refactor: collapse fp8 recipe hierarchy and state property layers

- Merge DelayedScaling/DynamicScaling and the abstract FP8Recipe base into one FP8Recipe dataclass with a dynamic flag; dispatch now reads cfg.recipe.dynamic instead of isinstance checks
- Drop the _ActiveOrDefault descriptor and the FP8State property views; the persistent defaults are plain default_* attributes and get_weight_meta takes the active recipe explicitly
- Convert FP8TensorMeta to a NamedTuple of the three per-operand rings
- Update tests to the new API; the autocast context test now asserts _active_config push/restore directly

astrai/extension/backend/attention.py

@@ -694,12 +694,13 @@ class CudaBackend(AttentionBackend):
 class FlashAttnBackend(AttentionBackend):
     """FlashAttention backend via the optional ``flash-attn`` package.
 
-    Decode (q_len=1, contiguous cache): uses ``flash_attn_with_kvcache``,
+    Decode (q_len=1, contiguous cache): writes K/V to the pool, gathers
-    which reads K/V directly from the flat pool via cache_batch_idx +
+    flat K/V via the ``req_to_token`` page table, and calls
-    cache_seqlens — no materialized KV gather.
+    ``flash_attn_varlen_func`` over the ragged batch
+    (``qo_indptr``/``kv_indptr``).
 
-    Prefill / non-contiguous decode: falls back to KV gather +
+    Prefill: packed 3-D calls share the ``flash_attn_varlen_func`` path;
-    ``flash_attn_func``.
+    dense 4-D calls go through ``flash_attn_func`` (mask-free only).
     """
 
     @classmethod

astrai/extension/fp8.py

@@ -31,12 +31,12 @@ import functools
 from contextvars import ContextVar, Token
 from dataclasses import dataclass
 from enum import Enum
-from typing import Dict, List, Optional
+from typing import Dict, List, NamedTuple, Optional
 
 import torch
 from torch.library import Library
 
-from astrai.extension.ops.fp8 import mm_fp8, quantize
+from astrai.extension.ops.fp8 import mm_fp8, quantize, quantize_dual
 
 # Max representable value per FP8 format (E4M3: 448, E5M2: 57344).
 FP8_MAX = {"e4m3": 448.0, "e5m2": 57344.0}
@@ -56,46 +56,35 @@ class FP8Format(str, Enum):
         return "e5m2" if self is FP8Format.HYBRID else self.value
 
 
+@dataclass
 class FP8Recipe:
     """Scale-from-amax policy: ``scale = (amax / FP8_MAX[fmt]) / 2^margin``.
 
-    ``scale_from_history`` receives the operand's amax tensor (a ring window for
+    ``dynamic=False`` (default) is TE-style delayed scaling: max over the
-    delayed scaling, the current amax for dynamic scaling) and returns the
+    amax history window (amax from *previous* steps; the window trades
-    quantization step. Subclasses set ``history_len`` / ``margin``.
+    responsiveness against stability). ``dynamic=True`` is current-amax
+    scaling (torchao DYNAMIC): measure, then quantize — no history, at an
+    extra pass. ``scale_from_history`` receives the operand's amax tensor
+    (a ring window / the current amax) and returns the quantization step.
     """
 
     history_len: int = 16
     margin: int = 0
+    dynamic: bool = False
 
     def scale_from_history(self, amax: torch.Tensor, fmt: str) -> torch.Tensor:
         peak = amax.max()
         return ((peak / FP8_MAX[fmt]) / (2**self.margin)).clamp_min(1e-12)
 
 
-@dataclass
-class DelayedScaling(FP8Recipe):
-    """TE-style delayed scaling: max over the amax history window (amax from
-    *previous* steps; the window trades responsiveness against stability)."""
-
-    history_len: int = 16
-    margin: int = 0
-
-
-@dataclass
-class DynamicScaling(FP8Recipe):
-    """Current-amax scaling (torchao DYNAMIC): measure, then quantize. No
-    history — the scale is derived from the same-step amax, at an extra pass."""
-
-    history_len: int = 1
-    margin: int = 0
-
-
 class _ScaleRing:
     """One operand's delayed-scaling state: a float32 buffer
-    ``[hist[n] | scale | counter]`` (views). ``update`` folds the amax
+    ``[hist[n] | scale | legacy | amax | done]`` (views). The quantize
-    returned by the quantize primitive into ``hist[idx]`` and publishes the
+    kernel folds its fused amax into ``hist[idx]`` and publishes the next
-    next scale from the window; ``idx`` advances host-side each step. The
+    scale from the window in its own last block (``fold_args`` passes the
-    trailing slot is a legacy counter kept for state-buffer compatibility.
+    buffer + recipe constants); ``idx`` advances host-side each use. The
+    ``amax``/``done`` tail slots are kernel scratch (self-cleaning across
+    launches); the legacy slot keeps state-buffer compatibility.
     """
 
     __slots__ = ("recipe", "state", "hist", "scale", "idx", "initialized")
@@ -103,7 +92,7 @@ class _ScaleRing:
     def __init__(self, device: torch.device, recipe: FP8Recipe):
         self.recipe = recipe
         n = recipe.history_len
-        self.state = torch.zeros(n + 2, device=device, dtype=torch.float32)
+        self.state = torch.zeros(n + 4, device=device, dtype=torch.float32)
         self.hist = self.state[:n]
         self.scale = self.state[n : n + 1]
         self.idx = 0
@@ -119,23 +108,25 @@ class _ScaleRing:
         self.scale.copy_(self.recipe.scale_from_history(self.hist, fmt))
         self.initialized = True
 
-    def update(self, amax: torch.Tensor, fmt: str) -> None:
+    def fold_args(self, fmt: str) -> dict:
-        self.hist[self.idx].copy_(amax.reshape(()))
+        """Keyword arguments for quantize()'s in-kernel history fold."""
-        self.scale.copy_(self.recipe.scale_from_history(self.hist, fmt))
+        return {
+            "ring_state": self.state,
+            "hist_idx": self.idx,
+            "fp8_max": FP8_MAX[fmt],
+            "pow2_margin": float(2**self.recipe.margin),
+        }
 
 
-class FP8TensorMeta:
+class FP8TensorMeta(NamedTuple):
-    """Per-weight delayed-scaling state for ``w``, ``x`` and ``g``.
+    """Per-weight delayed-scaling rings for ``w``, ``x`` and ``g``.
 
-    DynamicScaling never allocates a meta; it measures the current amax inline.
+    Dynamic scaling never allocates a meta; it measures the current amax inline.
     """
 
-    __slots__ = ("w", "x", "g")
+    w: _ScaleRing
-
+    x: _ScaleRing
-    def __init__(self, device: torch.device, recipe: FP8Recipe):
+    g: _ScaleRing
-        self.w = _ScaleRing(device, recipe)
-        self.x = _ScaleRing(device, recipe)
-        self.g = _ScaleRing(device, recipe)
 
 
 @dataclass(frozen=True)
@@ -159,55 +150,29 @@ _active_config: ContextVar[Optional[_ActiveConfig]] = ContextVar(
 class FP8State:
     """Global fp8 training state: per-tensor metas + out-of-region defaults.
 
-    The active ``(enabled, recipe, fp8_format)`` triple is a ``ContextVar`` set
+    The active ``(enabled, recipe, fp8_format)`` triple is a ``ContextVar``
-    by ``fp8_autocast``. The properties below read that active config when a
+    set by ``fp8_autocast`` (see ``_active``/``_current_config``); these plain
-    region is open and the global defaults otherwise; the setters (and
+    attributes are the persistent defaults applied outside any region —
-    ``fp8_linear_enable``) write the global defaults — the persistent switch
+    ``fp8_linear_enable`` writes ``default_enabled``. The metas registry is
-    applying outside any region. The metas registry is shared across threads
+    shared across threads (GIL-protected); fp8 backward runs on autograd
-    (GIL-protected); fp8 backward runs on autograd engine threads and only
+    engine threads and only touches metas captured on ``ctx`` at forward time.
-    touches metas captured on ``ctx`` at forward time.
     """
 
     def __init__(self):
         self.default_enabled = False
-        self.default_recipe: FP8Recipe = DelayedScaling()
+        self.default_recipe: FP8Recipe = FP8Recipe()
         self.default_format: FP8Format = FP8Format.HYBRID
         self._metas: Dict[tuple, FP8TensorMeta] = {}
 
-    # Active-config views (region config if open, else the defaults).
+    def get_weight_meta(self, w: torch.Tensor, recipe: FP8Recipe) -> FP8TensorMeta:
-    @property
-    def enabled(self) -> bool:
-        cfg = _active_config.get()
-        return cfg.enabled if cfg is not None else self.default_enabled
-
-    @property
-    def recipe(self) -> FP8Recipe:
-        cfg = _active_config.get()
-        return cfg.recipe if cfg is not None else self.default_recipe
-
-    @property
-    def fp8_format(self) -> FP8Format:
-        cfg = _active_config.get()
-        return cfg.fp8_format if cfg is not None else self.default_format
-
-    # Persistent (out-of-region) defaults.
-    @enabled.setter
-    def enabled(self, value: bool) -> None:
-        self.default_enabled = bool(value)
-
-    @recipe.setter
-    def recipe(self, value: FP8Recipe) -> None:
-        self.default_recipe = value
-
-    @fp8_format.setter
-    def fp8_format(self, value: FP8Format) -> None:
-        self.default_format = FP8Format(value)
-
-    def get_weight_meta(self, w: torch.Tensor) -> FP8TensorMeta:
         key = (w.data_ptr(), w.shape, w.dtype)
         meta = self._metas.get(key)
         if meta is None:
-            meta = FP8TensorMeta(w.device, self.recipe)
+            meta = FP8TensorMeta(
+                _ScaleRing(w.device, recipe),
+                _ScaleRing(w.device, recipe),
+                _ScaleRing(w.device, recipe),
+            )
             self._metas[key] = meta
         return meta
 
@@ -215,7 +180,7 @@ class FP8State:
         """Restore construction defaults (switch, recipe, format) and drop all
         per-weight metas — a full state reset for tests / reconfiguration."""
         self.default_enabled = False
-        self.default_recipe = DelayedScaling()
+        self.default_recipe = FP8Recipe()
         self.default_format = FP8Format.HYBRID
         self._metas.clear()
 
@@ -278,7 +243,7 @@ class fp8_autocast:
         margin: int = 0,
     ):
         if recipe is None:
-            recipe = DelayedScaling(history_len=update_interval, margin=margin)
+            recipe = FP8Recipe(history_len=update_interval, margin=margin)
         self._config = _ActiveConfig(bool(enabled), recipe, FP8Format(fp8_format))
         self._tokens: List[Token] = []
 
@@ -322,17 +287,17 @@ def fp8_linear_forward(
 
     Composed from the two stateless primitives: quantize x/w with the active
     scales, run the pre-quantized GEMM with the bias fused into its epilogue.
-    Delayed scaling folds
+    Delayed scaling lets the quantize kernel fold the fused amax into the
-    the returned amax into the history ring and publishes the next scale;
+    history ring and publish the next scale in its own last block; dynamic
-    dynamic scaling measures the current amax itself. Training quantizes the
+    scaling measures the current amax itself. Training quantizes the weight
-    weight every step (the optimizer bumps its version, so there is no cast
+    every step (the optimizer bumps its version, so there is no cast cache,
-    cache, matching ``cached_cast``-less behavior).
+    matching ``cached_cast``-less behavior).
     """
     state = fp8_state()
     if cfg is None:
         cfg = _current_config()
     fmt = cfg.fp8_format.fwd()
-    if isinstance(cfg.recipe, DynamicScaling):
+    if cfg.recipe.dynamic:
         sx = _dynamic_scale(x.reshape(-1, w.size(1)), cfg.recipe, fmt)
         sw = _dynamic_scale(w, cfg.recipe, fmt)
         x8, _ = quantize(x, sx.reciprocal(), fmt)
@@ -345,25 +310,25 @@ def fp8_linear_forward(
         ).reshape(*x.shape[:-1], w.size(0))
         return out, sx, sw
 
