arXiv subjects

Keheliya Gallaba

Publications and source records attributed to Keheliya Gallaba.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

What Does an Agentic Software Engineering Benchmark Measure? Profiling Task Demands and Agent Behaviour Beyond What Category Labels Reveal

Agentic software engineering benchmarks are typically summarized by nominal category labels such as "bug fix" or "feature implementation," yet benchmarks carrying the same label are built through very different curation pipelines. A label thus reveals little about the engineering work a benchmark demands. We introduce the Spread--Novelty--Centrality (SNC) profile, a three-axis characterization of the demands of repository-level coding tasks, grounded in empirical software engineering research. We apply the profile to five widely used benchmarks and 14,922 trajectories of two model families at three scales, and report three findings. (1) A label is an unreliable proxy for task demands, as every pair of benchmarks is statistically separated on at least two SNC axes, and the separations trace back to specific curation decisions. (2) Agent behaviour reveals demands that the human-written gold solution cannot. Agents produce larger solutions than the gold where problem statements withhold hints and smaller ones where curation inflates the gold. How a task is phrased shapes what an agent produces. (3) Task demands correlate with success uniformly, with resolved runs concentrating in the low-SNC region for every family and scale, whereas the behavioural signatures of success are family-specific. Claude succeeds by matching the scope of the gold solution, and its parity share on files rises from $0.17$ at the smallest scale to $0.54$ at the largest. Qwen succeeds by exceeding the gold scope at every scale, and editing too little marks failure for both families.

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arXiv2026

CASPER-Change-Aware Slice Prioritization for Efficient Regression Testing of LLM-based systems

Regression testing for LLM-based systems poses unique challenges because individual regression instances provide limited information about system-level regressions. A failure in a single instance does not necessarily indicate a meaningful regression or provide sufficient information to diagnose affected behaviors. Conversely, detecting regressions based only on overall system performance changes is too coarse-grained, as it does not identify which behaviors are affected. This motivates analyzing regression instances at an intermediate level through test suite slices. To address this challenge, we propose CASPER, a change-aware slice prioritization framework for efficient regression testing of prompt-level and model-level changes in LLM-based systems. CASPER first identifies regression slices containing semantically related instances with consistent performance characteristics using an evolutionary slice identification approach. Given a change to an LLM-based application, CASPER prioritizes slices according to their likelihood of regression using behavioral information extracted from execution logs. We instantiate CASPER in the software issue resolution domain and evaluate slice identification against clustering-based baselines and regressed slice prioritization against a random ranking baseline. Results show that CASPER generates more consistent slices while maintaining comparable or better semantic coherence and improves regressed slice prioritization across different LLM-based system changes and testing budgets.

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arXiv2026

Towards Imputation of Pre-Trained Language Model Metadata using Semantic Fingerprinting

Pre-trained language models (PTLMs) hosted on platforms such as Hugging Face form complex lineage structures similar to software dependency graphs. However, unlike traditional software ecosystems, PTLM repositories often lack reliable provenance due to missing metadata, such as licenses, reuse methods, pipeline tags, model types, and training libraries. To address this gap, we introduce Semantic Fingerprinting (SemFin), a lightweight approach that combines Hugging Face (HF) configuration files with model repository tags to automatically impute missing model metadata fields and reconstruct model lineage chains. We evaluate SemFin on a large-scale dataset of 317,133 PTLMs. Our results show that configuration files typically encode the technical requirements necessary to instantiate and reuse models, enabling them to serve as a structural blueprint for model reuse, particularly for transformer-based architectures. By combining these configuration files with model repository tags, SemFin significantly outperforms the existing propagation-based imputation approaches, improving prediction accuracy by up to 31.4% and 26.6% compared to Graph Avg and Hub Avg baselines. Importantly, SemFin also imputes metadata for 16.6% of isolated models where propagation-based methods fail. Applying SemFin to impute missing reuse-method and license metadata for 167,089 unlabeled models reveals that traceable reuse method chains expand by 75.9% and license lineage chains by 53.6%, uncovering 86 previously invisible reuse method patterns, while the proportion of incompatible license patterns only increases from 34.8% to 36.8%. These findings demonstrate how automatically derived structural signals can support the automated construction of AI Bills of Materials (AIBOMs), helping transform metadata from an error-prone manual declaration into information inferred directly from model artifacts.

