Agent Conversation: anthropic/claude-opus-4.6

Model: anthropic/claude-opus-4.6
Total steps: 5
Messages: 11
UserStep 0

Task: rl-offpolicy-continuous

Online RL: Off-Policy Actor-Critic for Continuous Control

Objective

Design and implement an off-policy actor-critic RL algorithm for continuous control. Your code goes in custom_offpolicy_continuous.py. Three reference implementations (DDPG, TD3, SAC) are provided as read-only.

Background

Off-policy methods maintain a replay buffer of past experience and update the policy using data collected under previous policies. Key challenges include overestimation bias in Q-value estimates, exploration-exploitation tradeoff, and sample efficiency. Different approaches address these through twin critics, entropy regularization, target smoothing, or delayed updates.

Constraints

  • Network architecture dimensions are FIXED and cannot be modified
  • Total parameter count is enforced at runtime
  • Focus on algorithmic innovation: new loss functions, update rules, exploration strategies, etc.
  • Do NOT simply copy a reference implementation with minor changes

Evaluation

Trained and evaluated on HalfCheetah-v4, Hopper-v4, Walker2d-v4. Additional held-out environments (not shown during intermediate testing) are used to assess generalization. Metric: mean episodic return over 10 evaluation episodes (higher is better).

cleanrl/cleanrl/custom_offpolicy_continuous.py [EDITABLE — lines 153–244 only]

