perf: interleave prefetch into the mma phase

- our 128x128 fast loop padded 26 NOPs between the 32 QMMAs while all four LDGSTS sat bunched at the loop tail: ptxas had no independent instructions to fill the tensor-pipe issue gaps, the exact structure the decompiled cuBLAS loop (166 i, NOP=0) and CUTLASS MmaMultistage avoid by issuing cp.async in small groups inside the MMA phase (copy_tiles_and_advance per warp-tile batch) - the steady-state prefetch is now a loop-carried register pair per congruous operand (PrefetchCarry: swizzled stage offset + global source, constructed once from the same (r, c0) mapping as the interior loader), whose chunks ride after the first and last k_seg MMA batches — SASS: 282 -> 110 instructions, 0 branches, 0 UIMAD.WIDE magic-divisions, LDGSTS interleaved inside the QMMA range, 26 -> 19 NOPs, still 128 regs (2 CTAs/SM) - the wait-count dispatch ladder (16 instructions of ISETP/SEL picking DEPBAR immediates) and the per-k-tile (tile % ring) * stage_bytes recomputation (UIMAD.WIDE by 0x55555555) are gone: the prologue commits unconditionally so the wait_group<kStages-1> immediate is valid for every iteration, and both read and write stage addresses advance as carried pointers with an equality wrap - cp_async.cuh splits the emitter from its policies: one raw PTX site (cp_async_16_raw) plus wrappers for unconditional/predicated and pointer/offset destinations, and the now-unused wait_group_dispatch ladder is deleted; the dispatch flip: with the stall gone the big CTA wins the whole former dip band (1280^3 kernel-level 98.2->104.4T), so prefer_small_cta keeps only the sub-5/8-wave band and the single-wave s3 variant is retired Benchmark: L20 (sm_89), kernel-level sweep 128s2ff: 1024^3 104.2->114.0T (cuBLAS 151.2), 1152^3 130.4->145.9T (157.2), 1280^3 98.2->104.7T (163.8), 1536^3 141.4->150.4T (182.3), 2048^3 178.1->189.6T (202.8), 4096^3 197.6->208.8T (223.7), 8192^3 207.6->219.1T (227.5). CUDA-graph e2e: 1024^3 108.2->118.4T, 1152^3 137.7->150.7T, 1536^3 143.4->153.7T, 2048^3 179.4->191.9T, 8192^3 199.0->208.9T, 1280^3 108.3->106.6T (old dip-band rule re-measured 106.1T — within noise). Four-layout C++ suite and 596 pytests pass.
perf: pair b fragments into ldmatrix x4 loads
2026-08-26 17:47:24 +08:00 · 2026-08-26 15:43:09 +08:00 · 2026-08-26 15:02:00 +08:00 · 2026-08-26 15:02:00 +08:00 · 2026-08-26 14:52:06 +08:00 · 2026-08-26 14:10:14 +08:00
179 changed files with 16826 additions and 6712 deletions
@@ -54,6 +54,9 @@ jobs:
      - name: Build wheel (with CUDA kernels)
        run: |
          CSRC_KERNELS=true pip wheel . --no-deps --no-build-isolation -w dist/
+          for f in dist/*.whl; do
+            mv "$f" "dist/$(basename "$f" .whl)+${{ matrix.cuda_tag }}.whl"
+          done

      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 !scripts/**/*.py
 !tests/**/*.py
 !csrc/**/*.py
+!csrc/CMakeLists.txt

 !csrc/**/*.cu
 !csrc/**/*.h
@@ -20,9 +20,6 @@ Run the following checks **in order** — CI will reject if any fail.
 ruff format .
 ```

-> **Note**: `ruff format` may rename parameters (e.g. `mask` → `attn_mask`).  
-> Always review the diff after formatting.
-
 ### 2. Import sorting

 ```bash
@@ -42,22 +39,28 @@ ruff format .    # re-format after fix
 python -u -m pytest tests/ -v
 ```

-> Failed tests may leave orphan tempdirs under `%TEMP%`. Clean them manually if needed.
+> Failed tests may leave orphan tempdirs under the system temp directory
+> (`$TMPDIR` on Linux/macOS, `%TEMP%` on Windows). Clean them manually if needed.

-### 4. (Optional) Full pre-commit check
+### 4. (Optional) Full pre-commit check script

-If you have Git Bash available:
+If you have `bash` available (Git Bash on Windows works too):

 ```bash
 bash scripts/pre_commit.sh
 ```

-This runs format check, import sort check, and tests in one go.
+The script installs development dependencies by default, then runs the format
+check, import sort check, and tests. If dependencies are already installed, use:
+
+```bash
+bash scripts/pre_commit.sh --skip-deps
+```

 ## Commit Style

 ```
-fix/feat/chore/docs/refactor/perf/test/style/ci/build/revert : short description (~50 chars)
+type: short description (~50 chars)

 - bullet point body (each ~60 chars)
 ```
@@ -73,7 +76,7 @@ fix/feat/chore/docs/refactor/perf/test/style/ci/build/revert : short description
 |---------|-------|-----|
 | `ruff check --select I` fails | Wrong import order | `ruff check . --select I --fix .` then `ruff format .` |
 | `ruff format` changed many files | Not formatted before commit | Review diff carefully before staging |
-| Pre-commit hook rejects | Tests or lint failed | Fix individually, do not `--no-verify` |
+| Pre-commit check script fails | Dependency install, tests, or lint failed | Fix the failing step; use `--skip-deps` only when dependencies are already installed |
 | Tests fail with tempdir left | Test crash | Clean `%TEMP%` manually |

 ## Submitting Changes
@@ -93,7 +96,7 @@ fix/feat/chore/docs/refactor/perf/test/style/ci/build/revert : short description

 ## License

-By contributing, you agree that your contributions will be licensed under the [GPL-3.0 License](LICENSE).
+By contributing, you agree that your contributions will be licensed under the [Apache-2.0 License](LICENSE).

 ---

@@ -57,8 +57,17 @@ COPY docs/ ./docs/
 COPY pyproject.toml .
 COPY README.md .

-# Create non-root user
-RUN useradd -m astrai && chown -R astrai:astrai /app
+# Create non-root user matching the host uid/gid (passed via build args).
+# ubuntu:24.04 ships a default 'ubuntu' user/group at uid/gid 1000, so remove
+# it first to free those ids before creating astrai.
+ARG USER_UID=1000
+ARG USER_GID=1000
+RUN userdel -r ubuntu 2>/dev/null || true \
+    && groupdel ubuntu 2>/dev/null || true \
+    && groupadd -g "${USER_GID}" astrai \
+    && useradd -m -u "${USER_UID}" -g astrai astrai \
+    && chown -R astrai:astrai /app
+ENV HOME=/home/astrai
 USER astrai

 ENV PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1 \
@@ -1,674 +1,201 @@
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@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@

 <div align="center">
  <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/python-3.12+-blue.svg" alt="python">
-  <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/license-GPL--3.0-blue.svg" alt="license">
+  <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/license-Apache--2.0-blue.svg" alt="license">
  <img src="https://img.shields.io/github/v/tag/ViperEkura/AstrAI?label=Release&color=76bad9" alt="release">
  <img src="https://img.shields.io/github/stars/ViperEkura/AstrAI?style=flat&label=Stars&color=76bad9" alt="stars">
  <img src="https://img.shields.io/github/forks/ViperEkura/AstrAI?style=flat&label=Forks&color=76bad9" alt="forks">
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@

 ## 📖 Table of Contents

- [Features](#features)
+- [Overview](#overview)
 - [Getting Started](#getting-started)
 - [Demo](#demo)
 - [Documentation](#documentation)
@@ -40,15 +40,19 @@
 <a id="english"></a>
 ## English

-### Features
+### Overview

- 🚀 **High Performance**: Optimized for both training and inference with efficient parallelization.
- 🔧 **Flexible**: Support for seq/sft/dpo/grpo training, customizable model architectures.
- 💡 **Easy to Use**: Simple API with comprehensive examples and demos.
- 📦 **Lightweight**: Minimal dependencies, easy to deploy.
- 🔬 **Research‑Friendly**: Modular design, easy to experiment with new ideas.
- 🤗 **HuggingFace-Style API**: AutoModel/AutoTokenizer APIs inspired by HuggingFace for easy model and tokenizer loading.
- 🔌 **Dual API Compatibility**: Supports both OpenAI and Anthropic chat completion APIs out of the box.
+AstrAI is an end-to-end Transformer framework for building, training, evaluating, and serving models. It provides a compact PyTorch codebase for the complete model lifecycle, from declarative data preprocessing and distributed training to continuous-batching inference and OpenAI/Anthropic-compatible APIs.
+
+| Area | Capabilities |
+|---|---|
+| **Models** | Autoregressive language models and embedding models with GQA, MLA, MoE, RoPE, and extensible attention/FFN components |
+| **Training** | Pre-training (`seq`), supervised fine-tuning (`sft`), DPO, and GRPO with gradient accumulation, checkpointing, DDP, and FSDP |
+| **Data** | Declarative JSON preprocessing, configurable masking and packing, binary/JSONL storage, and streaming datasets |
+| **Inference** | Continuous batching, paged KV cache, radix prefix caching, streaming generation, and Torch/CUDA/FlashAttention backends |
+| **Serving** | FastAPI server with OpenAI and Anthropic chat completion protocols, including SSE streaming and tool calls |
+| **Evaluation** | Perplexity, MMLU, HumanEval, IFEval, IFD, ROUGE, and weight-analysis evaluation tools |
+| **Extensibility** | Factory and registry architecture for models, datasets, training strategies, callbacks, kernels, and protocol components |

 ### Getting Started

@@ -56,11 +60,14 @@ End-to-end walkthrough in 5 steps:

 **1. Install**

+AstrAI requires Python 3.12+ and pins PyTorch exactly to `2.11.0`. Training, `scripts/tools/generate.py`, generation evaluations, and the generation demos require CUDA; CPU support is limited to components with an explicit CPU device path, such as the HTTP server and direct-scoring evaluations.
+
 ```bash
 git clone https://github.com/ViperEkura/AstrAI.git
 cd AstrAI
-pip install -e .                                          # pure PyTorch (no CUDA kernels)
-# CSRC_KERNELS=true pip install -e . --no-build-isolation  # optional: fused CUDA kernels
+pip install -e .                                          # kernels auto-build when nvcc + CUDA are detected
+# CSRC_KERNELS=false pip install -e .                     # skip kernels (pure PyTorch)
+# CSRC_KERNELS=true pip install -e . --no-build-isolation  # force the fused CUDA kernel build
 # pip install -e ".[dev]"                                  # dev dependencies (pytest, ruff)
 ```

@@ -132,7 +139,7 @@ Check out the demos in the `scripts/demo/` folder:
 # Download model weights (required before running demos)
 python scripts/demo/download.py                      # model → params/

-# Interactive streaming chat (multi-turn, maintains history)
+# Single-turn interactive streaming prompt loop (no conversation history)
 python scripts/demo/stream_chat.py
 # Type your message after >>, type !exit to quit

@@ -183,8 +190,11 @@ docker run --gpus all -v /path/to/data:/data -it astrai:latest
 # Docker Compose (GPU, default)
 docker compose up -d

-# Docker Compose (CPU only)
+# Docker Compose CPU server profile (CUDA-only generation scripts/demos are unavailable)
 docker compose --profile cpu up -d
+
+# YAML-driven serving (see serve.yaml; up/run/down/logs/status...)
+bash scripts/serve.sh up
 ```

 > **Note**: `--gpus all` is required for CUDA support. Without it, `torch.cuda.is_available()` will return `False`.
@@ -230,6 +240,8 @@ See [Inference Guide](docs/guides/inference.md) for SSE streaming format, error
 | [Data Flow](./docs/developer/dataflow.md) | Data pipeline, storage backends & dataset architecture |
 | [Internals](./docs/developer/internals.md) | Training internals: loss formulas, callback lifecycle, KV cache |
 | [CUDA Kernels](./docs/developer/cuda_kernels.md) | Custom CUDA attention kernels & benchmarks |
+| [Docker Serving](./docs/developer/docker-serving.md) | YAML-driven containerized serving (`serve.yaml`, `serve.sh`) |
+| [Docker Training](./docs/developer/docker-training.md) | YAML-driven containerized training (`train.yaml`, `train.sh`) |

 ### Contributing

@@ -250,10 +262,10 @@ For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to

 ### License

-This project is licensed under the [GPL-3.0 License](LICENSE).
+This project is licensed under the [Apache-2.0 License](LICENSE).

 ---

 <div align="center">
  <em>A lightweight Transformer framework designed for both high performance and ease of use.</em>
-</div>
+</div>
@@ -1,9 +1,6 @@
-__version__ = "1.3.12"
+__version__ = "1.3.13"
 __author__ = "ViperEkura"

-import logging
-import os
-
 from astrai.config import (
    AutoRegressiveLMConfig,
    BaseModelConfig,
@@ -20,15 +17,10 @@ from astrai.dataset import (
    StoreFactory,
 )
 from astrai.factory import BaseFactory
-from astrai.inference import (
-    GenerationRequest,
-    InferenceEngine,
-    ProtocolHandler,
-    SamplingPipeline,
-    get_app,
-    run_server,
-    sample,
-)
+from astrai.inference import InferenceEngine, get_app, run_server, sample
+from astrai.inference.network import ProtocolHandler
+from astrai.inference.runtime.sample import SamplingPipeline
+from astrai.logging import setup_logging
 from astrai.model import (
    AutoModel,
    AutoRegressiveLM,
@@ -56,30 +48,6 @@ from astrai.trainer import (
    Trainer,
 )

-
-def setup_logging(level: str = "INFO"):
-    """Attach a handler to the ``astrai`` logger (only, not root).
-
-    Call once per process, e.g. at the top of CLI scripts.
-    Set ``ASTR_LOG_LEVEL`` to override the default ``INFO``.
-    """
-    _logger = logging.getLogger("astrai")
-    if _logger.handlers:
-        return
-    _level = getattr(
-        logging, os.environ.get("ASTR_LOG_LEVEL", level).upper(), logging.INFO
-    )
-    _logger.setLevel(_level)
-    _handler = logging.StreamHandler()
-    _handler.setFormatter(
-        logging.Formatter(
-            "%(asctime)s | %(levelname)-7s | %(name)s | %(message)s",
-            datefmt="%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S",
-        )
-    )
-    _logger.addHandler(_handler)
-
-
 __all__ = [
    "AutoRegressiveLM",
    "AutoRegressiveLMConfig",
@@ -98,7 +66,6 @@ __all__ = [
    "EmbeddingEncoder",
    "EncoderConfig",
    "ExecutorFactory",
-    "GenerationRequest",
    "InferenceEngine",
    "LoRAConfig",
    "Pipeline",
@@ -124,3 +91,5 @@ __all__ = [
    "setup_logging",
    "spawn_parallel_fn",
 ]
+
+setup_logging()
@@ -63,6 +63,11 @@ class AutoRegressiveLMConfig(BaseModelConfig):
        n_shared_experts (Optional[int]): Number of shared experts, MoE only. Defaults to None.
        n_activated_experts (Optional[int]): Number of activated experts per token, MoE only. Defaults to None.
        topk_method (Optional[str]): Top-k routing method, MoE only. Defaults to None.
+        moe_intermediate_size (Optional[int]): Expert hidden dim, defaults to intermediate_size if None. MoE only.
+        shared_expert_intermediate_size (Optional[int]): Shared expert hidden dim, defaults to intermediate_size if None. MoE only.
+        norm_topk_prob (bool): Normalize top-k routing probabilities. Defaults to True.
+        decoder_sparse_step (int): Frequency of MoE layers, 1=every layer. Defaults to 1.
+        mlp_only_layers (Optional[list[int]]): Layer indices using dense MLP instead of MoE. Defaults to None.
    """

    vocab_size: Optional[int] = None
@@ -87,6 +92,12 @@ class AutoRegressiveLMConfig(BaseModelConfig):
    n_shared_experts: Optional[int] = None
    n_activated_experts: Optional[int] = None
    topk_method: Optional[str] = None
+    moe_intermediate_size: Optional[int] = None
+    shared_expert_intermediate_size: Optional[int] = None
+    norm_topk_prob: bool = True
+    decoder_sparse_step: int = 1
+    mlp_only_layers: Optional[list[int]] = None
+    moe_aux_loss_coef: float = 0.01

    @field_validator("attn_type")
    def _validate_attn_type(cls, v: str) -> str:
@@ -102,6 +113,12 @@ class AutoRegressiveLMConfig(BaseModelConfig):
            raise ValueError(f"ffn_type must be one of {sorted(_FFN_TYPES)}, got {v!r}")
        return v

+    @field_validator("decoder_sparse_step")
+    def _validate_decoder_sparse_step(cls, v: int) -> int:
+        if v < 1:
+            raise ValueError(f"decoder_sparse_step must be at least 1, got {v}")
+        return v
+

@dataclass
@ConfigFactory.register("embedding")
@@ -11,10 +11,10 @@ from torch.utils.data import Dataset
 from astrai.config.base import BaseConfig
 from astrai.model.components.lora import LoRAConfig

-_TRAIN_TYPES = frozenset({"seq", "sft", "dpo", "grpo", "online_grpo", "online_dpo"})
-_PARALLEL_MODES = frozenset({"none", "ddp", "fsdp"})
-_BACKENDS = frozenset({"nccl", "gloo"})
-_START_METHODS = frozenset({"spawn", "fork", "forkserver"})
+TRAIN_TYPES = frozenset({"seq", "sft", "dpo", "grpo", "online_grpo", "online_dpo"})
+PARALLEL_MODES = frozenset({"none", "ddp", "fsdp"})
+BACKENDS = frozenset({"nccl", "gloo"})
+START_METHODS = frozenset({"spawn", "fork", "forkserver"})
 _COMPILE_MODES = frozenset({"default", "reduce-overhead", "max-autotune"})


@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ class TrainConfig(BaseConfig):
        random_seed (int): Random seed. Defaults to 3407.
        num_workers (int): Number of workers for dataloader. Defaults to 0.
        prefetch_factor (Optional[int]): Prefetch factor for dataloader. Defaults to None.
+        persistent_workers (bool): Keep DataLoader workers alive between epochs. Defaults to False.
        pin_memory (bool): Pin memory for dataloader. Defaults to False.
        collate_fn (Optional[Callable[[List[Any]], Any]]): Collate function for dataloader (e.g. dpo_collate_fn). Defaults to None.
        nprocs (int): Number of processes for distributed training. Defaults to 1.
@@ -61,6 +62,7 @@ class TrainConfig(BaseConfig):
        val_split (Optional[float]): Ratio to split from training dataset for validation, e.g. 0.05. Defaults to None.
        val_step (int): Number of optimizer steps between validation runs. Defaults to 1000.
        neftune_alpha (float): NEFTune noise alpha, 0=disabled, typical: 5.0. Defaults to 0.0.
+        moe_aux_loss_coef (float): Weight applied to the MoE load-balancing loss. Defaults to 0.01.
        rollout_interval (int): Number of optimizer steps between online rollouts. Defaults to 512.
        rollout_temperature (float): Sampling temperature for online rollout. Defaults to 0.7.
        rollout_top_k (int): Top-k filtering for online rollout, 0=disable. Defaults to 0.
@@ -68,7 +70,7 @@ class TrainConfig(BaseConfig):
        rollout_max_tokens (int): Maximum generated tokens per response in rollout. Defaults to 1024.
        reward_model_fn (Optional[Callable]): Factory for reward model, required for online RL strategies. Defaults to None.
        executor_kwargs (Dict[str, Any]): Extra kwargs passed to ExecutorFactory.create(). Defaults to {}.
-        extra_kwargs (Dict[str, Any]): Other arguments. Defaults to {}.
+        strategy_kwargs (Dict[str, Any]): Extra strategy arguments. Defaults to {}.
    """

    model_fn: Callable[[], nn.Module]
@@ -97,6 +99,7 @@ class TrainConfig(BaseConfig):
    random_seed: int = 3407
    num_workers: int = 0
    prefetch_factor: Optional[int] = None
+    persistent_workers: bool = False
    pin_memory: bool = False
    collate_fn: Optional[Callable[[List[Any]], Any]] = None

