{"id":"https://openalex.org/W7166843774","doi":"https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/2026.findings-acl.2032","title":"CodeScout: Contextual Problem Statement Enhancement for Software Agents","display_name":"CodeScout: Contextual Problem Statement Enhancement for Software Agents","publication_year":2026,"publication_date":"2026-01-01","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W7166843774","doi":"https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/2026.findings-acl.2032"},"language":null,"primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.18653/v1/2026.findings-acl.2032","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/2026.findings-acl.2032","pdf_url":"https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-acl.2032.pdf","source":null,"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2026","raw_type":"proceedings-article"},"type":"conference-paper","indexed_in":["crossref"],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"gold","oa_url":"https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-acl.2032.pdf","any_repository_has_fulltext":null},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5102755689","display_name":"Manan Suri","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5089-2658"},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Manan Suri","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5128504694","display_name":"Xiangci Li","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Xiangci Li","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5007040259","display_name":"Mehdi Shojaie","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4421-6578"},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Mehdi Shojaie","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5026925915","display_name":"Songyang Han","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8314-4832"},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Songyang Han","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5128629220","display_name":"Chao-Chun Hsu","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Chao-Chun Hsu","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5128446545","display_name":"Shweta Garg","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Shweta Garg","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5128423794","display_name":"Aniket Anand Deshmukh","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Aniket Anand Deshmukh","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5139747933","display_name":"Varun Kumar","orcid":null},"institutions":[],"countries":[],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Varun Kumar","raw_affiliation_strings":[],"raw_orcid":null,"affiliations":[]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":0,"institutions_distinct_count":0,"corresponding_author_ids":[],"corresponding_institution_ids":[],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":0.0,"has_fulltext":true,"cited_by_count":0,"citation_normalized_percentile":{"value":0.8339185,"is_in_top_1_percent":false,"is_in_top_10_percent":false},"cited_by_percentile_year":null,"biblio":{"volume":null,"issue":null,"first_page":"40902","last_page":"40931"},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10639","display_name":"Advanced Software Engineering Methodologies","score":0.2630000114440918,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10639","display_name":"Advanced Software Engineering Methodologies","score":0.2630000114440918,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10906","display_name":"AI-based Problem Solving and Planning","score":0.18019999563694,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10456","display_name":"Multi-Agent Systems and Negotiation","score":0.11840000003576279,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/software","display_name":"Software","score":0.45019999146461487},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/statement","display_name":"Statement (logic)","score":0.37689998745918274},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/software-agent","display_name":"Software agent","score":0.349700003862381},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/context","display_name":"Context (archaeology)","score":0.3100000023841858},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/field","display_name":"Field (mathematics)","score":0.2786000072956085}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.5702999830245972},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2777904410","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7397","display_name":"Software","level":2,"score":0.45019999146461487},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2777026412","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2684591","display_name":"Statement (logic)","level":2,"score":0.37689998745918274},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C5894958","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2297769","display_name":"Software agent","level":2,"score":0.349700003862381},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C154945302","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11660","display_name":"Artificial