Schedule-and-Calibrate: Utility-Guided Multi-Task Reinforcement Learning for Code LLMs
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Abstract (arXiv)
Reinforcement learning (RL) with verifiable rewards has proven effective at post-training LLMs for coding, yet deploying separate task-specific specialists incurs costs that scale with the number of tasks, motivating a unified multi-task RL (MTRL) approach. However, existing MTRL methods treat all coding tasks uniformly, relying on fixed data curricula under a shared optimization strategy, ultimately limiting the effectiveness of multi-task training. To address these limitations, we propose ASTOR, a multi-tASk code reinforcement learning framework via uTility-driven coORdination. Centered on task utility, a signal capturing each task learning potential and cross-task synergy, ASTOR comprises two coupled modules: 1) Hierarchical Utility-Routed Data Scheduling module hierarchically allocates training budget and prioritizes informative prompts, steering training toward the most valuable data and 2) Adaptive Utility-Calibrated Policy Optimization module dynamically scales per-task KL regularization, matching update constraints to each tasks current training state. Experiments on two widely-used LLMs across four representative coding tasks demonstrate that ASTOR consistently improves a single model across all tasks, outperforming the best task-specific specialist by 9.0%-9.5% and surpassing the strongest MTRL baseline by 7.5%-12.8%.
Key facts. No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 24 of its 36 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 7 May 2026.
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References · 24
- 2024DeepSeekMath: Pushing the Limits of Mathematical Reasoning in Open Language Modelscited by 9,379
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- 2017Distral: Robust Multitask Reinforcement Learningcited by 233
12 more
- 2020Just Pick a Sign: Optimizing Deep Multitask Models with Gradient Sign Dropoutcited by 201
- 2024RLEF: Grounding Code LLMs in Execution Feedback with Reinforcement Learningcited by 151
- 2020Multi-Task Reinforcement Learning with Soft Modularizationcited by 143
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