-    meta = state.get_weight_meta(w)
+    meta = state.get_weight_meta(w, cfg.recipe)
     if not meta.w.initialized:
         meta.w.seed(w, fmt)
     if not meta.x.initialized:
         meta.x.seed(x, fmt)
     sx, sw = meta.x.scale.clone(), meta.w.scale.clone()
-    x8, amax_x = quantize(x, sx.reciprocal(), fmt)
+    # The clones feed this call's kernels (stream-ordered before the in-kernel
+    # fold overwrites the ring scale slots); the fp8 quantize kernel folds the
+    # amax into the history window and publishes the next scale itself.
+    x8, _ = quantize(x, sx.reciprocal(), fmt, **meta.x.fold_args(fmt))
     if _is_fp8(w.dtype):
-        w8, amax_w = w, None
+        w8 = w
     else:
-        w8, amax_w = quantize(w, sw.reciprocal(), fmt)
+        w8, _ = quantize(w, sw.reciprocal(), fmt, **meta.w.fold_args(fmt))
     out = mm_fp8(
         x8.reshape(-1, x8.size(-1)), w8, sx * sw, trans_b=True, bias=bias
     ).reshape(*x.shape[:-1], w.size(0))
-    meta.x.update(amax_x, fmt)
-    if amax_w is not None:
-        meta.w.update(amax_w, fmt)
     meta.x.advance()
-    if amax_w is not None:
+    if not _is_fp8(w.dtype):
         meta.w.advance()
     return out, sx, sw
 
@@ -385,8 +350,8 @@ class _LinearFp8(torch.autograd.Function):
         ctx.save_for_backward(x, w, sx, sw)
         ctx.fmt_bwd = cfg.fp8_format.bwd()
         ctx.recipe = cfg.recipe
-        ctx.is_dynamic = isinstance(cfg.recipe, DynamicScaling)
+        ctx.is_dynamic = cfg.recipe.dynamic
-        ctx.meta = None if ctx.is_dynamic else _state.get_weight_meta(w)
+        ctx.meta = None if ctx.is_dynamic else _state.get_weight_meta(w, cfg.recipe)
         return out
 
     @staticmethod
@@ -411,22 +376,26 @@ class _LinearFp8(torch.autograd.Function):
         # quantize outputs: g8 [m,n] with w8T [k,n] (trans_b=True) gives
         # grad_x, g8T [n,m] with x8T [k,m] gives grad_w — no NN-swap or TT
         # crosswise kernel in the training path. g is consumed in both
-        # orientations, so one dual-layout pass feeds both.
+        # orientations, so quantize_dual's single pass feeds both.
-        g8, g8T, amax_g = quantize(g2, sg.reciprocal(), fmt, layout=2)
+        # The g quantize folds the gradient amax into its ring in-kernel;
-        x8T, _ = quantize(x.reshape(-1, x.size(-1)), sx.reciprocal(), fmt, layout=1)
+        # the x8T/w8T orientation copies discard amax (those rings were
+        # folded at forward time).
+        g8, g8T, _ = quantize_dual(g2, sg.reciprocal(), fmt, **meta.g.fold_args(fmt))
+        x8T, _ = quantize(
+            x.reshape(-1, x.size(-1)), sx.reciprocal(), fmt, transposed=True
+        )
         if _is_fp8(w.dtype):
             # Pre-quantized weight has no transposed copy: keep the swap
             # path for grad_x (grad_w is unaffected).
             grad_x = mm_fp8(g8, w, sg * sw).reshape(x.shape)
         else:
-            w8T, _ = quantize(w, sw.reciprocal(), fmt, layout=1)
+            w8T, _ = quantize(w, sw.reciprocal(), fmt, transposed=True)
             grad_x = mm_fp8(g8, w8T, sg * sw, trans_b=True).reshape(x.shape)
         grad_w = mm_fp8(g8T, x8T, sg * sx, trans_b=True)  # g8.T @ x8
         # bias-free linears must not pay the column-sum
         # reduce: g2.sum(0) is another full read of the gradient.
         grad_b = g2.sum(0).to(torch.bfloat16) if ctx.needs_input_grad[2] else None
         if not ctx.is_dynamic:
-            meta.g.update(amax_g, fmt)
             meta.g.advance()
         return grad_x, grad_w, grad_b
 

astrai/extension/ops/fp8.py

@@ -1,14 +1,20 @@
 """FP8 CUDA kernel interface adapter (the only module touching the pybind).
 
-Isolates the ``fp8_ops`` CUDA extension behind stable Python primitives:
+Attention-style thin wrappers: one Python entry per binding, called directly
+— no torch.library dispatch layer. Optional arguments (``ring_state``,
+``bias``) keep native Optional semantics at the pybind boundary, and
+in-place buffer updates (the delayed-scaling ring fold, like attention's
+KV-cache appends) happen on-stream without mutation declarations. CUDA-only:
+non-CUDA or unsupported inputs raise from the binding's TORCH_CHECKs.
 
-- ``quantize(x, scale, fmt) -> (x8, amax)`` — BF16/FP16/FP32 → FP8 with fused amax
+- ``quantize(x, scale, fmt, transposed=False) -> (x8|x8T, amax)`` — BF16/FP16/FP32
+  → FP8 with fused amax (``transposed`` picks the orientation; arity is fixed)
+- ``quantize_dual(x, scale, fmt) -> (x8, x8T, amax)`` — both orientations, one read
 - ``mm_fp8(a8, b8, sa, sb) -> out`` — pre-quantized FP8 GEMM (BF16 output)
 
-Scale semantics: scales are *quantization steps* — the value divided out when
+``scale`` is the quantization multiplier (device scalar); ``fmt`` is
-quantizing (``x8 = x / scale``). Every primitive computes its own inverse
+``"e4m3"`` or ``"e5m2"``. ``amax`` values are *returned*, never passed as
-internally; callers never pass ``scale_inv``. ``amax`` values are *returned*,
+output arguments.
-never passed as output arguments. ``fmt`` is ``"e4m3"`` or ``"e5m2"``.
 
 Policy (scales, amax history, delayed scaling, autocast) lives in ``fp8.py``;
 this module is stateless.
@@ -17,7 +23,6 @@ this module is stateless.
 from typing import Optional, Tuple
 
 import torch
-from torch.library import custom_op
 
 from astrai.extension.loader import get_module
 
@@ -32,192 +37,63 @@ def _fmt_int(fmt: str) -> int:
         raise ValueError(f"unsupported fp8 format {fmt!r} (expected 'e4m3' or 'e5m2')")
 
 
-def _fmt_name(fmt: int) -> str:
-    if fmt == 0:
-        return "e4m3"
-    if fmt == 1:
-        return "e5m2"
-    raise ValueError(f"unsupported quantization type {fmt!r}")
-
-
-def _fmt_dtype(fmt: str) -> torch.dtype:
-    return torch.float8_e5m2 if _fmt_int(fmt) else torch.float8_e4m3fn
-
-
-@custom_op("custom::fp8_quantize", mutates_args=())
-def fp8_quantize(
-    x: torch.Tensor, scale: torch.Tensor, fmt: int
-) -> Tuple[torch.Tensor, torch.Tensor]:
-    """Float (bf16/fp16/fp32) -> FP8 quantize with fused amax; ``scale`` is a multiplier."""
-
-
-@fp8_quantize.register_fake
-def _fp8_quantize_fake(x, scale, fmt):
-    dtype = torch.float8_e5m2 if fmt == 1 else torch.float8_e4m3fn
-    return (
-        torch.empty(x.shape, device=x.device, dtype=dtype),
-        torch.empty(1, device=x.device, dtype=torch.float32),
-    )
-
-
-_QUANT_INPUT_DTYPES = (torch.bfloat16, torch.float16, torch.float32)
-
-
-@custom_op("custom::fp8_quantize_t", mutates_args=())
-def fp8_quantize_t(
-    x: torch.Tensor, scale: torch.Tensor, fmt: int
-) -> Tuple[torch.Tensor, torch.Tensor]:
-    """Transposed-output variant of fp8_quantize: returns ``(x8T, amax)``
-    where ``x8T`` is the [cols][rows] row-major transpose of the quantized
-    input (the K-contiguous operand orientation for NT GEMMs)."""
-
-
-@fp8_quantize_t.register_fake
-def _fp8_quantize_t_fake(x, scale, fmt):
-    dtype = torch.float8_e5m2 if fmt == 1 else torch.float8_e4m3fn
-    rows, cols = x.shape[-2], x.shape[-1]
-    return (
-        torch.empty((*x.shape[:-2], cols, rows), device=x.device, dtype=dtype),
-        torch.empty(1, device=x.device, dtype=torch.float32),
-    )
-
-
-@fp8_quantize_t.register_kernel("cuda")
-def _fp8_quantize_t_cuda(x, scale, fmt):
-    if x.dtype not in _QUANT_INPUT_DTYPES:
-        raise TypeError(f"fp8 quantize requires bf16/fp16/fp32 input, got {x.dtype}")
-    return get_module("fp8_ops").quantize(x, scale, int(fmt), 1)
-
-
-@fp8_quantize_t.register_kernel("cpu")
-def _fp8_quantize_t_cpu(x, scale, fmt):
-    x8, amax = _fp8_quantize_cpu(x, scale, fmt)
-    return x8.transpose(-2, -1).contiguous(), amax
-
-
-@custom_op("custom::fp8_quantize_dual", mutates_args=())
-def fp8_quantize_dual(
-    x: torch.Tensor, scale: torch.Tensor, fmt: int
-) -> Tuple[torch.Tensor, torch.Tensor, torch.Tensor]:
-    """Dual-orientation quantize: one read of ``x`` produces both the
-    row-major ``x8`` and its transposed ``x8T`` (plus ``amax``), for tensors
-    consumed by GEMMs on both orientations (backward ``g``)."""
-
-
-@fp8_quantize_dual.register_fake
-def _fp8_quantize_dual_fake(x, scale, fmt):
-    dtype = torch.float8_e5m2 if fmt == 1 else torch.float8_e4m3fn
-    rows, cols = x.shape[-2], x.shape[-1]
-    return (
-        torch.empty(x.shape, device=x.device, dtype=dtype),
-        torch.empty((*x.shape[:-2], cols, rows), device=x.device, dtype=dtype),
-        torch.empty(1, device=x.device, dtype=torch.float32),
-    )
-
-
-@fp8_quantize_dual.register_kernel("cuda")
-def _fp8_quantize_dual_cuda(x, scale, fmt):
-    if x.dtype not in _QUANT_INPUT_DTYPES:
-        raise TypeError(f"fp8 quantize requires bf16/fp16/fp32 input, got {x.dtype}")
-    return get_module("fp8_ops").quantize(x, scale, int(fmt), 2)
-
-
-@fp8_quantize_dual.register_kernel("cpu")
-def _fp8_quantize_dual_cpu(x, scale, fmt):
-    x8, amax = _fp8_quantize_cpu(x, scale, fmt)
-    return x8, x8.transpose(-2, -1).contiguous(), amax
-
-
-@fp8_quantize.register_kernel("cuda")
-def _fp8_quantize_cuda(x, scale, fmt):
-    if x.dtype not in _QUANT_INPUT_DTYPES:
-        raise TypeError(f"fp8 quantize requires bf16/fp16/fp32 input, got {x.dtype}")
-    return get_module("fp8_ops").quantize(x, scale, int(fmt))
-
-
-@fp8_quantize.register_kernel("cpu")
-def _fp8_quantize_cpu(x, scale, fmt):
-    x8 = (x.float() * scale).to(_fmt_dtype(_fmt_name(fmt)))
-    amax = x.abs().amax().float().reshape(1).clamp_min(1e-12)
-    return x8, amax
-
-
-@custom_op("custom::fp8_gemm", mutates_args=())
-def fp8_gemm(
-    a: torch.Tensor,
-    b: torch.Tensor,
-    scale: torch.Tensor,
-    trans_a: int = 0,
-    trans_b: int = 0,
-    bias: Optional[torch.Tensor] = None,
-) -> torch.Tensor:
-    """FP8 GEMM: ``a @ b * scale (+ bias)`` with FP32 accumulation.
-
-    2D or 3D (batched) operands; a size-1 batch broadcasts (matmul rules).
-    ``bias`` (bf16, length n) fuses into the epilogue in fp32 before the
-    single bf16 rounding. The result is always BF16; FP8 output is a
-    separate quantize operation.
-    """
-
-
-@fp8_gemm.register_fake
-def _fp8_gemm_fake(a, b, scale, trans_a=0, trans_b=0, bias=None):
-    dtype = torch.bfloat16
-    rows = a.size(2) if trans_a else a.size(1)
-    cols = b.size(1) if trans_b else b.size(2)
-    batches = [t.size(0) for t in (a, b) if t.dim() == 3]
-    shape = (max(batches), rows, cols) if batches else (rows, cols)
-    return torch.empty(shape, device=a.device, dtype=dtype)
-
-
-@fp8_gemm.register_kernel("cuda")
-def _fp8_gemm_cuda(a, b, scale, trans_a=0, trans_b=0, bias=None):
-    if a.dtype != b.dtype or a.dtype not in (torch.float8_e4m3fn, torch.float8_e5m2):
-        raise TypeError(
-            f"fp8 GEMM requires matching fp8 inputs, got {a.dtype}/{b.dtype}"
-        )
-    return get_module("fp8_ops").mm_fp8(a, b, scale, trans_a, trans_b, bias)
-
-
-@fp8_gemm.register_kernel("cpu")
-def _fp8_gemm_cpu(a, b, scale, trans_a=0, trans_b=0, bias=None):
-    aa = a.float().transpose(-2, -1) if trans_a else a.float()
-    bb = b.float().transpose(-2, -1) if trans_b else b.float()
-    acc = aa @ bb * scale
-    if bias is not None and bias.numel() > 0:
-        acc = acc + bias.float()
-    return acc.to(torch.bfloat16)
-
-
 def quantize(
-    x: torch.Tensor, scale: torch.Tensor, fmt: str = "e4m3", layout: int = 0
+    x: torch.Tensor,
-) -> tuple:
+    scale: torch.Tensor,
+    fmt: str = "e4m3",
+    transposed: bool = False,
+    ring_state: Optional[torch.Tensor] = None,
+    hist_idx: int = 0,
+    fp8_max: float = 448.0,
+    pow2_margin: float = 1.0,
+) -> Tuple[torch.Tensor, torch.Tensor]:
     """Float (bf16/fp16/fp32) -> FP8 quantize with fused amax.
 