     1: # Custom off-policy continuous RL algorithm for MLS-Bench
     2: #
     3: # EDITABLE section: Actor, QNetwork, and OffPolicyAlgorithm classes.
     4: # FIXED sections: everything else (config, env, buffer, eval, training loop).
     5: import os
     6: import random
     7: import time
     8: from dataclasses import dataclass
     9: 
    10: import gymnasium as gym
    11: import numpy as np
    12: import torch
    13: import torch.nn as nn
    14: import torch.nn.functional as F
    15: import torch.optim as optim
    16: import tyro
    17: 
    18: 
    19: # =====================================================================
    20: # FIXED: Configuration
    21: # =====================================================================
    22: @dataclass
    23: class Args:
    24:     exp_name: str = os.path.basename(__file__)[: -len(".py")]
    25:     """the name of this experiment"""
    26:     seed: int = 1
    27:     """seed of the experiment"""
    28:     torch_deterministic: bool = True
    29:     """if toggled, `torch.backends.cudnn.deterministic=False`"""
    30:     cuda: bool = True
    31:     """if toggled, cuda will be enabled by default"""
    32: 
    33:     # Algorithm specific arguments
    34:     env_id: str = "HalfCheetah-v4"
    35:     """the id of the environment"""
    36:     total_timesteps: int = 1000000
    37:     """total timesteps of the experiments"""
    38:     learning_rate: float = 3e-4
    39:     """the learning rate of the optimizer"""
    40:     buffer_size: int = int(1e6)
    41:     """the replay memory buffer size"""
    42:     gamma: floa
AssistantStep 1edit
Tool Input
1{
2  "op": "replace",
3  "filename": "cleanrl/cleanrl/custom_offpolicy_continuous.py",
4  "start_line": 153,
5  "end_line": 244,
6  "content": "class Actor(nn.Module):\n    \"\"\"Deterministic actor with tanh squashing.\"\"\"\n\n    def __init__(self, obs_dim, action_dim, max_action):\n        super().__init__()\n        self.max_action = max_action\n        self.fc1 = nn.Linear(obs_dim, 256)\n        self.fc2 = nn.Linear(256, 256)\n        self.fc_mu = nn.Linear(256, action_dim)\n        self.register_buffer(\"action_scale\", torch.tensor(max_action, dtype=torch.float32))\n\n    def forward(self, obs):\n        x = F.relu(self.fc1(obs))\n        x = F.relu(self.fc2(x))\n        return torch.tanh(self.fc_mu(x)) * self.action_scale\n\n    @torch.no_grad()\n    def get_action(self, obs):\n        return self.forward(obs)\n\n\nclass QNetwork(nn.Module):\n    \"\"\"Q-function Q(s, a) -> scalar.\"\"\"\n\n    def __init__(self, obs_dim, action_dim):\n        super().__init__()\n        self.fc1 = nn.Linear(obs_dim + action_dim, 256)\n        self.fc2 = nn.Linear(256, 256)\n        self.fc3 = nn.Linear(256, 1)\n\n    def forward(self, obs, action):\n        x = torch.cat([obs, action], dim=-1)\n        x = F.relu(self.fc1(x))\n        x = F.relu(self.fc2(x))\n        return self.fc3(x)\n\n\nclass OffPolicyAlgorithm:\n    \"\"\"APAC: Adaptive Pessimistic Actor-Critic.\n\n    Novel contributions over TD3:\n    1. Per-sample adaptive pessimism: target Q uses a disagreement-dependent\n       blend of min/mean critics. Samples where critics disagree more get\n       more conservative targets (uncertainty-aware value estimation).\n    2. Dual-critic actor gradient: actor maximizes mean(Q1,Q2) for\n       lower-variance policy gradients using all critic information.\n    \"\"\"\n\n    def __init__(self, obs_dim, action_dim, max_action, device, args):\n        self.device = device\n        self.max_action = max_action\n        self.gamma = args.gamma\n        self.tau = args.tau\n        self.exploration_noise = args.exploration_noise\n        self.policy_frequency = args.policy_frequency\n        self.total_it = 0\n        self.policy_noise = 0.2\n        self.noise_clip = 0.5\n        # Adaptive pessimism: base_pess when disagreement == EMA,\n        # increases toward 1.0 for high-disagreement samples,\n        # decreases to 0.5 for low-disagreement samples.\n        self.base_pessimism = 0.75\n        self.pessimism_sensitivity = 0.25\n        self.disagreement_ema = -1.0  # sentinel for uninitialized\n        self.ema_decay = 0.999\n\n        self.actor = Actor(obs_dim, action_dim, max_action).to(device)\n        self.target_actor = Actor(obs_dim, action_dim, max_action).to(device)\n        self.target_actor.load_state_dict(self.actor.state_dict())\n        self.qf1 = QNetwork(obs_dim, action_dim).to(device)\n        self.qf2 = QNetwork(obs_dim, action_dim).to(device)\n        self.qf1_target = QNetwork(obs_dim, action_dim).to(device)\n        self.qf2_target = QNetwork(obs_dim, action_dim).to(device)\n        self.qf1_target.load_state_dict(self.qf1.state_dict())\n        self.qf2_target.load_state_dict(self.qf2.state_dict())\n        self.actor_optimizer = optim.Adam(self.actor.parameters(), lr=args.learning_rate)\n        self.q_optimizer = optim.Adam(\n            list(self.qf1.parameters()) + list(self.qf2.parameters()),\n            lr=args.learning_rate,\n        )\n\n    def select_action(self, obs):\n        obs_t = torch.tensor(obs.reshape(1, -1), device=self.device, dtype=torch.float32)\n        with torch.no_grad():\n            action = self.actor(obs_t).cpu().numpy().flatten()\n        noise = np.random.normal(0, self.max_action * self.exploration_noise, size=action.shape)\n        return np.clip(action + noise, -self.max_action, self.max_action)\n\n    def update(self, batch):\n        self.total_it += 1\n        obs, next_obs, actions, rewards, dones = batch\n        with torch.no_grad():\n            noise = (torch.randn_like(actions) * self.policy_noise).clamp(\n                -self.noise_clip, self.noise_clip) * self.max_action\n            next_actions = (self.target_actor(next_obs) + noise).clamp(\n                -self.max_action, self.max_action)\n            tq1 = self.qf1_target(next_obs, next_actions).view(-1)\n            tq2 = self.qf2_target(next_obs, next_actions).view(-1)\n            # Per-sample adaptive pessimism based on critic disagreement\n            disag = torch.abs(tq1 - tq2)\n            bd = disag.mean().item()\n            if self.disagreement_ema < 0:\n                self.disagreement_ema = bd\n            else:\n                self.disagreement_ema = (self.ema_decay * self.disagreement_ema\n                                         + (1 - self.ema_decay) * bd)\n            if self.disagreement_ema > 1e-8:\n                ratio = disag / self.disagreement_ema\n                pess = (self.base_pessimism\n                        + self.pessimism_sensitivity * (ratio - 1.0)).clamp(0.5, 1.0)\n            else:\n                pess = torch.ones_like(tq1)\n            min_q = torch.min(tq1, tq2)\n            mean_q = 0.5 * (tq1 + tq2)\n            target_q = pess * min_q + (1 - pess) * mean_q\n            td_target = rewards + (1 - dones) * self.gamma * target_q\n        q1 = self.qf1(obs, actions).view(-1)\n        q2 = self.qf2(obs, actions).view(-1)\n        critic_loss = F.mse_loss(q1, td_target) + F.mse_loss(q2, td_target)\n        self.q_optimizer.zero_grad()\n        critic_loss.backward()\n        self.q_optimizer.step()\n        actor_loss_val = 0.0\n        if self.total_it % self.policy_frequency == 0:\n            pi = self.actor(obs)\n            q1_pi = self.qf1(obs, pi).view(-1)\n            q2_pi = self.qf2(obs, pi).view(-1)\n            # Dual-critic actor loss: mean of both critics\n            actor_loss = -0.5 * (q1_pi + q2_pi).mean()\n            self.actor_optimizer.zero_grad()\n            actor_loss.backward()\n            self.actor_optimizer.step()\n            actor_loss_val = actor_loss.item()\n            soft_update(self.target_actor, self.actor, self.tau)\n            soft_update(self.qf1_target, self.qf1, self.tau)\n            soft_update(self.qf2_target, self.qf2, self.tau)\n        return {\"critic_loss\": critic_loss.item(), \"actor_loss\": actor_loss_val}\n"
7}
Tool ResultStep 1
OK: Replaced lines 153..244 with 137 line(s) in cleanrl/cleanrl/custom_offpolicy_continuous.py. Editable range: 153–289.

