mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

Search More, Think Less: Rethinking Long-Horizon Agentic Search for Efficiency and Generalization

arXiv 2602.22675 ↗First posted 26 Feb 2026cs.CLcited by 5

On the map: LLM agents and tool use → Web, search, and research agents

Abstract (arXiv)

Recent deep research agents primarily improve performance by scaling reasoning depth, but this leads to high inference cost and latency in search-intensive scenarios. Moreover, generalization across heterogeneous research settings remains challenging. In this work, we propose Search More, Think Less (SMTL), a framework for long-horizon agentic search that targets both efficiency and generalization. SMTL replaces sequential reasoning with parallel evidence acquisition, enabling efficient context management under constrained context budgets. To support generalization across task types, we further introduce a unified data synthesis pipeline that constructs search tasks spanning both deterministic question answering and open-ended research scenarios with task appropriate evaluation metrics. We train an end-to-end agent using supervised fine-tuning and reinforcement learning, achieving strong and often state of the art performance across benchmarks including BrowseComp (48.6%), GAIA (75.7%), Xbench (82.0%), and DeepResearch Bench (45.9%). Compared to Mirothinker-v1.0, SMTL with maximum 100 interaction steps reduces the average number of reasoning steps on BrowseComp by 70.7%, while improving accuracy.

Key facts. Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Web, search, and research agents, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 45 of its 60 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 26 Feb 2026.

Builds on

45 of 60 references.

Closest ancestors · 11

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2026O-Researcher: An Open Ended Deep Research Model via Multi-Agent Distillation and Agentic RL7 Jan
  2. 2025MiroThinker: Pushing the Performance Boundaries of Open-Source Research Agents via Model, Context, and Interactive Scaling14 Nov
  3. 2025Flash-Searcher: Fast and Effective Web Agents via DAG-Based Parallel Execution29 Sep
  4. 2025WebExplorer: Explore and Evolve for Training Long-Horizon Web Agents8 Sep
  5. 2025Beyond Ten Turns: Unlocking Long-Horizon Agentic Search with Large-Scale Asynchronous RL11 Aug
  6. 2025WebSailor: Navigating Super-human Reasoning for Web Agent3 Jul
  7. 2025DeepResearch Bench: A Comprehensive Benchmark for Deep Research Agents13 Jun
  8. 2025WebDancer: Towards Autonomous Information Seeking Agency28 May
  9. 2025EvolveSearch: An Iterative Self-Evolving Search Agent28 May
  10. 2025DeepResearchGym: A Free, Transparent, and Reproducible Evaluation Sandbox for Deep Research25 May
  11. 2025Search-o1: Agentic Search-Enhanced Large Reasoning Models9 Jan

Other references · 34

  1. 2022ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Modelscited by 8,695
  2. 2025Gemini 2.5: Pushing the Frontier with Advanced Reasoning, Multimodality, Long Context, and Next Generation Agentic Capabilitiescited by 3,796
  3. 2025DAPO: An Open-Source LLM Reinforcement Learning System at Scalecited by 2,810
  4. 2023MetaGPT: Meta Programming for A Multi-Agent Collaborative Frameworkcited by 1,808
  5. 2025Search-R1: Training LLMs to Reason and Leverage Search Engines with Reinforcement Learningcited by 1,444
  6. 2023CAMEL: Communicative Agents for "Mind" Exploration of Large Language Model Societycited by 1,395
  7. 2023GAIA: a benchmark for General AI Assistantscited by 1,128
  8. 2023ChatDev: Communicative Agents for Software Developmentcited by 919
  9. 2025BrowseComp: A Simple Yet Challenging Benchmark for Browsing Agentscited by 647
  10. 2023AgentVerse: Facilitating Multi-Agent Collaboration and Exploring Emergent Behaviorscited by 598
  11. 2025Kimi K2: Open Agentic Intelligencecited by 567
  12. 2025GLM-4.5: Agentic, Reasoning, and Coding (ARC) Foundation Modelscited by 467
22 more
  1. 2025WebThinker: Empowering Large Reasoning Models with Deep Research Capabilitycited by 335
  2. 2024LightRAG: Simple and Fast Retrieval-Augmented Generationcited by 315
  3. 2025DeepResearcher: Scaling Deep Research via Reinforcement Learning in Real-world Environmentscited by 286
  4. 2025MiniMax-M1: Scaling Test-Time Compute Efficiently with Lightning Attentioncited by 263
  5. 2024Magentic-One: A Generalist Multi-Agent System for Solving Complex Taskscited by 232
  6. 2025WebWalker: Benchmarking LLMs in Web Traversalcited by 175
  7. 2024Fact, Fetch, and Reason: A Unified Evaluation of Retrieval-Augmented Generationcited by 162
  8. 2025SimpleTIR: End-to-End Reinforcement Learning for Multi-Turn Tool-Integrated Reasoningcited by 146
  9. 2025OWL: Optimized Workforce Learning for General Multi-Agent Assistance in Real-World Task Automationcited by 131
  10. 2025WebShaper: Agentically Data Synthesizing via Information-Seeking Formalizationcited by 121
  11. 2023Agents: An Open-source Framework for Autonomous Language Agentscited by 116
  12. 2025Alita: Generalist Agent Enabling Scalable Agentic Reasoning with Minimal Predefinition and Maximal Self-Evolutioncited by 116
  13. 2024Symbolic Learning Enables Self-Evolving Agentscited by 106
  14. 2025Agent KB: Leveraging Cross-Domain Experience for Agentic Problem Solvingcited by 94
  15. 2025Chain-of-Agents: End-to-End Agent Foundation Models via Multi-Agent Distillation and Agentic RLcited by 80
  16. 2025SealQA: Raising the Bar for Reasoning in Search-Augmented Language Modelscited by 75
  17. 2025Scaling Test-time Compute for LLM Agentscited by 63
  18. 2025SimpleDeepSearcher: Deep Information Seeking via Web-Powered Reasoning Trajectory Synthesiscited by 55
  19. 2025TaskCraft: Automated Generation of Agentic Taskscited by 51
  20. 2025WebWeaver: Structuring Web-Scale Evidence with Dynamic Outlines for Open-Ended Deep Researchcited by 46
  21. 2025OAgents: An Empirical Study of Building Effective Agentscited by 29
  22. 2025Beyond Turn Limits: Training Deep Search Agents with Dynamic Context Windowcited by 19

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 14 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2026: 5.

5 papers.

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2025From Web Search towards Agentic Deep Research: Incentivizing Search with Reasoning Agents
  2. 2026EigentSearch-Q+: Enhancing Deep Research Agents with Structured Reasoning Tools
  3. 2025Atom-Searcher: Enhancing Agentic Deep Research via Fine-Grained Atomic Thought Reward
  4. 2026Not Worth Another Token: Marginal Value Estimation for Efficient Deep Research Agents
  5. 2026SearchArt: Training Long-Horizon Search Agent with Scalable Synthetic and Verified Task
  6. 2026REDSearcher: A Scalable and Cost-Efficient Framework for Long-Horizon Search Agents
  7. 2025Fathom-DeepResearch: Unlocking Long Horizon Information Retrieval and Synthesis for SLMs
  8. 2025Lost in the Maze: Overcoming Context Limitations in Long-Horizon Agentic Search