# ReTrace preprint reports lower automation costs with code-directed workflows

_Published Wednesday, November 11, 2026 at 2:06 AM EST · AI, Science · Latest · Tier 2 — Notable_

Researchers report that ReTrace, a system that converts written procedures and logged AI agent runs into reusable workflows, completed tasks at 24% lower cost than an agent across 79 procedures from their production platform. Completion fell to 93.8%, compared with the agent's 96.8%.

ReTrace extracts the conditions behind an agent's actions, combines them into rules and generates executable workflows in which code selects the next step. On τ²-Bench, workflows ran in 1.3 seconds instead of 170 seconds, but task success was 75.8%, compared with 80.6% for the agent. The preprint also reports that repairs using labeled training failures improved results on other tests.

## Sources

- [cs.LG updates on arXiv.org](https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.14492)

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Canonical: https://techandbusiness.org/newswire/Y96WeuppMFVDD2GIk-3R8n
Published: 2026-11-11T07:06:09.673Z
Story chronology: 2026-11-11T05:00:00.000Z
Retrieved: 2026-11-11T09:34:43.767Z
Publisher: Tech & Business (techandbusiness.org)