# CodeActionBench: Evaluating Agentic Code-as-Policy for Embodied Manipulation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.33807 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.33807/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Multimodal and embodied agents, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use.
- Builds on 43 of its 63 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 27 Sep 2026.

## Placed in

- LLM agents and tool use / [Multimodal and embodied agents](https://mlsanity.com/agents/multimodal-and-embodied-agents/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 43)

- [OpenVLA: An Open-Source Vision-Language-Action Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.09246/) (2024)
- [π0: A Vision-Language-Action Flow Model for General Robot Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.24164/) (2024)
- [Do As I Can, Not As I Say: Grounding Language in Robotic Affordances](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.01691/) (2022)
- [π0.5: a Vision-Language-Action Model with Open-World Generalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.16054/) (2025)
- [Octo: An Open-Source Generalist Robot Policy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.12213/) (2024)
- [LIBERO: Benchmarking Knowledge Transfer for Lifelong Robot Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.03310/) (2023)
- [Code as Policies: Language Model Programs for Embodied Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.07753/) (2022)
- [Inner Monologue: Embodied Reasoning through Planning with Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.05608/) (2022)
- [SAM 3: Segment Anything with Concepts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.16719/) (2025)
- [VoxPoser: Composable 3D Value Maps for Robotic Manipulation with Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.05973/) (2023)
- [RLBench: The Robot Learning Benchmark & Learning Environment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.12271/) (2019)
- [ProgPrompt: Generating Situated Robot Task Plans using Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.11302/) (2022)
- [SAPIEN: A SimulAted Part-based Interactive ENvironment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.08515/) (2020)
- [CALVIN: A Benchmark for Language-Conditioned Policy Learning for Long-Horizon Robot Manipulation Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.03227/) (2021)
- [Executable Code Actions Elicit Better LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.01030/) (2024)
- [RoboTwin 2.0: A Scalable Data Generator and Benchmark with Strong Domain Randomization for Robust Bimanual Robotic Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.18088/) (2025)
- [Evaluating Real-World Robot Manipulation Policies in Simulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.05941/) (2024)
- [ManiSkill2: A Unified Benchmark for Generalizable Manipulation Skills](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.04659/) (2023)
- [ReKep: Spatio-Temporal Reasoning of Relational Keypoint Constraints for Robotic Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.01652/) (2024)
- [Text2Motion: From Natural Language Instructions to Feasible Plans](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.12153/) (2023)
- [EmbodiedBench: Comprehensive Benchmarking Multi-modal Large Language Models for Vision-Driven Embodied Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.09560/) (2025)
- [Contact-GraspNet: Efficient 6-DoF Grasp Generation in Cluttered Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.14127/) (2021)
- [VLABench: A Large-Scale Benchmark for Language-Conditioned Robotics Manipulation with Long-Horizon Reasoning Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.18194/) (2024)
- [Kimi K3: Open Frontier Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.24653/) (2026)
- [Instruct2Act: Mapping Multi-modality Instructions to Robotic Actions with Large Language Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.11176/) (2023)
- [CaP-X: A Framework for Benchmarking and Improving Coding Agents for Robot Manipulation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.22435/) (2026)
- [Grounded Decoding: Guiding Text Generation with Grounded Models for Embodied Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.00855/) (2023)
- [Being-H0.5: Scaling Human-Centric Robot Learning for Cross-Embodiment Generalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.12993/) (2026)
- [LLM3:Large Language Model-based Task and Motion Planning with Motion Failure Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.11552/) (2024)
- [cuRobo: Parallelized Collision-Free Minimum-Jerk Robot Motion Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.17274/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

How well can general-purpose multimodal models turn visual understanding and reasoning into embodied manipulation via executable code? We introduce CodeActionBench, a benchmark of 25 manipulation tasks that evaluates this capability through agentic Code-as-Policy. Without task-specific fine-tuning, demonstrations, external specialist perception or grasp modules, privileged scene state, or predefined task policies, agents should select visual evidence, form task-relevant 3D estimates, construct manipulation targets, and iteratively execute and revise their policies. A shared robot API provides RGB observations, calibrated geometric operations, robot feedback, and bounded motion, leaving task-dependent decisions to the evaluated agent. Fixed task instances, resource budgets, and a hidden physical-outcome verifier support controlled comparisons across models and harness configurations. Extensive evaluations across nine configurations and 675 attempts achieve success rates ranging from 2.7% to 73.3%. The strongest configuration, GPT-6 Astra with Codex CLI, solves 22 of 25 tasks at least once in three attempts, demonstrating the best performance while still leaving substantial room for improvement. Trajectory analyses reveal difficulties in spatial alignment, object retention, and completion judgment, including task failures despite successfully completed motions. CodeActionBench provides a controlled testbed for measuring how general-purpose models translate their capabilities into manipulation behavior and for examining typical failure scenarios in that process.