Changelog

All notable changes to the LLM Guidelines for SE will be documented in this file.

The format is based on Keep a Changelog, and this project follows Calendar Versioning (YYYY.MM).

[2026.04]

This release incorporates feedback from the community session at ICSE 2026 in Rio de Janeiro.

Scope: Defined paper as the manuscript PDF including any bound appendices, and supplementary material as anything external to it. Added a default rule that, when a guideline does not specify a reporting location, either is acceptable.
G3: New recommendation that authors SHOULD release the implementation source code.

G3 / G4: Restructured the two guidelines along a static/dynamic split, and renamed them accordingly. G3 is now Report System and Prompt Design (was Report Tool Architecture Beyond Models) and covers static artifacts (files, schemas, skill and tool definitions). G4 is now Report Session Traces (was Report Prompts, their Development, and Interaction Logs) and covers dynamic runtime traces.
G3: Demoted several items from MUST to SHOULD after an internal discussion about the reporting burden.
G5: Reworded the clause for LLMs for Tools (S6) to state the recommendation explicitly as a SHOULD.
G3 / G4: Clarified phrasing and added concrete examples throughout, covering tool granularity, context files, agent-to-agent communication, plan storage, non-determinism sources, and hosting environments.
Tables: Reconciled the applicability matrix, reporting checklist, and rationale and recommendations table with the current guideline bodies.
Citations: Standardized the convention for citing gray literature.

First explicitly versioned release, corresponding to the EMSE major revision submission (2026-03-19).