MatOS: An Agent Operating System for Materials Research
Organizations: Zhongguancun Academy · Zhongguancun Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Beijing, China
Abstract
Materials research relies on scattered and growing data, knowledge, and simulation tools, and a single study often spans multi-day workflows across literature analysis, computation, and experiment. Large language model agents can now retrieve materials data, operate simulation codes, and close design-synthesis-characterization loops with autonomous laboratories. However, extending these agents with new capabilities, keeping long-running tasks on track, and letting them learn from past tasks and user feedback remain difficult. Here we present MatOS, an agent operating system for materials research with three core components: (1) a layered scientific asset graph that organizes data, knowledge, tools, skills, roles, and workflows as reusable assets; (2) a stateful adaptive workflow that runs tasks as explicit execution graphs with scientific checks, so that they can be resumed and traced; and (3) evidence-driven asset evolution, which revises these assets from execution records and user feedback. On ResearchClawBench, MatOS improves on the previously best-performing agent by 11.15% with the same base model and extends the cost-score Pareto frontier. With a common base model, it outperforms Codex CLI and Claude Code, exceeding Codex CLI by 2.13% on MatTools and 4.17% on SciAgentGym. In eight research cases, MatOS narrowed more than 30 million candidate structures to 97 solid-electrolyte candidates, identified 89 halide variants with higher computed conductivity than their parent structures, linked the force errors of 11 pretrained interatomic potentials to local atomic environments, and supported two new methods that reduce errors by 3.1% and 13.6% relative to their baselines. These results show that organizing research capabilities as reusable, evolving assets enables agents to carry out long, multistage materials studies. Code is available at https://github.com/DingyangLyu/MatOS.
Figures & tables
| Symbol | Type | Scientific meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Data | Records of materials systems and their computational or experimental processes, including measurements, simulation outputs, structures, parameters, and references to data sources. | |
| Knowledge | Generalizations from observations and their conditions of applicability, including physical laws, empirical judgments, and knowledge about the use of methods. | |
| Tool | Callable capabilities centered on materials solvers, including software interfaces, retrieval and processing routines, validation scripts, and instrument interfaces. | |
| Skill | A method for a class of problems that specifies how knowledge and tools are selected and used and how results are checked. | |
| Role | An agent configuration defined by a responsibility prompt and the assets linked to it, which specify the capabilities it may select, combine, and invoke. | |
| Workflow | A reusable process description that organizes tools, roles, and subworkflows through nodes, dependencies, and control conditions. |
| Relation | Meaning of an edge from to | Typical type connection |
|---|---|---|
| Dependency | The applicability or use of requires data, knowledge, or a capability supplied by . | ; |
| Mount | becomes part of the capabilities available to for selection and composition. | ; |
| Call | may delegate a solution or decision to and use the returned result. | |
| Containment | A research process described by contains a stage handled by , which may be a reusable subprocess. | |
| Evidence | supplies traceable evidence for a claim, method choice, or result judgment in . | |
| Verification | specifies or performs a check of the applicability, behavior, or result of . |
| Node type | Scientific responsibility |
|---|---|
| Agent | Assigns open decisions such as problem decomposition, method selection, and anomaly interpretation to a research role. |
| Human | Handles stages requiring researcher judgment, additional information, or confirmation. |
| Exec | Runs a specified computation, data-processing operation, or analysis step. |
| Backend | Organizes a research job on an external computing platform or experimental instrument. |
| Guard | Checks inputs and intermediate results against scientific or procedural conditions for continuation. |
| Subworkflow | Invokes a reusable research process as a complete subtask. |
| Benchmark | Type | Tasks used | Metric |
|---|---|---|---|
| ResearchClawBench [ 54 ] | End-to-end research | 12 tasks | Rubric score, cost per task |
| MatTools [ 55 ] | Materials software use | 49 problems, 138 subtasks | Subtask and problem success |
| SciAgentGym [ 56 ] | Multistep tool use | 42 cases | Case success rate |
| Asset organization | Stateful execution | Self-evolution | Domain | ||||
| System | Modular extension | Capability links | Dynamic orchestration | Persistent recovery | Experience extraction | Update acceptance | Materials focus |
| Scientific workflow systems | |||||||
| AiiDA [ 38 ] | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| FireWorks [ 44 ] | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Scientific research agents | |||||||
