SkillRAE: Agent Skill-Based Context Compilation for Retrieval-Augmented Execution
On the map: Retrieval-augmented generation → Agentic RAG, agents and memory
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Abstract (arXiv)
Large Language Model (LLM)-based agents (e.g., OpenClaw) increasingly rely on reusable skill libraries to solve artifact-rich tasks such as document-centric workflows and data-intensive analysis. As these libraries grow, a few works have attempted to study the Retrieval-Augmented Execution (RAE), which often first retrieves some external skills and other knowledge, then compiles the context using retrieved skills, and finally executes the task. Existing works mainly focus on optimizing skill retrieval and task execution, and they pay little attention to how to effectively organize the selected skill evidence in a form that is compact, grounded, and immediately usable for the downstream executors to complete tasks. To fill this gap, we propose SkillRAE, a two-stage RAE approach focusing on skill-based context compilation, which consists of the offline and online stages. Specifically, in the offline indexing stage, it builds a multi-level skill graph over skill communities, skills, and reusable subunits, for capturing their relationships. In the online retrieval stage, it first performs skill-ranked retrieval with selected-subunit evidence export in the graph, and then applies rescue-aware compact compilation to recover the key evidence. Together, these components compile a coarse-ranked skill set into a task-specific context that is compact, grounded, and immediately usable. Experiments on two public benchmarks show that SkillRAE achieves a significant improvement over baselines for RAE. For example, on SkillsBench, it achieves an improvement of 11.7% over the SOTA method. Ablation studies further show that our context compilation is crucial, instead of a mere prompt addition.
Key facts. Cited by 8 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Agentic RAG, agents and memory, one of 15 directions in Retrieval-augmented generation. Builds on 42 of its 48 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 11 May 2026.
Builds on
42 of 48 references.
References · 42
- 2020Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Knowledge-Intensive NLP Taskscited by 9,297
- 2019Sentence-BERT: Sentence Embeddings using Siamese BERT-Networkscited by 9,170
- 2022ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Modelscited by 8,695
- 2023Toolformer: Language Models Can Teach Themselves to Use Toolscited by 4,182
- 2023Voyager: An Open-Ended Embodied Agent with Large Language Modelscited by 2,191
- 2023ToolLLM: Facilitating Large Language Models to Master 16000+ Real-world APIscited by 1,947
- 2023Self-RAG: Learning to Retrieve, Generate, and Critique through Self-Reflectioncited by 1,839
- 2024From Local to Global: A Graph RAG Approach to Query-Focused Summarizationcited by 1,453
- 2023Gorilla: Large Language Model Connected with Massive APIscited by 1,332
- 2023HuggingGPT: Solving AI Tasks with ChatGPT and its Friends in Hugging Facecited by 1,190
- 2022Interleaving Retrieval with Chain-of-Thought Reasoning for Knowledge-Intensive Multi-Step Questionscited by 923
- 2023API-Bank: A Comprehensive Benchmark for Tool-Augmented LLMscited by 591
30 more
- 2023C-Pack: Packed Resources For General Chinese Embeddingscited by 578
- 2024RAPTOR: Recursive Abstractive Processing for Tree-Organized Retrievalcited by 532
- 2023Active Retrieval Augmented Generationcited by 516
- 2023LongLLMLingua: Accelerating and Enhancing LLMs in Long Context Scenarios via Prompt Compressioncited by 453
- 2023RepoCoder: Repository-Level Code Completion Through Iterative Retrieval and Generationcited by 367
- 2023Chameleon: Plug-and-Play Compositional Reasoning with Large Language Modelscited by 356
- 2024LightRAG: Simple and Fast Retrieval-Augmented Generationcited by 315
- 2026SkillsBench: Benchmarking How Well Agent Skills Work Across Diverse Taskscited by 315
- 2025ReasoningBank: Scaling Agent Self-Evolving with Reasoning Memorycited by 284
- 2024HippoRAG: Neurobiologically Inspired Long-Term Memory for Large Language Modelscited by 281
