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XML Prompting Revolution: Math Proofs for Guaranteed LLM Stability (arxiv.org)
3 points by WASDAai on Sep 11, 2025 | hide | past | pdf | 2 comments on HN

In plain words: It treats XML-tagged prompts as nested trees that each round of prompting refines, and proves the exchange settles on a stable final protocol. Forcing the model to follow the XML grammar keeps outputs well-formed without hurting task accuracy.

Abstract · XML Prompting as Grammar-Constrained Interaction: Fixed-Point Semantics, Convergence Guarantees, and Human-AI Protocols

Structured prompting with XML tags has emerged as an effective way to steer large language models (LLMs) toward parseable, schema-adherent outputs in real-world systems. We develop a logic-first treatment of XML prompting that unifies (i) grammar-constrained decoding, (ii) fixed-point semantics over lattices of hierarchical prompts, and (iii) convergent human-AI interaction loops. We formalize a complete lattice of XML trees under a refinement order and prove that monotone prompt-to-prompt operators admit least fixed points (Knaster-Tarski) that characterize steady-state protocols; under a task-aware contraction metric on trees, we further prove Banach-style convergence of iterative guidance. We instantiate these results with context-free grammars (CFGs) for XML schemas and show how constrained decoding guarantees well-formedness while preserving task performance. A set of multi-layer human-AI interaction recipes demonstrates practical deployment patterns, including multi-pass "plan $\to$ verify $\to$ revise" routines and agentic tool use. We provide mathematically complete proofs and tie our framework to recent advances in grammar-aligned decoding, chain-of-verification, and programmatic prompting.

Faruk Alpay, Taylan Alpay
arXiv:2509.08182 · cs.PL, cs.AI, cs.CL · submitted Sep 9, 2025
abstract · pdf · html · 7 pages, multiple XML prompts

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TL;DR:
This paper formalizes XML prompting for LLMs as grammar-constrained interactions, leveraging fixed-point semantics and lattice theory. It proves least fixed points for stable protocols (via Knaster-Tarski) and convergence guarantees under a tree metric (Banach-style), ensuring structured, hallucination-free outputs. Includes practical templates like "plan → verify → revise" for human-AI loops, boosting reliability in applications needing parseable data.<grok:render card_id="2276bd" card_type="citation_card" type="render_inline_citation"> <argument name="citation_id">0</argument> </grok:render>