| Type | Count | Representative content |
|---|---|---|
| Data | 3,135 | Structure databases (Materials Project and Alexandria), training data (MPtrj, MatPES, OMat24, and OC20/OC22), pretrained potentials (MACE, CHGNet, and MatterSim), SSSP and GBRV pseudopotentials, and published research datasets |
| Knowledge | 65 | Domain guides and code-resource assessments for twelve research areas, pymatgen method-interface knowledge, instrument interface specifications, indexes of datasets and the machine-learning-potential ecosystem, and handbooks on task readiness and common pitfalls |
| Tool | 194 | Database and literature retrieval. Catalogs of models, pseudopotentials, and computing environments. Simulators for XRD, Raman, FTIR, BET, and thermal analysis. High-performance computing job submission and monitoring. PyBaMM solution and Battery Parameter eXchange (BPX) validation |
| Skill | 386 | Procedures for band structure and electronic structure, phonons and thermal transport, charged defects, machine-learning potentials, high-throughput screening, molecular quantum chemistry, phase diagrams and phase fields, catalysis and electrochemistry, spectroscopy, and magnetism |
| Role | 51 | A computation coordinator and subroles for electronic structure, molecules, phase stability, and other calculations. Domain roles for batteries, phase fields and CALPHAD, thermal transport, high-entropy alloys, porous-material sorption, and experimental XRD. Roles for workflow planning, review, and self-evolution |
| Workflow | 104 | Stability screening, gas-sorption screening, charged-defect formation energies, Quantum ESPRESSO (QE) and AiiDA calculation chains, machine-learning-potential benchmarks, diffraction phase analysis, battery discharge simulation, and research and asset-construction planning |
| Functional layer | Representative systems and tools |
|---|---|
| Electronic-structure computation | VASP, Quantum ESPRESSO [ 152 , 153 ] |
| Computational integration and workflows | pyiron, FireWorks, AiiDA, atomate2 [ 180 , 44 , 38 , 58 ] |
| Open materials data | Materials Project, OQMD [ 35 , 178 ] |
| Structure generation | MatterGen [ 179 ] |
| Input and result processing | VASPKIT [ 181 ] |
| Experimental automation | A-Lab, CRESt [ 16 , 19 ] |
| Quantity | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| RMS deviation of along | 0.0023 | 0.0010 | 0.0028 |
| RMS deviation of along | 0.0047 | 0.0025 a | 0.0080 |
| / | / | / | |
| at | 0.457 / 0.453 | 0.281 / 0.281 | 0.171 / 0.172 |
| Primary-vortex center, | 0.616 / 0.617 | 0.553 / 0.555 | 0.529 / 0.531 |
| Primary-vortex center, | 0.734 / 0.734 | 0.603 / 0.606 | 0.565 / 0.563 |
| Benchmark | System | Model and version | Setting | Dates (2026) |
| ResearchClawBench | MatOS | GPT-5.4 ( gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 ) | reasoning effort high | Sep 7–8 |
| MatOS | DeepSeek-V4-Flash ( DeepSeek-V4-Flash-0731 ) | default | Sep 7 | |
| Judge | GPT-5.1 ( gpt-5.1-2025-11-13 ) | benchmark rubric | Sep 7–8 | |
| MatTools | MatOS | DeepSeek-V4-Pro ( DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Preview ) | 1M-token context | Jul 6 |
| Codex CLI 0.142.2 | DeepSeek-V4-Pro ( DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Preview ) | reasoning effort high | Jul 7 | |
| Claude Code 2.1.191 | DeepSeek-V4-Pro ( DeepSeek-V4-Pro-Preview ) | effort max | Jul 7 |
| Name | Description | Use in this report | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| MACE | Higher-order equivariant message-passing interatomic potential | Adsorption energies in Material_002 and committee selection of halide configurations | [ 70 ] |
| MatRIS-10M-OAM | Invariant, attention-based universal potential | One of the 11 evaluated potentials | [ 74 ] |
| PET-OAM-XL | Point-edge-transformer universal potential | One of the 11 evaluated potentials | [ 75 , 76 ] |
| DPA-3.1-MPtrj | Line-graph neural network for large atomistic models | One of the 11 evaluated potentials | [ 77 ] |
| MatterSim | Universal potential across elements, temperatures, and pressures | MD pre-screening of solid-electrolyte candidates | [ 86 ] |
| DeePMD-kit | Deep-potential training and MD package | Trajectory review of solid-electrolyte candidates | [ 87 ] |
| Name | Description | Use in this report | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| pymatgen | Python library for materials analysis | MatTools tasks | [ 59 ] |
| pymatgen-analysis-defects | Point-defect extension of pymatgen | MatTools defect and insertion-site tasks | [ 60 ] |
| ASE | Atomic Simulation Environment | Structure construction and calculator interface | [ 69 ] |
| RDKit (ETKDGv3) | Cheminformatics toolkit and its distance-geometry conformer generator | Conformers in the rigidity-index task | [ 72 , 71 ] |
| SOAP | Smooth-overlap-of-atomic-positions descriptor | Environment distances and configuration novelty | [ 190 ] |
| softBV (BVSE) | Bond-valence site-energy analysis of ion migration | Migration-barrier screening of halides | [ 91 ] |
Autonomous Research Agents
Autonomous research agents use language models and tools to search literature, design and run experiments, analyze results, and support scientific discovery.
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