intelligence","level":1,"score":0.3118000030517578},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2779343474","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3109175","display_name":"Context (archaeology)","level":2,"score":0.3100000023841858},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C9652623","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q190109","display_name":"Field (mathematics)","level":2,"score":0.2786000072956085},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C74072328","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1142726","display_name":"Intelligent agent","level":2,"score":0.27799999713897705},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C177264268","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1514741","display_name":"Set (abstract data type)","level":2,"score":0.24889999628067017},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41550386","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q529909","display_name":"Multi-agent system","level":2,"score":0.24660000205039978}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":1,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.18653/v1/2026.findings-acl.2032","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/2026.findings-acl.2032","pdf_url":"https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-acl.2032.pdf","source":null,"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2026","raw_type":"proceedings-article"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"doi:10.18653/v1/2026.findings-acl.2032","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/2026.findings-acl.2032","pdf_url":"https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-acl.2032.pdf","source":null,"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2026","raw_type":"proceedings-article"},"sustainable_development_goals":[],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"pdf":true,"grobid_xml":true},"content_urls":{"pdf":"https://content.openalex.org/works/W7166843774.pdf","grobid_xml":"https://content.openalex.org/works/W7166843774.grobid-xml"},"referenced_works_count":0,"referenced_works":[],"related_works":[],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Current":[0],"AI-powered":[1],"code":[2,206],"assistance":[3,207],"tools":[4],"often":[5],"struggle":[6],"with":[7,34,130,177],"poorly-defined":[8],"problem":[9,77,128],"statements":[10,78,129],"that":[11,25,68,90,192],"lack":[12],"sufficient":[13],"task":[14,94],"context":[15,111],"and":[16,119,135,165],"requirements":[17],"specification.Recent":[18],"analysis":[19,92,115,198],"of":[20,82],"software":[21,58],"engineering":[22],"agents":[23],"reveals":[24],"failures":[26],"on":[27,168],"such":[28],"underspecified":[29,71],"requests":[30,73],"are":[31],"highly":[32],"correlated":[33],"longer":[35],"trajectories":[36,150],"involving":[37],"either":[38],"over-exploration":[39],"or":[40,51],"repeated":[41],"attempts":[42],"at":[43],"applying":[44],"the":[45,83,142,186],"same":[46],"fix":[47],"without":[48,101],"proper":[49],"evolution":[50],"testing,":[52],"leading":[53],"to":[54,105,179,185],"suboptimal":[55],"outcomes":[56],"across":[57],"development":[59],"tasks.We":[60],"introduce":[61],"CodeScout,":[62],"a":[63,171,200],"contextual":[64,197],"query":[65,194],"refinement":[66,195],"approach":[67],"systematically":[69],"converts":[70],"user":[72,153],"into":[74,126],"comprehensive,":[75],"actionable":[76],"through":[79,196],"lightweight":[80],"pre-exploration":[81,139],"target":[84],"codebase.Our":[85],"key":[86],"innovation":[87],"is":[88],"demonstrating":[89,170],"structured":[91],"before":[93],"execution":[95],"can":[96],"supplement":[97],"existing":[98],"agentic":[99,163],"capabilities":[100],"requiring":[102],"any":[103],"modifications":[104],"their":[106],"underlying":[107],"scaffolds.CodeScout":[108],"performs":[109],"targeted":[110,136],"scoping,":[112],"conducts":[113],"multi-perspective":[114],"examining":[116],"potential":[117],"fixes":[118],"exploration":[120,137],"opportunities,":[121],"then":[122],"synthesizes":[123],"these":[124],"insights":[125],"enhanced":[127],"reproduction":[131],"steps,":[132],"expected":[133],"behaviors,":[134],"hints.This":[138],"directly":[140],"addresses":[141],"identified":[143],"failure":[144],"patterns":[145],"by":[146],"reducing":[147],"nonconverging":[148],"agent":[149],"while":[151],"clarifying":[152],"intent":[154],"in":[155,174],"natural":[156],"language":[157,166],"space.We":[158],"evaluate":[159],"CodeScout":[160],"using":[161],"state-of-the-art":[162],"scaffolds":[164],"models":[167],"SWEBench-Verified,":[169],"20%":[172],"improvement":[173],"resolution":[175],"rates":[176],"up":[178],"27":[180],"additional":[181],"issues":[182],"resolved":[183],"compared":[184],"default":[187],"baseline":[188],"method.Our":[189],"results":[190],"suggest":[191],"systematic":[193],"represents":[199],"promising":[201],"direction":[202],"for":[203],"enhancing":[204],"AI":[205],"capabilities.":[208]},"counts_by_year":[],"updated_date":"2026-07-29T14:22:42.915294","created_date":"2026-07-02T00:00:00"}