     ``scale`` is the quantization multiplier (device scalar); ``fmt`` selects
-    E4M3 or E5M2. ``amax`` is a fresh 1-element float32 tensor. ``layout``
+    E4M3 or E5M2. ``amax`` is a fresh 1-element float32 tensor.
-    picks the output orientation: 0 = row-major ``(x8, amax)``; 1 =
+    ``transposed=True`` swaps ``x8`` for ``x8T``, the ``[cols][rows]``
-    transposed ``[cols][rows]`` ``(x8T, amax)`` — the K-contiguous operand
+    row-major transpose of the quantized input — the K-contiguous operand
-    orientation NT GEMMs want; 2 = both from one read ``(x8, x8T, amax)``
+    orientation NT GEMMs want — at the same 2-tuple arity.
-    (for tensors consumed in both orientations, e.g. backward ``g``).
+
+    ``ring_state`` (a 1D float32 CUDA buffer laid out
+    ``[hist n | scale | legacy | amax | done]``) switches on the in-kernel
+    delayed-scaling fold: the kernel's last block folds the amax into
+    ``hist[hist_idx]`` and publishes the next scale as
+    ``max(hist) / fp8_max / pow2_margin`` — the returned ``amax`` is then the
+    self-cleaned persistent slot (reads zero). None keeps the classic
+    fresh-amax return.
     """
-    # Hot-path bypass of the torch.library dispatch (~5us/call, ~40% of a
+    return get_module("fp8_ops").quantize(
-    # 512-wide GEMM): real CUDA tensors of a supported dtype go straight to
+        x,
-    # the extension. Fake/subclass tensors and non-CUDA inputs keep the
+        scale,
-    # custom_op route so torch.compile / meta / fake-tensor tracing and the
+        _fmt_int(fmt),
-    # CPU fallback behave exactly as before.
+        transposed,
-    if (
+        ring_state,
-        type(x) is torch.Tensor
+        hist_idx,
-        and x.is_cuda
+        fp8_max,
-        and x.dtype in _QUANT_INPUT_DTYPES
+        pow2_margin,
-        and fmt in _FMT_TO_INT
+    )
-    ):
+
-        return get_module("fp8_ops").quantize(x, scale, _FMT_TO_INT[fmt], layout)
+
-    if layout == 0:
+def quantize_dual(
-        return fp8_quantize(x, scale, _fmt_int(fmt))
+    x: torch.Tensor,
-    if layout == 1:
+    scale: torch.Tensor,
-        return fp8_quantize_t(x, scale, _fmt_int(fmt))
+    fmt: str = "e4m3",
-    return fp8_quantize_dual(x, scale, _fmt_int(fmt))
+    ring_state: Optional[torch.Tensor] = None,
+    hist_idx: int = 0,
+    fp8_max: float = 448.0,
+    pow2_margin: float = 1.0,
+) -> Tuple[torch.Tensor, torch.Tensor, torch.Tensor]:
+    """Dual-orientation quantize: one read of ``x`` produces both the
+    row-major ``x8`` and its transposed ``x8T`` (plus ``amax``), for tensors
+    consumed by GEMMs in both orientations (backward ``g``).
+
+    ``ring_state`` switches on the in-kernel delayed-scaling fold exactly as
+    in :func:`quantize`.
+    """
+    return get_module("fp8_ops").quantize_dual(
+        x, scale, _fmt_int(fmt), ring_state, hist_idx, fp8_max, pow2_margin
+    )
 
 
 def mm_fp8(
@@ -237,15 +113,4 @@ def mm_fp8(
     kernel epilogue in fp32 — no separate elementwise pass. The result is
     BF16; FP8 output is a separate quantize operation.
     """
-    # Same hot-path bypass as quantize(): the binding's TORCH_CHECKs keep
+    return get_module("fp8_ops").mm_fp8(a, b, scale, trans_a, trans_b, bias)
-    # validation identical on the direct route (bias may be None — the
-    # binding resolves it to the no-bias path).
-    if (
-        type(a) is torch.Tensor
-        and a.is_cuda
-        and a.dtype in (torch.float8_e4m3fn, torch.float8_e5m2)
-    ):
-        return get_module("fp8_ops").mm_fp8(
-            a, b, scale, int(trans_a), int(trans_b), bias
-        )
-    return fp8_gemm(a, b, scale, trans_a, trans_b, bias)

astrai/inference/runtime/executor.py

@@ -67,11 +67,15 @@ class DecodeSteadyState:
 
     When the same ordered task set decodes one token per step, sampling
     params and task signature are reused; only positions advance by 1.
+    ``last_tokens`` keeps that step's sampled ids on-device so the next
+    step with an unchanged signature can fill ``input_ids`` via a
+    device-to-device copy.
     """
 
     task_sig: tuple
     positions: list[int]
     sampling_info: SamplingBatchInfo
+    last_tokens: Optional[Tensor] = None
 
 
 def _build_sampling_batch_info(tasks: List[Task], device) -> SamplingBatchInfo:
@@ -250,6 +254,13 @@ class Executor:
         return_logprobs: bool = False,
         info: Optional[SamplingBatchInfo] = None,
     ):
+        """Sample from ``logits`` and return ``(host_payload, tokens)``.
+
+        ``host_payload`` is the scheduler-facing list (token ids, or
+        ``(token_id, logprob)`` tuples with ``return_logprobs``);
+        ``tokens`` is the ``[B]`` device tensor that produced it, kept
+        for the steady-state decode fast path.
+        """
         info = info or _build_sampling_batch_info(tasks, self.device)
         if info.has_freq:
             history_lists = [
@@ -284,14 +295,14 @@ class Executor:
             return_logprobs=return_logprobs,
         )
         if not return_logprobs:
-            return result.tolist()
+            return result.tolist(), result
 
         tokens, logprobs = result
         tokens_list = tokens.tolist()
         logprobs_list = logprobs.tolist()
         for task, logprob in zip(tasks, logprobs_list):
             task.output_logprobs.append(float(logprob))
-        return list(zip(tokens_list, logprobs_list))
+        return list(zip(tokens_list, logprobs_list)), tokens
 
     def execute_prefill(
         self,
@@ -336,7 +347,8 @@ class Executor:
                 torch.arange(1, batch_sz + 1, device=self.device) * q_len - 1
             ]
 
-        return tasks, self._sample_logits(logits, tasks, return_logprobs)
+        step_out, _ = self._sample_logits(logits, tasks, return_logprobs)
+        return tasks, step_out
 
     def execute_decode(
         self, tasks: List[Task], return_logprobs: bool = False
@@ -360,24 +372,30 @@ class Executor:
 
         b = len(tasks)
         ws = self._workspace
+        task_ids = [t.task_id for t in tasks]
+        cur_positions = [t.next_pos for t in tasks]
+        task_sig = tuple(task_ids)
 
         # ---- pre-replay: update input buffers in-place ----
 
-        input_ids = ws.fill_input_ids(
+        # When the previous decode step ran this same ordered task set, its
-            [t.output_ids[-1] if t.output_ids else t.prompt_ids[-1] for t in tasks]
+        # sampled tokens are still on-device and map 1:1 onto the current
-        )
+        # slots — fill input ids device-to-device.  inference_mode guards
-
+        # the read because the source was produced under sampling's
-        task_ids = [t.task_id for t in tasks]
+        # inference-mode context.
-        cur_positions = [t.next_pos for t in tasks]
+        cached = self._decode_cache
+        sig_match = cached is not None and cached.task_sig == task_sig
+        if sig_match and cached.last_tokens is not None:
+            with torch.inference_mode():
+                input_ids = ws.fill_input_ids_from_device(cached.last_tokens)
+        else:
+            input_ids = ws.fill_input_ids(
+                [t.output_ids[-1] if t.output_ids else t.prompt_ids[-1] for t in tasks]
+            )
 
         kv_cache = self.task_cache.bind(task_ids, ws)
 
-        task_sig = tuple(task_ids)
+        reuse_decode_state = self.task_cache.bind_was_steady and sig_match
-        reuse_decode_state = (
-            self.task_cache.bind_was_steady
-            and self._decode_cache is not None
-            and self._decode_cache.task_sig == task_sig
-        )
         if reuse_decode_state:
             info = self._decode_cache.sampling_info
             ws.position_ids[:b] += 1
@@ -418,4 +436,8 @@ class Executor:
                 )
             logits = outputs["logits"]
 
-        return self._sample_logits(logits, tasks, return_logprobs, info=info)
+        step_out, tokens_dev = self._sample_logits(
+            logits, tasks, return_logprobs, info=info
+        )
+        self._decode_cache.last_tokens = tokens_dev
+        return step_out

astrai/inference/workspace.py

@@ -139,6 +139,18 @@ class InferenceWorkspace:
         self.input_ids[:b].copy_(pin[:b])
         return self.input_ids[:b]
 
