mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

Skill-Pro: Learning Reusable Skills from Experience via Non-Parametric PPO for LLM Agents

arXiv 2602.01869 ↗First posted 2 Feb 2026cs.AIcited by 44

On the map: LLM agents and tool use → Agent skill learning and evolution

Abstract (arXiv)

LLM-driven agents excel at sequential decision-making but often rely on on-the-fly reasoning, re-deriving solutions even in recurring scenarios. This insufficient experience reuse leads to computational redundancy and instability. To bridge this gap, we propose Skill-Pro, a framework enabling agents to autonomously learn reusable procedural skills from interaction experiences without parameter updates. By formalizing a Skill-MDP, Skill-Pro transforms passive episodic narratives into executable Skills defined by activation, execution, and termination conditions to ensure executability. To achieve reliable reusability without capability degradation, we introduce Non-Parametric PPO, which leverages semantic gradients for high-quality candidate generation and a PPO Gate for robust Skill verification. Through score-based maintenance, Skill-Pro sustains compact, high-quality procedural memory. Experimental results across in-domain, cross-task, and cross-agent scenarios demonstrate that Skill-Pro achieves superior reuse rates and significant gains with extreme memory compression. Visualized evolutionary trajectories and Skill distributions further reveal how Skill-Pro transparently accumulates, refines, and reuses procedural knowledge to facilitate long-term autonomy.

Key facts. Cited by 44 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Agent skill learning and evolution, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 42 of its 50 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 2 Feb 2026.

Builds on

42 of 50 references.

References · 42

  1. 2022Training language models to follow instructions with human feedbackcited by 15,712
  2. 2017Proximal Policy Optimization Algorithmscited by 14,441
  3. 2022Chain-of-Thought Prompting Elicits Reasoning in Large Language Modelscited by 12,302
  4. 2020Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Knowledge-Intensive NLP Taskscited by 9,160
  5. 2022ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Modelscited by 8,355
  6. 2023Direct Preference Optimization: Your Language Model is Secretly a Reward Modelcited by 7,916
  7. 2016Overcoming catastrophic forgetting in neural networkscited by 4,718
  8. 2023Reflexion: Language Agents with Verbal Reinforcement Learningcited by 4,064
  9. 2023Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behaviorcited by 3,500
  10. 2023Lost in the Middle: How Language Models Use Long Contextscited by 3,383
  11. 2023Tree of Thoughts: Deliberate Problem Solving with Large Language Modelscited by 3,155
  12. 2019Fine-Tuning Language Models from Human Preferencescited by 2,124
30 more
  1. 2023Voyager: An Open-Ended Embodied Agent with Large Language Modelscited by 2,081
  2. 2023Self-RAG: Learning to Retrieve, Generate, and Critique through Self-Reflectioncited by 1,800
  3. 2020ALFWorld: Aligning Text and Embodied Environments for Interactive Learningcited by 1,143
  4. 2022Measuring and Narrowing the Compositionality Gap in Language Modelscited by 1,054
  5. 2025A-MEM: Agentic Memory for LLM Agentscited by 1,000
  6. 2023ExpeL: LLM Agents Are Experiential Learnerscited by 814
  7. 2023An Empirical Study of Catastrophic Forgetting in Large Language Models During Continual Fine-tuningcited by 622
  8. 2025GEPA: Reflective Prompt Evolution Can Outperform Reinforcement Learningcited by 449
  9. 2023Cognitive Architectures for Language Agentscited by 422
  10. 2024Agent Workflow Memorycited by 342
  11. 2023Ghost in the Minecraft: Generally Capable Agents for Open-World Environments via Large Language Models with Text-based Knowledge and Memorycited by 288
  12. 2025Memory in the Age of AI Agentscited by 285
  13. 2024HippoRAG: Neurobiologically Inspired Long-Term Memory for Large Language Modelscited by 273
  14. 2024Continual Learning of Large Language Models: A Comprehensive Surveycited by 228
  15. 2025MEM1: Learning to Synergize Memory and Reasoning for Efficient Long-Horizon Agentscited by 226
  16. 2025EvolveR: Self-Evolving LLM Agents through an Experience-Driven Lifecyclecited by 129
  17. 2025Memento: Fine-tuning LLM Agents without Fine-tuning LLMscited by 119
  18. 2024Cradle: Empowering Foundation Agents Towards General Computer Controlcited by 114
  19. 2026MemRL: Self-Evolving Agents via Runtime Reinforcement Learning on Episodic Memorycited by 113
  20. 2025G-Memory: Tracing Hierarchical Memory for Multi-Agent Systemscited by 112
  21. 2025MemGen: Weaving Generative Latent Memory for Self-Evolving Agentscited by 99
  22. 2025Memp: Exploring Agent Procedural Memorycited by 88
  23. 2024From Isolated Conversations to Hierarchical Schemas: Dynamic Tree Memory Representation for LLMscited by 77
  24. 2024Larimar: Large Language Models with Episodic Memory Controlcited by 53
  25. 2025FLEX: Continuous Agent Evolution via Forward Learning from Experiencecited by 51
  26. 2025LEGOMem: Modular Procedural Memory for Multi-agent LLM Systems for Workflow Automationcited by 39
  27. 2025Look Back to Reason Forward: Revisitable Memory for Long-Context LLM Agentscited by 37
  28. 2025Learning on the Job: An Experience-Driven Self-Evolving Agent for Long-Horizon Taskscited by 22
  29. 2025From Experience to Strategy: Empowering LLM Agents with Trainable Graph Memorycited by 16
  30. 2025Beyond Fact Retrieval: Episodic Memory for RAG with Generative Semantic Workspacescited by 6

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2026: 44.

44 papers.

