# Handover of In-Context Learning State Across Session Boundaries

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.14528 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.14528/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 14 of its 21 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 14 Aug 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 14 of 14)

- [Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Knowledge-Intensive NLP Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.11401/) (2020)
- [Efficient Memory Management for Large Language Model Serving with PagedAttention](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.06180/) (2023)
- [Transformers learn in-context by gradient descent](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.07677/) (2022)
- [LongMemEval: Benchmarking Chat Assistants on Long-Term Interactive Memory](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.10813/) (2024)
- [Transformers as Statisticians: Provable In-Context Learning with In-Context Algorithm Selection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.04637/) (2023)
- [Evaluating Memory in LLM Agents via Incremental Multi-Turn Interactions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.05257/) (2025)
- [Transformers Learn Nonlinear Features In Context: Nonconvex Mean-field Dynamics on the Attention Landscape](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.01258/) (2024)
- [Transformers are Minimax Optimal Nonparametric In-Context Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.12186/) (2024)
- [Mem2ActBench: A Benchmark for Evaluating Long-Term Memory Utilization in Task-Oriented Autonomous Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.19935/) (2026)
- [Pretrained transformer efficiently learns low-dimensional target functions in-context](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.02544/) (2024)
- [Fundamental Limits of Prompt Compression: A Rate-Distortion Framework for Black-Box Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.15504/) (2024)
- [Beyond Compaction: Structured Context Eviction for Long-Horizon Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.11213/) (2026)
- [Parallel Context Compaction for Long-Horizon LLM Agent Serving](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.23296/) (2026)
- [What to Keep, What to Forget: A Rate--Distortion View of Memory Compaction in LLMs and Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.08032/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This study investigates the methodological and theoretical properties of session handover in applications that use large language models. A task may continue in a new session when the context reaches the model's input limit, when the application restarts, or when another agent is asked to finish the task. The application must then decide which information from the earlier session to pass on. We formulate handover as the transfer of a task-relative in-context learning (ICL) state and distinguish exact recovery of earlier material from preservation of the target distribution. Under an exogeneity condition, predictive equivalence characterizes the coarsest deterministic sufficient handover and gives a fixed-length bit requirement. The analysis isolates the effects of the memory constraint, the writer, and the continuation procedure, and quantifies the cost of writing before the realized downstream query is known. We propose a three-part record that stores decisions and constraints exactly, uses task-justified statistics for repeated evidence, and retains original observations whose effect is not preserved by those statistics. Gaussian linear regression gives an exact finite-dimensional handover and finite-bit perturbation bounds, while nonparametric regression gives upper and lower bounds that relate memory to squared prediction error. These results provide a theory and method for deciding what a handover must retain and how its memory requirement depends on the continuation task.