@@ -112,6 +115,7 @@ class TrainConfig(BaseConfig):
    val_split: Optional[float] = None
    val_step: int = 1000
    neftune_alpha: float = 0.0
+    moe_aux_loss_coef: float = 0.01

    rollout_interval: int = 512
    rollout_temperature: float = 0.7
@@ -121,35 +125,35 @@ class TrainConfig(BaseConfig):
    reward_model_fn: Optional[Callable] = None

    executor_kwargs: Dict[str, Any] = field(default_factory=dict)
-    extra_kwargs: Dict[str, Any] = field(default_factory=dict)
+    strategy_kwargs: Dict[str, Any] = field(default_factory=dict)

    @field_validator("strategy")
    def _validate_strategy(cls, v: str) -> str:
-        if v not in _TRAIN_TYPES:
+        if v not in TRAIN_TYPES:
            raise ValueError(
-                f"strategy must be one of {sorted(_TRAIN_TYPES)}, got {v!r}"
+                f"strategy must be one of {sorted(TRAIN_TYPES)}, got {v!r}"
            )
        return v

    @field_validator("parallel_mode")
    def _validate_parallel_mode(cls, v: str) -> str:
-        if v not in _PARALLEL_MODES:
+        if v not in PARALLEL_MODES:
            raise ValueError(
-                f"parallel_mode must be one of {sorted(_PARALLEL_MODES)}, got {v!r}"
+                f"parallel_mode must be one of {sorted(PARALLEL_MODES)}, got {v!r}"
            )
        return v

    @field_validator("backend")
    def _validate_backend(cls, v: str) -> str:
-        if v not in _BACKENDS:
-            raise ValueError(f"backend must be one of {sorted(_BACKENDS)}, got {v!r}")
+        if v not in BACKENDS:
+            raise ValueError(f"backend must be one of {sorted(BACKENDS)}, got {v!r}")
        return v

    @field_validator("start_method")
    def _validate_start_method(cls, v: str) -> str:
-        if v not in _START_METHODS:
+        if v not in START_METHODS:
            raise ValueError(
-                f"start_method must be one of {sorted(_START_METHODS)}, got {v!r}"
+                f"start_method must be one of {sorted(START_METHODS)}, got {v!r}"
            )
        return v

@@ -187,7 +191,9 @@ class TrainConfig(BaseConfig):
            raise ValueError(f"rollout_top_p must be in (0, 1], got {v}")
        return v

-    @field_validator("rollout_top_k", "num_workers", "neftune_alpha")
+    @field_validator(
+        "rollout_top_k", "num_workers", "neftune_alpha", "moe_aux_loss_coef"
+    )
    def _validate_non_negative(cls, v):
        if v < 0:
            raise ValueError(f"must be non-negative, got {v}")
@@ -25,20 +25,50 @@ function (pure ``record -> Dict[str, Tensor]``) is forwarded to

 from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
 from functools import partial
+from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Callable, Dict, List, Optional

 import torch
 from torch import Tensor
 from torch.utils.data import Dataset

+from astrai.config.preprocess_config import PipelineConfig
 from astrai.dataset.storage import (
    Store,
    StoreFactory,
    detect_format,
 )
 from astrai.factory import BaseFactory
+from astrai.preprocessing.transform import TokenizeTransform
 from astrai.tokenize import AutoTokenizer

+_DEFAULT_MESSAGES_CONFIG = {
+    "version": 1,
+    "input": {"sections": [{"field": "messages", "action": "$role", "template": True}]},
+    "mask": {"system": "mask", "user": "mask", "assistant": "train"},
+    "mask_default": "mask",
+    "output": {"position_ids_mode": "doc_reset"},
+}
+
+
+def _build_jsonl_transform(
+    path: str, tokenizer_path: Optional[str] = None
+) -> Optional["TokenizeTransform"]:
+    """Auto-build a TokenizeTransform for JSONL eager loading.
+
+    Reads ``dataset_config.json`` from the data dir if present, or
+    falls back to the built-in chatml SFT config when *tokenizer_path*
+    is provided.
+    """
+    root = Path(path)
+    config_path = root / "dataset_config.json" if root.is_dir() else None
+    if config_path is not None and config_path.exists():
+        return TokenizeTransform.from_config_file(str(config_path))
+    if tokenizer_path:
+        config = PipelineConfig.from_dict(_DEFAULT_MESSAGES_CONFIG)
+        return TokenizeTransform(config, tokenizer_path)
+    return None
+

 def dpo_tokenize(
    record: dict,
@@ -349,16 +379,18 @@ class DatasetFactory(BaseFactory["BaseDataset"]):
        )
        if processor is not None:
            store.load(load_path, processor=processor, **kwargs)
+        elif storage_type == "jsonl":
+            transform = _build_jsonl_transform(load_path, tokenizer_path)
+            if transform is None:
+                raise FileNotFoundError(
+                    "JSONL dataset config not found. Expected "
+                    "dataset_config.json alongside *.jsonl files, pass "
+                    "tokenizer_path= for the built-in messages config, or "
+                    "use processor= for lazy on-the-fly tokenisation."
+                )
+            store.load(load_path, transform=transform, **kwargs)
        else:
-            load_kwargs = dict(kwargs)
-            if (
-                tokenizer_path is not None
-                and storage_type == "jsonl"
-                and train_type in ("seq", "sft")
-                and "tokenizer_path" not in load_kwargs
-            ):
-                load_kwargs["tokenizer_path"] = tokenizer_path
-            store.load(load_path, **load_kwargs)
+            store.load(load_path, **kwargs)

        return cls.create(train_type, store=store)

@@ -460,9 +492,6 @@ class DPODataset(BaseDataset):

    required_keys = ["chosen", "rejected", "chosen_mask", "rejected_mask"]

-    def make_processor(self, tokenizer, max_len: int):
-        return partial(dpo_processor, tokenizer=tokenizer, max_len=max_len)
-
    def __getitem__(self, index: int) -> Dict[str, Tensor]:
        return {
            "chosen": self.store.fetch_record(index, "chosen").to(dtype=torch.long),
@@ -55,9 +55,7 @@ from typing import Callable, Dict, List, Optional, Tuple, Union
 import torch
 from torch import Tensor

-from astrai.config.preprocess_config import PipelineConfig
 from astrai.factory import BaseFactory
-from astrai.preprocessing.transform import TokenizeTransform
 from astrai.serialization import (
    load_bin,
    load_bin_offsets,
@@ -219,7 +217,7 @@ class Store(ABC):
        """
        if self._window_size <= 0:
            raise RuntimeError("sample_window() requires window_size > 0 (stream mode)")
-        if self._window_size <= 0 or self._length <= self._window_size:
+        if self._length <= self._window_size:
            raise IndexError(
                f"Data too short for window: token_count={self._length}, "
                f"window_size={self._window_size}"
@@ -536,19 +534,8 @@ class JsonlStore(Store, Streamable, Recordable):
      ``len(store)`` returns ``num_records``; stream primitives raise.
    """

-    CONFIG_NAME = "dataset_config.json"
    segments_are_records = True

-    _DEFAULT_MESSAGES_CONFIG = {
-        "version": 1,
-        "input": {
-            "sections": [{"field": "messages", "action": "$role", "template": True}]
-        },
-        "mask": {"system": "mask", "user": "mask", "assistant": "train"},
-        "mask_default": "mask",
-        "output": {"position_ids_mode": "doc_reset"},
-    }
-
    def __init__(
        self,
        window_size: int = 0,
@@ -569,22 +556,10 @@ class JsonlStore(Store, Streamable, Recordable):
            return

        if transform is None:
-            root = Path(path)
-            config_path = root / self.CONFIG_NAME if root.is_dir() else None
-            if config_path is not None and config_path.exists():
-                transform = TokenizeTransform.from_config_file(str(config_path))
-            else:
-                tokenizer_path = kwargs.get("tokenizer_path")
-                if not tokenizer_path:
-                    raise FileNotFoundError(
-                        f"JSONL dataset config not found. Expected "
-                        f"{self.CONFIG_NAME} alongside *.jsonl files, pass an "
-                        f"explicit transform, pass processor= for lazy "
-                        f"on-the-fly tokenisation, or pass tokenizer_path= to "
-                        f"use the built-in messages config."
-                    )
-                config = PipelineConfig.from_dict(self._DEFAULT_MESSAGES_CONFIG)
-                transform = TokenizeTransform(config, tokenizer_path)
+            raise ValueError(
+                "JsonlStore eager mode requires transform=. "
+                "Use DatasetFactory.load() which auto-constructs it."
+            )

        transformed = transform.apply(records)
        self._normalize(transformed)
@@ -15,28 +15,34 @@ Each wrapper calls its compiled CUDA kernel directly. Fallback to torch
 SDPA is handled by the attention backend, not the wrapper functions.
 """

-from astrai.extension.attention_backend import (
+from astrai.extension.backend import (
    ATTN_BACKEND,
    AttentionBackend,
+    AttentionBackendFactory,
    CudaBackend,
+    FlashAttnBackend,
    TorchNativeBackend,
+    apply_rotary_emb,
    attention,
    attn_backend,
    get_backend,
 )
-from astrai.extension.attention_ops import (
+from astrai.extension.loader import KERNEL_NAMES, is_available
+from astrai.extension.ops import (
+    TensorLayout,
    attn_decode,
    attn_paged_decode,
    attn_prefill,
 )
-from astrai.extension.loader import KERNEL_NAMES, is_available
-from astrai.extension.rotary_backend import apply_rotary_emb

