Thinking Before Constraining: A Unified Decoding Framework for Large Language Models

arXiv:2601.07525v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Natural generation allows Large Language Models (LLMs) to produce free-form responses with rich reasoning, yet the lack of structure makes outputs difficult to verify. Conversely, constrained decoding ensures standardized formats but can inadvertently restrict reasoning capabilities by imposing constraints too early in the generation process. We propose a hybrid approach, namely In-Writing, that combines free-form reasoning and structured