# Repairnator patches programs automatically

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.06247 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.06247/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 11 Oct 2019.

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [RAP-Gen: Retrieval-Augmented Patch Generation with CodeT5 for Automatic Program Repair](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.06057/) (2023)
- [SecureFixAgent: A Hybrid LLM Agent for Automated Python Static Vulnerability Repair](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.16275/) (2025)
- [From Assistance to Agency: Rethinking Autonomy and Control in CI/CD Pipelines](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.07062/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Repairnator is a bot. It constantly monitors software bugs discovered during continuous integration of open-source software and tries to fix them automatically. If it succeeds in synthesizing a valid patch, Repairnator proposes the patch to the human developers, disguised under a fake human identity. To date, Repairnator has been able to producepatches that were accepted by the human developers and permanently merged into the code base. This is a milestone for human-competitiveness in software engineering research on automatic program repair.