 __all__ = [
    "ATTN_BACKEND",
    "AttentionBackend",
+    "AttentionBackendFactory",
    "CudaBackend",
    "TorchNativeBackend",
+    "FlashAttnBackend",
+    "TensorLayout",
    "attention",
    "attn_backend",
    "get_backend",
@@ -1,422 +0,0 @@
-"""Attention backend abstraction with context-manager switching.
-
-The backend encapsulates KV cache I/O and attention computation. The
-attention module (GQA/MLA) keeps projections, rotary, QK-norm, gating,
-and output projection; the backend handles everything from "write K/V
-to cache" through "SDPA output".
-
-Usage — mirroring ``torch.nn.attention.sdpa_kernel``:
-
-    from astrai.extension import attn_backend, ATTN_BACKEND
-
-    with attn_backend(ATTN_BACKEND.TORCH_NATIVE):
-        engine.generate("hello")
-
-    # or with an instance:
-    with attn_backend(TorchNativeBackend()):
-        ...
-
-    # or the shorthand (instance is itself a context manager):
-    with TorchNativeBackend():
-        ...
-
-Thread-safe via ``contextvars`` — each scheduler thread gets its own
-active backend. ``get_backend()`` returns the active one, falling back
-to a process-wide ``TorchNativeBackend`` singleton.
-
-Layout convention: all q/k/v are ``[batch, seq_len, n_heads, head_dim]``
-(blhd). The backend returns ``[batch, seq_len, n_heads * head_dim]``.
-"""
-
-import contextvars
-import enum
-from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
-from contextlib import contextmanager
-from typing import Optional, Union
-
-import torch
-import torch.nn.functional as F
-from torch import Tensor
-
-from astrai.extension.attention_ops import attn_paged_decode, attn_prefill
-from astrai.extension.loader import is_available
-from astrai.inference.core.cache import KVCache
-
-_current_backend: contextvars.ContextVar["AttentionBackend"] = contextvars.ContextVar(
-    "attn_backend"
-)
-
-
-class ATTN_BACKEND(enum.Enum):
-    """Backend selector enum, mirroring ``torch.nn.attention.SDPBackend``."""
-
-    TORCH_NATIVE = "torch_native"
-    CUDA = "cuda"
-
-
-def get_backend() -> "AttentionBackend":
-    """Return the active backend for the current thread/context.
-
-    Falls back to a ``TorchNativeBackend`` singleton when no backend
-    has been activated via ``with``.
-    """
-    try:
-        return _current_backend.get()
-    except LookupError:
-        return _default_backend
-
-
-@contextmanager
-def attn_backend(backend: Union[ATTN_BACKEND, "AttentionBackend", type]):
-    """Context manager to select an attention backend.
-
-    Mirrors ``torch.nn.attention.sdpa_kernel``. Accepts an
-    ``ATTN_BACKEND`` enum value, a backend class, or a backend instance.
-
-    Examples::
-
-        with attn_backend(ATTN_BACKEND.TORCH_NATIVE):
-            ...
-        with attn_backend(TorchNativeBackend):
-            ...
-        with attn_backend(TorchNativeBackend()):
-            ...
-    """
-    if isinstance(backend, ATTN_BACKEND):
-        instance = _BACKEND_REGISTRY[backend]()
-    elif isinstance(backend, type) and issubclass(backend, AttentionBackend):
-        instance = backend()
-    elif isinstance(backend, AttentionBackend):
-        instance = backend
-    else:
-        raise TypeError(
-            f"expected ATTN_BACKEND, AttentionBackend type, or instance, "
-            f"got {type(backend).__name__}"
-        )
-    token = _current_backend.set(instance)
-    try:
-        yield instance
-    finally:
-        _current_backend.reset(token)
-
-
-def repeat_kv(x: Tensor, n_rep: int) -> Tensor:
-    """Expand KV heads to match Q heads for GQA."""
-    bs, slen, n_heads, head_dim = x.shape
-    if n_rep == 1:
-        return x
-    return (
-        x[:, :, :, None, :]
-        .expand(bs, slen, n_heads, n_rep, head_dim)
-        .reshape(bs, slen, n_heads * n_rep, head_dim)
-    )
-
-
-def attention(
-    q: Tensor,
-    k: Tensor,
-    v: Tensor,
-    kv_cache: Optional[KVCache] = None,
-    layer_id: int = 0,
-    attn_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None,
-    is_causal: bool = False,
-) -> Tensor:
-    """Functional attention entry point — mirrors ``F.scaled_dot_product_attention``.
-
-    Delegates to the active backend (set via ``with attn_backend(...)``).
-    Handles KV cache I/O, GQA head expansion, and causal masking so the
-    caller only needs to provide projected q/k/v.
-
-    Args:
-        q: [batch, q_len, n_heads, head_dim] (blhd)
-        k: [batch, q_len, n_kv_heads, head_dim] (blhd)
-        v: [batch, q_len, n_kv_heads, head_dim] (blhd)
-        kv_cache: cache dataclass, or None for training (no cache).
-        layer_id: transformer layer index for buffer access.
-        attn_mask: pre-built attention mask (SDPA-compatible).
-        is_causal: whether to apply causal masking.
-
-    Returns:
-        [batch, q_len, n_heads * head_dim]
-    """
-    backend = get_backend()
-    return backend.forward(q, k, v, kv_cache, layer_id, attn_mask, is_causal)
-
-
-class AttentionBackend(ABC):
-    """Abstract base for attention computation strategies.
-
-    Subclasses implement ``fwd_decode`` (q_len == 1, with cache) and
-    ``fwd_prefill`` (q_len > 1, with or without cache). The public
-    ``forward`` method dispatches based on q_len.
-
-    Three equivalent ways to activate a backend::
-
-        with attn_backend(ATTN_BACKEND.TORCH_NATIVE):  # enum
-            ...
-        with attn_backend(TorchNativeBackend):          # class
-            ...
-        with TorchNativeBackend():                       # instance
-            ...
-    """
-
-    def __enter__(self) -> "AttentionBackend":
-        self._token = _current_backend.set(self)
-        return self
-
-    def __exit__(self, *exc) -> None:
-        _current_backend.reset(self._token)
-
-    def forward(
-        self,
-        q: Tensor,
-        k: Tensor,
-        v: Tensor,
-        kv_cache: Optional[KVCache],
-        layer_id: int,
-        attn_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None,
-        is_causal: bool = False,
-    ) -> Tensor:
-        """Dispatch to decode or extend based on q_len.
-
-        Args:
-            q: [batch, q_len, n_heads, head_dim]
-            k: [batch, q_len, n_kv_heads, head_dim]
-            v: [batch, q_len, n_kv_heads, head_dim]
-            kv_cache: cache dataclass, or None for training (no cache).
-            layer_id: transformer layer index for buffer access.
-            attn_mask: pre-built attention mask compatible with SDPA.
-            is_causal: whether to apply causal masking.
-
-        Returns:
-            [batch, q_len, n_heads * head_dim]
-        """
-        if kv_cache is not None and q.size(1) == 1:
-            return self.fwd_decode(q, k, v, kv_cache, layer_id, attn_mask, is_causal)
-        return self.fwd_prefill(q, k, v, kv_cache, layer_id, attn_mask, is_causal)
-
-    @abstractmethod
-    def fwd_decode(
-        self,
-        q: Tensor,
-        k: Tensor,
-        v: Tensor,
-        kv_cache: Optional[KVCache],
-        layer_id: int,
-        attn_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None,
-        is_causal: bool = False,
-    ) -> Tensor:
-        """Single-token decode with KV cache."""
-
-    @abstractmethod
-    def fwd_prefill(
-        self,
-        q: Tensor,
-        k: Tensor,
-        v: Tensor,
-        kv_cache: Optional[KVCache],
-        layer_id: int,
-        attn_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None,
-        is_causal: bool = False,
-    ) -> Tensor:
-        """Multi-token prefill or training forward."""
-
-
-class TorchNativeBackend(AttentionBackend):
-    """Reference backend using torch SDPA with indirect KV cache indexing.
-
-    Writes new K/V into the cache buffers, gathers the full sequence K/V
-    via ``req_to_token`` indirect indexing, then calls
-    ``F.scaled_dot_product_attention``.
-
-    For training (``kv_cache is None``), skips cache I/O entirely and
-    runs SDPA directly on the projected q/k/v.
-    """
-
-    def fwd_decode(
-        self,
-        q: Tensor,
-        k: Tensor,
-        v: Tensor,
-        kv_cache: Optional[KVCache],
-        layer_id: int,
-        attn_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None,
-        is_causal: bool = False,
-    ) -> Tensor:
-        return self._forward(q, k, v, kv_cache, layer_id, attn_mask, is_causal)
-
-    def fwd_prefill(
-        self,
-        q: Tensor,
-        k: Tensor,
-        v: Tensor,
-        kv_cache: Optional[KVCache],
-        layer_id: int,
-        attn_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None,
-        is_causal: bool = False,
-    ) -> Tensor:
-        return self._forward(q, k, v, kv_cache, layer_id, attn_mask, is_causal)
-
-    def _forward(
-        self,
-        q: Tensor,
-        k: Tensor,
-        v: Tensor,
-        kv_cache: Optional[KVCache],
-        layer_id: int,
-        attn_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None,
-        is_causal: bool = False,
-    ) -> Tensor:
-        if kv_cache is not None:
-            kv_cache.k_buffer[layer_id, kv_cache.out_cache_loc] = k
-            kv_cache.v_buffer[layer_id, kv_cache.out_cache_loc] = v
-
-            max_len = kv_cache.max_len
-            if kv_cache.page_table is not None:
-                indices = kv_cache.page_table
-            else:
-                indices = kv_cache.req_to_token[kv_cache.req_pool_indices, :max_len]
-            if kv_cache.decode_mask is not None:
-                pos_mask = kv_cache.decode_mask
-            else:
-                pos_mask = (
-                    torch.arange(max_len, device=q.device)[None, :]
-                    < kv_cache.seq_lens[:, None]
-                )
-            indices = torch.where(pos_mask, indices, torch.zeros_like(indices))
-            k = kv_cache.k_buffer[layer_id, indices]
-            v = kv_cache.v_buffer[layer_id, indices]
-
-        n_rep = q.size(2) // k.size(2)
-        if n_rep > 1:
-            k = repeat_kv(k, n_rep)
-            v = repeat_kv(v, n_rep)
-
-        q = q.permute(0, 2, 1, 3)
-        k = k.permute(0, 2, 1, 3)
-        v = v.permute(0, 2, 1, 3)
-
-        out = F.scaled_dot_product_attention(q, k, v, attn_mask, is_causal=is_causal)
-        out = out.permute(0, 2, 1, 3).contiguous().flatten(2)
-        return out
-
-
-_default_backend = TorchNativeBackend()
-
-
-class CudaBackend(AttentionBackend):
-    """CUDA kernel backend with direct KV cache access.
-
-    Decode path: writes K/V to cache, then calls ``attn_paged_decode``
-    with ``page_size=1`` (each token slot is a single-token "page").
-    The ``req_to_token`` table serves directly as the page table.
-
-    Prefill path: writes K/V to cache, gathers full-sequence K/V via
-    indirect indexing (same as TorchNativeBackend), then calls
-    ``attn_prefill``.
-
-    Training path (``kv_cache is None``): calls ``attn_prefill`` directly
-    on the projected q/k/v.
-
-    Falls back to ``TorchNativeBackend`` for any path where the
-    corresponding CUDA kernel is not available.
-    """
-
-    def __init__(self):
-        self._fallback = TorchNativeBackend()
-
-    def fwd_decode(
-        self,
-        q: Tensor,
-        k: Tensor,
-        v: Tensor,
-        kv_cache: Optional[KVCache],
-        layer_id: int,
-        attn_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None,
-        is_causal: bool = False,
-    ) -> Tensor:
-        if kv_cache is None or not is_available("attn_paged_decode"):
-            return self._fallback.fwd_decode(
-                q, k, v, kv_cache, layer_id, attn_mask, is_causal
-            )
-
-        kv_cache.k_buffer[layer_id, kv_cache.out_cache_loc] = k
-        kv_cache.v_buffer[layer_id, kv_cache.out_cache_loc] = v
-
-        max_len = kv_cache.max_len
-
-        if kv_cache.page_table is not None:
-            page_table = kv_cache.page_table
-        else:
-            page_table = kv_cache.req_to_token[kv_cache.req_pool_indices, :max_len]
-
-        k_cache = kv_cache.k_buffer[layer_id].unsqueeze(1)
-        v_cache = kv_cache.v_buffer[layer_id].unsqueeze(1)
-
-        if q.size(0) == 1:
-            mask = None
-        elif kv_cache.decode_mask is not None:
-            mask = kv_cache.decode_mask
-        else:
-            mask = (
-                torch.arange(max_len, device=q.device)[None, :]
-                < kv_cache.seq_lens[:, None]
-            )
-
-        out = attn_paged_decode(
-            q,
-            page_table,
-            k_cache,
-            v_cache,
-            page_size=1,
-            kv_len=max_len,
-            mask=mask,
-            is_causal=is_causal,
-        )
-
-        out = out.flatten(2)
-        return out
-
-    def fwd_prefill(
-        self,
-        q: Tensor,
-        k: Tensor,
-        v: Tensor,
-        kv_cache: Optional[KVCache],
-        layer_id: int,
-        attn_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None,
-        is_causal: bool = False,
-    ) -> Tensor:
-        if kv_cache is None:
-            if is_available("attn_prefill"):
-                out = attn_prefill(q, k, v, mask=attn_mask, is_causal=is_causal)
-                return out.flatten(2)
-            return self._fallback.fwd_prefill(
-                q, k, v, kv_cache, layer_id, attn_mask, is_causal
-            )
-
-        if not is_available("attn_prefill"):
-            return self._fallback.fwd_prefill(
-                q, k, v, kv_cache, layer_id, attn_mask, is_causal
-            )
-
-        kv_cache.k_buffer[layer_id, kv_cache.out_cache_loc] = k
-        kv_cache.v_buffer[layer_id, kv_cache.out_cache_loc] = v
-
-        max_len = kv_cache.max_len
-        indices = kv_cache.req_to_token[kv_cache.req_pool_indices, :max_len]
-        pos_mask = (
-            torch.arange(max_len, device=q.device)[None, :] < kv_cache.seq_lens[:, None]
-        )
-        indices = torch.where(pos_mask, indices, torch.zeros_like(indices))
-        k_full = kv_cache.k_buffer[layer_id, indices]
-        v_full = kv_cache.v_buffer[layer_id, indices]
-
-        out = attn_prefill(q, k_full, v_full, mask=attn_mask, is_causal=is_causal)
-        return out.flatten(2)
-
-
-_BACKEND_REGISTRY: dict[ATTN_BACKEND, type[AttentionBackend]] = {
-    ATTN_BACKEND.TORCH_NATIVE: TorchNativeBackend,
-    ATTN_BACKEND.CUDA: CudaBackend,
-}
@@ -1,117 +0,0 @@
-"""Attention kernel wrapper functions — one entry point per compiled kernel.
-
-Each wrapper calls its CUDA kernel directly. If the kernel is not
-available, raises ``RuntimeError``. Fallback to torch SDPA is the
-responsibility of the attention backend, not this module.
-
-Layout convention: all q/k/v are ``[batch, seq_len, n_heads, head_dim]``
-(blhd). Scale is always ``1/sqrt(head_dim)``.
-
-Interface (all functions):
-    is_causal: True = causal mask; False = non-causal
-    mask:      2D [batch, kv_len] or 3D [batch, q_len, kv_len] (bool, True=keep)
-"""
-
-import torch
-
-from astrai.extension.loader import _available, _modules
-
-
-def _check_available(name: str):
-    if not _available.get(name):
-        raise RuntimeError(
-            f"CUDA kernel '{name}' is not available. "
-            f"Build with CSRC_KERNELS=true or use a torch-native backend."
-        )
-
-
-def attn_decode(
-    q: torch.Tensor,
-    k: torch.Tensor,
-    v: torch.Tensor,
-    mask: torch.Tensor | None = None,
-    is_causal: bool = False,
-) -> torch.Tensor:
-    """GQA decode attention (q_len == 1).
-
-    Args:
-        q: [batch, 1, n_heads, head_dim] (blhd, bf16)
-        k: [batch, kv_len, n_kv_heads, head_dim] (blhd, bf16)
-        v: [batch, kv_len, n_kv_heads, head_dim] (blhd, bf16)
-        mask: 2D [batch, kv_len] or 3D [batch, 1, kv_len] (bool, True=keep)
-        is_causal: apply causal mask
-
-    Returns:
-        [batch, 1, n_heads, head_dim] (blhd, bf16)
-    """
-    _check_available("attn_decode")
-    causal_offset = (k.size(1) - 1) if is_causal else -1
-    return _modules["attn_decode"].attn_decode(
-        q, k, v, mask=mask, causal_offset=causal_offset, layout=1
-    )
-
-
-def attn_prefill(
-    q: torch.Tensor,
-    k: torch.Tensor,
-    v: torch.Tensor,
-    mask: torch.Tensor | None = None,
-    is_causal: bool = False,
-) -> torch.Tensor:
-    """GQA prefill attention (q_len > 1).
-
-    Args:
-        q: [batch, q_len, n_heads, head_dim] (blhd, bf16)
-        k: [batch, kv_len, n_kv_heads, head_dim] (blhd, bf16)
-        v: [batch, kv_len, n_kv_heads, head_dim] (blhd, bf16)
-        mask: 2D [batch, kv_len] or 3D [batch, q_len, kv_len] (bool, True=keep)
-        is_causal: apply causal mask
-
-    Returns:
-        [batch, q_len, n_heads, head_dim] (blhd, bf16)
-    """
-    _check_available("attn_prefill")
-    causal_offset = (k.size(1) - q.size(1)) if is_causal else -1
-    return _modules["attn_prefill"].attn_prefill(
-        q, k, v, mask=mask, causal_offset=causal_offset, layout=1
-    )
-
-
-def attn_paged_decode(
-    q: torch.Tensor,
-    page_table: torch.Tensor,
-    k_cache: torch.Tensor,
-    v_cache: torch.Tensor,
-    page_size: int,
-    kv_len: int,
-    mask: torch.Tensor | None = None,
-    is_causal: bool = False,
-) -> torch.Tensor:
-    """Paged GQA decode attention (q_len == 1, direct page-table access).
-
-    Args:
-        q: [batch, 1, n_heads, head_dim] (blhd, bf16)
-        page_table: [batch, max_pages] (int64)
-        k_cache: [n_pages, page_size, n_kv_heads, head_dim] (bf16)
-        v_cache: same as k_cache
-        page_size: tokens per page
-        kv_len: actual sequence length per request
-        mask: 2D [batch, kv_len] or 3D [batch, 1, kv_len] (bool, True=keep)
-        is_causal: apply causal mask
-
-    Returns:
-        [batch, 1, n_heads, head_dim] (blhd, bf16)
-    """
-    _check_available("attn_paged_decode")
-    causal_offset = (kv_len - 1) if is_causal else -1
-    return _modules["attn_paged_decode"].attn_paged_decode(
-        q,
-        page_table,
-        k_cache,
-        v_cache,
-        page_size,
-        kv_len,
-        mask=mask,
-        causal_offset=causal_offset,
-        layout=1,
-    )
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+"""Backend selection, fallbacks, and execution policies."""
+
+from astrai.extension.backend.attention import (
+    ATTN_BACKEND,
+    AttentionBackend,
+    AttentionBackendFactory,
+    CudaBackend,
+    FlashAttnBackend,
+    TorchNativeBackend,
+    attention,
+    attn_backend,
+    get_backend,
+)
+from astrai.extension.backend.rotary import apply_rotary_emb
+
+__all__ = [
+    "ATTN_BACKEND",
+    "AttentionBackend",
+    "AttentionBackendFactory",
+    "CudaBackend",
+    "FlashAttnBackend",
+    "TorchNativeBackend",
+    "apply_rotary_emb",
+    "attention",
+    "attn_backend",
+    "get_backend",
+]
@@ -0,0 +1,818 @@
+"""Attention backend abstraction with context-manager switching.
+
+The backend encapsulates KV cache I/O and attention computation. The
+attention module (GQA/MLA) keeps projections, rotary, QK-norm, gating,
+and output projection; the backend handles everything from "write K/V
+to cache" through "SDPA output".
+
+Usage — mirroring ``torch.nn.attention.sdpa_kernel``:
+
+    from astrai.extension import attn_backend, ATTN_BACKEND
+
+    with attn_backend(ATTN_BACKEND.TORCH_NATIVE):
+        engine.generate("hello")
+
+    # or with an instance:
+    with attn_backend(TorchNativeBackend()):
+        ...
+
+    # or the shorthand (instance is itself a context manager):
+    with TorchNativeBackend():
+        ...
+
+Thread-safe via ``contextvars`` — each scheduler thread gets its own
+active backend. Backend resolution follows a strict precedence:
+
+1. explicit ``attn_backend(...)`` context (wins over everything),
+2. the process-wide ``ASTR_BACKEND`` environment override,
+3. an implicit default picked from the available backends
+   (cuda > flash > torch).
+
+Capability is polymorphic: every backend declares ``available()``
+(machine-level) and ``supports_call(...)`` (per-call), so adding a new
+backend requires no changes to the resolution logic. Training calls
+(``fwd=None``, no KV cache) resolve through the same priority list: the
+CUDA cache kernels cannot run without a cache, so they fall back to
+flash (when it can handle the call — mask-free/causal only) and finally
+to the reference ``TorchNativeBackend``.
+
+Layout convention: all q/k/v are ``[batch, seq_len, n_heads, head_dim]``
+(blhd). The backend returns ``[batch, seq_len, n_heads * head_dim]``.
+"""
+
+import contextvars
+import enum
+import functools
+import logging
+import os
+import threading
+from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
+from contextlib import contextmanager
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Dict, Optional, Tuple, Union
+
+import torch
+import torch.nn.functional as F
+from torch import Tensor
+
+from astrai.extension.loader import is_available
+from astrai.extension.ops.attention import (
+    attn_paged_decode,
+    attn_paged_prefill,
+)
+from astrai.factory import BaseFactory
+
+try:
+    import flash_attn as _flash_attn
+except Exception:
+    _flash_attn = None
+
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from astrai.inference.cache import KVCache
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+_default_backend_lock = threading.Lock()
+_env_backend_name: Optional[str] = None
+_env_backend: Optional["AttentionBackend"] = None
+_current_backend: contextvars.ContextVar[Optional["AttentionBackend"]] = (
+    contextvars.ContextVar("attn_backend", default=None)
+)
+
+# Backends are stateless — one canonical instance per class, created lazily
+# and reused everywhere (resolution, fallback, context managers).
+_singletons: Dict[type, "AttentionBackend"] = {}
+
+
+@functools.lru_cache(maxsize=1)
+def flash_attn_available() -> bool:
+    if not torch.cuda.is_available():
+        return False
+    fa = _flash_attn
+    if fa is None:
+        return False
+
+    try:
+        major = int(fa.__version__.split(".")[0])
+        cc = torch.cuda.get_device_capability()
+        cc_num = cc[0] * 10 + cc[1]
+    except Exception:
+        major, cc_num = 0, 0
+    if (major >= 3 and cc_num < 90) or (major < 3 and 0 < cc_num < 70):
+        return False
+
+    try:
+        if not hasattr(fa, "flash_attn_func"):
+            return False
+        x = torch.zeros(1, 1, 1, 64, device="cuda", dtype=torch.bfloat16)
+        out = fa.flash_attn_func(x, x, x, causal=True)
+        return bool(torch.isfinite(out).all().item())
+    except Exception:
+        return False
+
+
+class ATTN_BACKEND(enum.Enum):
+    """Backend selector enum, mirroring ``torch.nn.attention.SDPBackend``."""
+
+    TORCH_NATIVE = "torch_native"
+    CUDA = "cuda"
+    FLASH = "flash"
+
+
+def _instance(backend_cls: type) -> "AttentionBackend":
+    """Return the canonical singleton instance for a backend class.
+
+    Backends hold no per-instance state, so a single cached instance is
+    safe and avoids per-call allocation on the attention hot path.
+    """
+    backend = _singletons.get(backend_cls)
+    if backend is None:
+        backend = backend_cls()
+        _singletons[backend_cls] = backend
+    return backend
+
+
+@functools.lru_cache(maxsize=1)
+def _priority_backends() -> Tuple["AttentionBackend", ...]:
+    """Available backends in priority order: cuda -> flash -> torch.
+
+    Computed once (machine availability cannot change at runtime) and
+    cached forever; the tuple always ends with ``TorchNativeBackend``,
+    which is unconditionally available.
+    """
+    return tuple(
+        _instance(cls)
+        for cls in (CudaBackend, FlashAttnBackend, TorchNativeBackend)
+        if cls.available()
+    )
+
+
+def _resolve_default_backend() -> "AttentionBackend":
+    """Pick the highest-priority available backend (cuda -> flash -> torch).
+
+    Resolved lazily on first use and cached via ``_priority_backends``.
