mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

EvolveCoder: Evolving Test Cases via Adversarial Verification for Code Reinforcement Learning

arXiv 2603.12698 ↗First posted 13 Mar 2026cs.CLcited by 5

On the map: Deep reinforcement learning methods → RL training of language and agent models

Abstract (arXiv)

Reinforcement learning with verifiable rewards (RLVR) is a promising approach for improving code generation in large language models, but its effectiveness is limited by weak and static verification signals in existing coding RL datasets. In this paper, we propose a solution-conditioned and adversarial verification framework that iteratively refines test cases based on the execution behaviors of candidate solutions, with the goal of increasing difficulty, improving discriminative power, and reducing redundancy. Based on this framework, we introduce EvolveCoder-22k, a large-scale coding reinforcement learning dataset constructed through multiple rounds of adversarial test case evolution. Empirical analysis shows that iterative refinement substantially strengthens verification, with pass@1 decreasing from 43.80 to 31.22. Reinforcement learning on EvolveCoder-22k yields stable optimization and consistent performance gains, improving Qwen3-4B by an average of 4.2 points across four downstream benchmarks and outperforming strong 4B-scale baselines. Our results highlight the importance of adversarial, solution-conditioned verification for effective and scalable reinforcement learning in code generation.

Key facts. Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Placed in RL training of language and agent models, one of 15 directions in Deep reinforcement learning methods. Builds on 20 of its 34 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 13 Mar 2026.

Builds on

20 of 34 references.

Closest ancestors · 1

Same direction, newest first

  1. 2025Critique-Coder: Enhancing Coder Models by Critique Reinforcement Learning26 Sep

Other references · 19

  1. 2021Program Synthesis with Large Language Modelscited by 3,637
  2. 2025DAPO: An Open-Source LLM Reinforcement Learning System at Scalecited by 2,810
  3. 2022Self-Instruct: Aligning Language Models with Self-Generated Instructionscited by 2,724
  4. 2024LiveCodeBench: Holistic and Contamination Free Evaluation of Large Language Models for Codecited by 2,004
  5. 2023Is Your Code Generated by ChatGPT Really Correct? Rigorous Evaluation of Large Language Models for Code Generationcited by 1,391
  6. 2024DeepSeek-V2: A Strong, Economical, and Efficient Mixture-of-Experts Language Modelcited by 1,135
  7. 2021Measuring Coding Challenge Competence With APPScited by 902
  8. 2023Enhancing Chat Language Models by Scaling High-quality Instructional Conversationscited by 839
  9. 2023WizardCoder: Empowering Code Large Language Models with Evol-Instructcited by 733
  10. 2024BigCodeBench: Benchmarking Code Generation with Diverse Function Calls and Complex Instructionscited by 546
  11. 2022CodeT: Code Generation with Generated Testscited by 384
  12. 2023Principle-Driven Self-Alignment of Language Models from Scratch with Minimal Human Supervisioncited by 318
7 more
  1. 2025Pixel Reasoner: Incentivizing Pixel-Space Reasoning with Curiosity-Driven Reinforcement Learningcited by 278
  2. 2025SWE-RL: Advancing LLM Reasoning via Reinforcement Learning on Open Software Evolutioncited by 263
  3. 2025KodCode: A Diverse, Challenging, and Verifiable Synthetic Dataset for Codingcited by 119
  4. 2023RLTF: Reinforcement Learning from Unit Test Feedbackcited by 114
  5. 2025rStar-Coder: Scaling Competitive Code Reasoning with a Large-Scale Verified Datasetcited by 51
  6. 2023Enhancing Large Language Models in Coding Through Multi-Perspective Self-Consistencycited by 46
  7. 2025HardTests: Synthesizing High-Quality Test Cases for LLM Codingcited by 23

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 14 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2026: 5.

5 papers.

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2026Code-A1: Adversarial Evolving of Code LLM and Test LLM via Reinforcement Learning
  2. 2025Klear-CodeTest: Scalable Test Case Generation for Code Reinforcement Learning
  3. 2026Two-Stage Reinforcement Learning for Sound and Adversarial Test Generation in Code LLMs
  4. 2025ACECODER: Acing Coder RL via Automated Test-Case Synthesis
  5. 2025Co-Evolving LLM Coder and Unit Tester via Reinforcement Learning
  6. 2025ReVeal: Self-Evolving Code Agents via Reliable Self-Verification
  7. 2026CodeScaler: Scaling Code LLM Training and Test-Time Inference via Reward Models
  8. 2026ACE: Self-Evolving LLM Coding Framework via Adversarial Unit Test Generation and Preference Optimization