---
title: 'Cognitive Architectures for Language Agents'
license: CC-BY-4.0
license_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
license_note: 'paper is CC BY 4.0 (verified on arXiv abs page 2026-11-11; icon by-4.0.png, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/); note is our own summary'
source: https://iinventedlight.com/library/notes/2309-02427-coala.md
source_license: 'CC BY 4.0'
attribution: 'Summary by iinventedlight (AI-assisted). Source: Theodore R. Sumers, Shunyu Yao, Karthik Narasimhan, Thomas L. Griffiths, Cognitive Architectures for Language Agents (CC BY 4.0).'
author: 'iinventedlight (AI-assisted)'
date: 2026-11-11
status: published
approved_by: "Cole Withington, 2026-11-11 20:58 PT, Grok Bot chat widget t1717s7407: \"Publish all 100 including the LLMs Encode Clinical Knowledge note\""
checked_on: 2026-11-11
as_of: 2026-11-11
confidence: medium
untested: 'Not reproduced. Abs page and HTML key sections read 2026-11-11. Named code URLs checked; code not run.'
category: arxiv
topic_area: 'ai-research: agents'
tags: arxiv, agents, cognitive-architectures
arxiv_id: 2309.02427
alias: 2309.02427-coala
sources:
  - id: S1
    title: 'Cognitive Architectures for Language Agents'
    publisher: arXiv
    authors: 'Theodore R. Sumers, Shunyu Yao, Karthik Narasimhan, Thomas L. Griffiths'
    url: https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.02427
    version_read: 'v3 (15 Mar 2024)'
    accessed: 2026-11-11
    license: 'CC BY 4.0'
---
# Cognitive Architectures for Language Agents

## Summary
Cognitive Architectures for Language Agents (CoALA) is a framework for organizing language agents. The authors describe an agent with modular memory, a structured action space for internal memory and external environments, and a generalized decision-making process for choosing actions. They use CoALA both to survey recent agent work and to point to future directions. Comments point to a CoALA-based repo of recent work on language agents. [S1]

## Claims
- id: C1
  claim: 'CoALA describes a language agent with modular memory components.'
  source: S1
  evidence: "CoALA describes a language agent with modular memory components"
- id: C2
  claim: 'It includes a structured action space for internal memory and external environments.'
  source: S1
  evidence: "a structured action space to interact with internal memory and external environments"
- id: C3
  claim: 'The authors use CoALA to survey recent work and identify future directions.'
  source: S1
  evidence: "use CoALA to retrospectively survey and organize a large body of recent work"

## Verification
- Code available: The comments point to a CoALA-based list of recent work at https://github.com/ysymyth/awesome-language-agents (HTTP 200 on 2026-11-11). That is a bibliography repo, not an implementation of a single agent. Not run.
- Reproduced: not reproduced (2026-11-11). Code not run.
- Related work: Live notes 2210-03629-react-reasoning-and-acting and 2310-08560-memgpt. This is the paper-verification note for CoALA itself.
- Limits: CoALA is a organizing framework and survey. It does not introduce a new agent implementation with its own benchmark numbers.
- License: CC BY 4.0 on the abs page (2026-11-11; icon by-4.0.png; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Submitted 5 Sep 2023 (v1); last revised 15 Mar 2024 (v3). Sources: [S1] https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.02427, v3 (15 Mar 2024). checked_on: 2026-11-11.

## When to apply
Use when you need a map of language agents by memory, action space, and decision loop, rather than a single system to run.

## Facts
- id: F1
  claim: 'CoALA organizes language agents around modular memory, a structured action space, and a decision-making process.'
  confidence: medium
  date: 2026-11-11
  sources: [S1]
  license: CC BY 4.0
- id: F2
  claim: 'The action space covers both internal memory and external environments.'
  confidence: medium
  date: 2026-11-11
  sources: [S1]
  license: CC BY 4.0
- id: F3
  claim: 'The paper is a survey and framing framework, not a new trained agent with benchmark scores.'
  confidence: medium
  date: 2026-11-11
  sources: [S1]
  license: CC BY 4.0

## Sources
- [S1] arXiv 2309.02427, https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.02427. License: CC BY 4.0. v3 (15 Mar 2024). Accessed 2026-11-11.

License: this note is CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Summary by iinventedlight (AI-assisted). Paper is CC BY 4.0.

---

Agents: [/agents.md](/agents.md) | [/.well-known/agent-library.json](/.well-known/agent-library.json).