+    Per-call capability fallback happens in ``attention()``, so the
+    default is safe for training and fp32 models.
+    """
+    return _priority_backends()[0]
+
+
+def _environment_backend() -> Optional["AttentionBackend"]:
+    """Resolve the process-wide ``ASTR_BACKEND`` override, if configured."""
+    global _env_backend, _env_backend_name
+    name = os.environ.get("ASTR_BACKEND", "").strip().lower()
+    if not name:
+        return None
+    if name != _env_backend_name:
+        with _default_backend_lock:
+            if name != _env_backend_name:
+                try:
+                    _env_backend = _resolve_backend(name)
+                except (ValueError, RuntimeError):
+                    _env_backend = None
+                    logger.warning(
+                        "ASTR_BACKEND=%r is not a registered attention backend; "
+                        "falling back to default resolution",
+                        name,
+                    )
+                _env_backend_name = name
+    return _env_backend
+
+
+def _resolve_backend(
+    backend: Optional[Union[str, ATTN_BACKEND, "AttentionBackend", type]] = None,
+) -> "AttentionBackend":
+    """Resolve a backend configuration to its canonical instance.
+
+    Accepts a registered name, ``ATTN_BACKEND`` enum value, backend class,
+    or instance.  Names/classes resolve to the shared singleton; a caller
+    may still pass its own instance to opt out of sharing.
+    """
+    if backend is not None:
+        if isinstance(backend, ATTN_BACKEND):
+            return _instance(AttentionBackendFactory.get_component_class(backend.value))
+        if isinstance(backend, str):
+            return _instance(AttentionBackendFactory.get_component_class(backend))
+        if isinstance(backend, type) and issubclass(backend, AttentionBackend):
+            return _instance(backend)
+        if isinstance(backend, AttentionBackend):
+            return backend
+        raise TypeError(
+            f"expected a registered name, ATTN_BACKEND, AttentionBackend type, "
+            f"or instance, got {type(backend).__name__}"
+        )
+    return _resolve_default_backend()
+
+
+def get_backend(
+    use_default: bool = True,
+) -> Optional["AttentionBackend"]:
+    """Resolve the active backend: explicit context > env > default.
+
+    An ``attn_backend(...)`` context is the caller's explicit choice and
+    always wins.  ``ASTR_BACKEND`` is a process-wide override consulted
+    only when no context is set.  Pass ``use_default=False`` at request
+    submission to retain only an environment override or the caller's
+    :func:`attn_backend` value.
+    """
+    context_backend = _current_backend.get()
+    if context_backend is not None:
+        return context_backend
+    env_backend = _environment_backend()
+    if env_backend is not None:
+        return env_backend
+    return _resolve_default_backend() if use_default else None
+
+
+@contextmanager
+def attn_backend(backend: Union[str, ATTN_BACKEND, "AttentionBackend", type]):
+    """Context manager to select an attention backend.
+
+    Mirrors ``torch.nn.attention.sdpa_kernel``. Accepts an
+    registered name, ``ATTN_BACKEND`` enum value, backend class, or instance.
+
+    Examples::
+
+        with attn_backend(ATTN_BACKEND.TORCH_NATIVE):
+            ...
+        with attn_backend(TorchNativeBackend):
+            ...
+        with attn_backend(TorchNativeBackend()):
+            ...
+    """
+    instance = _resolve_backend(backend)
+    token = _current_backend.set(instance)
+    try:
+        yield instance
+    finally:
+        _current_backend.reset(token)
+
+
+def repeat_kv(x: Tensor, n_rep: int) -> Tensor:
+    """Expand KV heads to match Q heads for GQA."""
+    if n_rep == 1:
+        return x
+    n_heads, head_dim = x.shape[-2:]
+    return (
+        x.unsqueeze(-2)
+        .expand(*x.shape[:-2], n_heads, n_rep, head_dim)
+        .reshape(*x.shape[:-2], n_heads * n_rep, head_dim)
+    )
+
+
+def attention(
+    q: Tensor,
+    k: Tensor,
+    v: Tensor,
+    kv_cache: Optional["KVCache"] = None,
+    layer_id: int = 0,
+    attn_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None,
+    is_causal: bool = False,
+    fwd: Optional[str] = None,
+    backend: Optional[Union[str, ATTN_BACKEND, "AttentionBackend", type]] = None,
+) -> Tensor:
+    """Functional attention entry point — mirrors ``F.scaled_dot_product_attention``.
+
+    Delegates to the active backend.  ``backend`` (optional) is an explicit
+    escape hatch; when omitted the backend is resolved as
+    explicit context > ``ASTR_BACKEND`` env > default (cuda > flash > torch).
+    Handles KV cache I/O, GQA head expansion, and causal masking so the
+    caller only needs to provide projected q/k/v.
+
+    Training calls (``fwd=None``, ``kv_cache=None``) resolve through the
+    same capability chain — 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.  An explicitly-selected backend that cannot
+    handle the call raises — an implicit one falls back down the priority
+    list to the first capable backend.
+
+    Args:
+        q: [batch, q_len, n_heads, head_dim] (blhd)
+        k: [batch, q_len, n_kv_heads, head_dim] (blhd)
+        v: [batch, q_len, n_kv_heads, head_dim] (blhd)
+        kv_cache: cache dataclass, or None for training (no cache).
+        layer_id: transformer layer index for buffer access.
+        attn_mask: pre-built attention mask (SDPA-compatible).
+        is_causal: whether to apply causal masking.
+        fwd: "prefill" / "decode" for inference, None for training.
+        backend: optional explicit backend (name, enum, class, or instance).
+
+    Returns:
+        [batch, q_len, n_heads * head_dim]
+    """
+    if backend is not None:
+        selected = _resolve_backend(backend)
+        explicit = True
+    else:
+        context_backend = _current_backend.get()
+        explicit = context_backend is not None
+        # Resolve through the same chain as inference: explicit context >
+        # ASTR_BACKEND env > default.  Training calls (fwd=None, no cache)
+        # land on the CUDA backend and fall back by capability below —
+        # flash when it can handle the call, else torch SDPA.
+        selected = get_backend()
+        assert selected is not None
+
+    if not selected.supports_call(q, kv_cache, attn_mask, is_causal, fwd):
+        if explicit:
+            raise RuntimeError(
+                f"Explicitly-set backend {type(selected).__name__} cannot "
+                f"handle this attention call (shape={q.shape}, "
+                f"dtype={q.dtype}, kv_cache={'none' if kv_cache is None else 'present'}, "
+                f"attn_mask={'none' if attn_mask is None else 'present'}). "
+                f"Remove the attn_backend() context or switch to a compatible backend."
+            )
+        selected = next(
+            (
+                candidate
+                for candidate in _priority_backends()
+                if candidate.supports_call(q, kv_cache, attn_mask, is_causal, fwd)
+            ),
+            _instance(TorchNativeBackend),
+        )
+    return selected.forward(q, k, v, kv_cache, layer_id, attn_mask, is_causal, fwd)
+
+
+class AttentionBackend(ABC):
+    """Abstract base for attention computation strategies.
+
+    Subclasses implement ``fwd_decode`` (q_len == 1, with cache) and
+    ``fwd_prefill`` (q_len > 1, with or without cache). The public
+    ``forward`` method dispatches based on q_len.
+
+    Capability contract — every backend declares:
+
+    * ``available()`` — machine-level: can this backend exist here
+      (kernel ``.so`` loaded, flash-attn present, GPU available)?
+      Used once to build the default priority list.
+    * ``supports_call(q, kv_cache, attn_mask, is_causal, fwd)`` — can this
+      backend run this *specific* call (shape/dtype/cache/mask)?  Used by
+      ``attention()`` for the per-call fallback.  Resolution logic never
+      checks concrete backend types, so adding a backend requires no
+      changes outside its own class.
+
+    Three equivalent ways to activate a backend::
+
+        with attn_backend(ATTN_BACKEND.TORCH_NATIVE):  # enum
+            ...
+        with attn_backend(TorchNativeBackend):          # class
+            ...
+        with TorchNativeBackend():                       # instance
+            ...
+    """
+
+    def __enter__(self) -> "AttentionBackend":
+        self._token = _current_backend.set(self)
+        return self
+
+    def __exit__(self, *exc) -> None:
+        _current_backend.reset(self._token)
+
+    @classmethod
+    @abstractmethod
+    def available(cls) -> bool:
+        """Return True if this backend can run on the current machine.
+
+        Checks static availability only (compiled kernels, optional
+        packages, GPU presence) — not call-specific constraints.
+        """
+
+    @abstractmethod
+    def supports_call(
+        self,
+        q: Tensor,
+        kv_cache: Optional["KVCache"],
+        attn_mask: Optional[Tensor],
+        is_causal: bool,
+        fwd: Optional[str],
+    ) -> bool:
+        """Return True if this backend can run this specific attention call.
+
+        Called on the canonical singleton instance (or a caller-provided
+        one); must be side-effect free.
+        """
+
+    def forward(
+        self,
+        q: Tensor,
+        k: Tensor,
+        v: Tensor,
+        kv_cache: Optional["KVCache"],
+        layer_id: int,
+        attn_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None,
+        is_causal: bool = False,
+        fwd: Optional[str] = None,
+    ) -> Tensor:
+        """Dispatch to decode or extend based on q_len.
+
+        Args:
+            q: [batch, q_len, n_heads, head_dim]
+            k: [batch, q_len, n_kv_heads, head_dim]
+            v: [batch, q_len, n_kv_heads, head_dim]
+            kv_cache: cache dataclass, or None for training (no cache).
+            layer_id: transformer layer index for buffer access.
+            attn_mask: pre-built attention mask compatible with SDPA.
+            is_causal: whether to apply causal masking.
+
+        Returns:
+            [batch, q_len, n_heads * head_dim]
+        """
+        if fwd == "decode":
+            return self.fwd_decode(q, k, v, kv_cache, layer_id, attn_mask, is_causal)
+        if fwd == "prefill" or fwd is None:
+            return self.fwd_prefill(q, k, v, kv_cache, layer_id, attn_mask, is_causal)
+        raise ValueError(f"unsupported attention forward mode: {fwd}")
+
+    @abstractmethod
+    def fwd_decode(
+        self,
+        q: Tensor,
+        k: Tensor,
+        v: Tensor,
+        kv_cache: Optional["KVCache"],
+        layer_id: int,
+        attn_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None,
+        is_causal: bool = False,
+    ) -> Tensor:
+        """Single-token decode with KV cache."""
+
+    @abstractmethod
+    def fwd_prefill(
+        self,
+        q: Tensor,
+        k: Tensor,
+        v: Tensor,
+        kv_cache: Optional["KVCache"],
+        layer_id: int,
+        attn_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None,
+        is_causal: bool = False,
+    ) -> Tensor:
+        """Multi-token prefill or training forward."""
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def supports_graph() -> bool:
+        """Return True if this backend supports CUDA-graph capture.
+
+        Override in subclasses that can run under ``torch.cuda.graph``.
+
+        Called on the *active* backend instance (or its class) — a cheap
+        boolean check with no side-effects.
+        """
+        return False
+
+
+class AttentionBackendFactory(BaseFactory[AttentionBackend]):
+    """Factory for registered attention backends."""
+
+
+@AttentionBackendFactory.register(ATTN_BACKEND.TORCH_NATIVE.value)
+class TorchNativeBackend(AttentionBackend):
+    """Reference backend using torch SDPA with indirect KV cache indexing.
+
+    Writes new K/V into the cache buffers, gathers the full sequence K/V
+    via ``req_to_token`` indirect indexing, then calls
+    ``F.scaled_dot_product_attention``.
+
+    For training (``kv_cache is None``), skips cache I/O entirely and
+    runs SDPA directly on the projected q/k/v.
+    """
+
+    @classmethod
+    def available(cls) -> bool:
+        return True
+
+    def supports_call(
+        self,
+        q: Tensor,
+        kv_cache: Optional["KVCache"],
+        attn_mask: Optional[Tensor],
+        is_causal: bool,
+        fwd: Optional[str],
+    ) -> bool:
+        return True
+
+    def fwd_decode(
+        self,
+        q: Tensor,
+        k: Tensor,
+        v: Tensor,
+        kv_cache: Optional["KVCache"],
+        layer_id: int,
+        attn_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None,
+        is_causal: bool = False,
+    ) -> Tensor:
+        return self._forward(q, k, v, kv_cache, layer_id, attn_mask, is_causal)
+
+    def fwd_prefill(
+        self,
+        q: Tensor,
+        k: Tensor,
+        v: Tensor,
+        kv_cache: Optional["KVCache"],
+        layer_id: int,
+        attn_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None,
+        is_causal: bool = False,
+    ) -> Tensor:
+        return self._forward(q, k, v, kv_cache, layer_id, attn_mask, is_causal)
+
+    def _forward(
+        self,
+        q: Tensor,
+        k: Tensor,
+        v: Tensor,
+        kv_cache: Optional["KVCache"],
+        layer_id: int,
+        attn_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None,
+        is_causal: bool = False,
+    ) -> Tensor:
+        if q.ndim == 4:
+            n_rep = q.size(2) // k.size(2)
+            if n_rep > 1:
+                k = repeat_kv(k, n_rep)
+                v = repeat_kv(v, n_rep)
+            return (
+                F.scaled_dot_product_attention(
+                    q.permute(0, 2, 1, 3),
+                    k.permute(0, 2, 1, 3),
+                    v.permute(0, 2, 1, 3),
+                    attn_mask,
+                    is_causal=is_causal,
+                )
+                .permute(0, 2, 1, 3)
+                .contiguous()
+            )
+
+        if kv_cache is None or kv_cache.qo_indptr is None:
+            raise ValueError("packed attention requires KV cache metadata")
+        kv_cache.k_buffer[layer_id, kv_cache.out_cache_loc] = k
+        kv_cache.v_buffer[layer_id, kv_cache.out_cache_loc] = v
+        outputs = []
+        n_rep = q.size(1) // k.size(1)
+        for i in range(kv_cache.req_pool_indices.numel()):
+            q_start = int(kv_cache.qo_indptr[i])
+            q_end = int(kv_cache.qo_indptr[i + 1])
+            indices = kv_cache.req_to_token[
+                kv_cache.req_pool_indices[i], : kv_cache.seq_lens[i]
+            ]
+            k_i = kv_cache.k_buffer[layer_id, indices]
+            v_i = kv_cache.v_buffer[layer_id, indices]
+            if n_rep > 1:
+                k_i = repeat_kv(k_i, n_rep)
+                v_i = repeat_kv(v_i, n_rep)
+            q_len = q_end - q_start
+            kv_len = k_i.size(0)
+            q_pos = torch.arange(kv_len - q_len, kv_len, device=q.device)
+            causal_mask = q_pos[:, None] >= torch.arange(kv_len, device=q.device)
+            out = F.scaled_dot_product_attention(
+                q[q_start:q_end].transpose(0, 1).unsqueeze(0),
+                k_i.transpose(0, 1).unsqueeze(0),
+                v_i.transpose(0, 1).unsqueeze(0),
+                attn_mask=causal_mask,
+            )
+            outputs.append(out.squeeze(0).transpose(0, 1))
+        return torch.cat(outputs)
+
+
+@AttentionBackendFactory.register(ATTN_BACKEND.CUDA.value)
+class CudaBackend(AttentionBackend):
+    """CUDA kernel backend with direct KV cache access.
+
+    Decode path: writes K/V to the flat pool, then calls
+    ``attn_paged_decode`` with req_to_token + kv_indptr.
+
+    Prefill path: writes K/V to the flat pool, then calls
+    ``attn_paged_prefill`` with ragged-batch support via qo_indptr +
+    kv_indptr.
+
+    ``kv_cache is None`` (training) raises — the per-call fallback to
+    torch SDPA for training / fp32 / unsupported head_dim happens in the
+    ``attention()`` entry point.
+
+    Raises ``RuntimeError`` if the required kernel is not available.
+    """
+
+    # Head dims supported by the CUDA kernels (single source of truth).
+    HEAD_DIMS = (32, 64, 128, 256)
+
+    @classmethod
+    def available(cls) -> bool:
+        return (
+            torch.cuda.is_available()
+            and is_available("attn_paged_decode")
+            and is_available("attn_paged_prefill")
+        )
+
+    def supports_call(
+        self,
+        q: Tensor,
+        kv_cache: Optional["KVCache"],
+        attn_mask: Optional[Tensor],
+        is_causal: bool,
+        fwd: Optional[str],
+    ) -> bool:
+        # The CUDA kernels are bf16-only, support head_dim in
+        # HEAD_DIMS, and need a KV cache (decode/prefill); everything
+        # else falls back down the priority list to torch.
+        return (
+            fwd in ("prefill", "decode")
+            and kv_cache is not None
+            and q.ndim == 3
+            and q.dtype == torch.bfloat16
+            and q.size(-1) in self.HEAD_DIMS
+            and is_available(f"attn_paged_{fwd}")
+        )
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def supports_graph() -> bool:
+        return True
+
+    def fwd_decode(
+        self,
+        q: Tensor,
+        k: Tensor,
+        v: Tensor,
+        kv_cache: Optional["KVCache"],
+        layer_id: int,
+        attn_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None,
+        is_causal: bool = False,
+    ) -> Tensor:
+        if kv_cache is None:
+            raise RuntimeError("CudaBackend does not support training (kv_cache=None)")
+
+        kv_indptr = kv_cache.kv_indptr
+
+        out = attn_paged_decode(
+            q,
+            kv_cache.k_buffer[layer_id],
+            kv_cache.v_buffer[layer_id],
+            kv_cache.req_to_token,
+            kv_cache.req_pool_indices,
+            kv_indptr,
+            new_k=k,
+            new_v=v,
+            is_causal=True,
+            o_part_buf=kv_cache.decode_o_part,
+            ml_part_buf=kv_cache.decode_ml_part,
+            out_buf=kv_cache.decode_out,
+        )
+        return out
+
+    def fwd_prefill(
+        self,
+        q: Tensor,
+        k: Tensor,
+        v: Tensor,
+        kv_cache: Optional["KVCache"],
+        layer_id: int,
+        attn_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None,
+        is_causal: bool = False,
+    ) -> Tensor:
+        if kv_cache is None:
+            raise RuntimeError("CudaBackend does not support training (kv_cache=None)")
+
+        loc = kv_cache.out_cache_loc
+        kv_cache.k_buffer[layer_id, loc] = k
+        kv_cache.v_buffer[layer_id, loc] = v
+
+        out = attn_paged_prefill(
+            q,
+            kv_cache.k_buffer[layer_id],
+            kv_cache.v_buffer[layer_id],
+            kv_cache.req_to_token,
+            kv_cache.req_pool_indices,
+            kv_cache.kv_indptr,
+            kv_cache.qo_indptr,
+            kv_cache.q_tile_to_batch,
+            kv_cache.q_tile_to_index,
+            attn_mask,
+            is_causal=is_causal,
+        )
+        return out
+
+
+@AttentionBackendFactory.register(ATTN_BACKEND.FLASH.value)
+class FlashAttnBackend(AttentionBackend):
+    """FlashAttention backend via the optional ``flash-attn`` package.
+
+    Decode (q_len=1, contiguous cache): uses ``flash_attn_with_kvcache``,
+    which reads K/V directly from the flat pool via cache_batch_idx +
+    cache_seqlens — no materialized KV gather.
+
+    Prefill / non-contiguous decode: falls back to KV gather +
+    ``flash_attn_func``.
+    """
+
+    @classmethod
+    def available(cls) -> bool:
+        return flash_attn_available()
+
+    def supports_call(
+        self,
+        q: Tensor,
+        kv_cache: Optional["KVCache"],
+        attn_mask: Optional[Tensor],
+        is_causal: bool,
+        fwd: Optional[str],
+    ) -> bool:
+        if not self.available():
+            return False
+        if q.dtype not in (torch.float16, torch.bfloat16):
+            return False
+        if fwd is not None:
+            return q.ndim == 3 and hasattr(_flash_attn, "flash_attn_varlen_func")
+        # Dense (training) path: flash_attn_func cannot apply a custom
+        # mask, so only mask-free calls are supported — ``is_causal`` is
+        # a flag, not a mask.  Masked training (SFT/DPO/GRPO) must fall
+        # back to TorchNativeBackend instead of silently ignoring the mask.
+        return attn_mask is None
+
+    def fwd_decode(
+        self,
+        q: Tensor,
+        k: Tensor,
+        v: Tensor,
+        kv_cache: Optional["KVCache"],
+        layer_id: int,
+        attn_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None,
+        is_causal: bool = False,
+    ) -> Tensor:
+        return self._forward_packed(q, k, v, kv_cache, layer_id)
+
+    def fwd_prefill(
+        self,
+        q: Tensor,
+        k: Tensor,
+        v: Tensor,
+        kv_cache: Optional["KVCache"],
+        layer_id: int,
+        attn_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None,
+        is_causal: bool = False,
+    ) -> Tensor:
+        if q.ndim == 3:
+            return self._forward_packed(q, k, v, kv_cache, layer_id)
+        return self._forward_dense(q, k, v, attn_mask, is_causal)
+
+    def _forward_dense(
+        self,
+        q: Tensor,
+        k: Tensor,
+        v: Tensor,
+        attn_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None,
+        is_causal: bool = False,
+    ) -> Tensor:
+        n_rep = q.size(2) // k.size(2)
+        if n_rep > 1:
+            k = repeat_kv(k, n_rep)
+            v = repeat_kv(v, n_rep)
+
+        if attn_mask is not None:
+            raise ValueError(
+                "FlashAttnBackend cannot handle a custom attention mask; "
+                "use a causal mask or select TorchNativeBackend."
+            )
+        fa = _flash_attn
+        if fa is None:
+            raise RuntimeError(
+                "FlashAttnBackend requires the optional 'flash-attn' package. "
+                "Install with `pip install flash-attn`."
+            )
+        out = fa.flash_attn_func(
+            q.contiguous(),
+            k.contiguous(),
+            v.contiguous(),
+            causal=is_causal,
+        )
+        return out.contiguous()
+
+    def _forward_packed(
+        self,
+        q: Tensor,
+        k: Tensor,
+        v: Tensor,
+        kv_cache: "KVCache",
+        layer_id: int,
+    ) -> Tensor:
+        fa = _flash_attn
+        if fa is None or not hasattr(fa, "flash_attn_varlen_func"):
+            raise RuntimeError("packed inference requires flash_attn_varlen_func")
+        kv_cache.k_buffer[layer_id, kv_cache.out_cache_loc] = k
+        kv_cache.v_buffer[layer_id, kv_cache.out_cache_loc] = v
+        page_table = kv_cache.req_to_token[
+            kv_cache.req_pool_indices, : kv_cache.max_len
+        ]
+        positions = torch.arange(kv_cache.max_len, device=q.device)
+        indices = page_table[positions.unsqueeze(0) < kv_cache.seq_lens.unsqueeze(1)]
+        k_flat = kv_cache.k_buffer[layer_id, indices].contiguous()
+        v_flat = kv_cache.v_buffer[layer_id, indices].contiguous()
+        out = fa.flash_attn_varlen_func(
+            q.contiguous(),
+            k_flat,
+            v_flat,
+            kv_cache.qo_indptr,
+            kv_cache.kv_indptr,
+            int((kv_cache.qo_indptr[1:] - kv_cache.qo_indptr[:-1]).max()),
+            int(kv_cache.seq_lens.max()),
+            dropout_p=0.0,
+            causal=True,
+        )
+        return out
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import torch
 from torch import Tensor