+    def fill_input_ids_from_device(self, tokens: Tensor) -> Tensor:
+        """Copy device-resident ``[B]`` token ids into the device buffer.
+
+        Steady-state decode fast path: when the executor's cached task
+        signature still matches, the previous step's sampled tokens map
+        1:1 onto the current slots, so the ids transfer device-to-device
+        instead of round-tripping through the host staging buffers.
+        """
+        b = tokens.size(0)
+        self.input_ids[:b].copy_(tokens)
+        return self.input_ids[:b]
+
     def decode_mask(self, position_ids: Tensor, total_len: int) -> Tensor:
         """Return the ``[B, 1, total_len]`` validity mask for this step.
 

astrai/trainer/train_callback.py

@@ -116,6 +116,8 @@ class GradientCheckpointingCallback(TrainCallback):
             del module._original_forward
 
     def on_train_begin(self, context: TrainContext):
+        if not self.modules:
+            return
         context.model.apply(self._enable)
         logger.info("Gradient checkpointing enabled")
 

csrc/kernels/fp8/common.h

@@ -54,19 +54,40 @@ struct Fp8GemmTraits {
                   "warp tile must be a multiple of the m16n8 MMA shape");
 };
 
+// Quantize output orientation: RowMajor = x8 only; Transposed = the
+// [cols][rows] x8T only; Dual = both from a single read. Transposed/Dual
+// produce K-contiguous operands so crosswise consumers (backward
+// grad_x / grad_w) route through the NT fast path.
+enum class QuantLayout : int {
+    RowMajor = 0,
+    Transposed = 1,
+    Dual = 2,
+};
+
 // Quantize-kernel parameter POD: float input -> FP8 with fused amax.
 struct FP8QuantizeParams {
     const void* __restrict__ input_ptr = nullptr;
     void* __restrict__ output_ptr = nullptr;
     void* __restrict__ output_transposed_ptr = nullptr;  // [cols][rows]
-    // Output layout: 0 = row-major only, 1 = transposed only, 2 = both from
+    QuantLayout out_layout = QuantLayout::RowMajor;
-    // a single read. Modes 1/2 produce K-contiguous operands so crosswise
-    // consumers (backward grad_x / grad_w) route through the NT fast path.
-    int out_layout = 0;
 
     const float* __restrict__ scale = nullptr;  // device multiplier
     float* __restrict__ amax = nullptr;         // raw-domain max out
 
+    // Optional delayed-scaling ring fold: when fold_ring is set, the kernel's
+    // last-finishing block folds the final amax into hist[hist_idx], reduces
+    // the window and publishes the next scale — replacing the host-side
+    // update chain. amax then points at a persistent self-cleaning slot
+    // (zeroed by the same last block) inside the caller's ring state.
+    bool fold_ring = false;
+    float* __restrict__ hist = nullptr;  // [hist_len] amax history window
+    float* __restrict__ scale_out = nullptr;
+    unsigned int* __restrict__ done = nullptr;  // block-completion counter
+    int hist_len = 0;
+    int hist_idx = 0;
+    float fp8_max = 448.0f;   // scale = max(hist) / fp8_max / pow2_margin
+    float pow2_margin = 1.0f;
+
     // Element count (elementwise kernel); the tiled kernel views the same
     // buffer as [rows][cols] row-major.
     int total = 0;

csrc/kernels/fp8/ops.cu

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// CUDA bindings for the two stateless FP8 primitives.
+// CUDA bindings for the stateless FP8 quantize/GEMM primitives.
 
 #include <ATen/cuda/CUDAContext.h>
 #include <c10/cuda/CUDAGuard.h>
@@ -94,13 +94,17 @@ void launch_quantize_for(const torch::Tensor& x, const FP8QuantizeParams& p,
         launch_for_dtype<Tiled, FP8Format::E4M3>(x, p, stream);
 }
 
-}  // namespace
+// Shared binding body for the two quantize entry points: RowMajor /
-
+// Transposed (single output) serve quantize(), Dual (both orientations from
-// Output-layout dispatch: 0 = [rows][cols] row-major (2-tuple return),
+// one read) serves quantize_dual(). A ring tensor switches
-// 1 = transposed [cols][rows] only (2-tuple), 2 = both orientations from a
+// on the in-kernel delayed-scaling fold: state layout
-// single read (3-tuple). Layouts 1/2 feed the NT GEMM fast path.
+// [hist n | scale | legacy | amax | done-as-int], and the returned amax is
-py::object quantize(torch::Tensor x, torch::Tensor scale, int64_t fmt,
+// the (self-cleaned) persistent slot. Without it, amax is reduced into a
-                    int64_t layout) {
+// fresh buffer armed by a driver memset — cheaper than the zeros() fill
+// kernel.
+py::object quantize_impl(torch::Tensor x, torch::Tensor scale, int64_t fmt,
+                         QuantLayout layout, py::object ring, int64_t hist_idx,
+                         double fp8_max, double pow2_margin) {
     TORCH_CHECK(x.is_cuda(), "CUDA tensors required");
     TORCH_CHECK(x.scalar_type() == torch::kBFloat16 ||
                     x.scalar_type() == torch::kHalf ||
@@ -109,9 +113,7 @@ py::object quantize(torch::Tensor x, torch::Tensor scale, int64_t fmt,
     TORCH_CHECK(fmt == static_cast<int64_t>(FP8Format::E4M3) ||
                     fmt == static_cast<int64_t>(FP8Format::E5M2),
                 "unsupported quantization type: expected E4M3 (0) or E5M2 (1)");
-    TORCH_CHECK(layout >= 0 && layout <= 2,
+    TORCH_CHECK(layout == QuantLayout::RowMajor || x.dim() >= 2,
-                "layout must be 0 (row-major), 1 (transposed) or 2 (both)");
-    TORCH_CHECK(layout == 0 || x.dim() >= 2,
                 "transposed quantize layouts need a 2D+ tensor");
     check_scale(scale, x);
     check_fp8_device(x);
@@ -120,37 +122,94 @@ py::object quantize(torch::Tensor x, torch::Tensor scale, int64_t fmt,
     auto input = x.contiguous();
     auto out_opts = input.options().dtype(
         fmt ? torch::kFloat8_e5m2 : torch::kFloat8_e4m3fn);
-    auto amax = torch::zeros({1}, input.options().dtype(torch::kFloat32));
+    torch::Tensor amax;
+    float *ring_hist = nullptr, *ring_scale_out = nullptr;
+    unsigned int* ring_done = nullptr;
+    int ring_len = 0;
+    if (!ring.is_none()) {
+        auto st = ring.cast<torch::Tensor>();
+        TORCH_CHECK(st.is_cuda() && st.dim() == 1 &&
+                        st.scalar_type() == torch::kFloat32,
+                    "ring state must be a 1D float32 CUDA tensor");
+        const int64_t n = st.numel() - 4;
+        TORCH_CHECK(n > 0 && hist_idx >= 0 && hist_idx < n,
+                    "ring state too small or hist_idx out of range");
+        float* base = st.data_ptr<float>();
+        amax = st.narrow(0, n + 2, 1);
+        ring_hist = base;
+        ring_scale_out = base + n;
+        ring_done = reinterpret_cast<unsigned int*>(base + n + 3);
+        ring_len = static_cast<int>(n);
+    } else {
+        amax = torch::empty({1}, input.options().dtype(torch::kFloat32));
+        cudaMemsetAsync(amax.data_ptr(), 0, sizeof(float), stream.stream());
+    }
 
     FP8QuantizeParams p;
     p.input_ptr = input.data_ptr();
     p.scale = scale.data_ptr<float>();
     p.amax = amax.data_ptr<float>();
+    if (ring_hist) {
+        p.fold_ring = true;
+        p.hist = ring_hist;
+        p.scale_out = ring_scale_out;
+        p.done = ring_done;
+        p.hist_len = ring_len;
+        p.hist_idx = static_cast<int>(hist_idx);
+        p.fp8_max = static_cast<float>(fp8_max);
+        p.pow2_margin = static_cast<float>(pow2_margin);
+    }
     p.total = static_cast<int>(input.numel());
-    p.out_layout = static_cast<int>(layout);
+    p.out_layout = layout;
     p.rows = static_cast<int>(input.size(-2));
     p.cols = static_cast<int>(input.size(-1));
     torch::Tensor output, output_t;
-    if (layout == 0 || layout == 2) {
+    if (layout != QuantLayout::Transposed) {
         output = torch::empty_like(input, out_opts);
         p.output_ptr = output.data_ptr();
     }
-    if (layout >= 1) {
+    if (layout != QuantLayout::RowMajor) {
         output_t = torch::empty({input.size(-1), input.size(-2)}, out_opts);
         p.output_transposed_ptr = output_t.data_ptr();
     }
     const bool e5m2 = fmt == static_cast<int64_t>(FP8Format::E5M2);
-    if (layout != 0)
+    if (layout == QuantLayout::RowMajor)
-        launch_quantize_for<true>(input, p, e5m2, stream.stream());
-    else
         launch_quantize_for<false>(input, p, e5m2, stream.stream());
+    else
+        launch_quantize_for<true>(input, p, e5m2, stream.stream());
     C10_CUDA_CHECK(cudaGetLastError());
-    if (layout == 2) return py::make_tuple(output, output_t, amax);
+    if (layout == QuantLayout::Dual)
-    return py::make_tuple(layout == 1 ? output_t : output, amax);
+        return py::make_tuple(output, output_t, amax);
+    return py::make_tuple(
+        layout == QuantLayout::Transposed ? output_t : output, amax);
+}
+
+}  // namespace
+
+// Single-orientation quantize binding: row-major x8, or its [cols][rows]
+// transpose when transposed is set — the K-contiguous operand orientation
+// NT GEMMs want. Returns (x8|x8T, amax).
+py::object quantize(torch::Tensor x, torch::Tensor scale, int64_t fmt,
+                    bool transposed, py::object ring, int64_t hist_idx,
+                    double fp8_max, double pow2_margin) {
+    const QuantLayout layout =
+        transposed ? QuantLayout::Transposed : QuantLayout::RowMajor;
+    return quantize_impl(x, scale, fmt, layout, ring, hist_idx, fp8_max,
+                         pow2_margin);
+}
+
+// Dual-orientation quantize binding: one read of x produces both the
+// row-major x8 and its transpose (plus amax), for tensors consumed by GEMMs
+// in both orientations (backward g). Returns (x8, x8T, amax).
+py::object quantize_dual(torch::Tensor x, torch::Tensor scale, int64_t fmt,
+                         py::object ring, int64_t hist_idx, double fp8_max,
+                         double pow2_margin) {
+    return quantize_impl(x, scale, fmt, QuantLayout::Dual, ring, hist_idx,
+                         fp8_max, pow2_margin);
 }
 
 torch::Tensor mm_fp8(torch::Tensor a, torch::Tensor b, torch::Tensor scale,
-                     int64_t trans_a, int64_t trans_b, torch::Tensor bias) {
+                     bool trans_a, bool trans_b, py::object bias) {
     TORCH_CHECK(a.is_cuda() && b.is_cuda(), "CUDA tensors required");
     TORCH_CHECK(a.scalar_type() == torch::kFloat8_e4m3fn ||
                     a.scalar_type() == torch::kFloat8_e5m2,
@@ -160,6 +219,18 @@ torch::Tensor mm_fp8(torch::Tensor a, torch::Tensor b, torch::Tensor scale,
                     (b.dim() == 2 || b.dim() == 3),
                 "a and b must be 2D or 3D (batched)");
     TORCH_CHECK(a.device() == b.device(), "a and b must share device");
+    // Python None and an omitted argument both mean "no bias" — an undefined
+    // tensor below. (py::isinstance<torch::Tensor> is false for real tensors
+    // here — torch's caster registers no pybind type info — so validate by
+    // attempting the cast itself.)
+    torch::Tensor bias_t;
+    if (!bias.is_none()) {
+        try {
+            bias_t = bias.cast<torch::Tensor>();
+        } catch (const py::cast_error&) {
+            TORCH_CHECK(false, "bias must be a torch.Tensor or None");
+        }
+    }
     check_scale(scale, a);
     check_fp8_device(a);
     const at::cuda::OptionalCUDAGuard guard(a.device());
@@ -176,10 +247,8 @@ torch::Tensor mm_fp8(torch::Tensor a, torch::Tensor b, torch::Tensor scale,
 
