mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

KLong: Training LLM Agent for Extremely Long-horizon Tasks

arXiv 2602.17547 ↗First posted 19 Feb 2026cs.AI cs.CLcited by 4

On the map: LLM agents and tool use → General LLM agent frameworks and benchmarks

Abstract (arXiv)

This paper introduces KLong, an open-source LLM agent trained to solve extremely long-horizon tasks. The principle is to first cold-start the model via trajectory-splitting SFT, then scale it via progressive RL training. Specifically, we first activate basic agentic abilities of a base model with a comprehensive SFT recipe. Then, we introduce Research-Factory, an automated pipeline that generates high-quality training data by collecting research papers and constructing evaluation rubrics. Using this pipeline, we build thousands of long-horizon trajectories distilled from Claude 4.5 Sonnet (Thinking). To train with these extremely long trajectories, we propose a new trajectory-splitting SFT, which preserves early context, progressively truncates later context, and maintains overlap between sub-trajectories. In addition, to further improve long-horizon task-solving capability, we propose a novel progressive RL, which schedules training into multiple stages with progressively extended timeouts. Experiments demonstrate the superiority and generalization of KLong, as shown in Figure 1. Notably, our proposed KLong (106B) surpasses Kimi K2 Thinking (1T) by 11.28% on PaperBench, and the performance improvement generalizes to other coding benchmarks like SWE-bench Verified and MLE-bench.

Key facts. Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in General LLM agent frameworks and benchmarks, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 24 of its 35 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 19 Feb 2026.

Builds on

24 of 35 references.

Closest ancestors · 4

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2025GLM-4.5: Agentic, Reasoning, and Coding (ARC) Foundation Models8 Aug
  2. 2025Plan-and-Act: Improving Planning of Agents for Long-Horizon Tasks12 Mar
  3. 2025OctoTools: An Agentic Framework with Extensible Tools for Complex Reasoning16 Feb
  4. 2024Automated Design of Agentic Systems15 Aug

Other references · 20

  1. 2023Judging LLM-as-a-Judge with MT-Bench and Chatbot Arenacited by 8,393
  2. 2022ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Modelscited by 8,355
  3. 2023Reflexion: Language Agents with Verbal Reinforcement Learningcited by 4,064
  4. 2023SWE-bench: Can Language Models Resolve Real-World GitHub Issues?cited by 3,193
  5. 2025Mem0: Building Production-Ready AI Agents with Scalable Long-Term Memorycited by 722
  6. 2025Humanity's Last Examcited by 467
  7. 2024MLE-bench: Evaluating Machine Learning Agents on Machine Learning Engineeringcited by 429
  8. 2024Training Language Models to Self-Correct via Reinforcement Learningcited by 405
  9. 2025PaperBench: Evaluating AI's Ability to Replicate AI Researchcited by 286
  10. 2025MemAgent: Reshaping Long-Context LLM with Multi-Conv RL-based Memory Agentcited by 235
  11. 2025MEM1: Learning to Synergize Memory and Reasoning for Efficient Long-Horizon Agentscited by 226
  12. 2024EASYTOOL: Enhancing LLM-based Agents with Concise Tool Instructioncited by 153
8 more
  1. 2025Beyond Ten Turns: Unlocking Long-Horizon Agentic Search with Large-Scale Asynchronous RLcited by 144
  2. 2025Scaling Long-Horizon LLM Agent via Context-Foldingcited by 136
  3. 2025Reinforcement Learning for Long-Horizon Interactive LLM Agentscited by 103
  4. 2025WebExplorer: Explore and Evolve for Training Long-Horizon Web Agentscited by 86
  5. 2025SEC-bench: Automated Benchmarking of LLM Agents on Real-World Software Security Taskscited by 69
  6. 2025AgentGym-RL: Training LLM Agents for Long-Horizon Decision Making through Multi-Turn Reinforcement Learningcited by 68
  7. 2025Context as a Tool: Context Management for Long-Horizon SWE-Agentscited by 38
  8. 2025AgentProg: Empowering Long-Horizon GUI Agents with Program-Guided Context Managementcited by 10

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2026: 4.

4 papers.

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2026TrajLong: Co-Designing Agentic and Long-Context Supervision for Mid-Training
  2. 2026The Horizon Gap: Planning, Memory, Execution, Training, and Evaluation for Long-Horizon LLM Agents
  3. 2026No Time Like the Present: Agentic Test-Time Training for LLM Agents
  4. 2026Trajectory Unlearning on LLM-based Agents
  5. 2026PRO-LONG: Programmatic Memory Enables Long-Horizon Reasoning
  6. 2026ACC: Compiling Agent Trajectories for Long-Context Training
  7. 2026A Subgoal-driven Framework for Improving Long-Horizon LLM Agents
  8. 2025STeCa: Step-level Trajectory Calibration for LLM Agent Learning