- Preload V into shared memory alongside K to eliminate per-element KV address lookups in the inner softmax/accum loop (doubles smem)
- Cache split-KV partial tensors (o_part, ml_part) with static tensors instead of per-call allocation in both decode and paged-decode paths
- Force is_causal=True in CUDA decode backend (decode is always causal)
- sample the first token from prefill logits without duplicating the prompt tail
- reject incomplete multi-output records before preprocessing alignment
- cover cached generation and partial DPO records with regression tests
- add FlashAttnBackend (ATTN_BACKEND.FLASH) using flash_attn_func with KV-cache gather + GQA, mirroring TorchNativeBackend
- add flash_attn_available() probe gated on compute capability plus a real-kernel smoke test, cached at first use
- lazy-import flash-attn via importlib so it stays an optional dependency, raising clear errors when unusable
- add 'flash' optional extra (flash-attn>=2.6) and export the new backend
- Extract _step() as the single prefill-group + task_extend + decode primitive
- _run_generation_loop and run_batch now both call it, so the two cannot drift
- run_batch now records prefix hashes (paged mode) and uses input order for
decode, matching the loop thread
- hoist prefill qo_indptr into the workspace so CudaBackend.fwd_prefill does not rebuild it per layer
- cache has_freq in SamplingBatchInfo to drop the per-step GPU any() sync
- drop pin_memory host staging for input_ids; sync copy suffices for a small batch
- add InferenceWorkspace with fixed-shape per-step buffers (input_ids, decode mask, KV bind metadata) for CUDA-graph capture
- bind_tasks derives seq_lens from the pool's own _task_len tracking, dropping the seq_lens parameter
- update decode metadata in-place (position_ids, seq_lens, kv_indptr) instead of re-allocating per step
- task_extend advances _task_len in contiguous mode so the pool tracks current length
- skip log_softmax when logprobs are not requested
- SamplingBatchInfo: sample params built once per task set (top_k int32, pinned async H2D)
- position_ids advances by +1 on steady-state decode instead of re-building
- DecodeBindCache: bind_tasks increments seq_lens/kv_indptr, reuses req_pool_indices
- saves ~240us of python/launch overhead per decode step
- Converts detached strategy metrics before returning loss output
- Removes redundant item conversion from the trainer loop
- Updates the documented contract and regression tests
- Propagates MoE load-balancing loss through model outputs
- Logs task, auxiliary, and weighted losses across strategies
- Computes only explicitly requested callback metrics
- Preserves tensor compute_loss API and adds regression tests
- bind_tasks builds kv_indptr (prefix sum of seq_lens) a single time
- fwd_decode/fwd_prefill reuse it instead of rebuilding per layer
- Removes 24 cumsum launches per decode step (was ~1ms/step at B=4)
- Decode B=4: 9.60 -> 7.82 ms/step (-18.5%), +22.8% tok/s
- CudaBackend.fwd_decode passes attn_mask directly instead of kv_cache.decode_mask
- TorchNativeBackend derives pos_mask from attn_mask[:,0,0] on decode
- Drop decode_mask and page_table fields from KVCache and bind_tasks
- ManoAdamW now uses torch.optim.AdamW(fused=True, betas=(0.9, 0.95)) matching MuonAdamW, eliminating a confounding variable in optimizer comparison experiments
- only NoraNAdamW retains NAdamW, which is correct per the Nora paper design
- add GradSNRTracker to metric_util.py computing SNR = E[g]^2 / Var(g) via per-parameter EMA moments
- add grad_snr_tracker field to TrainContext (instantiated by default)
- register grad_snr in MetricCallback, update tracker on each optimizer step before metrics are recorded
- add grad_snr to default --metrics in train.py CLI
- implement Mano (v2) with axis-rotating tangent projection and manifold normalization, replacing Newton-Schulz iteration
- composite ManoAdamW reuses partition_optimizer_parameters and composite helpers
- register mano_adamw in OptimizerFactory, export Mano and ManoAdamW
- add --mano_momentum and --mano_nesterov CLI options in Optimizer group
- add mano_adamw hyperparameters branch in train.py
- document mano_adamw in params.md
- add tests for single-step projection, axis alternation, factory registration, closure, and resume
- add astrai/optim/composite.py with shared step/zero_grad/state_dict/param_groups helpers and OptimizerFactory
- rename MuonMix to MuonAdamW (matches registered name muon_adamw) and file to muon_adamw.py
- use @OptimizerFactory.register decorator in each optimizer module instead of post-import registration in __init__
- fix closure being invoked once per sub-optimizer in MuonAdamW.step (now exactly once via composite_step)
- NoraNAdamW.step now forwards closure correctly
- alloc_split_partials now uses torch::empty: the split kernel writes every slot it owns, so the per-call zeros/full memset was pure overhead (2 kernels per layer per step)
- decode split-KV MMA kernels now run a true multi-stage cp.async pipeline (wait_group<STAGES-1> instead of wait_group<0>), keeping STAGES-1 tile loads in flight; the old wait_group<0> serialized load and compute so deeper STAGES made no difference
