mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

PromptEnhancer: A Simple Approach to Enhance Text-to-Image Models via Chain-of-Thought Prompt Rewriting

arXiv 2509.04545 ↗First posted 4 Sep 2025cs.CVcited by 38

On the map: LLM reasoning → Multimodal reasoning

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Abstract (arXiv)

Recent advancements in text-to-image (T2I) diffusion models have demonstrated remarkable capabilities in generating high-fidelity images. However, these models often struggle to faithfully render complex user prompts, particularly in aspects like attribute binding, negation, and compositional relationships. This leads to a significant mismatch between user intent and the generated output. To address this challenge, we introduce PromptEnhancer, a novel and universal prompt rewriting framework that enhances any pretrained T2I model without requiring modifications to its weights. Unlike prior methods that rely on model-specific fine-tuning or implicit reward signals like image-reward scores, our framework decouples the rewriter from the generator. We achieve this by training a Chain-of-Thought (CoT) rewriter through reinforcement learning, guided by a dedicated reward model we term the AlignEvaluator. The AlignEvaluator is trained to provide explicit and fine-grained feedback based on a systematic taxonomy of 24 key points, which are derived from a comprehensive analysis of common T2I failure modes. By optimizing the CoT rewriter to maximize the reward from our AlignEvaluator, our framework learns to generate prompts that are more precisely interpreted by T2I models. Extensive experiments on the HunyuanImage 2.1 model demonstrate that PromptEnhancer significantly improves image-text alignment across a wide range of semantic and compositional challenges. Furthermore, we introduce a new, high-quality human preference benchmark to facilitate future research in this direction.

Key facts. Cited by 38 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Placed in Multimodal reasoning, one of 17 directions in LLM reasoning. Builds on 31 of its 38 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 4 Sep 2025.

Builds on

31 of 38 references.

Closest ancestors · 3

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2025RePrompt: Reasoning-Augmented Reprompting for Text-to-Image Generation via Reinforcement Learning23 May
  2. 2025LayerCraft: Enhancing Text-to-Image Generation with CoT Reasoning and Layered Object Integration25 Mar
  3. 2025Towards Enhanced Image Generation Via Multi-modal Chain of Thought in Unified Generative Models3 Mar

Other references · 28

  1. 2021Learning Transferable Visual Models From Natural Language Supervisioncited by 33,456
  2. 2020Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Modelscited by 20,851
  3. 2021High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Modelscited by 18,694
  4. 2022Chain-of-Thought Prompting Elicits Reasoning in Large Language Modelscited by 12,302
  5. 2020Score-Based Generative Modeling through Stochastic Differential Equationscited by 8,964
  6. 2024DeepSeekMath: Pushing the Limits of Mathematical Reasoning in Open Language Modelscited by 8,851
  7. 2022Photorealistic Text-to-Image Diffusion Models with Deep Language Understandingcited by 6,322
  8. 2022Scalable Diffusion Models with Transformerscited by 5,931
  9. 2024GPT-4o System Cardcited by 4,467
  10. 2023SDXL: Improving Latent Diffusion Models for High-Resolution Image Synthesiscited by 4,290
  11. 2021Zero-Shot Text-to-Image Generationcited by 4,276
  12. 2024Scaling Rectified Flow Transformers for High-Resolution Image Synthesiscited by 4,094
16 more
  1. 2025Gemini 2.5: Pushing the Frontier with Advanced Reasoning, Multimodality, Long Context, and Next Generation Agentic Capabilitiescited by 3,655
  2. 2023ImageReward: Learning and Evaluating Human Preferences for Text-to-Image Generationcited by 1,010
  3. 2025Qwen-Image Technical Reportcited by 973
  4. 2025FLUX.1 Kontext: Flow Matching for In-Context Image Generation and Editing in Latent Spacecited by 960
  5. 2023Human Preference Score v2: A Solid Benchmark for Evaluating Human Preferences of Text-to-Image Synthesiscited by 847
  6. 2016Generative Adversarial Text to Image Synthesiscited by 735
  7. 2024Hunyuan-DiT: A Powerful Multi-Resolution Diffusion Transformer with Fine-Grained Chinese Understandingcited by 294
  8. 2023Human Preference Score: Better Aligning Text-to-Image Models with Human Preferencecited by 284
  9. 2024Mastering Text-to-Image Diffusion: Recaptioning, Planning, and Generating with Multimodal LLMscited by 224
  10. 2022Optimizing Prompts for Text-to-Image Generationcited by 204
  11. 2025Seedream 3.0 Technical Reportcited by 146
  12. 2024GenArtist: Multimodal LLM as an Agent for Unified Image Generation and Editingcited by 132
  13. 2023Self-correcting LLM-controlled Diffusion Modelscited by 112
  14. 2024Improving Text-to-Image Consistency via Automatic Prompt Optimizationcited by 88
  15. 2024EvalMuse-40K: A Reliable and Fine-Grained Benchmark with Comprehensive Human Annotations for Text-to-Image Generation Model Evaluationcited by 37
  16. 2024DiffusionAgent: Navigating Expert Models for Agentic Image Generationcited by 27

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2025: 8; 2026: 30.

38 papers.