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arXiv2026

Beyond Accuracy: Behavioral Dynamics of Agentic Multi-Hunk Repair

Automated program repair has traditionally focused on single-hunk defects, overlooking multi-hunk bugs that are prevalent in real-world systems. Repairing these bugs requires coordinated edits across multiple, disjoint code regions, posing substantially greater challenges. We present the first systematic study of LLM-driven coding agents (Claude Code, Codex, Gemini-cli, and Qwen Code) on this task. We evaluate these four state-of-the-art agents on 404 multi-hunk bugs from the PolyHunk dataset, yielding 1,616 repair trajectories for large-scale behavioral analysis. We employ fine-grained metrics to assess localization, repair accuracy, regression behavior, and operational dynamics across agents. We find that localization capability varies substantially, with Codex achieving the highest success rate (75.3%) and Qwen Code the lowest (40.4%). Repair accuracy also differs widely, ranging from 26.98% (Qwen Code) to 92.82% (Claude Code), and consistently declines with increasing bug dispersion and complexity (hunk divergence and spatial proximity). High-performing agents (Claude Code and Codex) demonstrate superior semantic consistency, achieving positive average regression reduction, whereas lower-performing agents often introduce new test failures. Notably, agents do not fail fast; failed repairs consume substantially more resources (33%-440% more input tokens) and require longer execution time (35%-330%). Additionally, we developed Maple to provide agents with repository-level context. Empirical results show that Maple improves repair accuracy of Gemini-cli by ~21% through enhanced localization. By analyzing fine-grained metrics and trajectory-level analysis, this study moves beyond accuracy to explain how coding agents localize, reason, and act during multi-hunk repair. Our findings underscore the impact of bug divergence and spatial proximity on multi-hunk repair success for coding agents.

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arXiv2026

Towards Reliable Generation of Executable Workflows by Foundation Models

Recent advancements in Foundation Models (FMs) have demonstrated significant progress in processing complex natural language to perform intricate tasks. Successfully executing these tasks often requires orchestrating calls to FMs alongside other software components. However, manually decomposing a task into a coherent sequence of smaller, logically aggregated steps, commonly referred to as workflows, demands considerable effort and specialized domain knowledge. While FMs can assist in generating such workflows specified in domain-specific languages (DSLs), achieving accuracy and reliability in this process remains a challenge. We introduce a framework that leverages static analysis feedback to enable FMs to detect and repair defects in the DSL-based workflows they generate. We begin by presenting an initial taxonomy of defect occurrences in FM-generated DSL workflows, categorizing them into 20 distinct types. Furthermore, we observe a high prevalence of defects across FM-generated DSL workflows, with 89.23% of the studied instances containing at least one defect. This high prevalence underscores the magnitude of the problem and the necessity for mitigation strategies. Following this, we demonstrate that nine types of these defects can be effectively identified through static analysis of the workflows. For this purpose, we develop Timon, the first-of-its-kind static analyzer specifically designed for FM-generated DSL workflows. Finally, we show that by incorporating feedback from Timon, we can guide Pumbaa, an FM-based tool, to repair the detected defect incidences. By systematically detecting and repairing defects, our work takes a crucial step towards the reliable and automated generation of executable workflows from natural-language requirements.

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arXiv2026

Building an Open AIBOM Standard in the Wild

Modern software engineering increasingly relies on open, community-driven standards, yet how such standards are created in fast-evolving domains like AI-powered systems remains underexplored. This paper presents a detailed experience report on the development of the AI Bill of Materials AIBOM specification, an extension of the ISO/IEC 5962:2021 Software Package Data Exchange (SPDX) software bill of materials (SBOM) standard, which captures AI components such as datasets and iterative training artifacts. Framed through the lens of Action Research (AR), we document a global, multi-stakeholder effort involving over 90 contributors and structured AR cycles. The resulting specification was validated through four complementary approaches: alignment with major regulations and ethical standards (e.g., EU AI Act and IEEE 7000 standards), systematic mapping to six industry use cases, semi-structured practitioner interviews, and an industrial case study. Beyond delivering a validated artefact, our paper documents the process of building the AIBOM specification in the wild, and reflects on how it aligns with the AR cycle, and distills lessons that can inform future standardization efforts in the software engineering community.

