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abstract indexed · arXiv 2610.11578 · updated 2026-10-18

Chronos Enables Code Agents to Reason over Software Evolution

First page of Chronos Enables Code Agents to Reason over Software Evolution
From the original paper · arXiv 2610.11578Page 1. Select the image to read the PDF.

Replaces flat semantic retrieval (or no retrieval) over repository history with structured experience cards distilled from merged pull requests, connected in a typed relation graph and consumed by a multi-agent patch-generation-and-selection workflow. Costs include offline indexing of PR history, an embedding/search service plus graph expansion at test time, and roughly triple the LLM calls per task from the two candidate agents and the selection step. It can fail where PR history is thin or poorly written, where retrieved cards are misleading rather than useful, and where the added agent steps amplify cost without resolving extra tasks on a given codebase.

For solo builders

A possible application for this research area. Paper-specific feasibility still needs a full-paper review.

A support or data assistant repeats work across related customer requests.

What you would change

Try the paper's memory change in a replay of past tasks, with separate memory per customer.

Try the idea on your product

A proposed first test. Set your budget and success criteria before running it.

Try the paper's memory change in a replay of past tasks, with separate memory per customer.

Compare against

Your current memory pipeline plus a no-memory control using the same agent.

  1. Locate the paper's implementation and check its license, model support, data needs, and hardware requirements. Stop here if you cannot obtain the required artifacts.
  2. Save a small set of representative product tasks and expected outcomes. Keep evaluation tasks out of any training or tuning, and choose quality and cost limits before running.
  3. Run the baseline and the proposed change on identical inputs. Keep other settings fixed and repeat paired runs to expose variation.
  4. Save per-task outputs, failures, timings, and all usage costs. Review regressions before expanding the test.

What to measure

Task success, stale memories, retrieval misses, response latency, and all memory maintenance costs.

When to keep it

Keep the change only if it meets your preselected quality and latency limits and improves the metric you care about after setup and operating costs. Otherwise retain the baseline. This is an exploration plan, not a validated recommendation.

Download test plan ↓

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Abstract-level screening only. Risks and infrastructure may not have been evaluated. This recommendation is not a reproduced result.
minimum test setup
not reported
published evidence setup
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source-linked claims
0 of 2
exposure checks
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Why it was shortlisted

The technical change, research area, and reason it entered the archive.

recommendation
test
research area
memory and context
technical change
PR-history experience graph for code agents
published
2026-10-08

The gains are consistent across six backbones and three benchmarks and the technique is implementable with API access plus modest indexing, but its value depends on the quality and volume of the target repository's PR history, so it warrants a workload-specific pilot before production adoption.

About the technical core

Equations have not been fetched yet.

When reading the methods, identify the rule, algorithm, or evaluation protocol that produces the claimed change. An equation is useful here only if it explains that mechanism.

Inspect the original paper

Claims and evidence

A claim is source-linked only when the PDF page and matching excerpt are available.

  1. claim 01Paperraft inference
    Read the brief interpretation

    Replaces flat semantic retrieval (or no retrieval) over repository history with structured experience cards distilled from merged pull requests, connected in a typed relation graph and consumed by a multi-agent patch-generation-and-selection workflow. Costs include offline indexing of PR history, an embedding/search service plus graph expansion at test time, and roughly triple the LLM calls per task from the two candidate agents and the selection step. It can fail where PR history is thin or poorly written, where retrieved cards are misleading rather than useful, and where the added agent steps amplify cost without resolving extra tasks on a given codebase.

    This is a Paperraft inference. It is not pinned to a verified PDF passage.

    Inspect the source
  2. claim 02Paperraft inference

    Raises SWE-Agent mean resolution on SWE-Bench Verified from 69.2% to 72.9% (peak 79.8% with MiniMax M2.5), and from 48.3% to 51.7% on SWE-Bench Pro; graph-grounded retrieval increases mean useful retrieved cards from 1.24 to 2.87 versus flat semantic search.

    This is a Paperraft inference. It is not pinned to a verified PDF passage.

    Inspect the source

Exposure map

Author findings, Paperraft interpretations, and the next check. Missing analysis never counts as evidence of safety.

quality

Still unknown

Which tasks improve, and which regress against the baseline?

compute and memory

Still unknown

What memory, hardware, and total compute does the complete method require?

latency

Still unknown

Are startup time, typical response time, and slow requests measured separately?

operations

Still unknown

What must be monitored, maintained, and rolled back?

software compatibility

Still unknown

Does the implementation support your model, runtime, and hardware?

security

Still unknown

What new data access, permissions, or trust boundaries does it introduce?

data and training

Still unknown

What data preparation or training is required, and is it included in the cost?

reproducibility

Still unknown

Are code, versions, inputs, and evaluation scripts available?

Continue the investigation

A reading guide for memory and context.

Editorial prompts, not findings from this paper or a validated test plan. Detailed analysis is still pending for the topics below.

What to inspect

How are memories written, retrieved, updated, and deleted? Look for stale or contradictory information.

Plan a fair comparison

Can you compare full context, simple retrieval, and the memory layer using the same questions and context budget?

Questions for adoption

Does the cost include memory extraction and maintenance as well as answer generation?

Read the paper with these questions

Inside the paper

Preview the first 3 pages of the original PDF. Click the stack to turn the page.

The downloadable skill includes SKILL.md and evidence.json, with recorded findings and unanswered checks. TRY-IT.md adds a product test plan and a blank results sheet.

A reading aid for your agent. Findings still need validation.

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Provisional research brief updated 2026-10-18. Paperraft has not reproduced this experiment.

Discuss this paper

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arXiv 2610.11578

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