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  1. 2025JarvisEvo: Towards a Self-Evolving Photo Editing Agent with Synergistic Editor-Evaluator Optimizationcited by 30
  2. 2026GenAgent: Scaling Text-to-Image Generation via Agentic Multimodal Reasoningcited by 20
  3. 2026D-OPSD: On-Policy Self-Distillation for Continuously Tuning Step-Distilled Diffusion Modelscited by 17
  4. 2025RealGen: Photorealistic Text-to-Image Generation via Detector-Guided Rewardscited by 11
  5. 2026RationalRewards: Reasoning Rewards Scale Visual Generation Both Training and Test Timecited by 11
  6. 2026GenClaw: Code-Driven Agentic Image Generationcited by 10
  7. 2025RAPO++: Cross-Stage Prompt Optimization for Text-to-Video Generation via Data Alignment and Test-Time Scalingcited by 9
  8. 2026Agentic Retoucher for Text-To-Image Generationcited by 7
  9. 2026From Broad Exploration to Stable Synthesis: Entropy-Guided Optimization for Autoregressive Image Generationcited by 7
  10. 2026Endogenous Reprompting: Self-Evolving Cognitive Alignment for Unified Multimodal Modelscited by 6
  11. 2026SOAR: Self-Correction for Optimal Alignment and Refinement in Diffusion Modelscited by 6
  12. 2025Guiding What Not to Generate: Automated Negative Prompting for Text-Image Alignmentcited by 4
26 more
  1. 2026Fine-T2I: An Open, Large-Scale, and Diverse Dataset for High-Quality T2I Fine-Tuningcited by 4
  2. 2026MetaPoint: Unlocking Precise Spatial Control in Agentic Visual Generationcited by 4
  3. 2026BrandFusion: A Multi-Agent Framework for Seamless Brand Integration in Text-to-Video Generationcited by 3
  4. 2026APE: Agentic Prompt Enhancer for Image Generation and Editingcited by 3
  5. 2026An Empirical Study of Training Pixel-Space Text-to-Image Diffusion Modelscited by 3
  6. 2026ChatUMM: Robust Context Tracking for Conversational Interleaved Generationcited by 2
  7. 2026Spatial Chain-of-Thought: Bridging Understanding and Generation Models for Spatial Reasoning Generationcited by 2
  8. 2026Generative Visual Chain-of-Thought for Image Editingcited by 2
  9. 2026Generation Navigator: A State-Aware Agentic Framework for Image Generationcited by 2
  10. 2025MagicWand: A Universal Agent for Generation and Evaluation Aligned with User Preferencecited by 1
  11. 2025LINA: Learning INterventions Adaptively for Physical Alignment and Generalization in Diffusion Modelscited by 1
  12. 20263D Space as a Scratchpad for Editable Text-to-Image Generationcited by 1
  13. 2026EruDiff: Refactoring Knowledge in Diffusion Models for Advanced Text-to-Image Synthesiscited by 1
  14. 2026Refinement via Regeneration: Enlarging Modification Space Boosts Image Refinement in Unified Multimodal Modelscited by 1
  15. 2026EditRefiner: A Human-Aligned Agentic Framework for Image Editing Refinementcited by 1
  16. 2026HPSD: Hybrid-Policy Self-Distillation for Text-Image-to-Video Diffusion Modelscited by 1
  17. 2026Exploring the Performance Frontier of Compact Unified Image Generation Modelscited by 1
  18. 2025PromptLoop: Plug-and-Play Prompt Refinement via Latent Feedback for Diffusion Model Alignmentcited by 0
  19. 2025A Reason-then-Describe Instruction Interpreter for Controllable Video Generationcited by 0
  20. 2026EventOD: Event-Aware OD Flow Generation via LLM-Guided Semantic Modulationcited by 0
  21. 2026Element-Aware Group Learning for E-Commerce Image Generationcited by 0
  22. 2026UFO: Chain-of-Evaluation for Omni-Condition Alignment in Multi-Modal Image Generationcited by 0
  23. 2026AdaPilot: Towards Scene-Adaptive Policy Learning for Cross-Generator Text-to-Image Quality Optimizationcited by 0
  24. 2026PE-OPSD: Internalizing Prompt Enhancement into Flow-matching Models via On-Policy Self-Distillationcited by 0
  25. 2026DOGS: Design-Space Sampling for Prompt-Driven Logo Generationcited by 0
  26. 2026Towards Unified Evaluation of Prompt Enhancers for Video Generationcited by 0

Similar, not cited

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  1. 2026Seeing is Believing: Aligning Prompt Rewriting with Visual Anchors for Text-to-Image Generation
  2. 2025Self-Rewarding Large Vision-Language Models for Optimizing Prompts in Text-to-Image Generation
  3. 2025Reward-Agnostic Prompt Optimization for Text-to-Image Diffusion Models
  4. 2025POET: Preference Optimization for Enhanced Text-to-Image Generation
  5. 2025Test-time Prompt Refinement for Text-to-Image Models
  6. 2024PromptCharm: Text-to-Image Generation through Multi-modal Prompting and Refinement
  7. 2024Batch-Instructed Gradient for Prompt Evolution:Systematic Prompt Optimization for Enhanced Text-to-Image Synthesis
  8. 2025Learning to Sample Effective and Diverse Prompts for Text-to-Image Generation