Hierarchical Graph Memory for LLM Agents with Path-level Localization and Rewrite
On the map: LLM agents and tool use → Agent memory systems
Abstract (arXiv)
Agents for long term reasoning require a memory that can be efficiently and effectively updated over time, as new facts and external feedback continue to arrive. Recently, graph memory has been adopted to offer structural organization for multi-hop retrieval and reasoning. However, existing methods store all memories in a flat graph, and accumulated historical memories can introduce irrelevant contexts and increase the cost of evidence selection during retrieval. Moreover, they typically update memory units independently, requiring repeated unit-wise rewrite to cover related changes. To address these issues, we propose HiGram, an evolving hierarchical graph memory framework with path-level localization and rewriting. Specifically, we first propose a hierarchical graph memory, which organizes the memory into coarse-to-fine architecture composed of upper-level nodes and MemoryUnits, thereby reducing the amount of irrelevant information during retrieval. We further propose MicroGraph-based path-level localization, which leverages query and update conditioned MicroGraphs to identify support subgraph and evidence path before rewrite. Finally, we propose a coordinated rewriting method that jointly revises intra-unit memory and inter-unit dependencies, enable valid dependency structures updating in the localized evidence path. Experiments on benchmarks for long-term conversational question answering and conflict-aware memory evaluation demonstrate that our method demonstrate substantial improvements over baselines in answer quality and token efficiency. Besides, our method improves answer accuracy and query-valid evidence selection under dynamic, static, and conditional conflicts.
Key facts. No citing papers in the map yet (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Agent memory systems, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 29 of its 39 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 5 Aug 2026.
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29 of 39 references.
Closest ancestors · 6
Same direction, newest first
- 2026GAM: Hierarchical Graph-based Agentic Memory for LLM Agents14 Apr
- 2025Hierarchical Memory for High-Efficiency Long-Term Reasoning in LLM Agents23 Jul
- 2025A-MEM: Agentic Memory for LLM Agents17 Feb
- 2025Zep: A Temporal Knowledge Graph Architecture for Agent Memory20 Jan
- 2024Evaluating Very Long-Term Conversational Memory of LLM Agents27 Feb
- 2024A Human-Inspired Reading Agent with Gist Memory of Very Long Contexts15 Feb
Other references · 23
- 2022ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Modelscited by 8,355
- 2020Dense Passage Retrieval for Open-Domain Question Answeringcited by 3,779
- 2023Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behaviorcited by 3,500
- 2023Lost in the Middle: How Language Models Use Long Contextscited by 3,383
- 2022Locating and Editing Factual Associations in GPTcited by 2,609
- 2020REALM: Retrieval-Augmented Language Model Pre-Trainingcited by 2,126
- 2024From Local to Global: A Graph RAG Approach to Query-Focused Summarizationcited by 1,411
- 2023MemGPT: Towards LLMs as Operating Systemscited by 1,295
- 2022Mass-Editing Memory in a Transformercited by 976
- 2022Interleaving Retrieval with Chain-of-Thought Reasoning for Knowledge-Intensive Multi-Step Questionscited by 911
- 2024RAPTOR: Recursive Abstractive Processing for Tree-Organized Retrievalcited by 519
- 2022Memory-Based Model Editing at Scalecited by 443
11 more
- 2024Knowledge Conflicts for LLMs: A Surveycited by 274
- 2017Know-Evolve: Deep Temporal Reasoning for Dynamic Knowledge Graphscited by 149
- 2025MemOS: A Memory OS for AI Systemcited by 129
- 2022Long Time No See! Open-Domain Conversation with Long-Term Persona Memorycited by 107
- 2023MemoChat: Tuning LLMs to Use Memos for Consistent Long-Range Open-Domain Conversationcited by 94
- 2022Temporal Knowledge Graph Completion: A Surveycited by 61
- 2021TIMEDIAL: Temporal Commonsense Reasoning in Dialogcited by 55
- 2024Lifelong Knowledge Editing for LLMs with Retrieval-Augmented Continuous Prompt Learningcited by 40
- 2023Personalized Large Language Model Assistant with Evolving Conditional Memorycited by 24
- 2024Who's Who: Large Language Models Meet Knowledge Conflicts in Practicecited by 20
- 2026MemConflict: Evaluating Long-Term Memory Systems Under Memory Conflictscited by 10
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