# Fresh Memory, Stale Plans: Dependency-Scoped Validation for Distributed LLM-Agent Memory

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.03340 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.03340/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Agent memory systems, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use.
- Builds on 16 of its 32 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 3 Sep 2026.

## Placed in

- LLM agents and tool use / [Agent memory systems](https://mlsanity.com/agents/agent-memory-systems/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 16 of 16)

- [MetaGPT: Meta Programming for A Multi-Agent Collaborative Framework](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.00352/) (2023)
- [CAMEL: Communicative Agents for "Mind" Exploration of Large Language Model Society](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.17760/) (2023)
- [MemGPT: Towards LLMs as Operating Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.08560/) (2023)
- [A-MEM: Agentic Memory for LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.12110/) (2025)
- [Mem0: Building Production-Ready AI Agents with Scalable Long-Term Memory](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.19413/) (2025)
- [Multi-agent Architecture Search via Agentic Supernet](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.04180/) (2025)
- [MIRIX: Multi-Agent Memory System for LLM-Based Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.07957/) (2025)
- [Collaborative Memory: Multi-User Memory Sharing in LLM Agents with Dynamic Access Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.18279/) (2025)
- [Temporary Authority, Permanent Effects: Commit-Time Authorization for LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.10487/) (2026)
- [MemTX: Transactional Belief Commit for Stateful Agent Memory](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.23929/) (2026)
- [Beyond Connectivity: An Open Architecture for AI-RAN Convergence in 6G](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.06911/) (2025)
- [Multi-Agent Memory from a Computer Architecture Perspective: Visions and Challenges Ahead](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.10062/) (2026)
- [S-Bus: Automatic Read-Set Reconstruction for Multi-Agent LLM State Coordination](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.17076/) (2026)
- [When Memory Updates but Behavior Does Not: Repairing Implicit Stale Dependencies in Personalized Agent Responses](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.01619/) (2026)
- [SwarmWorld: Stigmergic technological evolution in societies of language-model agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.26081/) (2026)
- [SyncPlan: Long-Horizon LLM Coordination with Explicit Synchronization and Adaptive Correction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.01652/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

A large language model (LLM) agent that inherits a plan through shared memory can hold the latest requirement yet act on a plan derived from an older one: fresh memory, stale plan. Freshness checks miss this failure because they compare local copies with current state (observation currency) rather than the inputs the plan was derived from (derivation currency). Planfence makes derivation currency checkable after a handoff. Stored plans carry exact links to their recorded inputs; before a protected action, Planfence follows those links to an action-specific dependency frontier, asks each input's owner for its current head, refreshes what changed, and allows one replan before blocking. Application code supplies the links and declares the scope; no shared memory service is required. Holding the native S-Bus validator fixed, supplying inherited input versions raises detected handoff conflicts from 0/30 to 30/30: retained evidence is the missing ingredient. In 30 live five-agent workflows with a revision inserted after planning, a freshness-only executor acts on the stale plan every time, whereas Planfence, like a centralized-lineage baseline that requires a shared store, completes all 30 correctly. In matched replay under emulated LTE traces, Planfence's stall stays within 143-237ms per action across a 64× range of update rates while per-update synchronization grows from 52 to 1196ms; synchronization is cheaper only at the lowest tested rates. Scoping queries to the declared dependencies holds traffic at 8.1KiB per action, a tenth of all-key validation at 128 keys; at full scope the two tie.