[Current file: cleanrl/cleanrl/custom_offpolicy_continuous.py | editable: 153–289 | total: 370 lines]
   150| # =====================================================================
   151| # EDITABLE: Network definitions and OffPolicyAlgorithm
   152| # =====================================================================
   153  class Actor(nn.Module):
   154      """Deterministic actor with tanh squashing."""
   155  
   156      def __init__(self, obs_dim, action_dim, max_action):
   157          super().__init__()
   158          self.max_action = max_action
   159          self.fc1 = nn.Linear(obs_dim, 256)
   160          self.fc2 = nn.Linear(256, 256)
   161          self.fc_mu = nn.Linear(256, action_dim)
   162          self.register_buffer("action_scale", torch.tensor(max_action, dtype=torch.float32))
   163  
   164      def forward(self, obs):
   165   
AssistantStep 2test
Tool ResultStep 2
[Test #1] (2 tests remaining; call test(submit=1) to submit this result)


## Seed 42

### halfcheetah-v4 (scripts/halfcheetah.sh)
Training metrics (last steps):
TRAIN_METRICS step=995000 critic_loss=54.7119 actor_loss=-873.0414
TRAIN_METRICS step=996000 critic_loss=54.4840 actor_loss=-843.3099
TRAIN_METRICS step=997000 critic_loss=78.3975 actor_loss=-878.6301
TRAIN_METRICS step=998000 critic_loss=65.0641 actor_loss=-874.4671
TRAIN_METRICS step=999000 critic_loss=81.7995 actor_loss=-868.5217
Evaluation (halfcheetah-v4):
Eval episodic_return: 11685.52
Eval episodic_return: 11388.63
Eval episodic_return: 11040.20
Final eval return: 11040.20

### reacher-v4 (scripts/reacher.sh)
Training metrics (last steps):
TRAIN_METRICS step=995000 critic_loss=0.0214 actor_loss=12.1667
TRAIN_METRICS step=996000 critic_loss=0.0251 actor_loss=12.3616
TRAIN_METRICS step=997000 critic_loss=0.0241 actor_loss=12.3105
TRAIN_METRICS step=998000 critic_loss=0.0216 actor_loss=12.2705
TRAIN_METRICS step=999000 cri
AssistantStep 3edit
Tool Input
1{
2  "op": "replace",
3  "filename": "cleanrl/cleanrl/custom_offpolicy_continuous.py",
4  "start_line": 211,
5  "end_line": 217,
6  "content": "        # Adaptive pessimism: base_pess when disagreement == EMA,\n        # increases toward 1.0 for high-disagreement samples,\n        # decreases to 0.4 for low-disagreement samples.\n        self.base_pessimism = 0.65\n        self.pessimism_sensitivity = 0.35\n        self.disagreement_ema = -1.0  # sentinel for uninitialized\n        self.ema_decay = 0.999"
7}
Tool ResultStep 3
OK: Replaced lines 211..217 with 7 line(s) in cleanrl/cleanrl/custom_offpolicy_continuous.py. Editable range: 153–289.

