mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

SQL-o1: A Self-Reward Heuristic Dynamic Search Method for Text-to-SQL

arXiv 2502.11741 ↗First posted 17 Feb 2025cs.DB cs.AIcited by 19

On the map: Synthetic data and self-improvement for LLMs → Synthetic reasoning data and bootstrapping

Abstract (arXiv)

Text-to-SQL (Text2SQL) aims to map natural language questions to executable SQL queries. Although large language models (LLMs) have driven significant progress, current approaches struggle with poor transferability to open-source LLMs, limited robustness against logic and function errors in complex queries, and inefficiencies in structured search. We introduce SQL-o1, a self-reward-driven heuristic search framework built on an agent-based architecture to enhance model reasoning capabilities. SQL-o1 leverages Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) for structured, multi-step exploration, and incorporates a dynamic pruning strategy to accelerate inference without sacrificing accuracy. On the Spider and Bird benchmarks, SQL-o1 achieves a +10.8 execution accuracy improvement on the complex Bird dataset, surpassing even GPT-4-based models. Notably, it exhibits strong few-shot generalization and robust cross-model transferability across open-source LLMs. Our code is available at:https://github.com/ShuaiLyu0110/SQL-o1.

Key facts. Cited by 19 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in Synthetic reasoning data and bootstrapping, one of 13 directions in Synthetic data and self-improvement for LLMs. Builds on 33 of its 40 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 17 Feb 2025.

Builds on

33 of 40 references.

References · 33

  1. 2023GPT-4 Technical Reportcited by 18,396
  2. 2023LLaMA: Open and Efficient Foundation Language Modelscited by 14,132
  3. 2024Qwen2.5 Technical Reportcited by 4,942
  4. 2023Mistral 7Bcited by 3,164
  5. 2018Spider: A Large-Scale Human-Labeled Dataset for Complex and Cross-Domain Semantic Parsing and Text-to-SQL Taskcited by 1,139
  6. 2023Teaching Large Language Models to Self-Debugcited by 988
  7. 2023Can LLM Already Serve as A Database Interface? A BIg Bench for Large-Scale Database Grounded Text-to-SQLscited by 688
  8. 2023WizardMath: Empowering Mathematical Reasoning for Large Language Models via Reinforced Evol-Instructcited by 625
  9. 2023DIN-SQL: Decomposed In-Context Learning of Text-to-SQL with Self-Correctioncited by 477
  10. 2025Search-o1: Agentic Search-Enhanced Large Reasoning Modelscited by 433
  11. 2019RAT-SQL: Relation-Aware Schema Encoding and Linking for Text-to-SQL Parserscited by 424
  12. 2023Text-to-SQL Empowered by Large Language Models: A Benchmark Evaluationcited by 385
21 more
  1. 2022UnifiedSKG: Unifying and Multi-Tasking Structured Knowledge Grounding with Text-to-Text Language Modelscited by 231
  2. 2023RESDSQL: Decoupling Schema Linking and Skeleton Parsing for Text-to-SQLcited by 195
  3. 2024CodeS: Towards Building Open-source Language Models for Text-to-SQLcited by 187
  4. 2024CHESS: Contextual Harnessing for Efficient SQL Synthesiscited by 169
  5. 2023C3: Zero-shot Text-to-SQL with ChatGPTcited by 164
  6. 2023MAC-SQL: A Multi-Agent Collaborative Framework for Text-to-SQLcited by 164
  7. 2021Monte Carlo Tree Search: A Review of Recent Modifications and Applicationscited by 161
  8. 2024CHASE-SQL: Multi-Path Reasoning and Preference Optimized Candidate Selection in Text-to-SQLcited by 138
  9. 2022Natural Language to Code Translation with Executioncited by 124
  10. 2024MCS-SQL: Leveraging Multiple Prompts and Multiple-Choice Selection For Text-to-SQL Generationcited by 105
  11. 2024The Dawn of Natural Language to SQL: Are We Fully Ready?cited by 79
  12. 2023Exploring Chain-of-Thought Style Prompting for Text-to-SQLcited by 69
  13. 2023ACT-SQL: In-Context Learning for Text-to-SQL with Automatically-Generated Chain-of-Thoughtcited by 65
  14. 2024Synthesizing Text-to-SQL Data from Weak and Strong LLMscited by 54
  15. 2024When is Tree Search Useful for LLM Planning? It Depends on the Discriminatorcited by 47
  16. 2024A Preview of XiYan-SQL: A Multi-Generator Ensemble Framework for Text-to-SQLcited by 46
  17. 2024DTS-SQL: Decomposed Text-to-SQL with Small Large Language Modelscited by 45
  18. 2024A Survey of Table Reasoning with Large Language Modelscited by 29
  19. 2025KBQA-o1: Agentic Knowledge Base Question Answering with Monte Carlo Tree Searchcited by 22
  20. 2024ROUTE: Robust Multitask Tuning and Collaboration for Text-to-SQLcited by 13
  21. 2024Multi-Turn Interactions for Text-to-SQL with Large Language Modelscited by 2

