# Quine: Realizing LLM Agents as Native POSIX Processes

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.18030 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.18030/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Software engineering coding agents, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use.
- Builds on 4 of its 16 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 8 Mar 2026.

## Placed in

- LLM agents and tool use / [Software engineering coding agents](https://mlsanity.com/agents/software-engineering-coding-agents/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 4 of 4)

- [SWE-agent: Agent-Computer Interfaces Enable Automated Software Engineering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.15793/) (2024)
- [OpenHands: An Open Platform for AI Software Developers as Generalist Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.16741/) (2024)
- [UFO2: The Desktop AgentOS](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.14603/) (2025)
- [Architecting AgentOS: From Token-Level Context to Emergent System-Level Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.20934/) (2026)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Towards an Agent Operating System - Lessons from Classical and Cloud OS](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.25076/) (2026)
- [L3M: A Verifiable Harness and Runtime for Self-Extending and Self-Improving Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.19591/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Current LLM agent frameworks often implement isolation, scheduling, and communication at the application layer, even though these mechanisms are already provided by mature operating systems. Instead of introducing another application-layer orchestrator, this paper presents Quine, a runtime architecture and reference implementation that realizes LLM agents as native POSIX processes. The mapping is explicit: identity is PID, interface is standard streams and exit status, state is memory, environment variables, and filesystem, and lifecycle is fork/exec/exit. A single executable implements this model by recursively spawning fresh instances of itself. By grounding the agent abstraction in the OS process model, Quine inherits isolation, composition, and resource control directly from the kernel, while naturally supporting recursive delegation, context renewal via exec, and shell-native composition. The design also exposes where the POSIX process model stops: processes provide a robust substrate for execution, but not a complete runtime model for cognition. In particular, the analysis points toward two immediate extensions beyond process semantics: task-relative worlds and revisable time. A reference implementation of Quine is publicly available on GitHub.