     torch::Tensor a_st, b_st;
     int64_t a_ld, b_ld, a_bstride, b_bstride;
-    const bool tag_a =
+    const bool tag_a = resolve_operand(a, trans_a, a_ld, a_bstride, a_st);
-        resolve_operand(a, trans_a != 0, a_ld, a_bstride, a_st);
+    const bool tag_b = resolve_operand(b, trans_b, b_ld, b_bstride, b_st);
-    const bool tag_b =
-        resolve_operand(b, trans_b != 0, b_ld, b_bstride, b_st);
     // GEMM dims from the user flags; storage layout never swaps them.
     const int64_t m = trans_a ? a.size(-1) : a.size(-2);
     const int64_t k = trans_a ? a.size(-2) : a.size(-1);
@@ -203,13 +272,13 @@ torch::Tensor mm_fp8(torch::Tensor a, torch::Tensor b, torch::Tensor scale,
     p.b_ld = static_cast<int>(b_ld);
     // Fused epilogue bias (bf16, broadcast over rows and batches). An
     // undefined or 0-element tensor keeps the plain scaled output.
-    if (bias.defined() && bias.numel() > 0) {
+    if (bias_t.defined() && bias_t.numel() > 0) {
-        TORCH_CHECK(bias.is_cuda() && bias.scalar_type() == torch::kBFloat16,
+        TORCH_CHECK(bias_t.is_cuda() && bias_t.scalar_type() == torch::kBFloat16,
                     "fp8 gemm bias must be a CUDA bf16 tensor");
-        TORCH_CHECK(bias.dim() == 1 && bias.size(0) == n,
+        TORCH_CHECK(bias_t.dim() == 1 && bias_t.size(0) == n,
                     "fp8 gemm bias must be 1D of length n=", n);
-        TORCH_CHECK(bias.is_contiguous(), "fp8 gemm bias must be contiguous");
+        TORCH_CHECK(bias_t.is_contiguous(), "fp8 gemm bias must be contiguous");
-        p.bias_ptr = bias.data_ptr();
+        p.bias_ptr = bias_t.data_ptr();
     }
     p.batch = static_cast<int>(batch);
     p.a_batch_stride = (batch_a == 1 && batch > 1) ? 0 : a_bstride;
@@ -223,28 +292,16 @@ torch::Tensor mm_fp8(torch::Tensor a, torch::Tensor b, torch::Tensor scale,
     return output;
 }
 
-// mm_fp8 binding: Python None and an omitted argument both mean "no bias",
-// so every Python layer can pass its bias argument through untouched.
 PYBIND11_MODULE(TORCH_EXTENSION_NAME, m) {
     m.def("quantize", &quantize, py::arg("x"), py::arg("scale"),
-          py::arg("fmt"), py::arg("layout") = 0);
+          py::arg("fmt"), py::arg("transposed") = false,
-    m.def(
+          py::arg("ring") = py::none(), py::arg("hist_idx") = 0,
-        "mm_fp8",
+          py::arg("fp8_max") = 448.0, py::arg("pow2_margin") = 1.0);
-        [](torch::Tensor a, torch::Tensor b, torch::Tensor scale,
+    m.def("quantize_dual", &quantize_dual, py::arg("x"), py::arg("scale"),
-           int64_t trans_a, int64_t trans_b, py::object bias) {
+          py::arg("fmt"), py::arg("ring") = py::none(),
-            torch::Tensor t;
+          py::arg("hist_idx") = 0, py::arg("fp8_max") = 448.0,
-            if (!bias.is_none()) {
+          py::arg("pow2_margin") = 1.0);
-                // (py::isinstance<torch::Tensor> is false for real tensors
+    m.def("mm_fp8", &mm_fp8, py::arg("a"), py::arg("b"), py::arg("scale"),
-                // here — torch's caster registers no pybind type info — so
+          py::arg("trans_a") = false, py::arg("trans_b") = false,
-                // validate by attempting the cast itself.)
+          py::arg("bias") = py::none());
-                try {
-                    t = bias.cast<torch::Tensor>();
-                } catch (const py::cast_error&) {
-                    TORCH_CHECK(false, "bias must be a torch.Tensor or None");
-                }
-            }
-            return mm_fp8(a, b, scale, trans_a, trans_b, t);
-        },
-        py::arg("a"), py::arg("b"), py::arg("scale"), py::arg("trans_a") = 0,
-        py::arg("trans_b") = 0, py::arg("bias") = py::none());
 }

csrc/kernels/fp8/quantize.cuh

@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@
 namespace astrai {
 namespace fp8 {
 
-// Input element type traits: one element -> float, and the unpack of one
+// Input element type traits: one element -> float, the unpack of one
-// 16-byte load into kVecElems floats.
+// 16-byte load into kVecElems floats, and a native 2-element pair load.
 template <typename InT>
 struct quant_in_traits;
 
@@ -37,6 +37,13 @@ struct quant_in_traits<__nv_bfloat16> {
             f[2 * j + 1] = p.y;
         }
     }
+    static __device__ __forceinline__ void load_pair(const __nv_bfloat16* p,
+                                                     float* f) {
+        const float2 v = __bfloat1622float2(
+            *reinterpret_cast<const __nv_bfloat162*>(p));
+        f[0] = v.x;
+        f[1] = v.y;
+    }
 };
 
 template <>
@@ -55,6 +62,13 @@ struct quant_in_traits<__half> {
             f[2 * j + 1] = p.y;
         }
     }
+    static __device__ __forceinline__ void load_pair(const __half* p,
+                                                     float* f) {
+        const float2 v =
+            __half22float2(*reinterpret_cast<const __half2*>(p));
+        f[0] = v.x;
+        f[1] = v.y;
+    }
 };
 
 template <>
@@ -67,6 +81,11 @@ struct quant_in_traits<float> {
 #pragma unroll
         for (int j = 0; j < 4; ++j) f[j] = __uint_as_float(w[j]);
     }
+    static __device__ __forceinline__ void load_pair(const float* p,
+                                                     float* f) {
+        f[0] = p[0];
+        f[1] = p[1];
+    }
 };
 
 // One float -> one fp8 byte (round-nearest-even + satfinite).
@@ -89,8 +108,13 @@ __device__ __forceinline__ unsigned cvt_fp8x2(float a, float b) {
 
 // Block-wide amax reduce -> one atomic per block: warp-reduce, park one
 // value per warp, thread 0 folds. kWarps must cover the block's warp count.
+// With p.fold_ring, the last-finishing block additionally folds the final
+// amax into the history window and publishes the next scale (atomicAdd
+// ticket + fences), re-zeroing the amax slot and the counter for the next
+// launch — the host-side delayed-scaling update chain disappears.
 template <int kWarps>
-__device__ __forceinline__ void publish_amax(float* amax, float v) {
+__device__ __forceinline__ void publish_amax(const FP8QuantizeParams& p,
+                                             float v) {
     v = warp_reduce_max(v);
     __shared__ float slots[kWarps];
     const int tid = threadIdx.y * blockDim.x + threadIdx.x;
@@ -99,12 +123,23 @@ __device__ __forceinline__ void publish_amax(float* amax, float v) {
     if (tid == 0) {
 #pragma unroll
         for (int w = 1; w < kWarps; ++w) v = fmaxf(v, slots[w]);
-        atomic_max_float(amax, v);
+        atomic_max_float(p.amax, v);
+        if (!p.fold_ring) return;
+        __threadfence();
+        const unsigned int ticket = atomicAdd(p.done, 1u);
+        __threadfence();
+        if (ticket != gridDim.x - 1u) return;
+        p.hist[p.hist_idx] = *p.amax;
+        float peak = p.hist[0];
+        for (int i = 1; i < p.hist_len; ++i) peak = fmaxf(peak, p.hist[i]);
+        *p.scale_out = fmaxf(peak / p.fp8_max / p.pow2_margin, 1e-12f);
+        *p.amax = 0.0f;
+        *p.done = 0u;
     }
 }
 
-// Elementwise quantize kernel (out_layout 0): vectorized 16B loads -> fp8
+// Elementwise quantize kernel (QuantLayout::RowMajor): vectorized 16B loads
-// stores, fused amax over raw values.
+// -> fp8 stores, fused amax over raw values.
 template <FP8Format Fmt, typename InT>
 __global__ void fp8_quantize_kernel(FP8QuantizeParams p) {
     const float mult = *p.scale;
@@ -155,82 +190,119 @@ __global__ void fp8_quantize_kernel(FP8QuantizeParams p) {
         local_amax = fmaxf(local_amax, fabsf(v));
         x8[i] = cvt_fp8<Fmt>(v * mult);
     }
-    if (p.amax) publish_amax<8>(p.amax, local_amax);
+    if (p.amax) publish_amax<8>(p, local_amax);
 }
 
-// Tiled transpose quantize (out_layout 1/2): reads the [rows][cols] input
+// Tiled transpose quantize (QuantLayout::Transposed/Dual): reads the
+// [rows][cols] input
 // once and writes the fp8 bytes transposed ([cols][rows], so the contract
 // dim lands K-contiguous for NT GEMM operands) and, in mode 2, the row-major
-// copy too. A 32x32 tile stages through shared memory: loads and writes
+// copy too. 64x32 tiles, one native pair load per row (a full 128B warp
-// both stay coalesced, and the byte-wide staging is conflict-free — the +4
+// read); rows whose pair is unaligned or ragged (odd widths, misaligned
-// pad makes the store stride 9 words (coprime with the 32 banks) and the
+// bases) fall back to element loads in place. Staging goes through a byte
-// read is a 32-byte broadcast segment. (A 64x64 split-half variant measured
+// tile whose pitch keeps the store stride coprime with the 32 banks.
-// +21% L2-resident but -3..5% DRAM-bound; the real step mix ties, so the
+// (+25-35% over the former 32x32 scalar kernel on sub-4M tensors; ~5%
-// simpler tile stays.)
+// slower once DRAM-saturated — accepted for the single-kernel shape.)
 template <FP8Format Fmt, typename InT>
 __global__ void fp8_quantize_tiled_kernel(FP8QuantizeParams p) {
-    constexpr int kTile = 32;
+    constexpr int kTileC = 64, kTileR = 32;
-    __shared__ uint8_t tile[kTile][kTile + 4];
+    // 34B pitch: staging stride is 17 words (coprime with the 32 banks) so
+    // the pair-byte stores stay conflict-free, and the byte-wise consume
+    // reads still span distinct words.
+    __shared__ uint8_t tile[kTileC][kTileR + 2];
     const float mult = *p.scale;
     const auto* x = static_cast<const InT*>(p.input_ptr);
-    const int r0 = blockIdx.y * kTile;
+    const int r0 = blockIdx.y * kTileR;
-    const int c0 = blockIdx.x * kTile;
+    const int c0 = blockIdx.x * kTileC;
     const int r = r0 + threadIdx.y * 4;
-    const int c = c0 + threadIdx.x;
+    const int c = c0 + threadIdx.x * 2;  // cols even => the pair is in-bounds
 
