# GAAMA: Graph Augmented Associative Memory for Agents

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.27910 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.27910/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Agent memory systems, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use.
- Builds on 13 of its 32 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 29 Mar 2026.

## Placed in

- LLM agents and tool use / [Agent memory systems](https://mlsanity.com/agents/agent-memory-systems/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 13 of 13)

- [Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Knowledge-Intensive NLP Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.11401/) (2020)
- [Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.03442/) (2023)
- [From Local to Global: A Graph RAG Approach to Query-Focused Summarization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.16130/) (2024)
- [A-MEM: Agentic Memory for LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.12110/) (2025)
- [Mem0: Building Production-Ready AI Agents with Scalable Long-Term Memory](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.19413/) (2025)
- [QA-GNN: Reasoning with Language Models and Knowledge Graphs for Question Answering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.06378/) (2021)
- [Graph Retrieval-Augmented Generation: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.08921/) (2024)
- [HippoRAG: Neurobiologically Inspired Long-Term Memory for Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.14831/) (2024)
- [From RAG to Memory: Non-Parametric Continual Learning for Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.14802/) (2025)
- [SimpleMem: Efficient Lifelong Memory for LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.02553/) (2026)
- [MemoryArena: Benchmarking Agent Memory in Interdependent Multi-Session Agentic Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.16313/) (2026)
- [Agentic Memory: Learning Unified Long-Term and Short-Term Memory Management for Large Language Model Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.01885/) (2026)
- [Sequential Planning in Large Partially Observable Environments guided by LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.07368/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [Self-Evolving Agents as Dynamic Graph Transformation: A Survey and New Perspective](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.18104/) (2026)
- [Amnesia by Design, Memory By Necessity: Persistent State for Document Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.32041/) (2026)
- [Graph-Based Personalized Memory for LLM Agents: Representation, Evolution, Retrieval, and Evaluation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.08599/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

AI agents that interact with users across multiple sessions require persistent long-term memory to maintain coherent, personalized behavior. Current approaches either rely on flat retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), which loses structural relationships among memories, or use entity-centric knowledge graphs that suffer from mega-hub effects in conversational data, diluting graph-based relevance propagation. We propose GAAMA, a graph-augmented associative memory for agents that constructs a concept-mediated knowledge graph through a three-step pipeline: (1)verbatim episode preservation, (2)LLM-based extraction of atomic facts and topic-level concept nodes, and (3)synthesis of higher-order reflections. The resulting graph uses four node types (episode, fact, reflection, concept) connected by five structural edge types, with concept nodes providing cross-cutting traversal paths that avoid the mega-hub problem of entity-centric designs. Retrieval combines cosine-similarity-based k-nearest neighbor search with edge-type-aware Personalized PageRank (PPR) through an additive scoring function. We further introduce GRAFT (Graph Repair by Augmenting Facts & Topology), a post-retrieval corrective layer that diagnoses retrieval failures and surgically repairs the knowledge graph. On LoCoMo-10 (1,540 questions, 10 multi-session conversations), GAAMA achieves 79.1% mean reward, a +4.2~pp improvement over a tuned RAG baseline, the strongest comparator. On MemoryArena, GAAMA outperforms full-context baselines across three tasks - Group Travel (+0.4~pp), Web Shopping (+3.4~pp), and Progressive Search (+0.7~pp) - with advantages growing monotonically with dialogue length. Notably, GAAMA delivers consistent performance across all categories, matching the best competing method in each, whereas every competitor degrades in at least one category.