors · 7
Same direction, newest first
- 2025Thinking with Video: Video Generation as a Promising Multimodal Reasoning Paradigm6 Nov
- 2025Understanding-in-Generation: Reinforcing Generative Capability of Unified Model via Infusing Understanding into Generation23 Sep
- 2025PromptEnhancer: A Simple Approach to Enhance Text-to-Image Models via Chain-of-Thought Prompt Rewriting4 Sep
- 2025Thyme: Think Beyond Images15 Aug
- 2025RePrompt: Reasoning-Augmented Reprompting for Text-to-Image Generation via Reinforcement Learning23 May
- 2025GoT-R1: Unleashing Reasoning Capability of MLLM for Visual Generation with Reinforcement Learning22 May
- 2025DeepEyes: Incentivizing "Thinking with Images" via Reinforcement Learning20 May
Other references · 22
- 2021Training Verifiers to Solve Math Word Problemscited by 10,109
- 2025DeepSeek-R1: Incentivizing Reasoning Capability in LLMs via Reinforcement Learningcited by 6,330
- 2025Qwen2.5-VL Technical Reportcited by 5,587
- 2025Gemini 2.5: Pushing the Frontier with Advanced Reasoning, Multimodality, Long Context, and Next Generation Agentic Capabilitiescited by 3,796
- 2025DAPO: An Open-Source LLM Reinforcement Learning System at Scalecited by 2,810
- 2025Wan: Open and Advanced Large-Scale Video Generative Modelscited by 2,708
- 2024HybridFlow: A Flexible and Efficient RLHF Frameworkcited by 2,057
- 2025Qwen-Image Technical Reportcited by 1,044
- 2025Emerging Properties in Unified Multimodal Pretrainingcited by 897
- 2025Janus-Pro: Unified Multimodal Understanding and Generation with Data and Model Scalingcited by 812
- 2024Show-o: One Single Transformer to Unify Multimodal Understanding and Generationcited by 752
- 2025BLIP3-o: A Family of Fully Open Unified Multimodal Models-Architecture, Training and Datasetcited by 376
10 more
- 2024Deliberative Alignment: Reasoning Enables Safer Language Modelscited by 308
- 2025Inference-Time Scaling for Generalist Reward Modelingcited by 239
- 2025WISE: A World Knowledge-Informed Semantic Evaluation for Text-to-Image Generationcited by 204
- 2025DeepEyesV2: Toward Agentic Multimodal Modelcited by 125
- 2025X-Omni: Reinforcement Learning Makes Discrete Autoregressive Image Generative Models Great Againcited by 112
- 2025Echo-4o: Harnessing the Power of GPT-4o Synthetic Images for Improved Image Generationcited by 100
- 2025rStar2-Agent: Agentic Reasoning Technical Reportcited by 54
- 2025BLIP3o-NEXT: Next Frontier of Native Image Generationcited by 54
- 2025Delving into RL for Image Generation with CoT: A Study on DPO vs. GRPOcited by 31
- 2025SUDER: Self-Improving Unified Large Multimodal Models for Understanding and Generation with Dual Self-Rewardscited by 8
Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2026: 24.
24 papers.
