prolog-reasoner

SWI-Prolog as a "logic calculator" for LLMs — available as an MCP server and a Python library.

LLMs excel at natural language but struggle with formal logic. Prolog excels at logical reasoning but can't process natural language. prolog-reasoner bridges this gap by exposing SWI-Prolog execution to LLMs through two complementary surfaces:

• MCP server — the connected LLM (e.g. Claude) writes Prolog and executes it via the server. No LLM API key needed on the server side.

• Python library — a full NL→Prolog pipeline with self-correction, for programs that don't have an LLM in the loop. Requires an OpenAI or Anthropic API key.

Both surfaces share the same Prolog executor; the library adds an LLM-based translator on top.

Features

• MCP tool (execute_prolog): run arbitrary SWI-Prolog code with a query

• CLP(FD) support: constraint logic programming for scheduling and optimization

• Negation-as-failure, recursion, all standard SWI-Prolog features

• Transparent intermediate representation: inspect / modify Prolog before execution

• Library mode: NL→Prolog translation with self-correction loop (OpenAI / Anthropic)

Requirements

• Python ≥ 3.10

• SWI-Prolog installed and on PATH (≥ 9.0)

• API key for OpenAI or Anthropic — only for library mode, not for the MCP server

Installation

# MCP server only (no LLM dependencies)
pip install prolog-reasoner

# Library with OpenAI
pip install prolog-reasoner[openai]

# Library with Anthropic
pip install prolog-reasoner[anthropic]

# Both providers
pip install prolog-reasoner[all]

MCP Server Setup

The MCP server exposes a single tool, execute_prolog, that runs Prolog code written by the connected LLM. It does not call any external LLM API, so no API key is required.

Claude Desktop / Claude Code

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "prolog-reasoner": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["prolog-reasoner"]
    }
  }
}

Or, if prolog-reasoner is installed directly:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "prolog-reasoner": {
      "command": "prolog-reasoner"
    }
  }
}

Docker (SWI-Prolog bundled)

Use Docker if you don't want to install SWI-Prolog locally:

docker build -f docker/Dockerfile -t prolog-reasoner .

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "prolog-reasoner": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", "prolog-reasoner"]
    }
  }
}

Tool reference

execute_prolog(prolog_code, query, max_results=100)

• prolog_code — Prolog facts and rules (string)

• query — Prolog query to run, e.g. "mortal(X)" (string)

• max_results — cap the number of solutions returned (default 100)

Returns a JSON object with success, output, query, error, and metadata (execution time, result count, truncated flag).

Library Usage

The library exposes PrologExecutor (Prolog-only, no LLM) and PrologReasoner (NL→Prolog pipeline, needs an LLM API key).

Execute Prolog directly (no LLM)

import asyncio
from prolog_reasoner.config import Settings
from prolog_reasoner.executor import PrologExecutor

async def main():
    settings = Settings()  # no API key needed
    executor = PrologExecutor(settings)
    result = await executor.execute(
        prolog_code="human(socrates). mortal(X) :- human(X).",
        query="mortal(X)",
    )
    print(result.output)  # mortal(socrates)

asyncio.run(main())

Full NL→Prolog pipeline (requires LLM API key)

import asyncio
from prolog_reasoner import PrologReasoner, TranslationRequest, ExecutionRequest
from prolog_reasoner.config import Settings
from prolog_reasoner.executor import PrologExecutor
from prolog_reasoner.translator import PrologTranslator
from prolog_reasoner.llm_client import LLMClient

async def main():
    settings = Settings(llm_api_key="sk-...")  # from env or explicit
    llm = LLMClient(
        provider=settings.llm_provider,
        api_key=settings.llm_api_key,
        model=settings.llm_model,
        timeout_seconds=settings.llm_timeout_seconds,
    )
    reasoner = PrologReasoner(
        translator=PrologTranslator(llm, settings),
        executor=PrologExecutor(settings),
    )
    translation = await reasoner.translate(
        TranslationRequest(query="Socrates is human. All humans are mortal. Is Socrates mortal?")
    )
    print(translation.prolog_code)
    result = await reasoner.execute(
        ExecutionRequest(prolog_code=translation.prolog_code, query=translation.suggested_query)
    )
    print(result.output)

asyncio.run(main())

Configuration

All settings via environment variables (prefix PROLOG_REASONER_):

Benchmark

benchmarks/ contains 30 logic problems across 5 categories (deduction, transitive, constraint, contradiction, multi-step) to compare LLM-only reasoning vs LLM+Prolog reasoning. The benchmark exercises the library path (translator + executor), since it requires the NL→Prolog step.

Results

Measured on anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6, single run over 30 problems:

Per-category breakdown:

The gap is concentrated in constraint (SEND+MORE, 6-queens, knapsack, K4 coloring, Einstein-lite) and multi-step (Nim game theory, 3-person knights-and-knaves, TSP-4, zebra puzzle) — exactly the combinatorial/search-heavy territory where symbolic solvers outperform pattern completion. On purely deductive or transitive questions the LLM is already strong and Prolog adds latency without accuracy gains.

All 3 LLM+Prolog failures were Prolog execution errors from malformed LLM-generated code (missing predicate definitions, unbound CLP(FD) variables) rather than reasoning errors — addressable via prompt tuning.

Running it yourself

docker run --rm -e PROLOG_REASONER_LLM_API_KEY=sk-... \
    prolog-reasoner-dev python benchmarks/run_benchmark.py

Results are saved to benchmarks/results.json.

Development

# Build dev image
docker build -f docker/Dockerfile -t prolog-reasoner-dev .

# Run tests (no API key needed — LLM calls are mocked)
docker run --rm prolog-reasoner-dev

# With coverage
docker run --rm prolog-reasoner-dev pytest tests/ -v --cov=prolog_reasoner

# Or via docker compose
docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml run --rm test

License

MIT