 from astrai.extension.loader import is_available
+from astrai.extension.ops.rotary import rotary_emb as _cuda_rotary

 _cache = {"available": None}

@@ -26,7 +27,7 @@ def _torch_apply(x: Tensor, freqs_cis: Tensor) -> Tensor:
    dtype = x.dtype
    x_ = x.float().reshape(*x.shape[:-1], -1, 2)
    x_complex = torch.view_as_complex(x_)
-    freqs_cis_complex = torch.complex(cos, sin).unsqueeze(2)
+    freqs_cis_complex = torch.complex(cos, sin).unsqueeze(-2)
    x_rotated = x_complex * freqs_cis_complex
    x_out = torch.view_as_real(x_rotated).flatten(-2)
    return x_out.to(dtype)
@@ -48,7 +49,5 @@ def apply_rotary_emb(x: Tensor, freqs_cis: Tensor) -> Tensor:
        and x.is_cuda
        and x.dtype == torch.bfloat16
    ):
-        from astrai.extension.rotary_ops import rotary_emb as _cuda_rotary
-
        return _cuda_rotary(x, freqs_cis)
    return _torch_apply(x, freqs_cis)
@@ -0,0 +1,469 @@
+"""FP8 training: scaling recipes, per-tensor state, and aten::linear dispatch.
+
+Layered (see ``ops/fp8.py`` for the CUDA interface adapter):
+1. ``ops.fp8`` — the only module touching the pybind.
+2. This module (strategy layer): scaling *recipes* (TE-style delayed scaling
+   or dynamic current-amax scaling), per-tensor scales + amax history, and the
+   ``fp8_autocast`` context manager (like ``torch.autocast``).
+3. aten::linear integration: registers the CUDA + AutogradCUDA impls.
+
+Usage::
+
+    from astrai.extension.fp8 import fp8_autocast
+    with fp8_autocast(enabled=True, fp8_format="hybrid"):
+        logits = model(input_ids)
+    loss.backward()  # fp8 backward runs anywhere; fwd captured state on the node
+
+Format defaults follow the ecosystem consensus: E4M3 forward / E5M2 backward
+("hybrid"); every operand's scale is a quantization step derived from its amax
+history by the active recipe.
+
+The context mirrors ``torch.autocast`` (``autocast_mode.py``): the active
+``(enabled, recipe, fp8_format)`` triple is thread-local (a ``contextvars``
+``ContextVar``, absent outside any region), and the manager is class-based and
+reentrant with nested ``enabled=False`` disabling dispatch inside it. The module
+targets *training*: every step quantizes x/w/g fresh (no weight-cast cache — the
+optimizer bumps the weight version each step, so a torch-style cached_cast would
+miss anyway), and the per-operand scales come from the delayed/dynamic recipe.
+"""
+
+import functools
+from contextvars import ContextVar, Token
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+from enum import Enum
+from typing import Dict, List, Optional
+
+import torch
+from torch.library import Library
+
+from astrai.extension.ops.fp8 import mm_fp8, quantize
+
+# Max representable value per FP8 format (E4M3: 448, E5M2: 57344).
+FP8_MAX = {"e4m3": 448.0, "e5m2": 57344.0}
+
+
+class FP8Format(str, Enum):
+    """Per-direction FP8 format. HYBRID = E4M3 forward / E5M2 backward."""
+
+    E4M3 = "e4m3"
+    E5M2 = "e5m2"
+    HYBRID = "hybrid"
+
+    def fwd(self) -> str:
+        return "e4m3" if self is FP8Format.HYBRID else self.value
+
+    def bwd(self) -> str:
+        return "e5m2" if self is FP8Format.HYBRID else self.value
+
+
+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
+    delayed scaling, the current amax for dynamic scaling) and returns the
+    quantization step. Subclasses set ``history_len`` / ``margin``.
+    """
+
+    history_len: int = 16
+    margin: int = 0
+
+    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
+    returned by the quantize primitive into ``hist[idx]`` and publishes the
+    next scale from the window; ``idx`` advances host-side each step. The
+    trailing slot is a legacy counter kept for state-buffer compatibility.
+    """
+
+    __slots__ = ("recipe", "state", "hist", "scale", "idx", "initialized")
+
+    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.hist = self.state[:n]
+        self.scale = self.state[n : n + 1]
+        self.idx = 0
+        self.initialized = False
+
+    def advance(self) -> None:
+        """Rotate to the next history slot after metadata update."""
+        self.idx = (self.idx + 1) % self.hist.numel()
+
+    def seed(self, t: torch.Tensor, fmt: str) -> None:
+        amax = t.abs().amax().to(torch.float32).clamp_min(1e-12)
+        self.hist.fill_(amax)
+        self.scale.copy_(self.recipe.scale_from_history(self.hist, fmt))
+        self.initialized = True
+
+    def update(self, amax: torch.Tensor, fmt: str) -> None:
+        self.hist[self.idx].copy_(amax.reshape(()))
+        self.scale.copy_(self.recipe.scale_from_history(self.hist, fmt))
+
+
+class FP8TensorMeta:
+    """Per-weight delayed-scaling state for ``w``, ``x`` and ``g``.
+
+    DynamicScaling never allocates a meta; it measures the current amax inline.
+    """
+
+    __slots__ = ("w", "x", "g")
+
+    def __init__(self, device: torch.device, recipe: FP8Recipe):
+        self.w = _ScaleRing(device, recipe)
+        self.x = _ScaleRing(device, recipe)
+        self.g = _ScaleRing(device, recipe)
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class _ActiveConfig:
+    """The immutable (enabled, recipe, format) triple of one open region."""
+
+    enabled: bool
+    recipe: FP8Recipe
+    fp8_format: FP8Format
+
+
+# Thread-local active configuration (torch's autocast TLS analog): set by
+# fp8_autocast on __enter__, absent outside any region. Autograd engine
+# threads run backwards with their own empty context — fine, since backward
+# only reads state captured on ctx at forward time.
+_active_config: ContextVar[Optional[_ActiveConfig]] = ContextVar(
+    "astrai_fp8_active_config", default=None
+)
+
+
+class FP8State:
+    """Global fp8 training state: per-tensor metas + out-of-region defaults.
+
+    The active ``(enabled, recipe, fp8_format)`` triple is a ``ContextVar`` set
+    by ``fp8_autocast``. The properties below read that active config when a
+    region is open and the global defaults otherwise; the setters (and
+    ``fp8_linear_enable``) write the global defaults — the persistent switch
+    applying outside any region. The metas registry is shared across threads
+    (GIL-protected); fp8 backward runs on autograd engine threads and only
+    touches metas captured on ``ctx`` at forward time.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.default_enabled = False
+        self.default_recipe: FP8Recipe = DelayedScaling()
+        self.default_format: FP8Format = FP8Format.HYBRID
+        self._metas: Dict[tuple, FP8TensorMeta] = {}
+
+    # Active-config views (region config if open, else the defaults).
+    @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)
+            self._metas[key] = meta
+        return meta
+
+    def reset(self) -> None:
+        """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_format = FP8Format.HYBRID
+        self._metas.clear()
+
+
+# Process-wide singleton; per-thread/per-region state lives in _active_config.
+_state = FP8State()
+
+
+def fp8_state() -> FP8State:
+    return _state
+
+
+def _active() -> Optional[_ActiveConfig]:
+    """The active config when fp8 dispatch is on, else ``None`` (fast guard).
+
+    A region config wins (honoring nested ``enabled=False`` regions); with no
+    region open this falls back to the persistent global switch
+    (``fp8_linear_enable``), so that flag still routes aten::linear to fp8.
+    """
+    cfg = _active_config.get()
+    if cfg is not None:
+        return cfg if cfg.enabled else None
+    if _state.default_enabled:
+        return _ActiveConfig(True, _state.default_recipe, _state.default_format)
+    return None
+
+
+def _current_config() -> _ActiveConfig:
+    """Like ``_active()`` but always returns a config (disabled regions and
+    out-of-region direct calls resolve to the global defaults)."""
+    cfg = _active_config.get()
+    if cfg is not None:
+        return cfg
+    return _ActiveConfig(
+        _state.default_enabled, _state.default_recipe, _state.default_format
+    )
+
+
+class fp8_autocast:
+    """Autocast-style context: fp8 linear dispatch on this thread.
+
+    Mirrors ``torch.autocast`` — a class-based, reentrant, nestable context
+    over thread-local state::
+
+        with fp8_autocast(enabled=True, fp8_format="hybrid"):
+            logits = model(input_ids)   # aten::linear -> fp8 path
+        loss.backward()  # fp8 backward; state was captured at forward time
+
+    Nesting follows torch: each ``__enter__`` pushes the new active config, each
+    ``__exit__`` restores the previous one, and a nested ``enabled=False`` region
+    simply disables dispatch inside it. The instance doubles as a decorator.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        enabled: bool = True,
+        update_interval: int = 16,
+        recipe: Optional[FP8Recipe] = None,
+        fp8_format: str = "hybrid",
+        margin: int = 0,
+    ):
+        if recipe is None:
+            recipe = DelayedScaling(history_len=update_interval, margin=margin)
+        self._config = _ActiveConfig(bool(enabled), recipe, FP8Format(fp8_format))
+        self._tokens: List[Token] = []
+
+    def __enter__(self) -> "fp8_autocast":
+        self._tokens.append(_active_config.set(self._config))
+        return self
+
+    def __exit__(self, exc_type, exc_val, exc_tb) -> bool:
+        token = self._tokens.pop()
+        _active_config.reset(token)
+        return False
+
+    def __call__(self, func):
+        @functools.wraps(func)
+        def decorate(*args, **kwargs):
+            with self:
+                return func(*args, **kwargs)
+
+        return decorate
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Strategy-level forward / backward (called from the aten::linear impl)
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def _dynamic_scale(t: torch.Tensor, recipe: FP8Recipe, fmt: str) -> torch.Tensor:
+    amax = t.abs().amax().to(torch.float32).clamp_min(1e-12)
+    return recipe.scale_from_history(amax, fmt)
+
+
+def _is_fp8(dtype: torch.dtype) -> bool:
+    """A pre-quantized weight takes the GEMM directly (no re-quantize)."""
+    return dtype in (torch.float8_e4m3fn, torch.float8_e5m2)
+
+
+def fp8_linear_forward(
+    x: torch.Tensor, w: torch.Tensor, bias=None, cfg: Optional[_ActiveConfig] = None
+):
+    """Scaled fp8 linear forward (called from the aten::linear impl).
+
+    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
+    the returned amax into the history ring and publishes the next scale;
+    dynamic scaling measures the current amax itself. Training quantizes the
+    weight every step (the optimizer bumps its version, so there is no cast
+    cache, 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):
+        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)
+        w8 = w if _is_fp8(w.dtype) else quantize(w, sw.reciprocal(), fmt)[0]
+        # Bias fuses into the GEMM epilogue (fp32 add before the single bf16
+        # rounding — one rounding fewer than the separate out + bias pass);
+        # None passes through to the kernel's no-bias path.
+        out = mm_fp8(
+            x8.reshape(-1, x8.size(-1)), w8, sx * sw, trans_b=True, bias=bias
+        ).reshape(*x.shape[:-1], w.size(0))
+        return out, sx, sw
+
+    meta = state.get_weight_meta(w)
+    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)
+    if _is_fp8(w.dtype):
+        w8, amax_w = w, None
+    else:
+        w8, amax_w = quantize(w, sw.reciprocal(), 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:
+        meta.w.advance()
+    return out, sx, sw
+
+
+class _LinearFp8(torch.autograd.Function):
+    """The fp8 linear forward/backward pair (standard Function style).
+
+    The forward runs inside ``fp8_autocast`` and captures the active
+    fmt/recipe/meta on ``ctx``; the backward reads only that captured state, so
+    ``loss.backward()`` may run after the context exits. The gradient is
+    quantized once (E5M2 in hybrid) and both dX/dW GEMMs share it; the output
+    masks come from ``needs_input_grad``.
+    """
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def forward(ctx, x, w, bias):
+        cfg = _current_config()
+        out, sx, sw = fp8_linear_forward(x, w, bias, cfg)
+        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.meta = None if ctx.is_dynamic else _state.get_weight_meta(w)
+        return out
+
+    @staticmethod
+    @torch.autograd.function.once_differentiable
+    def backward(ctx, g):
+        x, w, _sx_fwd, _sw_fwd = ctx.saved_tensors
+        fmt = ctx.fmt_bwd
+        # Flatten leading dims (the forward GEMMs ran on [-1, N] / [-1, K]
+        # views; the kernels only accept 2D operands).
+        g2 = g.reshape(-1, g.size(-1))
+        if ctx.is_dynamic:
+            sg = _dynamic_scale(g2, ctx.recipe, fmt)
+            sw = _dynamic_scale(w, ctx.recipe, fmt)
+            sx = _dynamic_scale(x, ctx.recipe, fmt)
+        else:
+            meta = ctx.meta
+            if not meta.g.initialized:
+                meta.g.seed(g2, fmt)
+            sg = meta.g.scale.clone()
+            sw, sx = _sw_fwd, _sx_fwd
+        g8, amax_g = quantize(g2, sg.reciprocal(), fmt)
+        x8, _ = quantize(x.reshape(-1, x.size(-1)), sx.reciprocal(), fmt)
+        w8 = w if _is_fp8(w.dtype) else quantize(w, sw.reciprocal(), fmt)[0]
+        grad_x = mm_fp8(g8, w8, sg * sw).reshape(x.shape)  # g8[m,n] @ w8[n,k]
+        grad_w = mm_fp8(g8, x8, sg * sx, trans_a=True)  # g8.T @ x8
+        grad_b = g2.sum(0).to(torch.bfloat16)
+        if not ctx.is_dynamic:
+            meta.g.update(amax_g, fmt)
+            meta.g.advance()
+        return grad_x, grad_w, grad_b if ctx.needs_input_grad[2] else None
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# aten::linear integration
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def fp8_linear_enable(enabled: bool = True) -> None:
+    """Toggle fp8 dispatch for aten::linear globally (the out-of-region default;
+    ``fp8_autocast`` regions override it thread-locally)."""
+    fp8_state().default_enabled = enabled
+
+
+def fp8_linear_enabled() -> bool:
+    """Whether fp8 dispatch is active right now (region config or global)."""
+    return _active() is not None
+
+
+def _fp8_supported(x: torch.Tensor, w: torch.Tensor) -> bool:
+    """Shape guard for the fp8 path. Unlike a strict 16-alignment requirement,
+    the kernels handle unaligned M/N via boundary checks (slower but correct) —
+    so no whole-call bf16 fallback for small decode batches. Only the K-dimension
+    contraction must match and the weight must be 2D."""
+    return x.dim() >= 2 and w.dim() == 2 and x.size(-1) == w.size(1)
+
+
+def _linear_cuda_impl(x: torch.Tensor, w: torch.Tensor, bias=None):
+    if (
+        _active() is not None
+        and x.dtype is torch.bfloat16
+        and w.dtype is torch.bfloat16
+        and _fp8_supported(x, w)
+    ):
+        return _LinearFp8.apply(x, w, bias)
+    return torch.ops.aten.linear.default.redispatch(
+        torch._C.DispatchKeySet(torch._C.DispatchKey.CompositeImplicitAutograd),
+        x,
+        w,
+        bias,
+    )
+
+
+_lib = Library("aten", "IMPL", "CUDA")
+_lib.impl("linear", _linear_cuda_impl)
+# Also replace torch's generated linear autograd formula (which would call
+# aten::linear_backward after the fp8_autocast region exits). The fp8 backward
+# is owned by _LinearFp8 with state captured at forward time, so loss.backward()
+# works wherever it is called; the CUDA registration still covers inference_mode.
+_lib_autograd = Library("aten", "IMPL", "AutogradCUDA")
+_lib_autograd.impl("linear", _linear_cuda_impl)
@@ -1,36 +1,83 @@
 """Dynamic discovery and loading of compiled CUDA kernel modules.

-Each kernel is registered in ``csrc/build.py`` and built into a ``.so`` placed
-in this package directory. On import we try to load each one; kernels that
-failed to build (or are running on a CPU-only machine) are marked unavailable
-so the wrapper functions can fall back to ``torch`` SDPA.
+Each kernel is built by the CMake build in ``csrc/CMakeLists.txt`` into a
+``.so`` placed in ``astrai/extension/lib/`` — the module name equals the
+``.so`` name equals the pybind name (e.g. ``attn_decode``, defined via
+``TORCH_EXTENSION_NAME``). ``KERNEL_NAMES`` is discovered automatically from
+the ``.so`` files present, so adding a kernel to the CMake ``KERNELS``
+registry needs no change here.
+
+Loading is **lazy and centralized**: module names are discovered eagerly
+(cheap glob), but each ``.so`` is imported on first use via the single
+``get_module`` accessor, then cached. The wrapper modules (``ops/*.py``) never
+touch the internals or keep their own caches — they call ``get_module(name)``
+(or ``is_available(name)`` when a torch fallback is acceptable). A kernel that
+failed to build (or is running on a CPU-only machine) is ``None`` in the cache,
+so ``is_available`` returns ``False`` and ``get_module`` raises a clear error.
 """

+import glob
 import importlib
 import logging
+import os

 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)

-KERNEL_NAMES = ["attn_decode", "attn_prefill", "attn_paged_decode", "rotary_emb"]
+_LIB_DIR = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "lib")
+
+
+def _discover_kernel_names() -> list[str]:
+    """Return the module names of the compiled kernel ``.so`` files in lib/."""
+    names: list[str] = []
+    for path in glob.glob(os.path.join(_LIB_DIR, "*.so")):
+        # strip the "<soabi>.so" suffix, e.g. attn_decode.cpython-312-...so
+        names.append(os.path.basename(path).split(".", 1)[0])
+    return sorted(names)
+
+
+KERNEL_NAMES = _discover_kernel_names()

