SE Arena: An Interactive Platform for Evaluating Foundation Models in Software Engineering (2502.01860v4)

Abstract: Foundation models (FMs), particularly LLMs, have shown significant promise in various software engineering (SE) tasks, including code generation, debugging, and requirement refinement. Despite these advances, existing evaluation frameworks are insufficient for assessing model performance in iterative, context-rich workflows characteristic of SE activities. To address this limitation, we introduce SE Arena, an interactive platform designed to evaluate FMs in SE tasks. SE Arena provides a transparent, open-source leaderboard, supports multi-round conversational workflows, and enables end-to-end model comparisons. The platform introduces novel metrics, including model consistency score that measures the consistency of model outputs through self-play matches, and conversation efficiency index that evaluates model performance while accounting for the number of interaction rounds required to reach conclusions. Moreover, SE Arena incorporates a new feature called RepoChat, which automatically injects repository-related context (e.g., issues, commits, pull requests) into the conversation, further aligning evaluations with real-world development processes. This paper outlines the design and capabilities of SE Arena, emphasizing its potential to advance the evaluation and practical application of FMs in software engineering.