AgentCPM-Explore: Realizing Long-Horizon Deep Exploration for Edge-Scale Agents
On the map: LLM agents and tool use → Reinforcement learning for LLM agents
Abstract (arXiv)
While Large Language Model (LLM)-based agents have shown remarkable potential for solving complex tasks, existing systems remain heavily reliant on large-scale models, leaving the capabilities of edge-scale models largely underexplored. In this paper, we present the first systematic study on training agentic models at the 4B-parameter scale. We identify three primary bottlenecks hindering the performance of edge-scale models: catastrophic forgetting during Supervised Fine-Tuning (SFT), sensitivity to reward signal noise during Reinforcement Learning (RL), and reasoning degradation caused by redundant information in long-context scenarios. To address the issues, we propose AgentCPM-Explore, a compact 4B agent model with high knowledge density and strong exploration capability. We introduce a holistic training framework featuring parameter-space model fusion, reward signal denoising, and contextual information refinement. Through deep exploration, AgentCPM-Explore achieves state-of-the-art (SOTA) performance among 4B-class models, matches or surpasses 8B-class SOTA models on four benchmarks, and even outperforms larger-scale models such as Claude-4.5-Sonnet or DeepSeek-v3.2 in five benchmarks. Notably, AgentCPM-Explore achieves 97.09% accuracy on GAIA text-based tasks under pass@64. These results provide compelling evidence that the bottleneck for edge-scale models is not their inherent capability ceiling, but rather their inference stability. Based on our well-established training framework, AgentCPM-Explore effectively unlocks the significant, yet previously underestimated, potential of edge-scale models.
Key facts. Cited by 12 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Reinforcement learning for LLM agents, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 12 of its 21 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 6 Feb 2026.
Builds on
12 of 21 references.
References · 12
- 2025DeepSeek-V3.2: Pushing the Frontier of Open Large Language Modelscited by 755
- 2025GLM-4.5: Agentic, Reasoning, and Coding (ARC) Foundation Modelscited by 446
- 2025WebSailor: Navigating Super-human Reasoning for Web Agentcited by 218
- 2025WebDancer: Towards Autonomous Information Seeking Agencycited by 180
- 2023LLM in a flash: Efficient Large Language Model Inference with Limited Memorycited by 170
- 2025Beyond Ten Turns: Unlocking Long-Horizon Agentic Search with Large-Scale Asynchronous RLcited by 144
- 2024DELLA-Merging: Reducing Interference in Model Merging through Magnitude-Based Samplingcited by 77
- 2025MiroThinker: Pushing the Performance Boundaries of Open-Source Research Agents via Model, Context, and Interactive Scalingcited by 72
- 2025WebLeaper: Empowering Efficiency and Efficacy in WebAgent via Enabling Info-Rich Seekingcited by 17
- 2025CLONE: Customizing LLMs for Efficient Latency-Aware Inference at the Edgecited by 16
- 2025Pushing up to the Limit of Memory Bandwidth and Capacity Utilization for Efficient LLM Decoding on Embedded FPGAcited by 7
- 2025Nested Browser-Use Learning for Agentic Information Seekingcited by 5
Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2026: 12.
12 papers.
- 2026AgentProcessBench: Diagnosing Step-Level Process Quality in Tool-Using Agentscited by 28
- 2026LiteResearcher: A Scalable Agentic RL Training Framework for Deep Research Agentcited by 8
- 2026DR-Venus: Towards Frontier Edge-Scale Deep Research Agents with Only 10K Open Datacited by 5
- 2026GUI Agents with Reinforcement Learning: Toward Digital Inhabitantscited by 3
- 2026ABSeeker: Training Long-Horizon Search Agents via Answer-Backtracked Credit Assignmentcited by 1
- 2026When Deep Research Agents Stagnate: Enhancing Reasoning with Retrieval-Aware Agent Controlcited by 1
- 2026TIDE-Bench: Task-Aware and Diagnostic Evaluation of Tool-Integrated Reasoningcited by 0
- 2026Beyond Reward Engineering: A Data Recipe for Long-Context Reinforcement Learningcited by 0
- 2026Boosting Deepresearch and LongContext Ability with Self-Generated Deepresearch Rollouts Tracescited by 0
- 2026IterSynth: Rethinking Deep Search Agents via Role-Decoupled Iterative Synthesiscited by 0
- 2026Inducing Process Supervision from Outcome-Only Reinforcement Learningcited by 0
- 2026VACE: Validation-Gated Alternating Co-Evolution of Agent Models and Harnessescited by 0
- 2026VACE: Validation-Gated Alternating Co-Evolution of Agent Models and Harnesses29 Sep 2026
- 2026Inducing Process Supervision from Outcome-Only Reinforcement Learning29 Sep 2026
- 2026IterSynth: Rethinking Deep Search Agents via Role-Decoupled Iterative Synthesis24 Sep 2026
- 2026When Deep Research Agents Stagnate: Enhancing Reasoning with Retrieval-Aware Agent Control15 Aug 2026
- 2026Boosting Deepresearch and LongContext Ability with Self-Generated Deepresearch Rollouts Traces5 Aug 2026
- 2026ABSeeker: Training Long-Horizon Search Agents via Answer-Backtracked Credit Assignment5 Aug 2026
- 2026Beyond Reward Engineering: A Data Recipe for Long-Context Reinforcement Learning17 Jun 2026
- 2026TIDE-Bench: Task-Aware and Diagnostic Evaluation of Tool-Integrated Reasoning10 May 2026
- 2026GUI Agents with Reinforcement Learning: Toward Digital Inhabitants30 Apr 2026
- 2026DR-Venus: Towards Frontier Edge-Scale Deep Research Agents with Only 10K Open Data21 Apr 2026
- 2026LiteResearcher: A Scalable Agentic RL Training Framework for Deep Research Agent20 Apr 2026
- 2026AgentProcessBench: Diagnosing Step-Level Process Quality in Tool-Using Agents15 Mar 2026
Similar, not cited
Close in wording, no citation either way
- 2025Scaling Agents via Continual Pre-training
- 2026Agentic Memory: Learning Unified Long-Term and Short-Term Memory Management for Large Language Model Agents
- 2025Klear-AgentForge: Forging Agentic Intelligence through Posttraining Scaling
- 2025Why Do LLM Agents Fail in Exploring New Environments? A World-Modeling Perspective
- 2026Scaling Agentic Capabilities, Not Context: Efficient Reinforcement Finetuning for Large Toolspaces
- 2026Rethinking Agentic Reinforcement Learning In Large Language Models
- 2026WideSeek-R1: Exploring Width Scaling for Broad Information Seeking via Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning
- 2026Learning to Explore: Scaling Agentic Reasoning via Exploration-Aware Policy Optimization