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- 2026Mind-Brush: Integrating Agentic Cognitive Search and Reasoning into Image Generationcited by 23
- 2026GEMS: Agent-Native Multimodal Generation with Memory and Skillscited by 21
- 2026GenEvolve: Self-Evolving Image Generation Agents via Tool-Orchestrated Visual Experience Distillationcited by 19
- 2026Qwen-Image-Agent: Bridging the Context Gap in Real-World Image Generationcited by 13
- 2026NEWTON: Agentic Planning for Physically Grounded Video Generationcited by 12
- 2026GenClaw: Code-Driven Agentic Image Generationcited by 11
- 2026Search Beyond What Can Be Taught: Evolving the Knowledge Boundary in Agentic Visual Generationcited by 8
- 2026COMFYCLAW: Self-Evolving Skill Harnesses for Image Generation Workflowscited by 6
- 2026GenRouter: Unified Workflow Routing for Agentic Image Generationcited by 5
- 2026AIBench: Evaluating Visual-Logical Consistency in Academic Illustration Generationcited by 4
- 2026ToolArtist: Tool-Using Unified Multimodal Models for Agentic Image Generationcited by 4
- 2026MemoGen: Can Past Experience Improve Future Text-to-Image Generation?cited by 3
12 more
- 2026GLANCE: A Global-Local Coordination Multi-Agent Framework for Music-Grounded Non-Linear Video Editingcited by 2
- 2026WeAgent-MMGenEdit: A Full-Stack Recipe for Multimodal Agentic Image Generation and Editingcited by 1
- 2026Agentic Visual Generation: From Generative Models to Agentic Controlcited by 1
- 2026AgenticGen: Reward-Guided Agentic Video Generation for Advertisingcited by 0
- 2026AdaPilot: Towards Scene-Adaptive Policy Learning for Cross-Generator Text-to-Image Quality Optimizationcited by 0
- 2026SegBanana: Steering Unified Multimodal Models into Medical Segmenterscited by 0
- 2026SkillPE: Creativity-Oriented Cinematic Skill Evolution for Text-to-Video Prompt Engineeringcited by 0
- 2026AutoRef: Harness Optimization for Agentic Multi-Reference Image Generationcited by 0
- 2026Internalizing Agent Experience into Diffusion Model Weights via On-Policy Context Distillationcited by 0
- 2026MotionCoach: Constructing Multimodal Guidance for Video Professional Motion Editingcited by 0
- 2026Look Back to Move Forward: Learning to Revisit for Agentic Compositional Image Generationcited by 0
- 2026APT: Feedback-Driven Agentic Post-Training for Text-to-Image Generationcited by 0
- 2026APT: Feedback-Driven Agentic Post-Training for Text-to-Image Generation13 Oct 2026
- 2026Look Back to Move Forward: Learning to Revisit for Agentic Compositional Image Generation12 Oct 2026
- 2026MotionCoach: Constructing Multimodal Guidance for Video Professional Motion Editing9 Oct 2026
- 2026Internalizing Agent Experience into Diffusion Model Weights via On-Policy Context Distillation5 Oct 2026
- 2026AutoRef: Harness Optimization for Agentic Multi-Reference Image Generation28 Sep 2026
- 2026SkillPE: Creativity-Oriented Cinematic Skill Evolution for Text-to-Video Prompt Engineering28 Sep 2026
- 2026SegBanana: Steering Unified Multimodal Models into Medical Segmenters28 Sep 2026
- 2026Agentic Visual Generation: From Generative Models to Agentic Control6 Sep 2026
- 2026WeAgent-MMGenEdit: A Full-Stack Recipe for Multimodal Agentic Image Generation and Editing4 Sep 2026
- 2026AgenticGen: Reward-Guided Agentic Video Generation for Advertising31 Aug 2026
- 2026AdaPilot: Towards Scene-Adaptive Policy Learning for Cross-Generator Text-to-Image Quality Optimization25 Aug 2026
- 2026GenRouter: Unified Workflow Routing for Agentic Image Generation17 Aug 2026
12 more
- 2026ToolArtist: Tool-Using Unified Multimodal Models for Agentic Image Generation5 Aug 2026
- 2026Search Beyond What Can Be Taught: Evolving the Knowledge Boundary in Agentic Visual Generation6 Jul 2026
- 2026COMFYCLAW: Self-Evolving Skill Harnesses for Image Generation Workflows2 Jul 2026
- 2026Qwen-Image-Agent: Bridging the Context Gap in Real-World Image Generation25 Jun 2026
- 2026MemoGen: Can Past Experience Improve Future Text-to-Image Generation?2 Jun 2026
- 2026GenClaw: Code-Driven Agentic Image Generation28 May 2026
- 2026GenEvolve: Self-Evolving Image Generation Agents via Tool-Orchestrated Visual Experience Distillation20 May 2026
- 2026NEWTON: Agentic Planning for Physically Grounded Video Generation18 May 2026