- 2023ToolkenGPT: Augmenting Frozen Language Models with Massive Tools via Tool Embeddingscited by 240
- 2026Trace2Skill: Distill Trajectory-Local Lessons into Transferable Agent Skillscited by 187
- 2024AnyTool: Self-Reflective, Hierarchical Agents for Large-Scale API Callscited by 124
- 2024RepoGraph: Enhancing AI Software Engineering with Repository-level Code Graphcited by 91
- 2026Organizing, Orchestrating, and Benchmarking Agent Skills at Ecosystem Scalecited by 72
- 2024StructRAG: Boosting Knowledge Intensive Reasoning of LLMs via Inference-time Hybrid Information Structurizationcited by 71
- 2025PathRAG: Pruning Graph-based Retrieval Augmented Generation with Relational Pathscited by 61
- 2026SkillRouter: Skill Routing for LLM Agents at Scalecited by 61
- 2026Graph-of-Skills: Dependency-Aware Structural Retrieval for Massive Agent Skillscited by 55
- 2024Re-Invoke: Tool Invocation Rewriting for Zero-Shot Tool Retrievalcited by 52
- 2025ToolHop: A Query-Driven Benchmark for Evaluating Large Language Models in Multi-Hop Tool Usecited by 50
- 2025Retrieval-Augmented Generation with Hierarchical Knowledgecited by 47
- 2025In-depth Analysis of Graph-based RAG in a Unified Frameworkcited by 46
- 2024Dataflow-Guided Retrieval Augmentation for Repository-Level Code Completioncited by 40
- 2024ShortcutsBench: A Large-Scale Real-world Benchmark for API-based Agentscited by 36
- 2024ToolPlanner: A Tool Augmented LLM for Multi Granularity Instructions with Path Planning and Feedbackcited by 29
- 2025ArchRAG: Attributed Community-based Hierarchical Retrieval-Augmented Generationcited by 28
- 2024TRACE the Evidence: Constructing Knowledge-Grounded Reasoning Chains for Retrieval-Augmented Generationcited by 16
- 2025BookRAG: A Hierarchical Structure-aware Index-based Approach for Retrieval-Augmented Generation on Complex Documentscited by 16
- 2025Demystifying and Enhancing the Efficiency of Large Language Model Based Search Agentscited by 5
Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2026: 8.
8 papers.
- 2026SkillCAT: Contrastive, Assessment-Augmented and Topology-AwareSkill Self-Evolution for LLM Agentscited by 7
- 2026Right Family, Wrong Skill: Evaluating Risk Exposure in Agent Skill Retrievalcited by 4
- 2026SkillCorpus: Consolidating and Evaluating the Open Skill Ecosystem for Real-World LLM Agentscited by 2
- 2026SkillZip: Contract-Preserving Graph Compression for Scalable Agent Skill Librariescited by 1
- 2026SkillAligner: Treating Retrieved Skills as Adaptable Drafts at Execution Timecited by 1
- 2026COBRA-Skills: Contextual Bandit-Guided Evolution for Agent Skill Optimizationcited by 1
- 2026Selection-Aware Stress Testing for Interactive Agentscited by 0
- 2026Retrieval-Augmented Skill Optimization via Cross-Harness Adaptationcited by 0
- 2026Retrieval-Augmented Skill Optimization via Cross-Harness Adaptation29 Sep 2026
- 2026COBRA-Skills: Contextual Bandit-Guided Evolution for Agent Skill Optimization10 Sep 2026
- 2026Selection-Aware Stress Testing for Interactive Agents31 Aug 2026
- 2026SkillAligner: Treating Retrieved Skills as Adaptable Drafts at Execution Time7 Aug 2026
- 2026SkillZip: Contract-Preserving Graph Compression for Scalable Agent Skill Libraries6 Aug 2026
- 2026SkillCorpus: Consolidating and Evaluating the Open Skill Ecosystem for Real-World LLM Agents17 Jul 2026
- 2026SkillCAT: Contrastive, Assessment-Augmented and Topology-AwareSkill Self-Evolution for LLM Agents11 Jun 2026
- 2026Right Family, Wrong Skill: Evaluating Risk Exposure in Agent Skill Retrieval9 Jun 2026
Similar, not cited
Close in wording, no citation either way
- 2026SkillRet: A Large-Scale Benchmark for Skill Retrieval in LLM Agents
- 2026SkillTrace: Traversing a Query-Skill Graph for Composable LLM Agents
- 2026Skill2Query: Exploiting Skill Structure to Generate Pseudo-Queries for Agent Skill Retrieval
- 2025SkillFlow: Scalable and Efficient Agent Skill Retrieval System
- 2026SkillReason: Reasoning-Enhanced Agent Skill Retrieval for Implicit User Requests
- 2026SkillDAG: Self-Evolving Typed Skill Graphs for LLM Skill Selection at Scale
- 2026GraSP: Graph-Structured Skill Compositions for LLM Agents
- 2026SkillSeek: Revisiting Agent Skill Retrieval at Marketplace Scale