# GRAIL: AI translation for scientists application workflow on satellite data

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.24784 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.24784/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 3 of its 8 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 23 May 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [DeepSeek-Coder: When the Large Language Model Meets Programming -- The Rise of Code Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.14196/) (2024)
- [From LLMs to LLM-based Agents for Software Engineering: A Survey of Current, Challenges and Future](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.02479/) (2024)
- [ReadMe.LLM: A Framework to Help LLMs Understand Your Library](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.09798/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Domain scientists increasingly develop Python scripts to analyze satellite imagery but they lack scalability to large-scale data. This paper demonstrates GRAIL, an agentic translation system that converts Python geospatial workflows into executable Spark-based programs without requiring scientists to learn a new framework. Rather than fine-tuning a specialized LLM model, GRAIL adapts RDPro, a Scala library for satellite data analysis, to make it LLM-ready using structured documentation, API alias functions, and repair-oriented error logs. Translation is structured as a LangGraph pipeline that decomposes code generation into explicit sections with guided inputs and outputs, enabling targeted repair without regenerating the full program. We demonstrate GRAIL on real-world geospatial workflows and showcase the correctness and scalability of the translated code.