In-Context RL

RL: Reinforcement Learning

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Overview

In-context reinforcement learning (ICRL) studies agents that use examples, rewards, and past interactions in their context to adapt to new tasks without changing model weights. Approaches include training sequence models across many environments, using Transformers to implement updates such as temporal-difference or Q-learning, and guiding language-model agents with demonstrations, reflections, or retrieved experience. Research spans control and robotics, including MuJoCo and deployment-time adaptation, as well as tool use and multi-agent settings such as Overcooked. Open questions include whether agents truly learn from reward signals, how to retain useful history efficiently, and whether adaptation transfers reliably to unfamiliar tasks and teammates.

Latest papers

CardsList

45 papers11 papers in the last four weeks, up 175% on the four weeks before. 0.1% of all new papers.

  1. SKILL0: In-Context Agentic Reinforcement Learning for Skill Internalization

    Apr 2, 2026Zhengxi Lu, Zhiyuan Yao, Jinyang Wu +7LLM Agent Skill LearningRL for Tool Use

    Zhejiang University · Meituan · Tsinghua University

  2. TR-ICRL: Test-Time Rethinking for In-Context Reinforcement Learning

    Apr 1, 2026Wenxuan Jiang, Yuxin Zuo, Zijian Zhang +8In-Context RLRL for Language Model Reasoning

    The Hong Kong Polytechnic University · Meituan-M17 · Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences +3

  3. GUIDE: Guided Updates for In-context Decision Evolution in LLM-Driven Spacecraft Operations

    Mar 28, 2026Alejandro Carrasco, Mariko Storey-Matsutani, Victor Rodriguez-Fernandez +1Language Model-Based ControlLLM Agent Self-Improvement

    Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, USA · Universidad Politecnica de Madrid Madrid, Spain

  4. Experience is the Best Teacher: Motivating Effective Exploration in Reinforcement Learning for LLMs

    Mar 20, 2026Wenjian Zhang, Kongcheng Zhang, Jiaxin Qi +2Hindsight Experience ReplayRL for Language Model Reasoning

    Dalian University of Technology · Zhejiang University · Chinese Academy of Sciences

  5. Meta-Reinforcement Learning with Self-Reflection for Agentic Search

    Mar 11, 2026Teng Xiao, Yige Yuan, Hamish Ivison +6Reinforcement LearningAgentic Search

    Allen Institute for AI · University of Washington · Independent

  6. Good Reasoning Makes Good Demonstrations: Implicit Reasoning Quality Supervision via In-Context Reinforcement Learning

    Mar 10, 2026Tiehua Mei, Minxuan Lv, Leiyu Pan +5RL for Language Model ReasoningLLM Reasoning

    School of Data Science, Fudan University · University of Chinese Academy of Sciences · College of Intelligence and Computing, Tianjin University

  7. In-Context Reinforcement Learning for Tool Use in Large Language Models

    Mar 9, 2026Yaoqi Ye, Yiran Zhao, Keyu Duan +4RL for Tool UseIn-Context RL

    National University of Singapore · Salesforce AI Research · University of California Berkeley +1

  8. Provable and Practical In-Context Policy Optimization for Self-Improvement

    Mar 2, 2026Tianrun Yu, Yuxiao Yang, Zhaoyang Wang +6Language Model Self-ImprovementTest-Time Scaling

    Brigham Young University · University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · Microsoft

  9. ICPRL: Acquiring Physical Intuition from Interactive Control

    Mar 1, 2026Xinrun Xu, Pi Bu, Ye Wang +8Physical ReasoningIn-Context RL

    Institute of Software, Chinese Academy of Science · University of Chinese Academy of Sciences · Alibaba Group +2

  10. ContextRL: Enhancing MLLM's Knowledge Discovery Efficiency with Context-Augmented RL

    Feb 26, 2026Xingyu Lu, Jinpeng Wang, YiFan Zhang +12RL for VLMsReinforcement Learning with Verifiable Rewards

    Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, China · Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China · Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China +2

  11. In-Context Planning with Latent Temporal Abstractions

    Feb 21, 2026Baiting Luo, Yunuo Zhang, Nathaniel S. Keplinger +3Model-Based PlanningOffline RL

    Vanderbilt University · William & Mary

  12. Retrospective In-Context Learning for Temporal Credit Assignment with Large Language Models

    Feb 19, 2026Wen-Tse Chen, Jiayu Chen, Fahim Tajwar +4Step-Level Credit Assignment in RLSparse-Reward RL

    Carnegie Mellon University · The University of Hong Kong · Stanford University

  13. Multi-agent cooperation through in-context co-player inference

    Feb 18, 2026Marissa A. Weis, Maciej Wołczyk, Rajai Nasser +4Cooperative MARLDecentralized MARL

    Google, Paradigms of Intelligence Team · Santa Fe Institute

  14. Context Value Informed In-Context Reinforcement Learning

    Sep 27, 2025Wenhao Zhang, Shao Zhang, Xihuai Wang +2In-Context RLTest-Time RL

    Shanghai Jiao Tong University

  15. ICR-RL: Deep Reinforcement Learning via In-Context Regression

    Sep 14, 2025David Schiff, Ofir Lindenbaum, Yonathan EfroniReinforcement LearningIn-Context Learning

    Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel · Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel