refactor: unify rotary embedding interface and update docs

- Merge cos/sin into single freqs_cis tensor [batch, seq, dim/2, 2] throughout the pipeline: RotaryEmbedding buffer, forward return type, apply_rotary_emb signature, CUDA kernel interface
- CUDA kernel now takes freqs_cis directly and reads cos/sin via stride offset internally, eliminating Python-side slice/copy overhead
- Kernel interface: rotary_emb(x, freqs_cis) replaces rotary_emb(x, cos, sin)
- All call sites pass rotary_emb as Tensor (was tuple), type annotations consistent
- Update build threads from 8 to 16
- Fix all docs: get-started, inference, training, cuda_kernels, architecture, internals — reflect new rotary interface, KVCache fields, rotary backend dispatch, .so path, kernel registry count, file layout
This commit is contained in:
2026-07-31 16:52:25 +08:00
parent 75411ce0cc
commit 7aa5ed09d9
11 changed files with 120 additions and 83 deletions
+35 -8
View File
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
# CUDA Kernels
AstrAI includes optional custom CUDA attention kernels for decode and prefill. These are built when `nvcc` is available and CUDA is detected, and are dispatched via the `CudaBackend` attention backend.
AstrAI includes optional custom CUDA kernels for attention and rotary embedding. These are built when `nvcc` is available and CUDA is detected, and are dispatched via the `CudaBackend` attention backend or auto-dispatched for rotary.
## Overview
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ AstrAI includes optional custom CUDA attention kernels for decode and prefill. T
| `attn_decode` | `attn_decode.cu` | GQA decode attention (split-KV) |
| `attn_prefill` | `attn_prefill.cu` | GQA prefill attention (split-Q) |
| `attn_paged_decode` | `attn_paged_decode.cu` | Paged KV cache decode attention |
| `rotary_emb` | `rotary_emb.cu` | Fused rotary embedding (cos/sin lookup + rotation) |
Additionally, optimized `.cuh` variants with tensor-core MMA (Matrix Multiply-Accumulate) exist:
@@ -18,6 +19,18 @@ Additionally, optimized `.cuh` variants with tensor-core MMA (Matrix Multiply-Ac
| Split-Q MMA prefill | `attn_prefill_split_q_mma.cuh` | Split Q across warps + MMA (sm_80+) |
| Paged split-KV MMA decode | `attn_paged_decode_split_kv_mma.cuh` | Paged cache + split-KV + MMA |
### Rotary Embedding Kernel
The `rotary_emb` kernel (`csrc/kernels/rotary_emb.cu`) fuses cos/sin lookup and rotation into a single kernel:
- One thread per (head, dim-pair), vectorized `__nv_bfloat162` load/store
- f32 cos/sin input, bf16 compute and output
- 256-thread blocks, grid-stride loop
- Auto-dispatched via `apply_rotary_emb` in `astrai/extension/rotary_backend.py` (CUDA when available + inference mode, else torch complex-multiply fallback)
- No context-manager backend needed — rotary is backend-agnostic, both attention backends benefit
Standalone benchmark vs torch complex-multiply (48 calls = 24 layers × q+k): 6-9x faster, max diff 0 (decode) to 3e-2 (large prefill, bf16).
## Build System
### Auto-detection
@@ -36,7 +49,7 @@ CSRC_KERNELS=true pip install -e . --no-build-isolation
# Rebuild after editing .cu/.cuh files
CSRC_KERNELS=true python setup.py build_ext --inplace
# Output: astrai/extension/*.so
# Output: astrai/extension/lib/*.so
```
### Architecture flags
@@ -53,7 +66,7 @@ NVCC_FLAGS = -O3 --expt-relaxed-constexpr --use_fast_math
--ptxas-options=-O3,-v --extra-device-vectorization --threads=8
```
The `REGISTRY` in `csrc/build.py` lists all registered kernels (currently 3). Each entry maps a kernel name to its source files and build flags.
The `REGISTRY` in `csrc/build.py` lists all registered kernels (currently 4). Each entry maps a kernel name to its source files and build flags.
## Attention Backend
@@ -74,9 +87,20 @@ with attn_backend(ATTN_BACKEND.CUDA):
`CudaBackend` falls back to `TorchNativeBackend` when a kernel is not available.
### Rotary Backend
`astrai/extension/rotary_backend.py` provides `apply_rotary_emb(x, (cos, sin))` with auto-dispatch:
- **CUDA path**: calls `rotary_emb` kernel directly when available, input is bf16 on CUDA, and `torch.is_grad_enabled()` is `False` (inference)
- **Torch fallback**: complex multiply (`torch.view_as_complex``torch.complex` multiply → `torch.view_as_real`), used during training (supports autograd) or when kernel unavailable
No context-manager switching needed — the dispatch is automatic per call.
## Python Wrappers
`astrai/extension/attention_ops.py` provides Python wrappers for each compiled kernel. Each wrapper calls its CUDA kernel directly and raises `RuntimeError` if the `.so` is not available. Fallback to torch SDPA is handled by the attention backend, not the wrapper functions.
`astrai/extension/attention_ops.py` provides Python wrappers for each compiled attention kernel. Each wrapper calls its CUDA kernel directly and raises `RuntimeError` if the `.so` is not available. Fallback to torch SDPA is handled by the attention backend, not the wrapper functions.
`astrai/extension/rotary_ops.py` provides the wrapper for the rotary embedding kernel. Fallback to torch complex multiply is handled by `rotary_backend.py`.
Interface (all functions):
```
@@ -115,8 +139,8 @@ nvcc -I csrc -arch=sm_89 -O3 --use_fast_math \
## Known Optimization Targets
- **Decode D=256**: spill eliminated (BC=16 + STAGES=2), but still 248 regs — further tiling could help.
- **Prefill single-batch**: bandwidth low (52 GB/s at q=kv=2048) — likely compute-bound but near L20 bf16 ceiling (~94 TFLOP/s).
- **Decode single-batch**: bandwidth low (309 GB/s at kv=512) — L20 HBM ~864 GB/s theoretical; small kv underutilizes SMs despite split-KV.
- **Prefill single-batch**: bandwidth low (22 GB/s at q=kv=2048) — compute-bound at ~94 TFLOP/s (near L20 bf16 ceiling ~193 TFLOP/s for non-causal).
- **Decode single-batch**: bandwidth low (113 GB/s at kv=512, 13% of 864 GB/s theoretical) — small kv underutilizes SMs despite split-KV; scales to 757 GB/s (88%) at B=16+.
## File Layout
@@ -124,10 +148,11 @@ nvcc -I csrc -arch=sm_89 -O3 --use_fast_math \
csrc/
├── build.py # Build system: REGISTRY, _arch_flags, nvcc flags
├── kernels/
│ ├── attn_common.h # Shared attention utilities
│ ├── attn_common.h # Shared attention params (AttentionParams, PagedAttentionParams)
│ ├── attn_decode.cu # Basic decode kernel (registered)
│ ├── attn_prefill.cu # Basic prefill kernel (registered)
│ ├── attn_paged_decode.cu # Paged decode kernel (registered)
│ ├── rotary_emb.cu # Fused rotary embedding kernel (registered)
│ ├── attn_decode_split_kv.cuh # Split-KV variant
│ ├── attn_decode_split_kv_mma.cuh # Split-KV + MMA variant
│ ├── attn_prefill_split_q.cuh # Split-Q variant
@@ -145,4 +170,6 @@ csrc/
└── attn_prefill_test.cu # Prefill kernel test
```
> Document Update Time: 2026-07-30
Compiled `.so` files are placed in `astrai/extension/lib/`, separate from Python source files.
> Document Update Time: 2026-07-31