Large Language Model Agent: A Survey on Methodology, Applications and Challenges

TL;DR

This survey reviews the methodology, applications, and challenges of large language model agents, providing a structured taxonomy and connecting architectural principles with emergent behaviors in complex environments.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive, methodology-centered taxonomy of LLM agents, unifying diverse research threads and highlighting future research directions.

Findings

Unified architectural perspective on LLM agents

Linking agent design principles with emergent behaviors

Addressing evaluation and practical challenges

Abstract

The era of intelligent agents is upon us, driven by revolutionary advancements in large language models. Large Language Model (LLM) agents, with goal-driven behaviors and dynamic adaptation capabilities, potentially represent a critical pathway toward artificial general intelligence. This survey systematically deconstructs LLM agent systems through a methodology-centered taxonomy, linking architectural foundations, collaboration mechanisms, and evolutionary pathways. We unify fragmented research threads by revealing fundamental connections between agent design principles and their emergent behaviors in complex environments. Our work provides a unified architectural perspective, examining how agents are constructed, how they collaborate, and how they evolve over time, while also addressing evaluation methodologies, tool applications, practical challenges, and diverse application domains. By surveying the latest developments in this rapidly evolving field, we offer researchers a structured taxonomy for understanding LLM agents and identify promising directions for future research. The collection is available at https://github.com/luo-junyu/Awesome-Agent-Papers.