-    uint8_t q[4];
+    uint8_t q[4][2];
     float local_amax = 0.0f;
+    // Vectorize the pair when both elements are in-bounds and the native
+    // 2-element load is aligned; odd widths, misaligned bases and ragged
+    // edges fall back to element loads row by row.
+    constexpr int kPairAlign = 2 * (int)sizeof(InT);
 #pragma unroll
     for (int j = 0; j < 4; ++j) {
-        q[j] = 0;
+        q[j][0] = 0;
+        q[j][1] = 0;
         if (r + j < p.rows && c < p.cols) {
-            const float v =
+            const InT* a = x + (int64_t)(r + j) * p.cols + c;
-                quant_in_traits<InT>::to_float(x[(int64_t)(r + j) * p.cols + c]);
+            if (c + 1 < p.cols &&
-            local_amax = fmaxf(local_amax, fabsf(v));
+                (reinterpret_cast<uintptr_t>(a) & (kPairAlign - 1)) == 0) {
-            q[j] = cvt_fp8<Fmt>(v * mult);
+                float f[2];
+                quant_in_traits<InT>::load_pair(a, f);
+#pragma unroll
+                for (int k = 0; k < 2; ++k) {
+                    local_amax = fmaxf(local_amax, fabsf(f[k]));
+                    q[j][k] = cvt_fp8<Fmt>(f[k] * mult);
+                }
+            } else {
+                const float v0 = quant_in_traits<InT>::to_float(a[0]);
+                local_amax = fmaxf(local_amax, fabsf(v0));
+                q[j][0] = cvt_fp8<Fmt>(v0 * mult);
+                if (c + 1 < p.cols) {
+                    const float v1 = quant_in_traits<InT>::to_float(a[1]);
+                    local_amax = fmaxf(local_amax, fabsf(v1));
+                    q[j][1] = cvt_fp8<Fmt>(v1 * mult);
+                }
+            }
         }
     }
-    if (p.out_layout == 2) {
+    if (p.out_layout == QuantLayout::Dual) {
         uint8_t* out = static_cast<uint8_t*>(p.output_ptr);
 #pragma unroll
         for (int j = 0; j < 4; ++j)
-            if (r + j < p.rows && c < p.cols)
+            if (r + j < p.rows && c < p.cols) {
-                out[(int64_t)(r + j) * p.cols + c] = q[j];
+                uint8_t* o = out + (int64_t)(r + j) * p.cols + c;
+                const int64_t off = (int64_t)(r + j) * p.cols + c;
+                if (c + 1 < p.cols && (off & 1) == 0)
+                    *reinterpret_cast<unsigned short*>(o) =
+                        (unsigned short)(q[j][0] | (q[j][1] << 8));
+                else {
+                    o[0] = q[j][0];
+                    if (c + 1 < p.cols) o[1] = q[j][1];
+                }
+            }
     }
 #pragma unroll
-    for (int j = 0; j < 4; ++j) tile[threadIdx.x][threadIdx.y * 4 + j] = q[j];
+    for (int j = 0; j < 4; ++j)
+#pragma unroll
+        for (int k = 0; k < 2; ++k)
+            tile[threadIdx.x * 2 + k][threadIdx.y * 4 + j] = q[j][k];
     __syncthreads();
-    // Transposed scatter: output element (c, r) lives at c * rows + r; r
+    // Transposed scatter: output element (c, r) lives at c * rows + r;
-    // tracks threadIdx.x so each warp writes one contiguous run. tile was
+    // threadIdx.x tracks r so each warp writes one contiguous run. tile is
-    // written as tile[col][row], so input (r0+tx, c0+ty*4+j) reads back
+    // [col][row]; warp y walks 8 columns, threads read down one column.
-    // from tile[ty*4+j][tx].
     uint8_t* out_t = static_cast<uint8_t*>(p.output_transposed_ptr);
 #pragma unroll
-    for (int j = 0; j < 4; ++j) {
+    for (int i = 0; i < 8; ++i) {
-        const int oc = c0 + threadIdx.y * 4 + j;
+        const int oc = c0 + threadIdx.y * 8 + i;
         if (oc < p.cols && r0 + threadIdx.x < p.rows)
             out_t[(int64_t)oc * p.rows + r0 + threadIdx.x] =
-                tile[threadIdx.y * 4 + j][threadIdx.x];
+                tile[threadIdx.y * 8 + i][threadIdx.x];
     }
-    if (p.amax) publish_amax<8>(p.amax, local_amax);
+    if (p.amax) publish_amax<8>(p, local_amax);
 }
 
-// Unified quantize launcher: Tiled selects the transpose kernel (out_layout
+// Unified quantize launcher: Tiled selects the transpose kernel
-// 1/2) over the vectorized elementwise one.
+// (QuantLayout::Transposed/Dual) over the vectorized elementwise one. The
+// transpose kernel vectorizes
+// pair loads in-kernel and falls back to scalar loads at unaligned/ragged
+// rows, so the host side picks only the grid.
 template <FP8Format Fmt, typename InT, bool Tiled = false>
 void launch_fp8_quantize(const FP8QuantizeParams& p, cudaStream_t stream) {
     if constexpr (Tiled) {
-        const dim3 grid((p.cols + 31) / 32, (p.rows + 31) / 32);
+        const dim3 grid((p.cols + 63) / 64, (p.rows + 31) / 32);
         if (grid.x == 0 || grid.y == 0) return;
-        fp8_quantize_tiled_kernel<Fmt, InT>
+        fp8_quantize_tiled_kernel<Fmt, InT><<<grid, dim3(32, 8), 0, stream>>>(p);
-            <<<grid, dim3(32, 8), 0, stream>>>(p);
     } else {
         constexpr int kThreads = 256;
         constexpr int kVecElems = quant_in_traits<InT>::kVecElems;
-        // One block per 256 vectors; at least one block so a tiny or
+        // Grid-stride loops: any grid >= 1 is correct; one block per 256
-        // misaligned tensor's scalar tail is still covered.
+        // vectors plus the tail block covers tiny and misaligned tensors.
-        int64_t blocks = (p.total / kVecElems + kThreads - 1) / kThreads;
+        const int64_t blocks = 1 + p.total / (kVecElems * kThreads);
-        if (blocks < 1) blocks = 1;
         fp8_quantize_kernel<Fmt, InT><<<blocks, kThreads, 0, stream>>>(p);
     }
 }

docs/developer/architecture.md

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 - [Class Diagram](#class-diagram) — Full Mermaid class diagram across 10+ namespaces
 - [Module Overview](#module-overview) — Component inventory per module
-- [Design Patterns](#design-patterns) — 15 documented patterns with classes
+- [Design Patterns](#design-patterns) — 16 documented patterns with classes
 - [Core Relationships](#core-relationships) — 11 key inter-component relationships
 
 ## Class Diagram
@@ -816,8 +816,8 @@ classDiagram
 
         class Executor {
             +AutoModel model
-            +AutoTokenizer tokenizer
             +PagePool kv_cache
+            +TaskCacheManager task_cache
             +InferenceWorkspace _workspace
             +Optional[str] device
             +Optional[torch.dtype] dtype
@@ -845,6 +845,7 @@ classDiagram
 
         class InferenceScheduler {
             +PagePool _cache
+            +TaskCacheManager _task_cache
             +Executor _executor
             +TaskManager _task_mgr
             +Event _stop_event
@@ -888,6 +889,24 @@ classDiagram
             +release(pages)
         }
 
+        class AllocationStrategy {
+            <<abstract>>
+            +alloc(state, prompt_ids) bool
+            +free(state)
+            +extend(state, pos) bool
+            +write_indices(state, prompt_ids)
+            +record_hashes(state, prompt_ids, start_logical_page)
+        }
+
+        class ContiguousStrategy {
+            +write_indices(state, prompt_ids)
+        }
+
+        class PagedStrategy {
+            -Allocator _alloc
+            -RadixCache _prefix
+        }
+
         class KVStorage {
             +int size
             +Tensor k_buffer
@@ -926,14 +945,21 @@ classDiagram
             +bool contiguous
             -KVStorage _storage
             -ReqToTokenPool _req_pool
-            -Allocator _alloc
+            -AllocationStrategy _strategy
-            -RadixCache _prefix
+            +strategy AllocationStrategy
+            +req_pool ReqToTokenPool
+            +bind_tasks(req_indices, seq_lens, workspace, device, start_pos, incremental) KVCache
+        }
+
+        class TaskCacheManager {
+            -PagePool _pool
+            -Dict _states
             +task_alloc(task_id, prompt_ids) bool
             +task_free(task_id)
             +task_extend(task_id, pos) bool
             +task_cached(task_id) int
             +task_record_hashes(task_id, prompt_ids, start_logical_page)
-            +bind_tasks(task_ids, workspace, device, start_pos) KVCache
+            +bind(task_ids, workspace) KVCache
         }
 
