Prime Agent: A Self-Improving RLM Harness
On the map: LLM agents and tool use → Software engineering coding agents
also in 1 more
Abstract (arXiv)
Language models are sequential processors, but long-horizon agency requires external information and computation beyond model weights and active context. Prime Agent is an open-source harness for long-horizon evaluation and coding-agent workflows. A persistent IPython REPL follows the Recursive Language Model abstraction for programmatic context processing and test-time compute, while Continual Harness preserves histories, memories, skills, prompts, and subagent specifications across trajectories. Recursive subagents coordinate through direct agent-to-agent communication, and the Agents View lets humans inspect and manage daemon-backed sessions. Prime Agent standardizes execution, recovery, verification, and resource accounting while leaving strategy construction to the model. This low-friction, expressive membrane prevents harness failures from becoming model failures and pushes measurement toward the model's true maximal underlying capability. Prime Agent raises ARC-AGI-3 RHAE Best@1 from 30% to 95.5% and matches or exceeds native and popular harnesses across long-context coding, GPU-kernel generation, emulator construction, and autonomous nanoGPT speedruns. On Factorio, we find refinement allows for continuous technology progression and dedicated subagents enable parallelized work. Code is available at https://github.com/PrimeIntellect-ai/prime-agent.
Key facts. Cited by 13 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Software engineering coding agents, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 28 of its 38 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 24 Aug 2026.
Builds on
28 of 38 references.
Closest ancestors · 6
Same direction, newest first
- 2026Continual Harness: Online Adaptation for Self-Improving Foundation Agents11 May
- 2024Training Software Engineering Agents and Verifiers with SWE-Gym30 Dec
- 2024OpenHands: An Open Platform for AI Software Developers as Generalist Agents23 Jul
- 2024SWE-agent: Agent-Computer Interfaces Enable Automated Software Engineering6 May
- 2024Executable Code Actions Elicit Better LLM Agents1 Feb
- 2023AutoGen: Enabling Next-Gen LLM Applications via Multi-Agent Conversation16 Aug
Other references · 22
- 2022ReAct: Synergizing Reasoning and Acting in Language Modelscited by 8,695
- 2023Reflexion: Language Agents with Verbal Reinforcement Learningcited by 4,276
- 2023Toolformer: Language Models Can Teach Themselves to Use Toolscited by 4,182
- 2023Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behaviorcited by 3,568
- 2023Self-Refine: Iterative Refinement with Self-Feedbackcited by 3,442
- 2023SWE-bench: Can Language Models Resolve Real-World GitHub Issues?cited by 3,373
- 2023Voyager: An Open-Ended Embodied Agent with Large Language Modelscited by 2,191
- 2024Scaling LLM Test-Time Compute Optimally can be More Effective than Scaling Model Parameterscited by 1,986
- 2022STaR: Bootstrapping Reasoning With Reasoningcited by 940
- 2024LongBench v2: Towards Deeper Understanding and Reasoning on Realistic Long-context Multitaskscited by 379
- 2023Theory of Mind for Multi-Agent Collaboration via Large Language Modelscited by 135
- 2024AgentTrek: Agent Trajectory Synthesis via Guiding Replay with Web Tutorialscited by 130
10 more
- 2025Oolong: Evaluating Long Context Reasoning and Aggregation Capabilitiescited by 40
- 2026LongBench Pro: A More Realistic and Comprehensive Bilingual Long-Context Evaluation Benchmarkcited by 19
- 2026Executable World Models for ARC-AGI-3 in the Era of Coding Agentscited by 14
- 2026PRO-LONG: Programmatic Memory Enables Long-Horizon Reasoningcited by 10
- 2026OBLIQ-Bench: Exposing Overlooked Bottlenecks in Modern Retrievers with Latent and Implicit Queriescited by 8
- 2026OPINE-World: Programmatic World Modeling with Ontology-error-Prioritized Interactive Exploration for ARC-AGI-3cited by 8
- 2022Interpretable Learned Emergent Communication for Human-Agent Teamscited by 6
- 2026Many-Tier Instruction Hierarchy in LLM Agentscited by 6
- 2022Towards True Lossless Sparse Communication in Multi-Agent Systemscited by 4
- 2023On the Role of Emergent Communication for Social Learning in Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learningcited by 3
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Citing papers per year: 2026: 13.
