Reflection-Enhanced Meta-Optimization Integrating TextGrad-style Prompt Optimization with Memory-Driven Self-Evolution (2508.18749v1)

Abstract: Recent advances in prompt optimization, exemplified by methods such as TextGrad, enable automatic, gradient-like refinement of textual prompts to enhance the performance of LLMs on specific downstream tasks. However, current approaches are typically stateless and operate independently across optimization runs, lacking mechanisms to preserve and leverage historical optimization experience. Furthermore, they are susceptible to overfitting, often yielding prompt updates that generalize poorly beyond the immediate task context. To address these limitations, we propose Reflection-Enhanced Meta-Optimization (REMO), a novel framework that integrates (1) a memory-augmented Reflection Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) module - structured as a "mistake notebook" and (2) a Self-Adaptive Optimizer, implemented via an LLM-driven meta-controller that synthesizes epoch-level reflective insights to iteratively improve system-level prompting strategies. This architecture enables not only local, fine-grained prompt tuning akin to TextGrad, but also the systematic accumulation and reuse of cross-run optimization knowledge, thereby supporting continual improvement over time. We instantiate the REMO framework using Qwen3-32B in standard inference mode - without explicit chain-of-thought prompting - and evaluate its efficacy on the GSM8K benchmark for mathematical reasoning. Experimental results demonstrate that, compared to a TextGrad baseline, REMO achieves more stable and robust generalization, albeit at the cost of increased computational overhead. We provide a detailed exposition of the algorithmic design, conduct a qualitative and quantitative analysis of optimization dynamics, and present a comprehensive ablation study to elucidate the contributions of each component.