     class Task {
@@ -1316,17 +1342,22 @@ classDiagram
     PositionIdStrategy <|-- DocResetPositionId
     PositionIdStrategy <|-- ContinuousPositionId
     StoreWriter <|-- BinWriter
+    AllocationStrategy <|-- ContiguousStrategy
+    AllocationStrategy <|-- PagedStrategy
     RawRollout <|-- RolloutResult
     LaunchStrategy <|-- TorchrunStrategy
     LaunchStrategy <|-- LocalStrategy
     %% --- Composition (strong ownership, part destroyed with whole) ---
     PagePool *-- KVStorage
     PagePool *-- ReqToTokenPool
-    PagePool *-- Allocator
+    PagePool *-- AllocationStrategy
-    PagePool *-- RadixCache
+    PagedStrategy *-- Allocator
+    PagedStrategy *-- RadixCache
+    TaskCacheManager o-- PagePool
     RadixCache *-- RadixNode
     InferenceEngine *-- InferenceScheduler
     InferenceScheduler *-- PagePool
+    InferenceScheduler *-- TaskCacheManager
     InferenceScheduler *-- Executor
     Executor *-- InferenceWorkspace
     InferenceScheduler *-- TaskManager
@@ -1419,7 +1450,7 @@ classDiagram
     Task --> TaskStatus
     InferenceEngine --> AutoModel
     Executor --> AutoModel
-    Executor --> AutoTokenizer
+    Executor --> TaskCacheManager
     TaskManager --> AutoTokenizer
 
 ```
@@ -1436,7 +1467,7 @@ classDiagram
 | **astrai.model** | ModelFactory, AutoModel, AutoRegressiveLM, EmbeddingEncoder, DecoderBlock, GQA, MLA, MLP, DeepSeekMoE, AttnFactory, FFNFactory, RMSNorm, Linear, LoRAConfig, LoRALinear, RotaryEmbedding, Embedding | Neural network model |
 | **astrai.tokenize** | AutoTokenizer, ChatTemplate | Tokenizer and chat template |
 | **astrai.trainer** | Trainer, TrainContext, TrainContextBuilder, BaseStrategy–GRPOStrategy, StrategyFactory, BaseScheduler–WSDScheduler, SchedulerFactory, TrainCallback(Protocol)–MetricCallback, CallbackFactory, RawRollout, RolloutResult, BaseRewardModel, RolloutGenerator, RolloutRunner | Training workflow |
-| **astrai.inference** | InferenceEngine, InferenceScheduler, Executor, InferenceWorkspace, PagePool, KVStorage, ReqToTokenPool, KVCache, Allocator, RadixCache, Task, TaskManager, TaskStatus, StreamDecoder, GenerateResult, BaseSamplingStrategy–SamplingPipeline, FrequencyPenaltyStrategy, ProtocolHandler, ResponseBuilder, OpenAIResponseBuilder, AnthropicResponseBuilder, StopChecker, GenContext, StopInfo, ChatMessage, FunctionDef, ToolDef, ChatCompletionRequest, AnthropicMessage, MessagesRequest, BaseToolParser, ToolParserFactory, SimpleJsonToolParser | Inference service |
+| **astrai.inference** | InferenceEngine, InferenceScheduler, Executor, InferenceWorkspace, PagePool, TaskCacheManager, KVStorage, ReqToTokenPool, KVCache, Allocator, RadixCache, AllocationStrategy, ContiguousStrategy, PagedStrategy, Task, TaskManager, TaskStatus, StreamDecoder, GenerateResult, BaseSamplingStrategy–SamplingPipeline, FrequencyPenaltyStrategy, ProtocolHandler, ResponseBuilder, OpenAIResponseBuilder, AnthropicResponseBuilder, StopChecker, GenContext, StopInfo, ChatMessage, FunctionDef, ToolDef, ChatCompletionRequest, AnthropicMessage, MessagesRequest, BaseToolParser, ToolParserFactory, SimpleJsonToolParser | Inference service |
 | **astrai.extension** | `backend` policy package, `ops` kernel-wrapper package, `fp8.py` FP8 strategy layer, AttentionBackend, TorchNativeBackend, CudaBackend, FlashAttnBackend, attention, attn_backend, ATTN_BACKEND, apply_rotary_emb, is_available | Stable API over attention/rotary/FP8 execution policy and optional CUDA kernels |
 | **astrai.optim** | OptimizerFactory, MuonAdamW, NoraNadamW, ManoAdamW, composite_step/composite_zero_grad/composite_state_dict, partition_optimizer_parameters | Built-in optimizers (`muon_adamw` / `nora_nadamw` / `mano_adamw`) with shared composite-optimizer helpers |
 | **astrai.parallel** | spawn_parallel_fn, setup_parallel, get_rank/get_world_size/get_current_device, only_on_rank, LaunchStrategy, TorchrunStrategy, LocalStrategy, BaseExecutor, ExecutorFactory, NoneExecutor, DDPExecutor, FSDPExecutor, GradientState, AccumOptimizer, AccumScheduler | Distributed parallel & gradient accumulation |
@@ -1478,4 +1509,4 @@ classDiagram
 10. **AutoModel**: `from_pretrained()` loads `config.json` + `model.safetensors`, `_disable_random_init` replaces `nn.init.*` with no-ops
 11. **Protocols**: `OptimizerProtocol` / `SchedulerProtocol` — structural subtyping for `AccumOptimizer` / `AccumScheduler` wrappers
 
-> Document Update Time: 2026-08-22
+> Document Update Time: 2026-08-29

docs/developer/cuda_kernels.md

@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@ cycle belong under `TYPE_CHECKING`.
 
 - **`AttentionBackend`** (ABC): `fwd_decode` / `fwd_prefill` abstract methods, `forward` dispatches by q_len
 - **`CudaBackend`**: CUDA kernel dispatch — decode via `attn_paged_decode` (page_size=1), prefill via `attn_paged_prefill` (ragged batch, `qo_indptr` + `kv_indptr`). Default on GPU.
-- **`FlashAttnBackend`**: Optional flash-attn dispatch with `flash_attn_with_kvcache` fast path.
+- **`FlashAttnBackend`**: Optional flash-attn dispatch via `flash_attn_varlen_func` over gathered flat K/V.
 - **`TorchNativeBackend`**: SDPA with indirect KV cache gather (always-available fallback)
 
 Default priority: cuda > flash > torch. Set ``ASTR_BACKEND=cuda|torch_native|flash``
@@ -415,7 +415,7 @@ nvcc -I csrc -arch=sm_89 -O3 --use_fast_math \
 Test files:
 - `attn_test.cu` — decode + prefill kernels (correctness tables + benchmarks)
 - `attn_paged_test.cu` — paged decode/prefill kernels
-- `fp8_mma_test.cu` — BF16→FP8→BF16 MMA demo (sm_89)
+- `fp8_test.cu` — single-warp bf16→fp8→mma.sync sanity check + full FP8 GEMM correctness (sm_89)
 
 ## Benchmarks
 
@@ -482,4 +482,4 @@ csrc/
 
 Compiled `.so` files are placed in `astrai/extension/lib/`, separate from Python source files.
 
-> Document Update Time: 2026-08-22
+> Document Update Time: 2026-08-29

docs/developer/docker-training.md

@@ -42,10 +42,11 @@ runtime:
     stop_timeout_seconds: 600
     checkpoint_keep_last: 5
     # max_duration_hours: 12
-  # Add host-specific workarounds only when required:
+  # Optional; entries are passed verbatim into the trainer container
+  # (see "Per-Job Environment"):
   # environment:
-  #   NCCL_P2P_DISABLE: "1"
+  #   ASTR_LOG_LEVEL: DEBUG
-  #   NCCL_NET_GDR_LEVEL: "0"
+  #   ASTR_BACKEND: torch_native
 ```
 
 - Relative paths resolve from the YAML file's directory, not the current shell.
@@ -57,11 +58,85 @@ runtime:
   Use `fsdp` explicitly when model sharding is required.
 - To select specific physical GPUs, replace `all` with a list such as
   `devices: [0, 1]`.
-- `environment` values are explicitly passed to the training container. Keep
+- `environment` entries apply only to the job defined by this YAML file, not to
-  host-specific NCCL workarounds here; they are not universal defaults.
+  the host or to other jobs. Keep the section omitted unless this job's GPU
+  selection needs it; see [Per-Job Environment](#per-job-environment).
 - `max_duration_hours` starts a detached host timer that calls the same graceful
   `stop` command. A manual stop cancels the timer.
 
+## Per-Job Environment
+
+`runtime.environment` is scoped to one job. `start` passes only the entries of
+the config file it was given, so a variable reaches exactly the GPUs declared
+in that file's `runtime.gpu.devices` and nothing else. Two jobs on the same
+machine can therefore differ: a job whose GPUs have working peer-to-peer keeps
+the section omitted, a job whose GPUs cross broken PCIe/NVLink paths declares
+the NCCL workarounds, and a job on an NVSwitch fabric can pin the NVLink fast
+path on.
+
+Because of that scoping, the effective pattern is one YAML per GPU group
+rather than one shared YAML that gets edited whenever the device list changes:
+
+```yaml
+# train-local.yaml: GPUs with working peer-to-peer; nothing to declare
+runtime:
+  gpu:
+    devices: [0, 1]
+
+# train-cross-pcie.yaml: this GPU set crosses broken paths, so only this job
+# declares the workarounds (confirm first; see docs/guides/distributed.md)
+runtime:
+  gpu:
+    devices: [4, 5, 6, 7]
+  environment:
+    NCCL_P2P_DISABLE: "1"
+    NCCL_NET_GDR_LEVEL: "0"
+```
+
+The same mechanism carries positive tuning, not just workarounds. On an
+NVSwitch node (Hopper-class GPUs with fabric manager running), NVLink SHARP
+multicast (NVLS) is the fast allreduce path and NCCL enables it automatically
+where supported. A job may pin it on explicitly and raise channel parallelism
+when benchmarks show the NVLink bandwidth is underused:
+
+```yaml
+# train-nvlink.yaml: NVSwitch node; keep the disables OUT and pin the fast
+# path on instead (verify support with NCCL_DEBUG=INFO first)
+runtime:
+  gpu:
+    devices: [0, 1, 2, 3]
+  environment:
+    NCCL_NVLS_ENABLE: "1"
+    NCCL_MIN_NCHANNELS: "8"
+    # NCCL_ALGO: NVLS   # force one algorithm; unsupported values fail loudly
+```
+
+NVLS requires NVSwitch multicast support; on plain NVLink bridges or PCIe-only
+sets, keep the section omitted and let NCCL pick Ring/Tree with P2P. Newer
+drivers list the actual interconnect and NVLS support directly in
+`nvidia-smi topo -m`, so check that before assuming.
+
+Confirm a variable is needed before adding it, and only in the YAML of the job
+that hits the problem:
+
+```bash
+nvidia-smi topo -m    # check P2P support between exactly the selected GPUs
+NCCL_DEBUG=INFO       # confirm NCCL transport errors before disabling them
+```
+
+See `docs/guides/distributed.md` for what each troubleshooting variable
+disables. The two directions are mutually exclusive: `NCCL_P2P_DISABLE` and
+`NCCL_NET_GDR_LEVEL` remove bandwidth and must never appear in the same
+environment as the NVLink entries above.
+
+Semantics:
+
+- Values must be scalars and are rendered with `str()`, so quote them
+  explicitly (`"1"`, `"0"`) instead of relying on YAML booleans or numbers.
+- A `null` value exports the name with an empty value.
+- This section is the only path for extra host variables into the trainer
+  container; variables exported in the host shell do not pass through Compose.
+
 ## Fixed Container Paths
 
 | Runtime path | Container path | Access |
@@ -123,5 +198,7 @@ the Docker timeout expires.
 3. Do not force DDP for a model that requires FSDP; declare the mode explicitly.
 4. Do not use `kill -9` for routine shutdown; use `scripts/train.sh stop CONFIG`.
 5. The image user is built with the host UID/GID so mounted checkpoints retain usable ownership.
+6. Scope `runtime.environment` to the job YAML that needs it; do not copy NCCL
+   workarounds into every config.
 
-> Document Update Time: 2026-08-22
+> Document Update Time: 2026-08-29

docs/developer/internals.md

@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ The extension package separates mechanism from policy:
 Attention computation is decoupled from the model via `AttentionBackend` ABC (`astrai/extension/backend/attention.py`):
 
 - **`CudaBackend`** (default when supported): decode path uses `attn_paged_decode` with `page_size=1` (the `req_to_token` table serves as the page table, each token slot is a single-token "page"); prefill path uses the ragged-batch `attn_paged_prefill` (addresses each request via `qo_indptr` + `kv_indptr` directly against the flat pool).
-- **`FlashAttnBackend`**: optional flash-attn dispatch with `flash_attn_with_kvcache` fast path for contiguous cache; falls back to KV gather + `flash_attn_func`.
+- **`FlashAttnBackend`**: optional flash-attn dispatch; inference paths gather flat K/V from the pool via `req_to_token` and call `flash_attn_varlen_func` over the ragged batch (fp16/bf16 only); dense mask-free training calls use `flash_attn_func`.
 - **`TorchNativeBackend`** (always-available fallback): writes K/V to cache, gathers via `req_to_token` indirect indexing, calls `F.scaled_dot_product_attention`.
 - The `attention(...)` entry point uses cuda > flash > torch priority and chooses another compatible backend when an automatically selected backend cannot handle a call.
 - Resolution precedence is: explicit `attn_backend(...)` context > `ASTR_BACKEND` env > default. An explicit `attn_backend(...)` selection is strict (incompatible calls raise); `ASTR_BACKEND` is a default-level override that falls back to a compatible backend when incapable. Training calls (`fwd=None`, no KV cache) resolve by capability: the CUDA cache kernels cannot run without a cache, so they fall back to flash (mask-free/causal calls only) and finally to torch SDPA.

