DBLifeBench is introduced, the first benchmark to evaluate LLMs across five critical lifecycle phases: Design, Implementation, Operation, Debugging, and Maintenance, and a novel task utilizing structured reasoning graphs to mimic human iterative problem-solving is proposed.
Abstract
Large Language Models (LLMs) are transforming database interaction paradigms, evolving from simple query translators to autonomous database administrators (DBAs). However, current evaluation benchmarks remain disproportionately fixated on Text-to-SQL tasks, neglecting the holistic Database Lifecycle-from initial schema design to post-deployment maintenance. This narrow focus fails to capture the diverse capabilities required for real-world database management. To bridge this gap, we introduce DBLifeBench, the first benchmark to evaluate LLMs across five critical lifecycle phases: Design, Implementation, Operation, Debugging, and Maintenance. Furthermore, addressing the cognitive mismatch between ambiguous natural language and complex SQL logic, we propose Progressive-Text2SQL, a novel task utilizing structured reasoning graphs to mimic human iterative problem-solving. Our extensive evaluation reveals a critical insight: while general-purpose models demonstrate balanced performance, specialized Text-to-SQL models suffer from ``catastrophic forgetting''in non-coding phases like design and maintenance. DBLifeBench serves as a foundational step toward evaluating and building true full-stack database intelligence.
Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMSs) are the backbone of modern data-intensive applications, making reliability and robustness critical. However, achieving high coverage in RDBMS testing remains challenging because of large codebases and complex execution logic. Traditional fuzzing relies on random SQL generation and cannot capture the correspondence between SQL inputs and internal execution paths, while symbolic execution suffers from prohibitive cost and scalability limitations. We propose DBcover, an LLM-driven white-box SQL test generation framework based on contextual reasoning. DBcover uses lightweight dynamic analysis to extract SQL-to-path correspondence and call graphs as global context, and collects source-level information around target functions as local context. These contexts are organized in a unified knowledge graph for efficient retrieval and reuse. DBcover then performs two-phase test generation: it first selects a semantically relevant seed whose execution path is close to the uncovered target, and then guides the LLM with global and local context to generate SQL test cases that trigger previously uncovered code regions. Experiments show that DBcover achieves 80.1% and 82.3% coverage on PostgreSQL and MySQL, and is also effective on the enterprise RDBMS KingbaseES, demonstrating its practical applicability to closed-source systems.
Yan-Kai Rong, Shuang Liu, Jinhao Dong et al.· 0 citations
This work introduces ExpeSQL, a zero-shot, open-source–compatible, and efficient framework that combines divide-and-conquer reasoning, Best-of-N candidate selection, and self-critique with experience-guided refinement that establishes a new paradigm for deployable, self-improving Text-to-SQL systems in dynamic, real-world environments.
DataClawEval is introduced, the first comprehensive benchmark designed specifically to evaluate the end-to-end task completion capabilities of autonomous agents in real-world data engineering scenarios, and it comprises 100 rigorous, end-to-end tasks spanning five execution engines.
Debin Meng, Jiaming Yang, Zefang Zong et al.· 0 citations
LLM-based database agents show promise, but differing task scopes, testbeds, and metrics hinder comparison. We identify four gaps between evaluation and production operations: live-environment fidelity (multi-turn read-write interaction with a running database); observation-space scale and complexity (causal diagnosis across thousands of time series, business logs, and concurrent activity); solution-space openness (multiple remediations with different operational trade-offs); and scenario complexity and coverage (faults cascading across internal mechanisms and operational domains). We present DBA-Bench, a benchmark addressing these gaps through production fidelity, outcome-first evaluation, and controlled scenario reproducibility. It uses instrumented PostgreSQL environments with active workloads, persistent state, and multi-source observations; defines success by measurable recovery or fault elimination under safety constraints; and restores snapshots with scenario-specific checks before each run. The benchmark contains 106 scenarios across seven task domains, with two public difficulty labels based on reference-path diagnostic depth and environmental complexity. We evaluate nine baseline groups, including six foundation-model systems, two GPT-5.5-backed database agents, and a Human DBA reference. Across 848 automated runs, Diagnosis, Outcome, and Safe Pass rates are 32.7%, 19.6%, and 12.4%; the best automated baseline reaches 17.9% Safe Pass versus 93.4% for the Human DBA reference. Automated Safe Pass falls from 19.6% on Easy scenarios to 7.6% on Hard scenarios, underscoring the difficulty of safe end-to-end remediation.
Junming Chen, Junyang Jiang, Xu Chen et al.· 0 citations
As Large Language Models (LLMs) become foundational to next-generation Intelligent Information Systems, the bridge between natural language interfaces and structured database systems remains a critical bottleneck. While Text-to-SQL generation enables cooperative support for complex query formulation, ensuring the reliability of these generated queries at inference time is a central challenge. Conventional methods rely on coarse execution-based signals, which may limit their ability to capture the nuanced semantic alignment required for high-stakes database environments. In this work, we propose the use of Outcome Reward Models (ORMs) as a fine-grained, probabilistic feedback mechanism for test-time verification in Text-to-SQL tasks. We introduce GradeSQL, a framework for training task-specific ORMs that assign scalar utility scores to candidate SQL queries based on their semantic correctness and alignment with database schema. Our approach is evaluated on the BIRD and Spider benchmarks across multiple open-source LLM families. Experimental results demonstrate that ORM-based verification consistently outperforms traditional execution-based heuristics.
M. Tritto, G. Farano, Dario Di Palma et al.· Journal of Intelligence and...· 2 citations
A large-scale benchmark with 60\sim 90× more queries than prior work, built on 3× more databases, an automated pipeline that can execute existing methods without manual intervention, and multi-dimensional, fine-grained evaluation metrics for comprehensive assessment.
Bo Li, Chenzhan Wang, Longkang Lin et al.· Proceedings of the 32nd ACM...· 0 citations