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- 2026RSIAgent: Autonomous Exploration for Recursive Self-improvement in New Environmentscited by 8
- 2026Harness-Zero: Harness Distillation via Agent-as-Harnesscited by 5
- 2026Mid-Harness: Scaling Actions Between Model and Harness for Terminal Agentscited by 1
- 2026StudentBench: AI and human tutoring yield equivalent GRE learning gainscited by 0
- 2026Witness: Discovery, Deciphering, and Epiphany in Interactive Puzzle Environmentscited by 0
- 2026Schema: Discovering Unknown Environments via Agentic Program Inductioncited by 0
- 2026Trust Is Not a Score: Runtime Assurance Contracts for High-Risk AI Agentscited by 0
- 2026Kepler: Auditable World Models for ARC-AGI-3cited by 0
- 2026Wikidata Search Traces: A Dataset for Training Knowledge Graph Search Agentscited by 0
- 2026ServeLearnBench: How Well Can Agents Self-Improve from Serving Experience?cited by 0
- 2026LongHarness: Advancing Agentic Reasoning over 100M-Token Corpora via Stateful Evidence Managementcited by 0
- 2026From Existing Methods to New Research Ideas: Two Perspectives on Recursive Self-Improvementcited by 0
1 more
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- 2026From Existing Methods to New Research Ideas: Two Perspectives on Recursive Self-Improvement10 Oct 2026
- 2026LongHarness: Advancing Agentic Reasoning over 100M-Token Corpora via Stateful Evidence Management9 Oct 2026
- 2026ServeLearnBench: How Well Can Agents Self-Improve from Serving Experience?6 Oct 2026
- 2026Wikidata Search Traces: A Dataset for Training Knowledge Graph Search Agents5 Oct 2026
- 2026Kepler: Auditable World Models for ARC-AGI-330 Sep 2026
- 2026Mid-Harness: Scaling Actions Between Model and Harness for Terminal Agents30 Sep 2026
- 2026Trust Is Not a Score: Runtime Assurance Contracts for High-Risk AI Agents30 Sep 2026
- 2026Schema: Discovering Unknown Environments via Agentic Program Induction30 Sep 2026
- 2026Witness: Discovery, Deciphering, and Epiphany in Interactive Puzzle Environments26 Sep 2026
- 2026StudentBench: AI and human tutoring yield equivalent GRE learning gains23 Sep 2026
- 2026Harness-Zero: Harness Distillation via Agent-as-Harness21 Sep 2026
1 more
- 2026Harness-Zero: Harness Distillation via Agent-as-Harnesscited by 5
- 2026Mid-Harness: Scaling Actions Between Model and Harness for Terminal Agentscited by 1
- 2026Schema: Discovering Unknown Environments via Agentic Program Inductioncited by 0
- 2026Trust Is Not a Score: Runtime Assurance Contracts for High-Risk AI Agentscited by 0
- 2026Wikidata Search Traces: A Dataset for Training Knowledge Graph Search Agentscited by 0
- 2026ServeLearnBench: How Well Can Agents Self-Improve from Serving Experience?cited by 0
- 2026LongHarness: Advancing Agentic Reasoning over 100M-Token Corpora via Stateful Evidence Managementcited by 0
- 2026ProgAgent: Learning Tool Orchestration through Programmatic Trainingcited by 0
- 2026ProgAgent: Learning Tool Orchestration through Programmatic Training10 Oct 2026
- 2026LongHarness: Advancing Agentic Reasoning over 100M-Token Corpora via Stateful Evidence Management9 Oct 2026
- 2026ServeLearnBench: How Well Can Agents Self-Improve from Serving Experience?6 Oct 2026
- 2026Wikidata Search Traces: A Dataset for Training Knowledge Graph Search Agents5 Oct 2026
- 2026Mid-Harness: Scaling Actions Between Model and Harness for Terminal Agents30 Sep 2026
- 2026Trust Is Not a Score: Runtime Assurance Contracts for High-Risk AI Agents30 Sep 2026
- 2026Schema: Discovering Unknown Environments via Agentic Program Induction30 Sep 2026
- 2026Harness-Zero: Harness Distillation via Agent-as-Harness21 Sep 2026
- 2026Kepler: Auditable World Models for ARC-AGI-3cited by 0
- 2026Kepler: Auditable World Models for ARC-AGI-330 Sep 2026
Similar, not cited
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- 2026PRIME: Policy-Reinforced Iterative Multi-agent Execution for Algorithmic Reasoning in Large Language Models
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