[Current file: cleanrl/cleanrl/custom_offpolicy_continuous.py | editable: 153–289 | total: 370 lines]
   150| # =====================================================================
   151| # EDITABLE: Network definitions and OffPolicyAlgorithm
   152| # =====================================================================
   153  class Actor(nn.Module):
   154      """Deterministic actor with tanh squashing."""
   155  
   156      def __init__(self, obs_dim, action_dim, max_action):
   157          super().__init__()
   158          self.max_action = max_action
   159          self.fc1 = nn.Linear(obs_dim, 256)
   160          self.fc2 = nn.Linear(256, 256)
   161          self.fc_mu = nn.Linear(256, action_dim)
   162          self.register_buffer("action_scale", torch.tensor(max_action, dtype=torch.float32))
   163  
   164      def forward(self, obs):
   165     
AssistantStep 4test
Tool ResultStep 4
[Test #2] (1 test remaining; call test(submit=2) to submit this result)

### halfcheetah-v4 (scripts/halfcheetah.sh)
Training metrics (last steps):
TRAIN_METRICS step=995000 critic_loss=21.6737 actor_loss=-774.4131
TRAIN_METRICS step=996000 critic_loss=29.8480 actor_loss=-772.5455
TRAIN_METRICS step=997000 critic_loss=26.9501 actor_loss=-774.3566
TRAIN_METRICS step=998000 critic_loss=24.2730 actor_loss=-777.2487
TRAIN_METRICS step=999000 critic_loss=22.3813 actor_loss=-777.3553
Evaluation (halfcheetah-v4):
Eval episodic_return: 9953.21
Eval episodic_return: 9977.41
Eval episodic_return: 9989.50
Final eval return: 9989.50

### reacher-v4 (scripts/reacher.sh)
Training metrics (last steps):
TRAIN_METRICS step=995000 critic_loss=0.0195 actor_loss=12.0528
TRAIN_METRICS step=996000 critic_loss=0.0231 actor_loss=12.2703
TRAIN_METRICS step=997000 critic_loss=0.0237 actor_loss=12.2343
TRAIN_METRICS step=998000 critic_loss=0.0204 actor_loss=12.1579
TRAIN_METRICS step=999000 critic_loss=0.0221 ac
AssistantStep 5test
Tool Input
1{
2  "submit": 1
3}
Tool ResultStep 5
## Seed 42

### halfcheetah-v4 (scripts/halfcheetah.sh)
Training metrics (last steps):
TRAIN_METRICS step=995000 critic_loss=54.7119 actor_loss=-873.0414
TRAIN_METRICS step=996000 critic_loss=54.4840 actor_loss=-843.3099
TRAIN_METRICS step=997000 critic_loss=78.3975 actor_loss=-878.6301
TRAIN_METRICS step=998000 critic_loss=65.0641 actor_loss=-874.4671
TRAIN_METRICS step=999000 critic_loss=81.7995 actor_loss=-868.5217
Evaluation (halfcheetah-v4):
Eval episodic_return: 11685.52
Eval episodic_return: 11388.63
Eval episodic_return: 11040.20
Final eval return: 11040.20

### reacher-v4 (scripts/reacher.sh)
Training metrics (last steps):
TRAIN_METRICS step=995000 critic_loss=0.0214 actor_loss=12.1667
TRAIN_METRICS step=996000 critic_loss=0.0251 actor_loss=12.3616
TRAIN_METRICS step=997000 critic_loss=0.0241 actor_loss=12.3105
TRAIN_METRICS step=998000 critic_loss=0.0216 actor_loss=12.2705
TRAIN_METRICS step=999000 critic_loss=0.0211 actor_loss=12.2889
Evaluation (reacher-v4):
Eval episodic_