- add a fallback path when ntiles < STAGES to avoid a race on the last tile
- apply_rotary_emb now checks torch.is_grad_enabled() before dispatching to CUDA kernel
- Training (grad enabled) uses torch complex multiply path which supports autograd backward
- Inference (inference_mode/no_grad) uses CUDA kernel as before
- Without this fix, training backward would crash — the CUDA kernel has no autograd backward()
- CUDAExtension module names changed from astrai.extension.<name> to astrai.extension.lib.<name>
- Compiled .so files now land in astrai/extension/lib/ instead of alongside Python source
- loader.py imports from .lib.<name> subpackage
- Add astrai/extension/lib/__init__.py to make lib a proper package
- Separates compiled artifacts from Python source for cleaner directory structure
- Precompute page_table and decode_mask on KVCache once per step in PagePool.bind_tasks, instead of per-layer in CudaBackend/TorchNativeBackend
- Skip frequency penalty history tensor construction when all penalties are 0 in Executor.execute_decode
- Omit FrequencyPenaltyStrategy from sampling pipeline when penalty is 0
- Deduplicate get_active_tasks calls in scheduler loop (3 to 1), remove redundant sorted() on decode tasks
- Benchmark (L20, bf16, CUDA backend): B=1 9.48->9.40ms (+1%), B=4 10.73->9.89ms (+8.6%), B=8 10.77->10.13ms (+6.4%)
- Add broadcast_state_dict to sync state_dict from rank-0 to all ranks
- Fix create_ref_model returning None on non-rank-0 under FSDP
- Fix sync_old_model only updating old_model on rank-0 under FSDP
- Split skip_no_cuda/skip_no_kernel markers and hoist to top-level conftest
- Add distributed tests for broadcast_state_dict and create_ref_model
- CudaBackend: paged decode via attn_paged_decode, prefill via attn_prefill
- Decode uses req_to_token as page_table with page_size=1
- Falls back to TorchNativeBackend when kernel unavailable
- Rename forward_decode/forward_extend to fwd_decode/fwd_prefill
- Register ATTN_BACKEND.CUDA in _BACKEND_REGISTRY
- Replace all buffer[layer_id][loc] double indexing with buffer[layer_id, loc] single advanced indexing in cache.py and attention.py
- Revert KVStorage buffers back to 4D [n_layers, size, n_kv_heads, head_dim], remove leftover 3D reshape/view in MLA path
- Update docs/guides/inference.md, docs/developer/internals.md, docs/developer/architecture.md to reflect new PagePool/KVStorage/ReqToTokenPool/KVCache classes
- Extract _resolve_base_type and _validate_component as module-level helpers
- Replace ForwardRef._evaluate private API with eval in module namespace
- Remove broad except Exception in __init_subclass__, _component_base always set
- Replace direct _entries mutation in strategy.py with register() call form
- Remove dead TOKENIZER_CLASSES registry from AutoTokenizer
- Extract ModelFactory(BaseFactory[nn.Module]) as pure factory
- AutoModel now inherits only nn.Module, no factory state
- Move @AutoModel.register to @ModelFactory.register in transformer.py and encoder.py
- Replace hand-rolled BaseConfig (from_dict/to_dict/_coerce/_unwrap_optional) with pydantic.dataclasses
- from_dict now uses cls(**d), to_dict uses dataclasses.asdict + json.dumps filter
- TrainConfig: required fields are now truly required (no default=None), delete manual validate()/__post_init__
- Remove dead required() helper and metadata={'help': ...} annotations
- Fix gradient_checkpointing_modules type from List[str] to List[type]
- Add pydantic>=2.0 as direct dependency in pyproject.toml
- Add numpy-style Parameters docstrings to all config classes
- Enable use_attribute_docstrings in BaseConfig for schema generation
- LoRAConfig also migrated to pydantic dataclass
- Move create_ref_model from astrai/parallel/utils.py into executor.py
- Remove unused ColumnParallelLinear/RowParallelLinear (module.py)
- Update imports in strategy.py and train_context.py
- Drop unused astrai.parallel.utils and astrai.parallel.module
- unshard() and full_tensor() are collective ops, all ranks must participate
- Old code returned None on non-rank-0 before calling unshard, causing deadlock
- Fix: all ranks unshard/full_tensor, only rank-0 keeps the result
- Move create_ref_model to parallel/utils.py, accept executor+model directly
- Guard create_ref_model and sync_old_model against None on non-rank-0
- FSDP params are DTensors sharded across ranks
- torch.nn.utils.clip_grad_norm_ computes LOCAL norm only
- Each rank would clip by a different factor, causing gradient divergence
- Fix: compute local norm, all-reduce squared sum, sqrt for global norm
- Default reshard_after_forward=False (forward then backward makes reshard redundant)
- Reduces per-step time by ~19% (1033ms to 839ms on 2xL20)
- Add __getstate__/__setstate__ to drop cached _compiled Jinja2 template
- Jinja2 Template.root_render_func is a dynamic closure unpicklable by reference
- cached_property rebuilds the template lazily on first render after unpickle
- Remove H5Store, H5Writer, save_h5/load_h5 and h5py dependency
- MmapStore (bin) is the sole pre-tokenized storage backend
- Move setup_logging after imports to fix E402 in __init__.py
- Clean up unused imports across test files
- Move inline test imports to file top