# PEFA-AI: Advancing Open-source LLMs for RTL generation using Progressive Error Feedback Agentic-AI

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.03934 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.03934/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Software engineering coding agents, one of 16 directions in LLM agents and tool use.
- Builds on 29 of its 42 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 6 Nov 2025.

## Placed in

- LLM agents and tool use / [Software engineering coding agents](https://mlsanity.com/agents/software-engineering-coding-agents/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 29 of 29)

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- [DeepSeek-Coder: When the Large Language Model Meets Programming -- The Rise of Code Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.14196/) (2024)
- [CodeGen: An Open Large Language Model for Code with Multi-Turn Program Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.13474/) (2022)
- [A Survey on Large Language Models for Code Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.00515/) (2024)
- [AgentVerse: Facilitating Multi-Agent Collaboration and Exploring Emergent Behaviors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.10848/) (2023)
- [A Survey on Large Language Model (LLM) Security and Privacy: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.02003/) (2023)
- [CodeT5+: Open Code Large Language Models for Code Understanding and Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.07922/) (2023)
- [Self-collaboration Code Generation via ChatGPT](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.07590/) (2023)
- [VerilogEval: Evaluating Large Language Models for Verilog Code Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.07544/) (2023)
- [AI Agents That Matter](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.01502/) (2024)
- [VeriGen: A Large Language Model for Verilog Code Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.00708/) (2023)
- [Planning with Large Language Models for Code Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.05510/) (2023)
- [RTLLM: An Open-Source Benchmark for Design RTL Generation with Large Language Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.05345/) (2023)
- [Large Language Models are Few-shot Testers: Exploring LLM-based General Bug Reproduction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.11515/) (2022)
- [The Dawn After the Dark: An Empirical Study on Factuality Hallucination in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.03205/) (2024)
- [VerilogCoder: Autonomous Verilog Coding Agents with Graph-based Planning and Abstract Syntax Tree (AST)-based Waveform Tracing Tool](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.08927/) (2024)
- [Self-Organized Agents: A LLM Multi-Agent Framework toward Ultra Large-Scale Code Generation and Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.02183/) (2024)
- [Chip Placement with Deep Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2004.10746/) (2020)
- [AutoChip: Automating HDL Generation Using LLM Feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.04887/) (2023)
- [OriGen:Enhancing RTL Code Generation with Code-to-Code Augmentation and Self-Reflection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.16237/) (2024)
- [Make Every Move Count: LLM-based High-Quality RTL Code Generation Using MCTS](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.03289/) (2024)
- [CreativEval: Evaluating Creativity of LLM-Based Hardware Code Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.08806/) (2024)
- [AIvril: AI-Driven RTL Generation With Verification In-The-Loop](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.11411/) (2024)
- [Advanced Large Language Model (LLM)-Driven Verilog Development: Enhancing Power, Performance, and Area Optimization in Code Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.01022/) (2023)
- [Zero-Shot RTL Code Generation with Attention Sink Augmented Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.08683/) (2024)
- [DOSA: Differentiable Model-Based One-Loop Search for DNN Accelerators](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.10702/) (2025)
- [Yosys+nextpnr: an Open Source Framework from Verilog to Bitstream for Commercial FPGAs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.10407/) (2019)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We present an agentic flow consisting of multiple agents that combine specialized LLMs and hardware simulation tools to collaboratively complete the complex task of Register Transfer Level (RTL) generation without human intervention. A key feature of the proposed flow is the progressive error feedback system of agents (PEFA), a self-correcting mechanism that leverages iterative error feedback to progressively increase the complexity of the approach. The generated RTL includes checks for compilation, functional correctness, and synthesizable constructs. To validate this adaptive approach to code generation, benchmarking is performed using two opensource natural language-to-RTL datasets. We demonstrate the benefits of the proposed approach implemented on an open source agentic framework, using both open- and closed-source LLMs, effectively bridging the performance gap between them. Compared to previously published methods, our approach sets a new benchmark, providing state-of-the-art pass rates while being efficient in token counts.