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 14 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2025: 10; 2026: 9.

19 papers.

Sort:

By area:

  1. 2026Recursive Self-Improvement in AI: From Bounded Self-Refinement to Autonomous Research Loopscited by 35
  2. 2025Reward-SQL: Boosting Text-to-SQL via Stepwise Execution-Aware Reasoning and Process-Supervised Rewardscited by 27
  3. 2025CSC-SQL: Corrective Self-Consistency in Text-to-SQL via Reinforcement Learningcited by 15
  4. 2025Think2SQL: Reinforce LLM Reasoning Capabilities for Text2SQLcited by 14
  5. 2025SLM-SQL: An Exploration of Small Language Models for Text-to-SQLcited by 10
  6. 2025MTIR-SQL: Multi-turn Tool-Integrated Reasoning Reinforcement Learning for Text-to-SQLcited by 10
  7. 2025LearNAT: Learning NL2SQL with AST-guided Task Decomposition for Large Language Modelscited by 8
  8. 2025ReEx-SQL: Reasoning with Execution-Aware Reinforcement Learning for Text-to-SQLcited by 8
  9. 2025DB-Explore: Automated Database Exploration and Instruction Synthesis for Text-to-SQLcited by 5
  10. 2025Toward Real-World Table Agents: Capabilities, Workflows, and Design Principles for LLM-based Table Intelligencecited by 2
  11. 2025HES-SQL: Hybrid Reasoning for Efficient Text-to-SQL with Structural Skeleton Guidancecited by 1
  12. 2026Every Step Counts: Step-Level Credit Assignment for Tool-Integrated Text-to-SQLcited by 1
7 more
  1. 2026SQLConductor: Search-to-Policy Learning for Step-wise Text-to-SQL Orchestrationcited by 1
  2. 2026IESR:Efficient MCTS-Based Modular Reasoning for Text-to-SQL with Large Language Modelscited by 0
  3. 2026Natural Language Interfaces for Spatial and Temporal Databases: A Comprehensive Overview of Methods, Taxonomy, and Future Directionscited by 0
  4. 2026FINER-SQL: Boosting Small Language Models for Text-to-SQLcited by 0
  5. 2026LEAF-SQL: Level-wise Exploration with Adaptive Fine-graining for Text-to-SQL Skeleton Predictioncited by 0
  6. 2026Causal Episodic Memory for Feedback-Driven Agent Repaircited by 0
  7. 2026LIMIT: Less Is More for Instruction Tuning in Text-to-SQLcited by 0

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2025Arctic-Text2SQL-R1: Simple Rewards, Strong Reasoning in Text-to-SQL
  2. 2026CA-SQL: Complexity-Aware Inference Time Reasoning for Text-to-SQL via Exploration and Compute Budget Allocation
  3. 2026Integrating Reasoning and Generalization in Text-to-SQL via Self-Enhanced Fine-Tuning
  4. 2025RAISE: Reasoning Agent for Interactive SQL Exploration
  5. 2025JudgeSQL: Reasoning over SQL Candidates with Weighted Consensus Tournament
  6. 2026ACE-SQL: Adaptive Co-Optimization via Empirical Credit Assignment for Text-to-SQL
  7. 2025Reasoning-SQL: Reinforcement Learning with SQL Tailored Partial Rewards for Reasoning-Enhanced Text-to-SQL
  8. 2025GradeSQL: Test-Time Inference with Outcome Reward Models for Text-to-SQL Generation from Large Language Models