- 2026GLANCE: A Global-Local Coordination Multi-Agent Framework for Music-Grounded Non-Linear Video Editing6 Apr 2026
- 2026GEMS: Agent-Native Multimodal Generation with Memory and Skills30 Mar 2026
- 2026AIBench: Evaluating Visual-Logical Consistency in Academic Illustration Generation30 Mar 2026
- 2026Mind-Brush: Integrating Agentic Cognitive Search and Reasoning into Image Generation2 Feb 2026
- 2026Mind-Brush: Integrating Agentic Cognitive Search and Reasoning into Image Generationcited by 23
- 2026NEWTON: Agentic Planning for Physically Grounded Video Generationcited by 12
- 2026GenClaw: Code-Driven Agentic Image Generationcited by 11
- 2026Search Beyond What Can Be Taught: Evolving the Knowledge Boundary in Agentic Visual Generationcited by 8
- 2026GenRouter: Unified Workflow Routing for Agentic Image Generationcited by 5
- 2026ToolArtist: Tool-Using Unified Multimodal Models for Agentic Image Generationcited by 4
- 2026GLANCE: A Global-Local Coordination Multi-Agent Framework for Music-Grounded Non-Linear Video Editingcited by 2
- 2026WeAgent-MMGenEdit: A Full-Stack Recipe for Multimodal Agentic Image Generation and Editingcited by 1
- 2026Agentic Visual Generation: From Generative Models to Agentic Controlcited by 1
- 2026AgenticGen: Reward-Guided Agentic Video Generation for Advertisingcited by 0
- 2026AutoRef: Harness Optimization for Agentic Multi-Reference Image Generationcited by 0
- 2026Look Back to Move Forward: Learning to Revisit for Agentic Compositional Image Generationcited by 0
12 most cited of 13 All 13 (JSON)
- 2026APT: Feedback-Driven Agentic Post-Training for Text-to-Image Generation13 Oct 2026
- 2026Look Back to Move Forward: Learning to Revisit for Agentic Compositional Image Generation12 Oct 2026
- 2026AutoRef: Harness Optimization for Agentic Multi-Reference Image Generation28 Sep 2026
- 2026Agentic Visual Generation: From Generative Models to Agentic Control6 Sep 2026
- 2026WeAgent-MMGenEdit: A Full-Stack Recipe for Multimodal Agentic Image Generation and Editing4 Sep 2026
- 2026AgenticGen: Reward-Guided Agentic Video Generation for Advertising31 Aug 2026
- 2026GenRouter: Unified Workflow Routing for Agentic Image Generation17 Aug 2026
- 2026ToolArtist: Tool-Using Unified Multimodal Models for Agentic Image Generation5 Aug 2026
- 2026Search Beyond What Can Be Taught: Evolving the Knowledge Boundary in Agentic Visual Generation6 Jul 2026
- 2026GenClaw: Code-Driven Agentic Image Generation28 May 2026
- 2026NEWTON: Agentic Planning for Physically Grounded Video Generation18 May 2026
- 2026GLANCE: A Global-Local Coordination Multi-Agent Framework for Music-Grounded Non-Linear Video Editing6 Apr 2026
12 newest of 13 All 13 (JSON)
- 2026GEMS: Agent-Native Multimodal Generation with Memory and Skillscited by 21
- 2026GenEvolve: Self-Evolving Image Generation Agents via Tool-Orchestrated Visual Experience Distillationcited by 19
- 2026Qwen-Image-Agent: Bridging the Context Gap in Real-World Image Generationcited by 13
- 2026AIBench: Evaluating Visual-Logical Consistency in Academic Illustration Generationcited by 4
- 2026MemoGen: Can Past Experience Improve Future Text-to-Image Generation?cited by 3
- 2026SegBanana: Steering Unified Multimodal Models into Medical Segmenterscited by 0
- 2026SkillPE: Creativity-Oriented Cinematic Skill Evolution for Text-to-Video Prompt Engineeringcited by 0
- 2026MotionCoach: Constructing Multimodal Guidance for Video Professional Motion Editingcited by 0
- 2026MotionCoach: Constructing Multimodal Guidance for Video Professional Motion Editing9 Oct 2026
- 2026SkillPE: Creativity-Oriented Cinematic Skill Evolution for Text-to-Video Prompt Engineering28 Sep 2026
- 2026SegBanana: Steering Unified Multimodal Models into Medical Segmenters28 Sep 2026
- 2026Qwen-Image-Agent: Bridging the Context Gap in Real-World Image Generation25 Jun 2026
- 2026MemoGen: Can Past Experience Improve Future Text-to-Image Generation?2 Jun 2026
- 2026GenEvolve: Self-Evolving Image Generation Agents via Tool-Orchestrated Visual Experience Distillation20 May 2026
- 2026GEMS: Agent-Native Multimodal Generation with Memory and Skills30 Mar 2026
- 2026AIBench: Evaluating Visual-Logical Consistency in Academic Illustration Generation30 Mar 2026
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