EvoMAS: Heuristics in the Loop—Evolving Smarter Agentic Workflows
Yangbo Wei, Zhen Huang, Ronghao Xu, Hong Wang, WEI W XING
Abstract
The rapid development of Large Language Models has driven Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) growth, but constructing efficient MAS requires labor-intensive manual design. Current automation methods generate templated agents, use monolithic optimization, and ignore task complexity gradients. This paper presents Evolutionary MAS (EvoMAS), a biologically-inspired framework whose core is a dynamic and diverse repertoire of seven evolutionary strategies---six biologically-inspired operators (3 exploration, 3 exploitation) together with a custom operator for domain-specific transformations---driven by adaptive strategy selection. These are complemented by role-level evolution that refines agent specialization and collaboration patterns, and a curriculum-guided schedule that evolves workflows from simple to complex tasks with cross-stage stability. Additionally, to resolve the contradiction between the inefficiency of pure evolution and the rigidity of manual design, we introduce the Cyber Creator , a meta-controller that conducts heuristics-in-the-loop learning by formulating and reflectively updating evolutionary rules and strategies. Evaluations demonstrate that EvoMAS consistently outperforms existing methods across multiple domains while maintaining cost efficiency, with roles evolving from homogeneous actors to specialized reasoning ensembles.
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