Recursive Experiential-Working Memory Evolution for Long-Horizon Agent Harnesses
On the map: LLM agents and tool use → Agent skill learning and evolution
Abstract (arXiv)
Recursive self-improvement (RSI) remains hard in long-horizon tasks, where growing histories obscure the task state and misalign skill invocation. We introduce Recuris, a recursive Experiential-Working Memory architecture for long-horizon agent harnesses, in which Working Memory tracks task progress and guides skill selection from Experiential Memory, grounding skill use in current needs rather than the full history. This coupling also turns execution into structured evidence that localizes failures to specific memory components. Across tasks, a fixed Meta-Agent turns that evidence into localized, validation-gated updates to Skill Memory that reshape execution and yield new evidence, forming a bounded recursive memory-evolution loop. Across four long-horizon benchmarks and ten models, Recuris improves task success in 35 of the 37 completed model-benchmark pairs, carrying frontier models to SOTA-level task success: on tau-bench it adds +17.8 points to GPT-5.6 Sol and +15.6 to Claude Opus 5, taking Opus 5 to 87.9%, and +16.6/+13.5 points on Qwen3.6-27B/35B on SkillFlow. The advantage widens as the interaction horizon grows, to +32.2 points on the longest tasks, and common long-horizon failures fall by up to 80%. These results position recursively evolving memory as a scalable foundation for RSI, enabling agents to continuously transform accumulated experience into increasingly effective long-horizon behavior. Code: https://github.com/Gen-Verse/Recuris
Key facts. Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Agent skill learning and evolution, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use. Builds on 41 of its 50 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 25 Aug 2026.
Builds on
41 of 50 references.
Closest ancestors · 4
Same direction, newest first
- 2026MetaSkill-Evolve: Recursive Self-Improvement of LLM Agents via Two-Timescale Meta-Skill Evolution6 Jul
- 2026SkillComposer: Learning to Evolve Agent Skills for Specification and Generalization4 Jun
- 2026SkillsInjector: Dynamic Skill Context Construction for LLM Agents28 May
- 2026How Well Do Agentic Skills Work in the Wild: Benchmarking LLM Skill Usage in Realistic Settings6 Apr
Other references · 37
- 2025Qwen3 Technical Reportcited by 8,195
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- 2025A-MEM: Agentic Memory for LLM Agentscited by 1,000
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- 2023DSPy: Compiling Declarative Language Model Calls into Self-Improving Pipelinescited by 803
- 2025AlphaEvolve: A coding agent for scientific and algorithmic discoverycited by 763
- 2023Promptbreeder: Self-Referential Self-Improvement Via Prompt Evolutioncited by 521
- 2026Terminal-Bench: Benchmarking Agents on Hard, Realistic Tasks in Command Line Interfacescited by 515
- 2025GEPA: Reflective Prompt Evolution Can Outperform Reinforcement Learningcited by 449
- 2023Cognitive Architectures for Language Agentscited by 422
- 2024Automated Design of Agentic Systemscited by 360
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- 2025Which Agent Causes Task Failures and When? On Automated Failure Attribution of LLM Multi-Agent Systemscited by 170
- 2025Dynamic Cheatsheet: Test-Time Learning with Adaptive Memorycited by 146
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- 2023Self-Taught Optimizer (STOP): Recursively Self-Improving Code Generationcited by 128
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- 2025Self-Adapting Language Modelscited by 71
- 2024AutoGuide: Automated Generation and Selection of Context-Aware Guidelines for Large Language Model Agentscited by 69
- 2024StateFlow: Enhancing LLM Task-Solving through State-Driven Workflowscited by 65
- 2025ReasonFlux: Hierarchical LLM Reasoning via Scaling Thought Templatescited by 62
- 2025SagaLLM: Context Management, Validation, and Transaction Guarantees for Multi-Agent LLM Planningcited by 58
- 2025A Self-Improving Coding Agentcited by 58
- 2025Your Agent May Misevolve: Emergent Risks in Self-evolving LLM Agentscited by 52
- 2025ReflAct: World-Grounded Decision Making in LLM Agents via Goal-State Reflectioncited by 30
- 2025LADDER: Self-Improving LLMs Through Recursive Problem Decompositioncited by 24
- 2024StateAct: Enhancing LLM Base Agents via Self-prompting and State-trackingcited by 21
- 2026Governing Evolving Memory in LLM Agents: Risks, Mechanisms, and the Stability and Safety Governed Memory (SSGM) Frameworkcited by 16
- 2026EvolveMem:Self-Evolving Memory Architecture via AutoResearch for LLM Agentscited by 11
- 2025On the Failure of Latent State Persistence in Large Language Modelscited by 8
- 2026PACE: Anytime-Valid Acceptance Tests for Self-Evolving Agentscited by 8
- 2026StructAgent: Harness Long-horizon Digital Agents with Unified Causal Structurecited by 4
- 2026SAGE: A Novelty Gate for Efficient Memory Evolution in Agentic LLMscited by 3
Built on by
Citing papers per year: 2026: 4.
4 papers.
- 2026RSIAgent: Autonomous Exploration for Recursive Self-improvement in New Environmentscited by 5
- 2026Discovery Foundation Models: Toward Open-Ended Discovery Intelligencecited by 3
- 2026Just-in-Time Memory: Learning to Curate Task-Adaptive Memory for LLM Agentscited by 0
- 2026BaRe-Mem: Bayesian Reliability Memory for Robust and Adaptive Agent Consultationcited by 0
- 2026BaRe-Mem: Bayesian Reliability Memory for Robust and Adaptive Agent Consultation28 Sep 2026
- 2026Just-in-Time Memory: Learning to Curate Task-Adaptive Memory for LLM Agents23 Sep 2026
- 2026Discovery Foundation Models: Toward Open-Ended Discovery Intelligence14 Sep 2026
- 2026RSIAgent: Autonomous Exploration for Recursive Self-improvement in New Environments14 Sep 2026
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