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  1. 2026How Well Do Agentic Skills Work in the Wild: Benchmarking LLM Skill Usage in Realistic Settingscited by 62
  2. 2026Memento-Skills: Let Agents Design Agentscited by 56
  3. 2026Natural-Language Agent Harnessescited by 54
  4. 2026SkillRevise: Improving LLM-Authored Agent Skills via Trace-Conditioned Skill Revisioncited by 21
  5. 2026SkillsVote: Lifecycle Governance of Agent Skills from Collection, Recommendation to Evolutioncited by 18
  6. 2026EmbodiSkill: Skill-Aware Reflection for Self-Evolving Embodied Agentscited by 12
  7. 2026Dynamic Skill Lifecycle Management for Agentic Reinforcement Learningcited by 10
  8. 2026UCOB: Learning to Utilize and Evolve Agentic Skills via Credit-Aware On-Policy Bidirectional Self-Distillationcited by 10
  9. 2026EvoAgentBench: Benchmarking Agent Self-Evolution via Ability Transfercited by 8
  10. 2026User as Code: Executable Memory for Personalized Agentscited by 7
  11. 2026SkillJuror: Measuring How Agent Skill Organization Changes Runtime Behaviorcited by 6
  12. 2026PreAct: Computer-Using Agents that Get Faster on Repeated Taskscited by 4
32 more
  1. 2026Organize then Retrieve: Hierarchical Memory Navigation for Efficient Agentscited by 3
  2. 2026LLM Agents Are Latent Context Managers: Eliciting Self-Managed Context via State Proprioceptioncited by 3
  3. 2026R^2-Mem: Reflective Experience for Memory Searchcited by 2
  4. 2026SkillPyramid: A Hierarchical Skill Consolidation Framework for Self-Evolving Agentscited by 2
  5. 2026Metis: Bridging Text and Code Memory for Self-Evolving Agentscited by 2
  6. 2026From Relevance to Execution Utility: Reward-Aware Dynamic Execution Gating for Skill-Based LLM Agentscited by 2
  7. 2026SKILLER: Language-Level Reinforcement Learning for Reusable Skill Extraction in Small Language Modelscited by 2
  8. 2026Demystifying Agent Skills: Why They Work-Until They Don'tcited by 2
  9. 2026MEMOREPAIR: Barrier-First Cascade Repair in Agentic Memorycited by 1
  10. 2026MAP: A Map-then-Act Paradigm for Long-Horizon Interactive Agent Reasoningcited by 1
  11. 2026SkillBrew: Multi-Objective Curation of Skill Banks for LLM Agentscited by 1
  12. 2026Skill or Skip? Learning Selective Skill Invocation in Agentic Tasks via Dual-Granularity Preference Learningcited by 1
  13. 2026Progressive Agent Skill Generation via Reinforcement Learningcited by 1
  14. 2026SkillZip: Contract-Preserving Graph Compression for Scalable Agent Skill Librariescited by 1
  15. 2026When Not to Imitate: Boundary-Aware Skill Memory for Reliable Tool-Use LLM Agentscited by 1
  16. 2026ERRAND: Budgeted Maintenance of Agent Memorycited by 1
  17. 2026Experience Memory Graph: One-Shot Error Correction for Agentscited by 0
  18. 2026Continual Learning in Transitioncited by 0
  19. 2026VCE-Skill: Enhancing Skill Self-Evolution with Version-Change Experiencecited by 0
  20. 2026AutoVerifier: Residual-Guided Non-Parametric Optimization for Reference-Based Answer Verificationcited by 0
  21. 2026Towards a Systems Foundation for Agentic Skills: Architecture, Lifecycle, and Securitycited by 0
  22. 2026AgentLeak: Cloning Stronger LLM Agent Capabilities onto Weaker Agents Beyond Skill Stealingcited by 0
  23. 2026GeoSkill:Experience-Driven Hierarchical Skill Learning with Collaborative Revision forGeospatialAgentscited by 0
  24. 2026Designer-RSI: Evolving Procedural Memory from User Traffic for Agentic Graphic Designcited by 0
  25. 2026SkillDRE: Dual-Stage Red-Team Evolution of Agent Skills via Pre-Execution and Runtime Feedbackcited by 0
  26. 2026ExpVoyager: Direct Experience Navigation for Dynamic Agent Skill Synthesiscited by 0
  27. 2026Semantic Projection for Continual Self-Evolution of Language Agentscited by 0
  28. 2026Rep2Skill: Representation-Guided Skill Self-Evolution for LLM Agentscited by 0
  29. 2026SkillFM: Generating Skills for LLM Agents via Latent Flow Matchingcited by 0
  30. 2026Beyond the Shadows of Plato's Cave: Evaluating False Memory in Autonomous Agents via Counterfactual Reasoningcited by 0
  31. 2026SkillSpec: Consensus-Gated Agent Skill Evolution via Representation Specializationcited by 0
  32. 2026Efficient Task Adaptation in Large Language Models: A Survey of Weight-Based, Prompt-Based, and Embedding-Based Adaptationscited by 0

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2026SkillAlign: Aligning Skill Interfaces for LLM-based Agents
  2. 2026SkillCommit: Evolving Agent Skills through Behaviorally Validated Scope Expansion
  3. 2026SkillProx: Self-Evolving Agent Skills via Proximal Textual Gradient Descent
  4. 2026Skill is Not One-Size-Fits-All: Model-Aware Skill Alignment for LLM Agents
  5. 2026SkillOS: Learning Skill Curation for Self-Evolving Agents
  6. 2026SkillLens: Adaptive Multi-Granularity Skill Reuse for Cost-Efficient LLM Agents
  7. 2026ContinualSkillBench: Can LLM Agents Truly Evolve Their Capabilities?
  8. 2026SkillMaster: Toward Autonomous Skill Mastery in LLM Agents