International Conference on Computer Aided Verification (CAV)
Conference positioning
International Conference on Computer Aided Verification (CAV) is a top computer-science conference venue for verification, model checking, SMT, theorem proving, synthesis, and formal methods tools. It rewards a verification paper with formal correctness and tool or benchmark evidence. Treat this skill as a fit / venue-selection / re-framing tool for conference submission strategy, not as a substitute for the current year's CFP, author kit, ethics policy, or submission portal.
Because CS conferences change deadlines, templates, page limits, review workflow, artifact rules, AI-use policy, and rebuttal formats every cycle, always verify the live official instructions before making a submission-ready recommendation. Start from the official source anchor recorded for this venue in ../../resources/conference-roster.md and ../../resources/official-source-map.md.
When to trigger
The author names CAV / International Conference on Computer Aided Verification as the target venue.
A manuscript in verification needs a conference-fit read before being formatted or submitted.
The paper must be re-framed from journal style or arXiv style into a selective CS conference narrative.
The author needs an evidence-gap, anonymity, artifact, rebuttal, or re-routing diagnosis for this venue.
Scope & topic fit
Core fit: verification, model checking, SMT, theorem proving, synthesis, and formal methods tools.
Best submissions make a precise contribution type visible: algorithm, theorem, system, dataset, benchmark, empirical finding, design artifact, tool, or socio-technical analysis.
The paper should explain why the result matters to CAV's reviewers, not just why it is interesting to the authors' lab or product context.
Position related work against the most recent conference-cycle papers in this venue and its closest siblings; stale comparisons are a common early-review weakness.
If the contribution is interdisciplinary, state which part is CS research and which part is domain evidence.
Venue-specific calibration
Reviewer lens: Treat CAV as a formal verification venue whose reviewers expect the scope and evidence to match its own community. Do not submit a generic CS paper until the introduction names the exact subcommunity, contribution type, and proof or empirical standard.
Contribution hook to foreground: the venue-specific contribution bar.
Scope vocabulary to use naturally in the abstract and introduction: verification, model checking, SMT, theorem proving, synthesis, and formal methods tools.
Official anchor domain: cavconference.org. Quote annual rules only after opening that source and the current-year CFP/author kit.
Close-neighbor routing guardrail
Route to CAV when the contribution is verification, model checking, theorem proving, formal
methods tooling, or verified systems with a clear correctness claim.
Compare POPL/LICS for theory, PLDI for language implementation, SAT/CP for solver-specific
advances, and systems/security venues when verification is only an application.
What distinguishes this venue from its closest siblings
What CAV is. The International Conference on Computer Aided Verification — model checking, SMT, automated/interactive verification.
vs LICS. LICS is logic in CS (foundational); CAV is the applied/algorithmic verification venue.
vs POPL / ICFP. Those are programming-languages venues; CAV centers verification tools and theory.
CAV-specific routing detail
Prefer CAV when the contribution is formal verification: model checking, SMT/SAT-assisted verification, theorem proving, program/hardware verification, synthesis, or verification tools.
Route functional-language design to ICFP, logic foundations to LICS, and software-testing/analysis tools to ISSTA when verification is not the main claim.
CAV evidence should make formal properties, soundness/completeness assumptions, tool architecture, benchmark suites, and counterexample or proof behavior explicit.
Method & evidence bar
Use real programs, benchmarks, proofs, developer studies, or artifacts matched to the contribution type.
For tools, report usability, scalability, false positives/negatives, and reproducible artifact details.
For theory, provide precise definitions and complete proofs; for empirical SE, foreground validity threats.
For CAV, the evidence must support the venue-specific signature: a verification paper with formal correctness and tool or benchmark evidence.
Include limitations, negative results, compute/resource reporting, data provenance, and ethics details when they affect the claim.
Structure & house style
State the software-engineering or language problem in terms of developer, program, proof, or runtime consequence.
Keep examples small but nontrivial, then scale evidence to realistic code or formal benchmarks.
Use the current official template exactly; do not guess page limits, font sizes, supplement rules, anonymity exceptions, or camera-ready requirements from old cycles.
The introduction should answer: problem, why now, what is new, why this venue, and what evidence proves the claim.
Put the strongest result in the main paper, not only in the appendix or supplement; reviewers should not have to reconstruct the contribution.
Re-check the current cycle's CFP, author kit, submission system, abstract/paper deadlines, page limits, supplementary-material rules, anonymity policy, dual-submission policy, ethics policy, AI-use policy, artifact/code/data expectations, rebuttal/author-response format, and camera-ready requirements.
Confirm the review workflow and portal: OpenReview / CMT / HotCRP / PCS / START or society portal, as specified for the current cycle.
Check whether accepted papers require in-person presentation, separate registration, artifact badges, proceedings copyright, or post-acceptance release forms.
If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win.
Pre-submission self-check
One sentence states why this manuscript belongs at CAV, using the venue's scope rather than generic "top conference" language.
The claim is calibrated to the evidence: no broader than the datasets, proofs, systems, user studies, deployments, or threat model support.
Related work includes the nearest current-cycle formal verification papers and explains the technical delta.
The paper satisfies the current official template, anonymity, ethics, artifact, and rebuttal requirements.
The main paper is self-contained enough for reviewers to evaluate novelty and correctness without hunting through external links.
Common desk-reject triggers
Toy examples with no evidence on real programs or benchmarks.
Tool paper without artifact clarity or comparison to current systems.
Empirical claims without validity analysis or reproducible data pipeline.
Formatting, anonymity, dual-submission, external-link, or supplement violations under the current-year policy.
A contribution framed for a neighboring field while giving CAV reviewers too little technical or empirical substance.
Re-routing decision
If the paper misses CAV's bar, compare against international-conference-on-software-engineering / acm-international-conference-on-the-foundations-of-software-engineering / ieee-acm-international-conference-on-automated-software-engineering / acm-sigplan-conference-on-programming-language-design-and-implementation. Re-route based on contribution type, not prestige: theory to a theory venue, systems to a systems venue, application-heavy work to a domain venue, and early ideas to workshops or shorter tracks when the official CFP supports them.
Output format
[Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason)
[Target] International Conference on Computer Aided Verification (CAV)
[Contribution type] algorithm / theory / system / dataset / benchmark / empirical / design / security / other
[Main evidence gap] <single most important missing proof, experiment, study, artifact, or policy check>
[Official items to re-check] CFP / author kit / deadline / format / anonymity / ethics / AI-use / artifact / rebuttal / camera-ready
[Top rejection risk] <venue-specific risk>
[Re-route suggestion] <better-matched conference or journal if not a fit>