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arXiv2025

Characterizing Multi-Hunk Patches: Divergence, Proximity, and LLM Repair Challenges

Multi-hunk bugs, where fixes span disjoint regions of code, are common in practice, yet remain underrepresented in automated repair. Existing techniques and benchmarks pre-dominantly target single-hunk scenarios, overlooking the added complexity of coordinating semantically related changes across the codebase. In this work, we characterize HUNK4J, a dataset of multi-hunk patches derived from 372 real-world defects. We propose hunk divergence, a metric that quantifies the variation among edits in a patch by capturing lexical, structural, and file-level differences, while incorporating the number of hunks involved. We further define spatial proximity, a classification that models how hunks are spatially distributed across the program hierarchy. Our empirical study spanning six LLMs reveals that model success rates decline with increased divergence and spatial dispersion. Notably, when using the LLM alone, no model succeeds in the most dispersed Fragment class. These findings highlight a critical gap in LLM capabilities and motivate divergence-aware repair strategies.

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arXiv2025

The Hitchhikers Guide to Production-ready Trustworthy Foundation Model powered Software (FMware)

Foundation Models (FMs) such as Large Language Models (LLMs) are reshaping the software industry by enabling FMware, systems that integrate these FMs as core components. In this KDD 2025 tutorial, we present a comprehensive exploration of FMware that combines a curated catalogue of challenges with real-world production concerns. We first discuss the state of research and practice in building FMware. We further examine the difficulties in selecting suitable models, aligning high-quality domain-specific data, engineering robust prompts, and orchestrating autonomous agents. We then address the complex journey from impressive demos to production-ready systems by outlining issues in system testing, optimization, deployment, and integration with legacy software. Drawing on our industrial experience and recent research in the area, we provide actionable insights and a technology roadmap for overcoming these challenges. Attendees will gain practical strategies to enable the creation of trustworthy FMware in the evolving technology landscape.

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arXiv2025

Towards Conversational Development Environments: Using Theory-of-Mind and Multi-Agent Architectures for Requirements Refinement

Foundation Models (FMs) have shown remarkable capabilities in various natural language tasks. However, their ability to accurately capture stakeholder requirements remains a significant challenge for using FMs for software development. This paper introduces a novel approach that leverages an FM-powered multi-agent system called AlignMind to address this issue. By having a cognitive architecture that enhances FMs with Theory-of-Mind capabilities, our approach considers the mental states and perspectives of software makers. This allows our solution to iteratively clarify the beliefs, desires, and intentions of stakeholders, translating these into a set of refined requirements and a corresponding actionable natural language workflow in the often-overlooked requirements refinement phase of software engineering, which is crucial after initial elicitation. Through a multifaceted evaluation covering 150 diverse use cases, we demonstrate that our approach can accurately capture the intents and requirements of stakeholders, articulating them as both specifications and a step-by-step plan of action. Our findings suggest that the potential for significant improvements in the software development process justifies these investments. Our work lays the groundwork for future innovation in building intent-first development environments, where software makers can seamlessly collaborate with AIs to create software that truly meets their needs.

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arXiv2024

Rethinking Software Engineering in the Foundation Model Era: A Curated Catalogue of Challenges in the Development of Trustworthy FMware

Foundation models (FMs), such as Large Language Models (LLMs), have revolutionized software development by enabling new use cases and business models. We refer to software built using FMs as FMware. The unique properties of FMware (e.g., prompts, agents, and the need for orchestration), coupled with the intrinsic limitations of FMs (e.g., hallucination) lead to a completely new set of software engineering challenges. Based on our industrial experience, we identified 10 key SE4FMware challenges that have caused enterprise FMware development to be unproductive, costly, and risky. In this paper, we discuss these challenges in detail and state the path for innovation that we envision. Next, we present FMArts, which is our long-term effort towards creating a cradle-to-grave platform for the engineering of trustworthy FMware. Finally, we (i) show how the unique properties of FMArts enabled us to design and develop a complex FMware for a large customer in a timely manner and (ii) discuss the lessons that we learned in doing so. We hope that the disclosure of the aforementioned challenges and our associated efforts to tackle them will not only raise awareness but also promote deeper and further discussions, knowledge sharing, and innovative solutions across the software engineering discipline.

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