 _available: dict[str, bool] = {}
 _modules: dict[str, object] = {}

-for _name in KERNEL_NAMES:
-    try:
-        _mod = importlib.import_module(f".lib.{_name}", package=__package__)
-        _available[_name] = True
-        _modules[_name] = _mod
-    except ImportError:
-        _available[_name] = False
-        _modules[_name] = None
+
+def _try_load(name: str) -> object:
+    """Import and cache the ``name`` kernel module (lazy, one attempt).
+
+    Returns the module, or ``None`` if it is unavailable. Cached so each
+    ``.so`` is imported at most once per process.
+    """
+    if name not in _modules:
+        try:
+            _modules[name] = importlib.import_module(
+                f".lib.{name}", package=__package__
+            )
+            _available[name] = True
+        except ImportError:
+            logger.warning("kernel '%s' failed to import; marking unavailable", name)
+            _modules[name] = None
+            _available[name] = False
+    return _modules[name]


 def is_available(name: str) -> bool:
-    """Return ``True`` if the compiled kernel ``name`` was loaded."""
+    """Return ``True`` if the compiled kernel ``name`` could be loaded."""
+    if name not in _available:
+        _try_load(name)
    return _available.get(name, False)


 def get_module(name: str) -> object:
-    """Return the loaded kernel module for ``name``, or ``None`` if unavailable."""
-    return _modules.get(name)
+    """Return the loaded kernel module for ``name``, importing it on first use.
+
+    Raises ``RuntimeError`` if the kernel is unavailable (not built, or failed
+    to import) — callers that can tolerate a torch fallback should check
+    ``is_available(name)`` first instead.
+    """
+    mod = _try_load(name)
+    if mod is None:
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            f"CUDA kernel '{name}' is not available. "
+            f"Build with CSRC_KERNELS=true (or use the torch-native fallback)."
+        )
+    return mod
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+"""Stateless wrappers around compiled extension kernels."""
+
+from astrai.extension.ops.attention import (
+    TensorLayout,
+    attn_decode,
+    attn_paged_decode,
+    attn_paged_prefill,
+    attn_prefill,
+)
+from astrai.extension.ops.rotary import rotary_emb
+
+__all__ = [
+    "TensorLayout",
+    "attn_decode",
+    "attn_paged_decode",
+    "attn_paged_prefill",
+    "attn_prefill",
+    "rotary_emb",
+]
@@ -0,0 +1,192 @@
+"""Attention kernel wrapper functions - one entry point per compiled kernel.
+
+Each wrapper calls its CUDA kernel directly. If the kernel is not
+available, raises ``RuntimeError``. Fallback to torch SDPA is the
+responsibility of the attention backend, not this module.
+
+Layout convention: all q/k/v are ``[batch, seq_len, n_heads, head_dim]``
+(blhd). Scale is always ``1/sqrt(head_dim)``.
+
+Interface (all functions):
+    is_causal: True = causal mask; False = non-causal
+    mask:      2D [batch, kv_len] or 3D [batch, q_len, kv_len] (bool, True=keep)
+"""
+
+import enum
+from typing import Optional
+
+import torch
+
+from astrai.extension.loader import get_module
+
+
+class TensorLayout(enum.IntEnum):
+    """Q/K/V tensor layout, mirrors the C++ ``TensorLayout`` enum in ``attn_common.h``.
+
+    Kernels internally operate on BHLD; BLHD inputs are transposed at entry.
+    """
+
+    BHLD = 0  # [batch, n_heads, seq_len, head_dim]
+    BLHD = 1  # [batch, seq_len, n_heads, head_dim]
+
+
+def attn_decode(
+    q: torch.Tensor,
+    k: torch.Tensor,
+    v: torch.Tensor,
+    mask: Optional[torch.Tensor] = None,
+    is_causal: bool = False,
+) -> torch.Tensor:
+    """GQA decode attention (q_len == 1).
+
+    Args:
+        q: [batch, 1, n_heads, head_dim] (blhd, bf16)
+        k: [batch, kv_len, n_kv_heads, head_dim] (blhd, bf16)
+        v: [batch, kv_len, n_kv_heads, head_dim] (blhd, bf16)
+        mask: 2D [batch, kv_len] or 3D [batch, 1, kv_len] (bool, True=keep)
+        is_causal: apply causal mask
+
+    Returns:
+        [batch, 1, n_heads, head_dim] (blhd, bf16)
+    """
+    mod = get_module("attn_decode")
+    causal_offset = (k.size(1) - 1) if is_causal else -1
+    return mod.attn_decode(
+        q, k, v, mask=mask, causal_offset=causal_offset, layout=TensorLayout.BLHD
+    )
+
+
+def attn_prefill(
+    q: torch.Tensor,
+    k: torch.Tensor,
+    v: torch.Tensor,
+    mask: Optional[torch.Tensor] = None,
+    is_causal: bool = False,
+) -> torch.Tensor:
+    """GQA prefill attention (q_len > 1).
+
+    Args:
+        q: [batch, q_len, n_heads, head_dim] (blhd, bf16)
+        k: [batch, kv_len, n_kv_heads, head_dim] (blhd, bf16)
+        v: [batch, kv_len, n_kv_heads, head_dim] (blhd, bf16)
+        mask: 2D [batch, kv_len] or 3D [batch, q_len, kv_len] (bool, True=keep)
+        is_causal: apply causal mask
+
+    Returns:
+        [batch, q_len, n_heads, head_dim] (blhd, bf16)
+    """
+    mod = get_module("attn_prefill")
+    causal_offset = (k.size(1) - q.size(1)) if is_causal else -1
+    return mod.attn_prefill(
+        q, k, v, mask=mask, causal_offset=causal_offset, layout=TensorLayout.BLHD
+    )
+
+
+def attn_paged_decode(
+    q: torch.Tensor,
+    k_cache: torch.Tensor,
+    v_cache: torch.Tensor,
+    req_to_token: torch.Tensor,
+    req_pool_indices: torch.Tensor,
+    kv_indptr: torch.Tensor,
+    new_k: Optional[torch.Tensor] = None,
+    new_v: Optional[torch.Tensor] = None,
+    mask: Optional[torch.Tensor] = None,
+    is_causal: bool = False,
+    o_part_buf: Optional[torch.Tensor] = None,
+    ml_part_buf: Optional[torch.Tensor] = None,
+    out_buf: Optional[torch.Tensor] = None,
+) -> torch.Tensor:
+    """SGLang-style paged decode (q_len == 1, flat KV pool).
+
+    Reads K/V directly from a flat pool [size, kv_head, head_dim] via
+    req_to_token indirect indexing.  Each request has its own seq_len
+    (from kv_indptr), eliminating padding waste.
+
+    Args:
+        q: [batch, n_heads, head_dim] (bf16, 3D — no seq dim)
+        k_cache: [pool_size, n_kv_heads, head_dim] (bf16, flat)
+        v_cache: same as k_cache
+        req_to_token: [num_reqs, max_context_len] (int32) — token -> slot
+        req_pool_indices: [batch] (int32) — rows into req_to_token
+        kv_indptr: [batch+1] (int32) — prefix sum of per-request seq_lens
+        new_k: current-token K to append, [batch, n_kv_heads, head_dim]
+        new_v: current-token V to append, same shape as new_k
+        mask: 2D [batch, max_context_len] (bool, True=keep) or None
+        is_causal: apply causal mask
+        o_part_buf: pre-allocated split-KV o partial buffer (workflow bypass)
+        ml_part_buf: pre-allocated split-KV m/l buffer (workflow bypass)
+        out_buf: pre-allocated output buffer [batch, n_heads, head_dim] (graph-safe)
+
+    Returns:
+        [batch, n_heads, head_dim] (bf16, 3D)
+    """
+    mod = get_module("attn_paged_decode")
+    causal_offset = 0 if is_causal else -1
+    return mod.attn_paged_decode(
+        q,
+        k_cache,
+        v_cache,
+        req_to_token,
+        req_pool_indices,
+        kv_indptr,
+        new_k=new_k,
+        new_v=new_v,
+        mask=mask,
+        causal_offset=causal_offset,
+        o_part_buf=o_part_buf,
+        ml_part_buf=ml_part_buf,
+        out_buf=out_buf,
+    )
+
+
+def attn_paged_prefill(
+    q: torch.Tensor,
+    k_cache: torch.Tensor,
+    v_cache: torch.Tensor,
+    req_to_token: torch.Tensor,
+    req_pool_indices: torch.Tensor,
+    kv_indptr: torch.Tensor,
+    qo_indptr: torch.Tensor,
+    q_tile_to_batch: torch.Tensor,
+    q_tile_to_index: torch.Tensor,
+    mask: Optional[torch.Tensor] = None,
+    is_causal: bool = False,
+) -> torch.Tensor:
+    """SGLang-style paged prefill (ragged batch, flat KV pool).
+
+    Reads K/V directly from a flat pool [size, kv_head, head_dim] via
+    req_to_token.  Supports ragged batches: each request has its own
+    q_len and kv_len, addressed via qo_indptr and kv_indptr.
+
+    Args:
+        q: [total_q, n_heads, head_dim] (bf16, 3D — flattened across requests)
+        k_cache: [pool_size, n_kv_heads, head_dim] (bf16, flat)
+        v_cache: same as k_cache
+        req_to_token: [num_reqs, max_context_len] (int32)
+        req_pool_indices: [batch] (int32)
+        kv_indptr: [batch+1] (int32) — prefix sum of per-request kv_lens
+        qo_indptr: [batch+1] (int32) — prefix sum of per-request q_lens
+        q_tile_to_batch: [num_q_tiles] (int32) — request index per Q tile
+        q_tile_to_index: [num_q_tiles] (int32) — local Q tile index per request
+        mask: 4D [batch, 1, q_len, kv_len] (bool, True=keep) or None
+        is_causal: apply causal mask
+
+    Returns:
+        [total_q, n_heads, head_dim] (bf16, 3D)
+    """
+    mod = get_module("attn_paged_prefill")
+    causal_offset = 0 if is_causal else -1
+    return mod.attn_paged_prefill(
+        q,
+        k_cache,
+        v_cache,
+        req_to_token,
+        req_pool_indices,
+        kv_indptr,
+        qo_indptr,
+        q_tile_to_batch,
+        q_tile_to_index,
+        mask,
+        causal_offset=causal_offset,
+    )
@@ -0,0 +1,179 @@
+"""FP8 CUDA kernel interface adapter (the only module touching the pybind).
+
+Isolates the ``fp8_ops`` CUDA extension behind stable Python primitives:
+
+- ``quantize(x, scale, fmt) -> (x8, amax)`` — BF16/FP16/FP32 → FP8 with fused amax
+- ``mm_fp8(a8, b8, sa, sb) -> out`` — pre-quantized FP8 GEMM (BF16 output)
+
+Scale semantics: scales are *quantization steps* — the value divided out when
+quantizing (``x8 = x / scale``). Every primitive computes its own inverse
+internally; callers never pass ``scale_inv``. ``amax`` values are *returned*,
+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.
+"""
+
+from typing import Optional, Tuple
+
+import torch
+from torch.library import custom_op
+
+from astrai.extension.loader import get_module
+
+# fmt string -> kernel int (0 = E4M3, 1 = E5M2)
+_FMT_TO_INT = {"e4m3": 0, "e5m2": 1}
+
+
+def _fmt_int(fmt: str) -> int:
+    try:
+        return _FMT_TO_INT[fmt]
+    except KeyError:
+        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)
+
+
+@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"
+) -> Tuple[torch.Tensor, torch.Tensor]:
+    """Float (bf16/fp16/fp32) -> FP8 quantize with fused amax; returns
+    ``(x8, amax)``.
+
+    ``scale`` is the quantization multiplier (device scalar); ``fmt`` selects
+    E4M3 or E5M2. ``amax`` is a fresh 1-element float32 tensor.
+    """
+    # Hot-path bypass of the torch.library dispatch (~5us/call, ~40% of a
+    # 512-wide GEMM): real CUDA tensors of a supported dtype go straight to
+    # the extension. Fake/subclass tensors and non-CUDA inputs keep the
+    # custom_op route so torch.compile / meta / fake-tensor tracing and the
+    # CPU fallback behave exactly as before.
+    if (
+        type(x) is torch.Tensor
+        and x.is_cuda
+        and x.dtype in _QUANT_INPUT_DTYPES
+        and fmt in _FMT_TO_INT
+    ):
+        return get_module("fp8_ops").quantize(x, scale, _FMT_TO_INT[fmt])
+    return fp8_quantize(x, scale, _fmt_int(fmt))
+
+
+def mm_fp8(
+    a: torch.Tensor,
+    b: torch.Tensor,
+    scale: torch.Tensor,
+    trans_a: bool = False,
+    trans_b: bool = False,
+    bias: Optional[torch.Tensor] = None,
+) -> torch.Tensor:
+    """Pre-quantized FP8 GEMM: ``a @ b * scale (+ bias)``.
+
+    ``a``/``b`` must be FP8 tensors of the same format, 2D or 3D (batched,
+    matmul-style broadcast on the batch dim). Inner-transposed views (e.g.
+    ``x.t()``) fold into the layout at zero copy. ``scale`` is their combined
+    dequantization scale. ``bias`` (CUDA bf16 1D of length n) adds inside the
+    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
+    # 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)
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+"""Rotary embedding CUDA kernel wrapper.
+
+Calls the compiled CUDA kernel directly. If the kernel is not available,
+raises ``RuntimeError``. Fallback to torch complex multiply is the
+responsibility of ``astrai.extension.backend.rotary.apply_rotary_emb``.
+
+Layout: x is packed [tokens, n_heads, head_dim] or dense
+[batch, seq_len, n_heads, head_dim]. ``freqs_cis`` has matching token axes.
+"""
+
+import torch
+
+from astrai.extension.loader import get_module
+
+
+def rotary_emb(x: torch.Tensor, freqs_cis: torch.Tensor) -> torch.Tensor:
+    """Fused rotary embedding kernel.
+
+    Args:
+        x: packed 3D or dense 4D bf16 tensor.
+        freqs_cis: matching token axes followed by [head_dim/2, 2].
+
+    Returns:
+        Tensor with the same shape as ``x``.
+    """
+    mod = get_module("rotary_emb")
+    if not x.is_contiguous():
+        x = x.contiguous()
+    if not freqs_cis.is_contiguous():
+        freqs_cis = freqs_cis.contiguous()
+    return mod.rotary_emb(x, freqs_cis)
@@ -1,39 +0,0 @@
-"""Rotary embedding CUDA kernel wrapper.
-
-Calls the compiled CUDA kernel directly. If the kernel is not available,
-raises ``RuntimeError``. Fallback to torch complex multiply is the
-responsibility of ``astrai.extension.rotary_backend.apply_rotary_emb``.
-
-Layout: x is [batch, seq_len, n_heads, head_dim] (bf16, contiguous).
-freqs_cis is [batch, seq_len, head_dim/2, 2] (f32, contiguous) — [cos, sin] pairs.
-"""
-
-import torch
-
-from astrai.extension.loader import _available, _modules
-
-
-def _check_available():
-    if not _available.get("rotary_emb"):
-        raise RuntimeError(
-            "CUDA kernel 'rotary_emb' is not available. "
-            "Build with CSRC_KERNELS=true or use the torch fallback."
-        )
-
-
-def rotary_emb(x: torch.Tensor, freqs_cis: torch.Tensor) -> torch.Tensor:
-    """Fused rotary embedding kernel.
-
-    Args:
-        x: [batch, seq_len, n_heads, head_dim] (bf16, contiguous)
-        freqs_cis: [batch, seq_len, head_dim/2, 2] (f32, contiguous) — [cos, sin] pairs
-
-    Returns:
-        [batch, seq_len, n_heads, head_dim] (bf16)
-    """
-    _check_available()
-    if not x.is_contiguous():
-        x = x.contiguous()
-    if not freqs_cis.is_contiguous():
-        freqs_cis = freqs_cis.contiguous()
-    return _modules["rotary_emb"].rotary_emb(x, freqs_cis)
@@ -1,95 +1,33 @@
 """Inference module for continuous batching.

-Layers:
-  - core/:        Core inference loop (cache, executor, scheduler, task)
-  - api/:         HTTP orchestration (ProtocolHandler, server)
-  - protocols/:   Response builders (OpenAI, Anthropic)
-  - transport/:   SSE transport utilities
-  - engine.py:    Facade (InferenceEngine), Value Object (GenerationRequest)
-  - sample.py:    Strategy pattern (TemperatureStrategy, TopKStrategy, TopPStrategy, FrequencyPenaltyStrategy)
+Subpackages:
+  - cache/:     KV cache (buffers, strategies, pool)
+  - runtime/:   Execution + sampling (executor, CUDA graph, sampling strategies)
+  - task/:      Request lifecycle + performance metrics
+  - network/:   HTTP protocol handling (server, protocol, OpenAI/Anthropic builders)
+
+Modules:
+  - scheduler.py:  Continuous batching loop
+  - workspace.py:  Pre-allocated GPU buffers
+  - engine.py:     Facade (InferenceEngine)
 """

-from astrai.inference.api import (
-    AnthropicMessage,
-    BaseToolParser,
-    ChatCompletionRequest,
-    ChatMessage,
-    FunctionDef,
-    GenContext,
-    MessagesRequest,
-    ProtocolHandler,
-    SimpleJsonToolParser,
-    StopChecker,
-    ToolDef,
-    ToolParserFactory,
-    get_app,
-    run_server,
-)
-from astrai.inference.api.anthropic import AnthropicResponseBuilder
-from astrai.inference.api.openai import OpenAIResponseBuilder
-from astrai.inference.core import (
-    STOP,
-    Allocator,
-    Executor,
-    InferenceScheduler,
-    KVCache,
-    KVStorage,
-    PagePool,
-    PrefixCache,
-    ReqToTokenPool,
-    Task,
-    TaskManager,
-    TaskStatus,
-    page_hash,
-)
-from astrai.inference.engine import GenerationRequest, InferenceEngine
-from astrai.inference.sample import (
-    BaseSamplingStrategy,
-    FrequencyPenaltyStrategy,
-    SamplingPipeline,
-    TemperatureStrategy,
-    TopKStrategy,
-    TopPStrategy,
-    sample,
-)
+from astrai.inference.engine import InferenceEngine
+from astrai.inference.network import get_app, run_server
+from astrai.inference.runtime.executor import Executor
+from astrai.inference.runtime.sample import sample
+from astrai.inference.scheduler import InferenceScheduler
+from astrai.inference.task import STOP, Task, TaskManager, TaskStatus

