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Abstract:Large language models (LLMs) are reshaping automated program repair. We present a reproducible hierarchical taxonomy that organizes 66 LLM-based repair systems according to where repair capability and control logic principally reside: task-adapted parameters, prompt and context design, designer-specified workflows, or LLM-directed runtime control. Adaptation, generation pattern, runtime control, and auxiliary evidence are preserved as separate coded dimensions. This representation exposes control distinctions hidden by utilization labels and supports cross-paradigm analysis of system design and evaluation evidence. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first publicly available LLM-based software repair survey to operationalize Fine-Tuning, Prompting, Procedural, and Agentic as one corpus-wide primary classification. Our hierarchy complements prior surveys through one corpus-wide primary decision rule, while the result-level protocol audit bounds which reported results are defensibly comparable. To analyze how repair systems use benchmarks, we record benchmark variants, metrics, base models, and fault-localization assumptions for each system's primary reported result, identifying protocol-aligned comparison windows and benchmark-family fragments. We clarify paradigm trade-offs in task alignment, deployment cost, controllability, and multi-hunk or cross-file repair. We outline open challenges and research directions. Our artifacts and scripted survey pipeline are publicly available at this https URL.

Submission history

From: Boyang Yang [view email]
[v1] Mon, 30 Jun 2025 11:46:01 UTC (490 KB)
[v2] Thu, 4 Dec 2025 08:21:22 UTC (957 KB)
[v3] Thu, 27 Aug 2026 07:31:27 UTC (1,633 KB)