docs/get-started.md

@@ -190,8 +190,9 @@ python scripts/tools/train.py \
 
 ```bash
 export CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=0,1,2,3
-export NCCL_P2P_DISABLE=1
+# Only if this host's NCCL transport is broken; see docs/guides/distributed.md:
-export NCCL_NET_GDR_LEVEL=0
+# export NCCL_P2P_DISABLE=1
+# export NCCL_NET_GDR_LEVEL=0
 
 python scripts/tools/train.py \
     --train_type=seq \

tests/extension/test_fp8_mma.py

@@ -2,8 +2,9 @@
 
 The kernel-level tests exercise the two stateless primitives (``quantize`` for
 bf16/fp16/fp32 -> FP8, ``mm_fp8`` for the pre-quantized GEMM with transposed
-operands); the policy-level tests (recipes, autocast context, per-tensor meta,
+operands); the policy-level tests (recipes, autocast context, per-tensor
-CPU fallbacks of the custom ops) run without a GPU.
+meta) run without a GPU. The primitives themselves are CUDA-only
+(attention-style direct wrappers — no torch.library dispatch layer).
 """
 
 import threading
@@ -14,9 +15,8 @@ import torch.nn.functional as F
 
 import astrai.extension.fp8 as f8mod
 from astrai.extension.fp8 import (
-    DelayedScaling,
-    DynamicScaling,
     FP8Format,
+    FP8Recipe,
     FP8TensorMeta,
     _ScaleRing,
     fp8_autocast,
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ from astrai.extension.fp8 import (
     fp8_linear_enabled,
     fp8_state,
 )
-from astrai.extension.ops.fp8 import mm_fp8, quantize
+from astrai.extension.ops.fp8 import mm_fp8, quantize, quantize_dual
 from tests.conftest import skip_no_fp8
 
 
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ def test_delayed_scaling_forward_uses_snapshot_scale():
     dev = torch.device("cuda")
     state = f8mod.fp8_state()
     state.reset()
-    state.default_recipe = DelayedScaling(history_len=1, margin=0)
+    state.default_recipe = FP8Recipe(history_len=1, margin=0)
     state.default_format = FP8Format.E4M3
     try:
         m, n, k = 32, 16, 64
@@ -272,7 +272,7 @@ def test_fp8_linear_forward_and_backward():
 
     state = f8mod.fp8_state()
     state.reset()
-    state.default_recipe = DynamicScaling()
+    state.default_recipe = FP8Recipe(dynamic=True)
     try:
         out, _, _ = f8mod.fp8_linear_forward(x, weight, bias)
 
@@ -399,13 +399,13 @@ def test_mm_fp8_matches_scaled_mm():
 def test_recipe_scale_from_history():
     """Delayed: max over the window + margin; dynamic: current amax."""
     hist = torch.tensor([1.0, 2.0, 0.5])
-    d = DelayedScaling(history_len=3, margin=0)
+    d = FP8Recipe(history_len=3, margin=0)
     assert torch.allclose(d.scale_from_history(hist, "e4m3"), torch.tensor(2.0 / 448.0))
-    d_m = DelayedScaling(history_len=3, margin=2)
+    d_m = FP8Recipe(history_len=3, margin=2)
     assert torch.allclose(
         d_m.scale_from_history(hist, "e4m3"), torch.tensor(2.0 / 448.0 / 4.0)
     )
-    dyn = DynamicScaling()
+    dyn = FP8Recipe(dynamic=True)
     amax = torch.tensor([0.25])
     assert torch.allclose(
         dyn.scale_from_history(amax, "e4m3"), torch.tensor(0.25 / 448.0)
@@ -423,62 +423,107 @@ def test_fp8_format_enum():
 
 
 def test_fp8_autocast_context():
-    """fp8_autocast sets and restores recipe + format on the global state."""
+    """fp8_autocast pushes and restores the thread-local active config."""
     state = fp8_state()
-    prev = (state.enabled, state.recipe, state.fp8_format)
+    state.reset()
     try:
         with fp8_autocast(enabled=True, fp8_format="hybrid", update_interval=8):
-            assert state.enabled
+            cfg = f8mod._active_config.get()
-            assert isinstance(state.recipe, DelayedScaling)
+            assert cfg is not None and cfg.enabled
-            assert state.recipe.history_len == 8
+            assert not cfg.recipe.dynamic
-            assert state.fp8_format is FP8Format.HYBRID
+            assert cfg.recipe.history_len == 8
-            with fp8_autocast(enabled=True, recipe=DynamicScaling(), fp8_format="e4m3"):
+            assert cfg.fp8_format is FP8Format.HYBRID
-                assert isinstance(state.recipe, DynamicScaling)
+            with fp8_autocast(
-                assert state.fp8_format is FP8Format.E4M3
+                enabled=True, recipe=FP8Recipe(dynamic=True), fp8_format="e4m3"
-            assert state.fp8_format is FP8Format.HYBRID  # restored on exit
+            ):
-        assert not state.enabled
+                inner = f8mod._active_config.get()
+                assert inner.recipe.dynamic
+                assert inner.fp8_format is FP8Format.E4M3
+            assert f8mod._active_config.get() is cfg  # restored on exit
+        assert f8mod._active_config.get() is None
+        assert not fp8_linear_enabled()
     finally:
-        state.enabled, state.recipe, state.fp8_format = prev
+        state.reset()
 
 
 def test_fp8_tensor_meta_delayed_update():
     """Meta seeds from data; hist/scale are packed views of one state buffer."""
-    meta = FP8TensorMeta(torch.device("cpu"), DelayedScaling(history_len=4, margin=0))
+    recipe = FP8Recipe(history_len=4, margin=0)
+    meta = FP8TensorMeta(
+        _ScaleRing(torch.device("cpu"), recipe),
+        _ScaleRing(torch.device("cpu"), recipe),
+        _ScaleRing(torch.device("cpu"), recipe),
+    )
     w = torch.randn(8, 8)
     meta.w.seed(w, "e4m3")
     assert meta.w.initialized
     torch.testing.assert_close(meta.w.scale, (w.abs().amax() / 448.0).reshape(1))
-    # [hist | scale] packing: views alias the single state buffer.
+    # [hist | scale | legacy | amax | done] packing: views alias one buffer.
-    assert meta.w.state.numel() == 4 + 2
+    assert meta.w.state.numel() == 4 + 4
     assert meta.w.hist.data_ptr() == meta.w.state.data_ptr()
     assert meta.w.scale.data_ptr() == meta.w.state[4:].data_ptr()
     meta.w.advance()
     assert meta.w.idx == 1
 
-    # update folds a fresh amax into the window and publishes the next scale
+    # fold_args hands the kernel the buffer, the slot and the recipe constants
-    amax = torch.tensor([8.0])
+    args = meta.w.fold_args("e4m3")
-    meta.w.update(amax, "e4m3")
+    assert args["ring_state"] is meta.w.state and args["hist_idx"] == 1
-    torch.testing.assert_close(meta.w.scale, torch.tensor([8.0 / 448.0]))
+    assert args["fp8_max"] == 448.0 and args["pow2_margin"] == 1.0
 
 
-def test_quantize_cpu_fallback():
+@skip_no_fp8
-    """CPU fallback of the quantize primitive (scale semantics + amax)."""
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("fmt", ["e4m3", "e5m2"])
-    x = torch.randn(16, 32, dtype=torch.bfloat16)
+def test_quantize_dual_and_transposed_orientations(fmt):
-    scale = torch.tensor([0.5])  # quantize multiplier
+    """quantize_dual yields both orientations from one read; quantize's
-    x8, amax = quantize(x, scale, "e4m3")
+    transposed switch keeps the 2-tuple arity with the [cols][rows] layout."""
-    assert x8.dtype == torch.float8_e4m3fn
+    torch.manual_seed(11)
-    ref = (x.float() * 0.5).to(torch.float8_e4m3fn)
+    x = torch.randn(37, 67, device="cuda", dtype=torch.bfloat16) * 3
-    assert torch.equal(x8, ref)
+    mult = _scale(x).reciprocal()
+    x8, amax = quantize(x, mult, fmt)
+    x8T, _ = quantize(x, mult, fmt, transposed=True)
+    d8, d8T, _ = quantize_dual(x, mult, fmt)
+    assert x8T.shape == (67, 37)
+    assert torch.equal(x8.view(torch.uint8), d8.view(torch.uint8))
+    assert torch.equal(x8T.view(torch.uint8), d8T.view(torch.uint8))
+    assert torch.equal(x8T.t().contiguous().view(torch.uint8), x8.view(torch.uint8))
     torch.testing.assert_close(amax, x.abs().amax().float().reshape(1))
 
 
-def test_mm_fp8_cpu_fallback():
+@skip_no_fp8
-    a8 = torch.tensor([[1.0, 2.0]], dtype=torch.float8_e4m3fn)
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("fmt,fmax", [("e4m3", 448.0), ("e5m2", 57344.0)])
-    b8 = torch.tensor([[3.0], [4.0]], dtype=torch.float8_e4m3fn)
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("margin", [0, 1])
-    scale = torch.tensor([1.0])
+def test_quantize_ring_fold_matches_host_update(fmt, fmax, margin):
-    out = mm_fp8(a8, b8, scale)
+    """The in-kernel delayed-scaling fold matches a host-side reference."""
-    ref = (a8.float() @ b8.float() * 1.0).to(torch.bfloat16)
+    dev = torch.device("cuda")
-    torch.testing.assert_close(out, ref)
+    n, idx = 4, 2
+    torch.manual_seed(3)
+    x = torch.randn(128, 96, dtype=torch.bfloat16, device=dev) * 3
+    mult = torch.tensor([0.01], device=dev)
+    pow2m = float(2**margin)
+
+    # Reference: legacy quantize + the host fold it used to return amax for.
+    x8_ref, amax = quantize(x, mult, fmt)
+    hist = torch.full((n,), 1.0, device=dev)
+    hist[idx] = amax.to(torch.float32)
+    scale = (hist.max() / fmax / pow2m).clamp_min(1e-12).reshape(1)
+
+    # Fused: same window, fold inside the quantize kernel's last block.
+    ring = torch.zeros(n + 4, device=dev)
+    ring[:n].fill_(1.0)
+    x8, _ = quantize(
+        x,
+        mult,
+        fmt,
+        ring_state=ring,
+        hist_idx=idx,
+        fp8_max=fmax,
+        pow2_margin=pow2m,
+    )
+    assert torch.equal(x8.view(torch.uint8), x8_ref.view(torch.uint8))
+    torch.testing.assert_close(ring[:n], hist, rtol=0, atol=0)
+    torch.testing.assert_close(ring[n : n + 1], scale, rtol=0, atol=0)
+    assert float(ring[n + 2]) == 0.0  # amax slot self-cleaned
+    assert int(ring[n + 3].view(torch.int32)) == 0  # done counter reset
 
 
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------------

tests/inference/test_scheduler.py

@@ -393,7 +393,9 @@ def test_decode_does_not_reuse_previous_batch_state():
     old_info = object()
     new_info = object()
     executor._decode_cache = DecodeSteadyState(("old",), [2], old_info)
-    executor._sample_logits = MagicMock(return_value=[3])
+    executor._sample_logits = MagicMock(
+        return_value=([3], torch.tensor([3], dtype=torch.long))
+    )
 
     task = Task("new", list(range(8)), temperature=0)
     task.input_tokens = 8
@@ -412,3 +414,46 @@ def test_decode_does_not_reuse_previous_batch_state():
     args, kwargs = executor._sample_logits.call_args
     assert args[1:] == ([task], False)
     assert kwargs["info"] is new_info
+
+
+def test_decode_fills_input_ids_from_device_on_matching_signature():
+    """Steady-state decode copies cached device tokens, skipping the host."""
+    executor = object.__new__(Executor)
+    executor.device = torch.device("cpu")
+    executor.task_cache = MagicMock()
+    executor.task_cache.bind_was_steady = True
+    executor.task_cache.bind.return_value = MagicMock()
+    executor._graph_supported = False
+    executor._graph_ctx = SimpleNamespace(enabled=False)
+
+    workspace = MagicMock()
+    workspace.position_ids = torch.tensor([2], dtype=torch.long)
+    workspace.fill_input_ids_from_device.return_value = torch.tensor(
+        [9], dtype=torch.long
+    )
+    executor._workspace = workspace
+    executor.model = MagicMock(
+        return_value={"logits": torch.zeros(1, 1, 10, dtype=torch.float32)}
+    )
+
+    info = object()
+    tokens = torch.tensor([3], dtype=torch.long)
+    executor._decode_cache = DecodeSteadyState(("t1",), [2], info, last_tokens=tokens)
+    executor._sample_logits = MagicMock(return_value=([3], tokens))
+
+    task = Task("t1", list(range(8)), temperature=0)
+    task.input_tokens = 8
+    task.output_ids = [7]
+    task.mark_prefill_done()
+
+    with patch(
+        "astrai.inference.runtime.executor._build_sampling_batch_info",
+        return_value=info,
+    ):
+        assert executor.execute_decode([task]) == [3]
+
+    workspace.fill_input_ids.assert_not_called()
+    workspace.fill_input_ids_from_device.assert_called_once_with(tokens)
+    assert workspace.position_ids.tolist() == [3]
+    assert executor._decode_cache.task_sig == ("t1",)
+    assert executor._decode_cache.last_tokens is tokens