 __all__ = [
    "InferenceEngine",
-    "GenerationRequest",
    "InferenceScheduler",
    "Executor",
    "STOP",
    "Task",
    "TaskManager",
    "TaskStatus",
-    "Allocator",
-    "KVCache",
-    "KVStorage",
-    "PagePool",
-    "PrefixCache",
-    "ReqToTokenPool",
-    "page_hash",
    "sample",
-    "BaseSamplingStrategy",
-    "TemperatureStrategy",
-    "TopKStrategy",
-    "TopPStrategy",
-    "FrequencyPenaltyStrategy",
-    "SamplingPipeline",
-    "ProtocolHandler",
-    "StopChecker",
-    "GenContext",
-    "BaseToolParser",
-    "SimpleJsonToolParser",
-    "ToolParserFactory",
-    "OpenAIResponseBuilder",
-    "AnthropicResponseBuilder",
-    "ChatMessage",
-    "ChatCompletionRequest",
-    "FunctionDef",
-    "ToolDef",
-    "AnthropicMessage",
-    "MessagesRequest",
    "get_app",
    "run_server",
 ]
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+"""KV cache subsystem: buffers, strategies, pool management."""
+
+from astrai.inference.cache.buffer import KVCache, KVStorage, ReqToTokenPool
+from astrai.inference.cache.pool import PagePool, TaskCacheManager, page_hash
+from astrai.inference.cache.strategy import (
+    AllocationStrategy,
+    Allocator,
+    ContiguousStrategy,
+    PagedStrategy,
+    RadixCache,
+    TaskCacheState,
+)
+
+__all__ = [
+    "KVCache",
+    "KVStorage",
+    "ReqToTokenPool",
+    "Allocator",
+    "RadixCache",
+    "TaskCacheState",
+    "AllocationStrategy",
+    "ContiguousStrategy",
+    "PagedStrategy",
+    "PagePool",
+    "TaskCacheManager",
+    "page_hash",
+]
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+"""Physical KV cache buffers.
+
+Layer 1 — ``KVStorage``:   flat token-level K/V GPU buffers [n_layers, size, n_kv_heads, head_dim]
+Layer 2 — ``ReqToTokenPool``: index table [req_idx, pos] → physical token slot
+Layer 3 — ``KVCache``:       pure dataclass passed to the model for direct buffer access
+
+These classes have no knowledge of tasks, allocation policies, or scheduling.
+They are the "dumb" physical storage layer.
+"""
+
+import threading
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+from typing import List, Optional
+
+import torch
+from torch import Tensor
+
+
+class ReqToTokenPool:
+    """Maps [req_idx, pos] → physical token slot in KV storage.
+
+    Each row is one request; each column is a sequence position.  The value
+    at [req_idx, pos] is the flat index into the KV storage buffers.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, size: int, max_context_len: int, device: torch.device):
+        self.size = size
+        self.max_context_len = max_context_len
+        self.req_to_token = torch.zeros(
+            (size, max_context_len), dtype=torch.int32, device=device
+        )
+        self.free_slots = list(range(size))
+        self._lock = threading.Lock()
+
+    def alloc(self, num_reqs: int) -> Optional[List[int]]:
+        with self._lock:
+            if num_reqs > len(self.free_slots):
+                return None
+            slots = self.free_slots[:num_reqs]
+            self.free_slots = self.free_slots[num_reqs:]
+            return slots
+
+    def free(self, req_indices: List[int]):
+        with self._lock:
+            self.free_slots.extend(req_indices)
+
+    def write(self, indices, values):
+        self.req_to_token[indices] = values
+
+
+class KVStorage:
+    """Token-level KV cache storage.
+
+    Buffers: ``[n_layers, size, n_kv_heads, head_dim]``.  Each token occupies
+    one slot indexed by ``ReqToTokenPool``.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        size: int,
+        n_layers: int,
+        n_kv_heads: int,
+        head_dim: int,
+        device: torch.device,
+        dtype: torch.dtype,
+    ):
+        self.size = size
+        self.k_buffer = torch.empty(
+            (n_layers, size, n_kv_heads, head_dim), device=device, dtype=dtype
+        )
+        self.v_buffer = torch.empty(
+            (n_layers, size, n_kv_heads, head_dim), device=device, dtype=dtype
+        )
+
+
+@dataclass
+class KVCache:
+    """Pure data struct passed to model for KV cache I/O.
+
+    The attention layer does raw buffer indexing — no methods, no abstraction.
+    """
+
+    k_buffer: Tensor
+    v_buffer: Tensor
+    req_to_token: Tensor
+    req_pool_indices: Tensor
+    seq_lens: Tensor
+    out_cache_loc: Tensor
+    max_len: int = 0
+    kv_indptr: Optional[Tensor] = None
+    qo_indptr: Optional[Tensor] = None
+    q_tile_to_batch: Optional[Tensor] = None
+    q_tile_to_index: Optional[Tensor] = None
+    decode_o_part: Optional[Tensor] = None
+    decode_ml_part: Optional[Tensor] = None
+    decode_out: Optional[Tensor] = None
@@ -0,0 +1,382 @@
+"""KV cache orchestration: PagePool + TaskCacheManager.
+
+PagePool owns the physical buffers (``KVStorage`` + ``ReqToTokenPool``)
+and wires them to an allocation strategy.  It assembles the ``KVCache``
+dataclass passed to the model forward.
+
+TaskCacheManager owns the ``task_id`` → ``TaskCacheState`` mapping and
+delegates physical slot allocation to the strategy, and KV bind to the pool.
+
+See ``cache_buffer.py`` for the raw buffer primitives and ``cache_strategy.py``
+for the allocation policies.
+"""
+
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+from typing import Dict, List, Optional
+
+import torch
+
+from astrai.inference.cache.buffer import KVCache, KVStorage, ReqToTokenPool
+from astrai.inference.cache.strategy import (
+    AllocationStrategy,
+    Allocator,
+    ContiguousStrategy,
+    PagedStrategy,
+    RadixCache,
+    TaskCacheState,
+)
+from astrai.inference.workspace import Q_TILE_ROWS, InferenceWorkspace
+
+# Re-export everything so existing ``from astrai.inference.cache import ...``
+# continues to work unchanged after the file split.
+__all__ = [
+    "KVCache",
+    "KVStorage",
+    "ReqToTokenPool",
+    "Allocator",
+    "RadixCache",
+    "AllocationStrategy",
+    "ContiguousStrategy",
+    "PagedStrategy",
+    "PagePool",
+    "TaskCacheManager",
+    "TaskCacheState",
+    "page_hash",
+]
+
+# ---- helpers ----
+
+
+def page_hash(
+    token_ids: List[int], page_idx: int, page_size: int, parent_hash: int = 0
+) -> int:
+    start = page_idx * page_size
+    end = min(start + page_size, len(token_ids))
+    h = parent_hash
+    for i in range(start, end):
+        h = (h * 31 + token_ids[i]) & 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
+    return h
+
+
+def _is_steady_increment(
+    prev_sig: Optional[tuple],
+    prev_vals: Optional[List[int]],
+    cur_sig: tuple,
+    cur_vals: List[int],
+) -> bool:
+    return (
+        prev_sig is not None
+        and prev_vals is not None
+        and prev_sig == cur_sig
+        and len(prev_vals) == len(cur_vals)
+        and all(c == p + 1 for c, p in zip(cur_vals, prev_vals))
+    )
+
+
+# ---- task-scoped bind state ----
+@dataclass
+class _BindState:
+    """Cached bind metadata for steady-state decode increment detection."""
+
+    sig: tuple
+    seq_lens: List[int]
+
+
+# ---- pool + manager ----
+
+
+class PagePool:
+    """Physical KV cache: buffers + req-to-token table + allocation strategy + bind.
+
+    Does not know about tasks — task lifecycle is managed by
+    :class:`TaskCacheManager`, which holds a reference to this pool.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        n_layers: int,
+        n_kv_heads: int,
+        head_dim: int,
+        max_batch_size: int,
+        max_seq_len: int,
+        device: torch.device,
+        dtype: torch.dtype,
+        page_size: int = 1,
+        n_tokens: Optional[int] = None,
+    ):
+        self.page_size = page_size
+        self.max_batch_size = max_batch_size
+        self.max_seq_len = max_seq_len
+        self.device = device
+        self.dtype = dtype
+        self.n_layers = n_layers
+        self.n_kv_heads = n_kv_heads
+        self.head_dim = head_dim
+
+        self.contiguous = n_tokens is None
+        self.n_tokens = max_batch_size * max_seq_len if self.contiguous else n_tokens
+        if self.n_tokens > torch.iinfo(torch.int32).max:
+            raise ValueError("KV cache token count exceeds the int32 slot index limit")
+
+        self._storage = KVStorage(
+            self.n_tokens, n_layers, n_kv_heads, head_dim, device, dtype
+        )
+        self._req_pool = ReqToTokenPool(max_batch_size, max_seq_len, device)
+
+        if self.contiguous:
+            for i in range(max_batch_size):
+                self._req_pool.req_to_token[i] = torch.arange(
+                    i * max_seq_len,
+                    (i + 1) * max_seq_len,
+                    dtype=torch.int32,
+                    device=device,
+                )
+            self._strategy: AllocationStrategy = ContiguousStrategy()
+        else:
+            n_pages = self.n_tokens // page_size
+            alloc = Allocator(n_pages)
+            prefix = RadixCache(page_size) if page_size > 1 else None
+            if prefix is not None:
+                alloc.on_evict = prefix.evict
+            self._strategy = PagedStrategy(
+                alloc, prefix, page_size, self._req_pool, device
+            )
+
+    @property
+    def strategy(self) -> AllocationStrategy:
+        return self._strategy
+
+    @property
+    def req_pool(self) -> ReqToTokenPool:
+        return self._req_pool
+
+    def bind_tasks(
+        self,
+        req_indices: List[int],
+        seq_lens: List[int],
+        workspace: InferenceWorkspace,
+        device: Optional[torch.device] = None,
+        start_pos: Optional[int] = None,
+        incremental: bool = False,
+    ) -> KVCache:
+        """Assemble the ``KVCache`` metadata for a batch of tasks.
+
+        Args:
+            req_indices: request slot indices (from ``ReqToTokenPool``).
+            seq_lens:    current sequence length per task.
+            workspace:   pre-allocated fixed-shape buffers (CUDA-graph safe).
+            start_pos:   if set, produce **prefill** cache (full q_len range).
+                         If ``None``, produce **decode** cache (last position).
+            incremental: if ``True``, reuse workspace state from previous step
+                         by incrementing counters in-place (decode hot path).
+
+        Returns:
+            ``KVCache`` dataclass with the correct output shapes for the
+            attention backend (prefill: ``[B, q_len]``, decode: ``[B, 1]``).
+        """
+        if device is None:
+            device = workspace.device
+        b = len(req_indices)
+
+        rpi_buf = workspace.req_pool_indices
+        sl_buf = workspace.seq_lens
+        kvp_buf = workspace.kv_indptr
+        inc_buf = workspace.inc
+        ocl_buf = workspace.out_cache_loc
+
+        if incremental:
+            sl_buf[:b] += 1
+            kvp_buf[: b + 1] += inc_buf[: b + 1]
+        else:
+            rpi_buf[:b].copy_(
+                torch.tensor(req_indices, dtype=torch.int32, device=device)
+            )
+            sl_buf[:b].copy_(torch.tensor(seq_lens, dtype=torch.long, device=device))
+            kvp_buf[: b + 1].zero_()
+            kvp_buf[1 : b + 1] = sl_buf[:b].cumsum(0).to(torch.int32)
+
+        req_pool_indices = rpi_buf[:b]
+        seq_lens_t = sl_buf[:b]
+        kv_indptr = kvp_buf[: b + 1]
+
+        if start_pos is not None:
+            # Packed prefill concatenates each request's query tokens.
+            q_lens = [seq_len - start_pos for seq_len in seq_lens]
+            if any(q_len <= 0 for q_len in q_lens):
+                raise ValueError("prefill sequence lengths must exceed start_pos")
+            out_cache_loc = torch.cat(
+                [
+                    self._req_pool.req_to_token[
+                        req_pool_indices[i], start_pos : seq_lens[i]
+                    ]
+                    for i in range(b)
+                ]
+            )
+            workspace.qo_indptr[: b + 1].zero_()
+            workspace.qo_indptr[1 : b + 1].copy_(
+                torch.tensor(q_lens, dtype=torch.int32, device=device).cumsum(0)
+            )
+            qo_indptr = workspace.qo_indptr[: b + 1]
+            tile_batches = []
+            tile_indices = []
+            for batch, q_len in enumerate(q_lens):
+                n_tiles = (q_len + Q_TILE_ROWS - 1) // Q_TILE_ROWS
+                tile_batches.extend([batch] * n_tiles)
+                tile_indices.extend(range(n_tiles))
+            n_tiles = len(tile_batches)
+            workspace.q_tile_to_batch[:n_tiles].copy_(
+                torch.tensor(tile_batches, dtype=torch.int32, device=device)
+            )
+            workspace.q_tile_to_index[:n_tiles].copy_(
+                torch.tensor(tile_indices, dtype=torch.int32, device=device)
+            )
+            q_tile_to_batch = workspace.q_tile_to_batch[:n_tiles]
+            q_tile_to_index = workspace.q_tile_to_index[:n_tiles]
+            decode_o_part = decode_ml_part = decode_out = None
+        else:
+            # ---- decode: out_cache_loc is a single column (last position) ----
+            write_pos = seq_lens_t - 1
+            loc = self._req_pool.req_to_token[req_pool_indices, write_pos].unsqueeze(-1)
+            ocl_buf[:b].copy_(loc)
+            out_cache_loc = ocl_buf[:b].reshape(-1)
+            workspace.qo_indptr[: b + 1].copy_(inc_buf[: b + 1])
+            qo_indptr = workspace.qo_indptr[: b + 1]
+            q_tile_to_batch = q_tile_to_index = None
+            decode_o_part = getattr(workspace, "decode_o_part", None)
+            decode_ml_part = getattr(workspace, "decode_ml_part", None)
+            decode_out = getattr(workspace, "decode_out", None)
+
+        return KVCache(
+            k_buffer=self._storage.k_buffer,
+            v_buffer=self._storage.v_buffer,
+            req_to_token=self._req_pool.req_to_token,
+            req_pool_indices=req_pool_indices,
+            seq_lens=seq_lens_t,
+            out_cache_loc=out_cache_loc,
+            max_len=max(seq_lens),
+            kv_indptr=kv_indptr,
+            qo_indptr=qo_indptr,
+            q_tile_to_batch=q_tile_to_batch,
+            q_tile_to_index=q_tile_to_index,
+            decode_o_part=decode_o_part,
+            decode_ml_part=decode_ml_part,
+            decode_out=decode_out,
+        )
+
+
+class TaskCacheManager:
+    """Task ↔ KV slot lifecycle manager.
+
+    Sole owner of ``task_id → TaskCacheState``.  Delegates physical slot
+    allocation to the strategy (via ``pool.strategy``) and KV bind to
+    ``pool.bind_tasks()``.
+
+    Usage::
+
+        pool = PagePool(...)
+        mgr = TaskCacheManager(pool)
+        mgr.task_alloc("req_1", [101, 202, 303])
+        ...
+        kv = mgr.bind(["req_1"], workspace)
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, pool: PagePool):
+        self._pool = pool
+        self._strategy = pool.strategy
+        self._req_pool = pool.req_pool
+        self._max_seq_len = pool.max_seq_len
+        self._states: Dict[str, TaskCacheState] = {}
+        self._bind_state: Optional[_BindState] = None
+        self._bind_was_steady = False
+
+    # -- public task lifecycle --
+
+    def task_alloc(self, task_id: str, prompt_ids: List[int]) -> bool:
+        self._bind_state = None
+        req_slots = self._req_pool.alloc(1)
+        if req_slots is None:
+            return False
+        state = TaskCacheState(req_idx=req_slots[0])
+        self._states[task_id] = state
+        if not self._strategy.alloc(state, prompt_ids):
+            self._rollback(state, task_id)
+            return False
+        self._strategy.write_indices(state, prompt_ids)
+        state.length = len(prompt_ids)
+        return True
+
+    def task_free(self, task_id: str):
+        self._bind_state = None
+        state = self._states.pop(task_id, None)
+        if state is None:
+            return
+        self._strategy.free(state)
+        self._req_pool.free([state.req_idx])
+
+    def task_extend(self, task_id: str, pos: int) -> bool:
+        state = self._states.get(task_id)
+        if state is None or pos >= self._max_seq_len:
+            return False
+        if not self._strategy.extend(state, pos):
+            return False
+        state.length = pos + 1
+        return True
+
+    def task_cached(self, task_id: str) -> int:
+        state = self._states.get(task_id)
+        return state.cached if state is not None else 0
+
+    def task_record_hashes(
+        self, task_id: str, prompt_ids: List[int], start_logical_page: int = 0
+    ):
+        state = self._states.get(task_id)
+        if state is not None:
+            self._strategy.record_hashes(state, prompt_ids, start_logical_page)
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def task_cacheable_ids(task_id: str, prompt_ids: List[int], output_ids: List[int]):
+        return list(prompt_ids) + list(output_ids[:-1])
+
+    # -- bind (assemble KVCache for the model forward) --
+
+    def bind(
+        self,
+        task_ids: List[str],
+        workspace: InferenceWorkspace,
+        device: Optional[torch.device] = None,
+        start_pos: Optional[int] = None,
+    ) -> KVCache:
+        """Build ``KVCache`` for an ordered list of task IDs."""
+        states = [self._states[tid] for tid in task_ids]
+        req_indices = [s.req_idx for s in states]
+        seq_lens = [s.length for s in states]
+        sig = tuple(req_indices)
+
+        prev = self._bind_state
+        incremental = (
+            start_pos is None
+            and prev is not None
+            and _is_steady_increment(prev.sig, prev.seq_lens, sig, seq_lens)
+        )
+        self._bind_state = _BindState(sig, list(seq_lens))
+        self._bind_was_steady = incremental
+
+        return self._pool.bind_tasks(
+            req_indices,
+            seq_lens,
+            workspace,
+            device=device,
+            start_pos=start_pos,
+            incremental=incremental,
+        )
+
+    @property
+    def bind_was_steady(self) -> bool:
+        return self._bind_was_steady
+
+    # -- internals --
+
+    def _rollback(self, state: TaskCacheState, task_id: str):
+        self._strategy.free(state)
+        self._req_pool.free([state.req_idx])
+        self._states.pop(task_id, None)
@@ -0,0 +1,318 @@
+"""KV cache allocation layer.
+
+Encapsulates the physical slot allocation policy, isolated from GPU buffers
+and task lifecycle management.
+
+- ``TaskCacheState``: data contract between strategy and manager (per-task slot state)
+- ``Allocator``:       bitmask-based page allocator with LRU eviction
+- ``RadixCache``:      page-granular prefix index (exact token match)
+- ``AllocationStrategy``: ABC for physical slot allocation
+- ``ContiguousStrategy``: statically partitioned, no dynamic allocation
+- ``PagedStrategy``:    dynamic paged allocation from a shared pool
+"""
+
+import threading
+from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
+from dataclasses import dataclass, field
+from typing import Callable, Dict, List, Optional, OrderedDict
+
+from astrai.inference.cache.buffer import ReqToTokenPool
+
+# ---- data contract: per-task slot state ----
+
+
+@dataclass
+class TaskCacheState:
+    """Per-task cache allocation state.
+
+    Co-locates all task-owned cache metadata so the alloc/free/extend
+    lifecycle is atomic.  Owned by ``TaskCacheManager``, consumed by
+    every ``AllocationStrategy`` method.
+    """
+
+    req_idx: int
+    length: int = 0
+    cached: int = 0
+    pages: List[int] = field(default_factory=list)
+
+
+# ---- allocation primitives ----
+
+
+class Allocator:
+    """Bitmask-based page allocator with ref-counting and LRU eviction."""
+
+    def __init__(self, n_pages: int):
+        self._free_mask = (1 << n_pages) - 1
+        self._refs: List[int] = [0] * n_pages
+        self._lru: OrderedDict[int, None] = OrderedDict()
+        self.on_evict: Optional[Callable[[int], None]] = None
+        self._lock = threading.Lock()
+
+    def alloc(self) -> int:
+        with self._lock:
+            if self._free_mask:
+                lsb = self._free_mask & -self._free_mask
+                idx = lsb.bit_length() - 1
+                self._free_mask ^= lsb
+                self._refs[idx] = 1
+                return idx
+            if self._lru:
+                idx, _ = self._lru.popitem(last=False)
+                if self.on_evict:
+                    self.on_evict(idx)
+                self._refs[idx] = 1
+                self._free_mask &= ~(1 << idx)
+                return idx
+            return -1
+
+    def free(self, idx: int, keep_cached: bool = False):
+        with self._lock:
+            self._refs[idx] -= 1
+            if self._refs[idx] == 0:
+                if keep_cached:
+                    self._lru[idx] = None
+                else:
+                    self._free_mask |= 1 << idx
+
+    def inc_ref(self, idx: int):
+        with self._lock:
+            self._refs[idx] += 1
+            self._lru.pop(idx, None)
+
+    def ref_count(self, idx: int) -> int:
+        with self._lock:
+            return self._refs[idx]
+
+    def touch(self, idx: int):
+        with self._lock:
+            if idx in self._lru:
+                self._lru.move_to_end(idx)
+
+
+class RadixNode:
+    """A page-aligned edge in the CPU-side prefix radix trie."""
+
+    __slots__ = ("parent", "children", "page_idx", "tokens", "lock_ref")
+
+    def __init__(self, parent=None, tokens=(), page_idx=None):
+        self.parent = parent
+        self.children: Dict[tuple, "RadixNode"] = {}
+        self.page_idx = page_idx
+        self.tokens = tuple(tokens)
+        self.lock_ref = 0
+
+
+class RadixCache:
+    """Page-granular radix prefix index with exact token matching."""
+
+    def __init__(self, page_size: int):
+        self._page_size = page_size
+        self._root = RadixNode()
+        self._page_to_node: Dict[int, RadixNode] = {}
+        self._lock = threading.Lock()
+
+    def evict(self, idx: int):
