ReSQL: Self-Improving Framework for Reasoning-Aware Text-to-SQL Dataset Generation
Minjun Park, Yongju Seong, Myoseop Sim, Kyungkoo Min, Stanley Jungkyu Choi
Abstract
Recent advances in Text-to-SQL have greatly benefited from large language models, yet small and medium-sized models still suffer from frequent execution errors and limited self-correction ability. We present ReSQL (Retrieval-augmented error reasoning for Text-to-SQL), a self-improving framework that generates and learns from its own error-reasoning dataset, enabling models to autonomously refine their SQL generation and correction capabilities. ReSQL combines feedback-driven fine-tuning with retrieval-based inference: it gathers model-generated errors, analyzes them through structured feedback prompts, and retrieves relevant correction examples during inference. This unified approach allows models to internalize robust error-reasoning patterns and dynamically apply them to unseen queries. Experimental results on the SPIDER and BIRD benchmarks show that ReSQL substantially improves execution accuracy and self-correction ability over strong baselines, achieving competitive performance with much larger proprietary models such as GPT-4. Our findings highlight ReSQL as a promising step toward self-improving, reasoning-aware Text-to-SQL systems that can continually enhance their reliability and interpretability without external supervision. All code and generated reasoning datasets are available to facilitate application to open-source LLMs and reproducible baseline training.- Anthology ID:
- 2026.findings-acl.1677
- Volume:
- Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2026
- Month:
- July
- Year:
- 2026
- Address:
- San Diego, California, United States
- Editors:
- Maria Liakata, Viviane P. Moreira, Jiajun Zhang, David Jurgens
- Venue:
- Findings
- SIG:
- Publisher:
- Association for Computational Linguistics
- Note:
- Pages:
- 33582–33602
- Language:
- URL:
- https://preview.aclanthology.org/ingest-acl/2026.findings-acl.1677/
- DOI:
- Cite (ACL):
- Minjun Park, Yongju Seong, Myoseop Sim, Kyungkoo Min, and Stanley Jungkyu Choi. 2026. ReSQL: Self-Improving Framework for Reasoning-Aware Text-to-SQL Dataset Generation. In Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2026, pages 33582–33602, San Diego, California, United States. Association for Computational Linguistics.
- Cite (Informal):
- ReSQL: Self-Improving Framework for Reasoning-Aware Text-to-SQL Dataset Generation (Park et al., Findings 2026)
- PDF:
- https://preview.aclanthology.org/ingest-acl/2026.findings-acl.1677.pdf