G-LNS: Generative Large Neighborhood Search for LLM-Based Automatic Heuristic Design

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Zhao, Baoyun, Wang, He, Zeng, Liang
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Zhao, Baoyun
Wang, He
Zeng, Liang
author_facet Zhao, Baoyun
Wang, He
Zeng, Liang
contents While Large Language Models (LLMs) have recently shown promise in Automated Heuristic Design (AHD), existing approaches typically formulate AHD around constructive priority rules or parameterized local search guidance, thereby restricting the search space to fixed heuristic forms. Such designs offer limited capacity for structural exploration, making it difficult to escape deep local optima in complex Combinatorial Optimization Problems (COPs). In this work, we propose G-LNS, a generative evolutionary framework that extends LLM-based AHD to the automated design of Large Neighborhood Search (LNS) operators. Unlike prior methods that evolve heuristics in isolation, G-LNS leverages LLMs to co-evolve tightly coupled pairs of destroy and repair operators. A cooperative evaluation mechanism explicitly captures their interaction, enabling the discovery of complementary operator logic that jointly performs effective structural disruption and reconstruction. Extensive experiments on challenging COP benchmarks, such as Traveling Salesman Problems (TSP) and Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problems (CVRP), demonstrate that G-LNS significantly outperforms LLM-based AHD methods as well as strong classical solvers. The discovered heuristics not only achieve near-optimal solutions with reduced computational budgets but also exhibit robust generalization across diverse and unseen instance distributions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_08253
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle G-LNS: Generative Large Neighborhood Search for LLM-Based Automatic Heuristic Design
Zhao, Baoyun
Wang, He
Zeng, Liang
Artificial Intelligence
While Large Language Models (LLMs) have recently shown promise in Automated Heuristic Design (AHD), existing approaches typically formulate AHD around constructive priority rules or parameterized local search guidance, thereby restricting the search space to fixed heuristic forms. Such designs offer limited capacity for structural exploration, making it difficult to escape deep local optima in complex Combinatorial Optimization Problems (COPs). In this work, we propose G-LNS, a generative evolutionary framework that extends LLM-based AHD to the automated design of Large Neighborhood Search (LNS) operators. Unlike prior methods that evolve heuristics in isolation, G-LNS leverages LLMs to co-evolve tightly coupled pairs of destroy and repair operators. A cooperative evaluation mechanism explicitly captures their interaction, enabling the discovery of complementary operator logic that jointly performs effective structural disruption and reconstruction. Extensive experiments on challenging COP benchmarks, such as Traveling Salesman Problems (TSP) and Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problems (CVRP), demonstrate that G-LNS significantly outperforms LLM-based AHD methods as well as strong classical solvers. The discovered heuristics not only achieve near-optimal solutions with reduced computational budgets but also exhibit robust generalization across diverse and unseen instance distributions.
title G-LNS: Generative Large Neighborhood Search for LLM-Based Automatic Heuristic Design
topic Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.08253