Just-in-Time Skill Retrieval via Long-Horizon State Tracking

Abstract

Large language model (LLM) agents increasingly rely on external skill libraries to support complex task execution. However, determining which skills are needed remains challenging in long-horizon tasks. Existing methods typically select a fixed skill set before execution, implicitly assuming that a task's procedural requirements can be determined from its initial description. This assumption is restrictive for long-horizon interaction, where new requirements emerge from intermediate observations, execution outcomes, and newly revealed constraints. This motivates just-in-time skill retrieval, which dynamically selects skills as execution unfolds. Just-in-time skill retrieval is promising but challenging: the utility of a skill depends not only on the current context, but also on the evolving task state shaped by prior steps. To this end, we propose JitSkill, a state-grounded framework that addresses this challenge through continuous task-state tracking. By connecting emerging requirements with accumulated task progress, JitSkill provides procedural support throughout execution without treating each retrieval decision independently. Experiments across three agent benchmarks demonstrate its effectiveness in improving long-horizon task completion. Our code is available at https://github.com/XMUDeepLIT/JitSkill.git/.