Search More, Think Less: Rethinking Long-Horizon Agentic Search for Efficiency and Generalization
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
- 2026O-Researcher: An Open Ended Deep Research Model via Multi-Agent Distillation and Agentic RL7 Jan
- 2025MiroThinker: Pushing the Performance Boundaries of Open-Source Research Agents via Model, Context, and Interactive Scaling14 Nov
- 2025Flash-Searcher: Fast and Effective Web Agents via DAG-Based Parallel Execution29 Sep
- 2025WebExplorer: Explore and Evolve for Training Long-Horizon Web Agents8 Sep
- 2025Beyond Ten Turns: Unlocking Long-Horizon Agentic Search with Large-Scale Asynchronous RL11 Aug
- 2025WebSailor: Navigating Super-human Reasoning for Web Agent3 Jul
- 2025DeepResearch Bench: A Comprehensive Benchmark for Deep Research Agents13 Jun
- 2025WebDancer: Towards Autonomous Information Seeking Agency28 May
- 2025EvolveSearch: An Iterative Self-Evolving Search Agent28 May
- 2025DeepResearchGym: A Free, Transparent, and Reproducible Evaluation Sandbox for Deep Research25 May
- 2025Search-o1: Agentic Search-Enhanced Large Reasoning Models9 Jan
Other references · 34
- 2022ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Modelscited by 8,695
- 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
- 2023MetaGPT: Meta Programming for A Multi-Agent Collaborative Frameworkcited by 1,808
- 2025Search-R1: Training LLMs to Reason and Leverage Search Engines with Reinforcement Learningcited by 1,444
- 2023CAMEL: Communicative Agents for "Mind" Exploration of Large Language Model Societycited by 1,395
- 2023GAIA: a benchmark for General AI Assistantscited by 1,128
- 2023ChatDev: Communicative Agents for Software Developmentcited by 919
- 2025BrowseComp: A Simple Yet Challenging Benchmark for Browsing Agentscited by 647
- 2023AgentVerse: Facilitating Multi-Agent Collaboration and Exploring Emergent Behaviorscited by 598
- 2025Kimi K2: Open Agentic Intelligencecited by 567
- 2025GLM-4.5: Agentic, Reasoning, and Coding (ARC) Foundation Modelscited by 467
22 more
- 2025WebThinker: Empowering Large Reasoning Models with Deep Research Capabilitycited by 335
- 2024LightRAG: Simple and Fast Retrieval-Augmented Generationcited by 315
- 2025DeepResearcher: Scaling Deep Research via Reinforcement Learning in Real-world Environmentscited by 286
- 2025MiniMax-M1: Scaling Test-Time Compute Efficiently with Lightning Attentioncited by 263
- 2024Magentic-One: A Generalist Multi-Agent System for Solving Complex Taskscited by 232
- 2025WebWalker: Benchmarking LLMs in Web Traversalcited by 175
- 2024Fact, Fetch, and Reason: A Unified Evaluation of Retrieval-Augmented Generationcited by 162
- 2025SimpleTIR: End-to-End Reinforcement Learning for Multi-Turn Tool-Integrated Reasoningcited by 146
- 2025OWL: Optimized Workforce Learning for General Multi-Agent Assistance in Real-World Task Automationcited by 131
- 2025WebShaper: Agentically Data Synthesizing via Information-Seeking Formalizationcited by 121
- 2023Agents: An Open-source Framework for Autonomous Language Agentscited by 116
- 2025Alita: Generalist Agent Enabling Scalable Agentic Reasoning with Minimal Predefinition and Maximal Self-Evolutioncited by 116
- 2024Symbolic Learning Enables Self-Evolving Agentscited by 106
- 2025Agent KB: Leveraging Cross-Domain Experience for Agentic Problem Solvingcited by 94
- 2025Chain-of-Agents: End-to-End Agent Foundation Models via Multi-Agent Distillation and Agentic RLcited by 80
- 2025SealQA: Raising the Bar for Reasoning in Search-Augmented Language Modelscited by 75
- 2025Scaling Test-time Compute for LLM Agentscited by 63
- 2025SimpleDeepSearcher: Deep Information Seeking via Web-Powered Reasoning Trajectory Synthesiscited by 55
- 2025TaskCraft: Automated Generation of Agentic Taskscited by 51
- 2025WebWeaver: Structuring Web-Scale Evidence with Dynamic Outlines for Open-Ended Deep Researchcited by 46
- 2025OAgents: An Empirical Study of Building Effective Agentscited by 29
- 2025Beyond Turn Limits: Training Deep Search Agents with Dynamic Context Windowcited by 19
Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2026: 5.
5 papers.
- 2026Marco DeepResearch: Unlocking Efficient Deep Research Agents via Verification-Centric Designcited by 16
- 2026DR-Venus: Towards Frontier Edge-Scale Deep Research Agents with Only 10K Open Datacited by 5
- 2026MetaResearcher: Scaling Deep Research via Self-Reflective Reinforcement Learning in Adversarial Virtual Environmentscited by 1
- 2026LexiHorizon: Stabilizing Reinforcement Learning for Long-Horizon Deep Searchcited by 0
- 2026When Should Agents Think? Adaptive Reasoning via Cross-Turn Estimationcited by 0
- 2026When Should Agents Think? Adaptive Reasoning via Cross-Turn Estimation8 Oct 2026
- 2026LexiHorizon: Stabilizing Reinforcement Learning for Long-Horizon Deep Search4 Oct 2026
- 2026MetaResearcher: Scaling Deep Research via Self-Reflective Reinforcement Learning in Adversarial Virtual Environments18 Jun 2026
- 2026DR-Venus: Towards Frontier Edge-Scale Deep Research Agents with Only 10K Open Data21 Apr 2026
- 2026Marco DeepResearch: Unlocking Efficient Deep Research Agents via Verification-Centric Design30 Mar 2026
Similar, not cited
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