mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

130k Lines of Formal Topology in Two Weeks: Simple and Cheap Autoformalization for Everyone?

arXiv 2601.03298 ↗First posted 6 Jan 2026cs.LO cs.AI cs.SCcited by 16

Not on the map. Why?

Abstract (arXiv)

This is a brief description of a project that has already autoformalized a large portion of the general topology from the Munkres textbook (which has in total 241 pages in 7 chapters and 39 sections). The project has been running since November 21, 2025 and has as of January 4, 2026, produced 160k lines of formalized topology. Most of it (about 130k lines) have been done in two weeks,from December 22 to January 4, for an LLM subscription cost of about 100. This includes a 3k-line proof of Urysohn's lemma, a 2k-line proof of Urysohn's Metrization theorem, over 10k-line proof of the Tietze extension theorem, and many more (in total over 1.5k lemmas/theorems). The approach is quite simple and cheap: build a long-running feedback loop between an LLM and a reasonably fast proof checker equipped with a core foundational library. The LLM is now instantiated as ChatGPT (mostly 5.2) or Claude Sonnet (4.5) run through the respective Codex or Claude Code command line interfaces. The proof checker is Chad Brown's higher-order set theory system Megalodon, and the core library is Brown's formalization of basic set theory and surreal numbers (including reals, etc). The rest is some prompt engineering and technical choices which we describe here. Based on the fast progress, low cost, virtually unknown ITP/library, and the simple setup available to everyone, we believe that (auto)formalization may become quite easy and ubiquitous in 2026, regardless of which proof assistant is used.

Key facts. Cited by 16 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 6 of its 24 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 6 Jan 2026.

Builds on

6 of 24 references.

References · 6

  1. 2022Autoformalization with Large Language Modelscited by 252
  2. 2018First Experiments with Neural Translation of Informal to Formal Mathematicscited by 52
  3. 2020First Neural Conjecturing Datasets and Experimentscited by 26
  4. 2023Alien Codingcited by 9
  5. 2025Learning Conjecturing from Scratchcited by 3
  6. 2025Hammering Higher Order Set Theorycited by 3

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2026: 16.

16 papers.

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