# From Storage to Experience: A Survey on the Evolution of LLM Agent Memory Mechanisms

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.06716 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.06716/

## Key facts

- Cited by 21 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 173 of its 217 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 7 May 2026.

## Placed in

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

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 173)

- [LLaMA: Open and Efficient Foundation Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.13971/) (2023)
- [ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.03629/) (2022)
- [Reflexion: Language Agents with Verbal Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.11366/) (2023)
- [HotpotQA: A Dataset for Diverse, Explainable Multi-hop Question Answering](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1809.09600/) (2018)
- [Do As I Can, Not As I Say: Grounding Language in Robotic Affordances](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.01691/) (2022)
- [A Survey on Large Language Model based Autonomous Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.11432/) (2023)
- [Efficient Streaming Language Models with Attention Sinks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.17453/) (2023)
- [ToolLLM: Facilitating Large Language Models to Master 16000+ Real-world APIs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.16789/) (2023)
- [The Rise and Potential of Large Language Model Based Agents: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.07864/) (2023)
- [LongBench: A Bilingual, Multitask Benchmark for Long Context Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.14508/) (2023)
- [MemGPT: Towards LLMs as Operating Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.08560/) (2023)
- [RULER: What's the Real Context Size of Your Long-Context Language Models?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.06654/) (2024)
- [A-MEM: Agentic Memory for LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.12110/) (2025)
- [Large Language Models Cannot Self-Correct Reasoning Yet](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.01798/) (2023)
- [Evaluating Very Long-Term Conversational Memory of LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.17753/) (2024)
- [A Survey on the Memory Mechanism of Large Language Model based Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.13501/) (2024)
- [Quest: Query-Aware Sparsity for Efficient Long-Context LLM Inference](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.10774/) (2024)
- [Group-in-Group Policy Optimization for LLM Agent Training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.10978/) (2025)
- [Multi-Agent Collaboration Mechanisms: A Survey of LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.06322/) (2025)
- [Understanding the planning of LLM agents: A survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.02716/) (2024)
- [Zep: A Temporal Knowledge Graph Architecture for Agent Memory](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.13956/) (2025)
- [RAGEN: Understanding Self-Evolution in LLM Agents via Multi-Turn Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.20073/) (2025)
- [LongBench v2: Towards Deeper Understanding and Reasoning on Realistic Long-context Multitasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.15204/) (2024)
- [VideoAgent: Long-form Video Understanding with Large Language Model as Agent](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.10517/) (2024)
- [Titans: Learning to Memorize at Test Time](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.00663/) (2024)
- [How Language Model Hallucinations Can Snowball](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.13534/) (2023)
- [SkillRL: Evolving Agents via Recursive Skill-Augmented Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.08234/) (2026)
- [WebRL: Training LLM Web Agents via Self-Evolving Online Curriculum Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.02337/) (2024)
- [Evaluating Memory in LLM Agents via Incremental Multi-Turn Interactions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.05257/) (2025)
- [RealTime QA: What's the Answer Right Now?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.13332/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 21 of 21)

- [MemTxn: A Transaction Boundary for Source-Supported Updates and Complete-State Recovery in Agent Memory](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.27834/) (2026)
- [AdaMEM: Test-Time Adaptive Memory for Language Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.05684/) (2026)
- [TriggerBench: Investigating Prospective Memory for Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.23459/) (2026)
- [Rethinking Continual Experience Internalization for Self-Evolving LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.04703/) (2026)
- [Memory for Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.25380/) (2026)
- [Agent Memory Distillation: Empowering Small LLM Agents with Hierarchical Teacher Memory](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.07169/) (2026)
- [Reflect, Revise, Reuse: Training-Free Skill Evolution for GUI Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.17653/) (2026)
- [MESA:Task-Adaptive Multi-Structure Evidence Selection for Long-Horizon Agent Memory](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.10108/) (2026)
- [MemCalib: Benchmarking and Optimizing Memory Use in LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.24259/) (2026)
- [Amnesia by Design, Memory By Necessity: Persistent State for Document Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.32041/) (2026)
- [MemTools: A Unified Research Framework for Interoperable Agent Memory](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.21404/) (2026)
- [Continual Learning in Transition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.06216/) (2026)
- [What Makes Agent Memory Useful for Reliable Unanswerable Question Handling?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.27924/) (2026)
- [Inferring Hidden User Models from the Behavior of Personalized LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.03815/) (2026)
- [Graph-Based Personalized Memory for LLM Agents: Representation, Evolution, Retrieval, and Evaluation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.08599/) (2026)
- [STRETCH the Boundaries: A Unified Self-Taught Framework for Progressive LLM Evolution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.18642/) (2026)
- [Just-in-Time Memory: Learning to Curate Task-Adaptive Memory for LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.27334/) (2026)
- [Beyond Dyadic Memory: Interaction-Aware Multimodal Memory with Adaptive Agentic Retrieval for Multi-Party Spoken Conversations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.32522/) (2026)
- [ATTUNER: Recomputation-Free KV Cache Reuse via Query-Side Adaptation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.36722/) (2026)
- [Agentic Cognitive Depth: Operational Criteria for Evaluating LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.04168/) (2026)
- [Recurrent Harness for Agentic Continual Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.12668/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Large Language Model (LLM)-based agents have fundamentally reshaped artificial intelligence by integrating external tools and planning capabilities. While memory mechanisms have emerged as the architectural cornerstone of these systems, current research remains fragmented, oscillating between operating system engineering and cognitive science. This theoretical divide prevents a unified view of technological synthesis and a coherent evolutionary perspective. To bridge this gap, this survey proposes a novel evolutionary framework for LLM agent memory mechanisms, formalizing the development process into three stages: Storage (trajectory preservation), Reflection (trajectory refinement), and Experience (trajectory abstraction). We first formally define these three stages before analyzing the three core drivers of this evolution: the necessity for long-range consistency, the challenges in dynamic environments, and the ultimate goal of continual learning. Furthermore, we specifically explore two transformative mechanisms in the frontier Experience stage: proactive exploration and cross-trajectory abstraction. By synthesizing these disparate views, this work offers robust design principles and a clear roadmap for the development of next-generation LLM agents.