+        with self._lock:
+            node = self._page_to_node.pop(idx, None)
+            if node is None:
+                return
+            node.page_idx = None
+            parent = node.parent
+            if parent is not None:
+                parent.children.pop(node.tokens, None)
+
+    def has_page(self, idx: int) -> bool:
+        with self._lock:
+            return idx in self._page_to_node
+
+    def lookup(self, token_ids: List[int]) -> List[int]:
+        with self._lock:
+            full_pages = len(token_ids) // self._page_size
+            hits: List[int] = []
+            node = self._root
+            for i in range(full_pages):
+                start = i * self._page_size
+                page_tokens = tuple(token_ids[start : start + self._page_size])
+                child = node.children.get(page_tokens)
+                if child is None or child.page_idx is None:
+                    break
+                hits.append(child.page_idx)
+                node = child
+            return hits
+
+    def record(self, page_idx: int, token_ids: List[int], logical_page_idx: int):
+        with self._lock:
+            full_pages = len(token_ids) // self._page_size
+            if logical_page_idx >= full_pages:
+                return
+            old = self._page_to_node.pop(page_idx, None)
+            if old is not None and old.parent is not None:
+                old.parent.children.pop(old.tokens, None)
+
+            node = self._root
+            for i in range(logical_page_idx + 1):
+                start = i * self._page_size
+                page_tokens = tuple(token_ids[start : start + self._page_size])
+                child = node.children.get(page_tokens)
+                if child is None:
+                    child = RadixNode(node, page_tokens)
+                    node.children[page_tokens] = child
+                node = child
+            if node.page_idx is not None and node.page_idx != page_idx:
+                replaced = node.page_idx
+                self._page_to_node.pop(replaced, None)
+            node.page_idx = page_idx
+            self._page_to_node[page_idx] = node
+
+    def release(self, pages: List[int]) -> None:
+        with self._lock:
+            for page_idx in pages:
+                node = self._page_to_node.get(page_idx)
+                if node is not None and node.lock_ref:
+                    node.lock_ref -= 1
+
+
+class AllocationStrategy(ABC):
+    """Physical slot allocation policy.
+
+    Subclasses implement the actual allocation semantics.  This ABC declares
+    the contract; there are no default implementations.
+    """
+
+    @abstractmethod
+    def alloc(self, state: TaskCacheState, prompt_ids: List[int]) -> bool: ...
+
+    @abstractmethod
+    def free(self, state: TaskCacheState) -> None: ...
+
+    @abstractmethod
+    def extend(self, state: TaskCacheState, pos: int) -> bool: ...
+
+    @abstractmethod
+    def write_indices(self, state: TaskCacheState, prompt_ids: List[int]) -> None: ...
+
+    @abstractmethod
+    def record_hashes(
+        self,
+        state: TaskCacheState,
+        prompt_ids: List[int],
+        start: int,
+    ) -> None: ...
+
+
+class ContiguousStrategy(AllocationStrategy):
+    """Static contiguous allocation: slots are pre-assigned at pool init.
+
+    No dynamic allocation or prefix caching.  All operations are no-ops
+    because ``ReqToTokenPool`` is pre-filled with contiguous ranges.
+    """
+
+    def alloc(self, state: TaskCacheState, prompt_ids: List[int]) -> bool:
+        return True
+
+    def free(self, state: TaskCacheState) -> None:
+        pass
+
+    def extend(self, state: TaskCacheState, pos: int) -> bool:
+        return True
+
+    def write_indices(self, state: TaskCacheState, prompt_ids: List[int]) -> None:
+        pass
+
+    def record_hashes(
+        self,
+        state: TaskCacheState,
+        prompt_ids: List[int],
+        start: int,
+    ) -> None:
+        pass
+
+
+class PagedStrategy(AllocationStrategy):
+    """Dynamic paged allocation from a shared bitmask pool.
+
+    ``page_size`` is a parameter, not a separate strategy: at ``page_size=1``
+    each allocated page *is* one token slot (``page * 1 + 0``), and prefix
+    caching is simply disabled (``prefix=None``).  The unified page formula
+    ``pages[page_idx] * page_size + offset`` holds for both.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        alloc: Allocator,
+        prefix: Optional[RadixCache],
+        page_size: int,
+        req_pool: ReqToTokenPool,
+        device,
+    ):
+        self._alloc = alloc
+        self._prefix = prefix
+        self._page_size = page_size
+        self._req_pool = req_pool
+        self._device = device
+
+    def alloc(self, state: TaskCacheState, prompt_ids: List[int]) -> bool:
+        if self._prefix is not None:
+            hits = self._prefix.lookup(prompt_ids)
+            state.cached = len(hits) * self._page_size
+            for p in hits:
+                self._alloc.inc_ref(p)
+            state.pages = list(hits)
+
+        remaining = len(prompt_ids) - state.cached
+        if remaining <= 0:
+            return True
+        n_new = (remaining + self._page_size - 1) // self._page_size
+        for _ in range(n_new):
+            p = self._alloc.alloc()
+            if p < 0:
+                return False
+            state.pages.append(p)
+        return True
+
+    def free(self, state: TaskCacheState) -> None:
+        if self._prefix is not None:
+            for p in state.pages:
+                keep = self._prefix.has_page(p)
+                self._alloc.free(p, keep_cached=keep)
+                if not keep:
+                    self._prefix.evict(p)
+        else:
+            for p in state.pages:
+                self._alloc.free(p)
+
+    def extend(self, state: TaskCacheState, pos: int) -> bool:
+        page_idx = pos // self._page_size
+        if page_idx >= len(state.pages):
+            p = self._alloc.alloc()
+            if p < 0:
+                return False
+            state.pages.append(p)
+        offset = pos % self._page_size
+        self._req_pool.req_to_token[state.req_idx, pos] = (
+            state.pages[page_idx] * self._page_size + offset
+        )
+        return True
+
+    def write_indices(self, state: TaskCacheState, prompt_ids: List[int]) -> None:
+        total = len(prompt_ids)
+        for pos in range(total):
+            page_idx = pos // self._page_size
+            offset = pos % self._page_size
+            if page_idx < len(state.pages):
+                self._req_pool.req_to_token[state.req_idx, pos] = (
+                    state.pages[page_idx] * self._page_size + offset
+                )
+
+    def record_hashes(
+        self,
+        state: TaskCacheState,
+        prompt_ids: List[int],
+        start: int,
+    ) -> None:
+        if self._prefix is None:
+            return
+        full = len(prompt_ids) // self._page_size
+        for i in range(start, min(full, len(state.pages))):
+            self._prefix.record(state.pages[i], prompt_ids, i)
@@ -1,30 +0,0 @@
-"""Inference core: cache, executor, scheduler, task management."""
-
-from astrai.inference.core.cache import (
-    Allocator,
-    KVCache,
-    KVStorage,
-    PagePool,
-    PrefixCache,
-    ReqToTokenPool,
-    page_hash,
-)
-from astrai.inference.core.executor import Executor
-from astrai.inference.core.scheduler import InferenceScheduler
-from astrai.inference.core.task import STOP, Task, TaskManager, TaskStatus
-
-__all__ = [
-    "Allocator",
-    "KVCache",
-    "KVStorage",
-    "PagePool",
-    "PrefixCache",
-    "ReqToTokenPool",
-    "page_hash",
-    "Executor",
-    "InferenceScheduler",
-    "STOP",
-    "Task",
-    "TaskManager",
-    "TaskStatus",
-]
@@ -1,501 +0,0 @@
-"""KV cache architecture: three-layer separation (SGLang-inspired).
-
-Layer 1 — KVStorage:      flat token-level K/V buffers [n_layers, size, H, D]
-Layer 2 — ReqToTokenPool:  index table [req_idx, pos] → physical token slot
-Layer 3 — Allocator:       slot/page allocation with ref-counting and LRU
-
-PagePool orchestrates all three plus PrefixCache (content addressing).
-KVCache is a pure dataclass passed to the model for direct buffer access.
-
-Two modes:
-  - contiguous (default): pre-allocated per-request blocks, no dynamic alloc
-  - paged: shared pool with on-demand allocation, prefix caching support
-"""
-
-import threading
-from collections import OrderedDict
-from dataclasses import dataclass
-from typing import Callable, Dict, List, Optional
-
-import torch
-from torch import Tensor
-
-
-def page_hash(token_ids: List[int], page_idx: int, page_size: int) -> int:
-    start = page_idx * page_size
-    end = min(start + page_size, len(token_ids))
-    h = 0
-    for i in range(start, end):
-        h = (h * 31 + token_ids[i]) & 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
-    return h
-
-
-class Allocator:
-    """Bitmask-based page allocator with ref-counting and LRU eviction."""
-
-    def __init__(self, n_pages: int):
-        self._free_mask = (1 << n_pages) - 1
-        self._refs: List[int] = [0] * n_pages
-        self._lru: OrderedDict[int, None] = OrderedDict()
-        self.on_evict: Optional[Callable[[int], None]] = None
-        self._lock = threading.Lock()
-
-    def alloc(self) -> int:
-        with self._lock:
-            if self._free_mask:
-                lsb = self._free_mask & -self._free_mask
-                idx = lsb.bit_length() - 1
-                self._free_mask ^= lsb
-                self._refs[idx] = 1
-                return idx
-            if self._lru:
-                idx, _ = self._lru.popitem(last=False)
-                if self.on_evict:
-                    self.on_evict(idx)
-                self._refs[idx] = 1
-                self._free_mask &= ~(1 << idx)
-                return idx
-            return -1
-
-    def free(self, idx: int, keep_cached: bool = False):
-        with self._lock:
-            self._refs[idx] -= 1
-            if self._refs[idx] == 0:
-                if keep_cached:
-                    self._lru[idx] = None
-                else:
-                    self._free_mask |= 1 << idx
-
-    def inc_ref(self, idx: int):
-        with self._lock:
-            self._refs[idx] += 1
-            self._lru.pop(idx, None)
-
-    def ref_count(self, idx: int) -> int:
-        with self._lock:
-            return self._refs[idx]
-
-    def touch(self, idx: int):
-        with self._lock:
-            if idx in self._lru:
-                self._lru.move_to_end(idx)
-
-
-class PrefixCache:
-    """Hash-based prefix matching: maps page hashes to physical page indices."""
-
-    def __init__(self, page_size: int):
-        self._page_size = page_size
-        self._page_to_hash: Dict[int, int] = {}
-        self._hash_to_page: Dict[int, int] = {}
-        self._lock = threading.Lock()
-
-    def evict(self, idx: int):
-        with self._lock:
-            h = self._page_to_hash.pop(idx, None)
-            if h is not None:
-                self._hash_to_page.pop(h, None)
-
-    def has_page(self, idx: int) -> bool:
-        with self._lock:
-            return idx in self._page_to_hash
-
-    def lookup(self, token_ids: List[int]) -> List[int]:
-        with self._lock:
-            full_pages = len(token_ids) // self._page_size
-            hits: List[int] = []
-            for i in range(full_pages):
-                h = page_hash(token_ids, i, self._page_size)
-                p = self._hash_to_page.get(h)
-                if p is None:
-                    break
-                hits.append(p)
-            return hits
-
-    def record(self, page_idx: int, token_ids: List[int], logical_page_idx: int):
-        with self._lock:
-            h = page_hash(token_ids, logical_page_idx, self._page_size)
-            old_h = self._page_to_hash.pop(page_idx, None)
-            if old_h is not None:
-                self._hash_to_page.pop(old_h, None)
-            self._page_to_hash[page_idx] = h
-            self._hash_to_page[h] = page_idx
-
-
-class ReqToTokenPool:
-    """Maps [req_idx, pos] -> physical token slot in KV storage.
-
-    Each row is one request; each column is a sequence position. The value
-    at [req_idx, pos] is the flat index into the KV storage buffers.
-    """
-
-    def __init__(self, size: int, max_context_len: int, device: torch.device):
-        self.size = size
-        self.max_context_len = max_context_len
-        self.req_to_token = torch.zeros(
-            (size, max_context_len), dtype=torch.long, device=device
-        )
-        self.free_slots = list(range(size))
-        self._lock = threading.Lock()
-
-    def alloc(self, num_reqs: int) -> Optional[List[int]]:
-        with self._lock:
-            if num_reqs > len(self.free_slots):
-                return None
-            slots = self.free_slots[:num_reqs]
-            self.free_slots = self.free_slots[num_reqs:]
-            return slots
-
-    def free(self, req_indices: List[int]):
-        with self._lock:
-            self.free_slots.extend(req_indices)
-
-    def write(self, indices, values):
-        self.req_to_token[indices] = values
-
-
-class KVStorage:
-    """Token-level KV cache storage.
-
-    Buffers: [n_layers, size, n_kv_heads, head_dim]. Each token occupies
-    one slot indexed by ReqToTokenPool.
-    """
-
-    def __init__(
-        self,
-        size: int,
-        n_layers: int,
-        n_kv_heads: int,
-        head_dim: int,
-        device: torch.device,
-        dtype: torch.dtype,
-    ):
-        self.size = size
-        self.k_buffer = torch.empty(
-            (n_layers, size, n_kv_heads, head_dim), device=device, dtype=dtype
-        )
-        self.v_buffer = torch.empty(
-            (n_layers, size, n_kv_heads, head_dim), device=device, dtype=dtype
-        )
-
-    def get_key_buffer(self, layer_id: int) -> Tensor:
-        return self.k_buffer[layer_id]
-
-    def get_value_buffer(self, layer_id: int) -> Tensor:
-        return self.v_buffer[layer_id]
-
-    def set_kv_buffer(self, layer_id: int, loc: Tensor, k: Tensor, v: Tensor) -> None:
-        self.k_buffer[layer_id, loc] = k
-        self.v_buffer[layer_id, loc] = v
-
-
-@dataclass
-class KVCache:
-    """Pure data struct passed to model for KV cache I/O.
-
-    The attention layer does raw buffer indexing — no methods, no abstraction.
-
-    Attributes:
-        k_buffer: [n_layers, size, n_kv_heads, head_dim]
-        v_buffer: [n_layers, size, n_kv_heads, head_dim]
-        req_to_token: [num_reqs, max_ctx_len] — index table
-        req_pool_indices: [batch_size] — row indices into req_to_token
-        seq_lens: [batch_size] — per-request total sequence lengths
-        out_cache_loc: [batch, new_seq_len] or [batch, 1] — write indices
-        max_len: max(seq_lens) as Python int — avoids GPU sync in decode
-        page_table: [batch, max_len] — precomputed gather indices for decode;
-            None for prefill or when not yet computed.
-        decode_mask: [batch, max_len] bool — precomputed position validity
-            mask for decode; None for prefill or single-batch decode.
-    """
-
-    k_buffer: Tensor
-    v_buffer: Tensor
-    req_to_token: Tensor
-    req_pool_indices: Tensor
-    seq_lens: Tensor
-    out_cache_loc: Tensor
-    max_len: int = 0
-    page_table: Optional[Tensor] = None
-    decode_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None
-
-
-class PagePool:
-    """Top-level KV cache manager.
-
-    Combines KVStorage + ReqToTokenPool + Allocator + PrefixCache.
-
-    Args:
-        n_layers: Number of transformer layers.
-        n_kv_heads: Number of KV attention heads.
-        head_dim: Dimension per head.
-        max_batch_size: Maximum concurrent requests.
-        max_seq_len: Maximum sequence length per request.
-        device, dtype: Tensor device and dtype.
-        page_size: Page size for paged mode (1 = token-level).
-        n_tokens: Total token slots for paged mode. None = contiguous mode
-            (pre-allocates max_batch_size * max_seq_len).
-    """
-
-    def __init__(
-        self,
-        n_layers: int,
-        n_kv_heads: int,
-        head_dim: int,
-        max_batch_size: int,
-        max_seq_len: int,
-        device: torch.device,
-        dtype: torch.dtype,
-        page_size: int = 1,
-        n_tokens: Optional[int] = None,
-    ):
-        self.page_size = page_size
-        self.max_batch_size = max_batch_size
-        self.max_seq_len = max_seq_len
-        self.device = device
-        self.dtype = dtype
-        self.n_layers = n_layers
-        self.n_kv_heads = n_kv_heads
-        self.head_dim = head_dim
-
-        self.contiguous = n_tokens is None
-        if self.contiguous:
-            self.n_tokens = max_batch_size * max_seq_len
-        else:
-            self.n_tokens = n_tokens
-
-        self._storage = KVStorage(
-            self.n_tokens, n_layers, n_kv_heads, head_dim, device, dtype
-        )
-        self._req_pool = ReqToTokenPool(max_batch_size, max_seq_len, device)
-
-        if self.contiguous:
-            for i in range(max_batch_size):
-                self._req_pool.req_to_token[i] = torch.arange(
-                    i * max_seq_len, (i + 1) * max_seq_len, device=device
-                )
-            self._alloc: Optional[Allocator] = None
-            self._prefix: Optional[PrefixCache] = None
-        else:
-            n_pages = self.n_tokens // page_size
-            self._alloc = Allocator(n_pages)
-            self._prefix = PrefixCache(page_size) if page_size > 1 else None
-            if self._prefix is not None:
-                self._alloc.on_evict = self._prefix.evict
-
-        self._task_req: Dict[str, int] = {}
-        self._task_len: Dict[int, int] = {}
-        self._task_cached: Dict[str, int] = {}
-        self._task_slots: Dict[str, List[int]] = {}
-        self._task_pages: Dict[str, List[int]] = {}
-        self._lock = threading.Lock()
-
-    # ---- task lifecycle ----
-
-    def task_alloc(self, task_id: str, prompt_ids: List[int]) -> bool:
-        req_slots = self._req_pool.alloc(1)
-        if req_slots is None:
-            return False
-        req_idx = req_slots[0]
-        self._task_req[task_id] = req_idx
-
-        if self.contiguous:
-            self._task_len[req_idx] = len(prompt_ids)
-            self._task_cached[task_id] = 0
-            return True
-
-        n_tokens_needed = len(prompt_ids)
-        cached = 0
-
-        if self._prefix is not None:
-            hits = self._prefix.lookup(prompt_ids)
-            cached = len(hits) * self.page_size
-            for p in hits:
-                self._alloc.inc_ref(p)
-            self._task_pages[task_id] = list(hits)
-            self._task_slots[task_id] = []
-        else:
-            self._task_pages[task_id] = []
-            self._task_slots[task_id] = []
-
-        remaining = n_tokens_needed - cached
-        if remaining > 0:
-            if self.page_size == 1:
-                slots = self._alloc_tokens(remaining)
-                if slots is None:
-                    for p in self._task_pages[task_id]:
-                        self._alloc.free(p)
-                    self._req_pool.free([req_idx])
-                    del self._task_req[task_id]
-                    return False
-                self._task_slots[task_id] = slots
-            else:
-                n_new_pages = (remaining + self.page_size - 1) // self.page_size
-                new_pages = []
-                for _ in range(n_new_pages):
-                    p = self._alloc.alloc()
-                    if p < 0:
-                        for hp in self._task_pages[task_id]:
-                            self._alloc.free(hp)
-                        for np_ in new_pages:
-                            self._alloc.free(np_)
-                        self._req_pool.free([req_idx])
-                        del self._task_req[task_id]
-                        return False
-                    new_pages.append(p)
-                self._task_pages[task_id].extend(new_pages)
-
-        self._write_req_to_token(task_id, prompt_ids, cached)
-        self._task_len[req_idx] = len(prompt_ids)
-        self._task_cached[task_id] = cached
-        return True
-
-    def task_free(self, task_id: str):
-        req_idx = self._task_req.pop(task_id, None)
-        if req_idx is None:
-            return
-        self._task_len.pop(req_idx, None)
-        self._task_cached.pop(task_id, None)
-
-        if not self.contiguous:
-            if self._prefix is not None:
-                for p in self._task_pages.get(task_id, []):
-                    keep = self._prefix.has_page(p)
-                    self._alloc.free(p, keep_cached=keep)
-                    if not keep:
-                        self._prefix.evict(p)
-            else:
-                for p in self._task_pages.get(task_id, []):
-                    self._alloc.free(p)
-            self._task_pages.pop(task_id, None)
-            self._task_slots.pop(task_id, None)
-
-        self._req_pool.free([req_idx])
-
-    def task_extend(self, task_id: str, pos: int) -> bool:
-        req_idx = self._task_req.get(task_id)
-        if req_idx is None:
-            return False
-
-        if self.contiguous:
-            return pos < self.max_seq_len
-
-        if self.page_size == 1:
-            slots = self._alloc_tokens(1)
-            if slots is None:
-                return False
-            self._task_slots.setdefault(task_id, []).extend(slots)
-            self._req_pool.req_to_token[req_idx, pos] = slots[0]
-        else:
-            page_idx = pos // self.page_size
-            existing = self._task_pages.get(task_id, [])
-            if page_idx >= len(existing):
-                p = self._alloc.alloc()
-                if p < 0:
-                    return False
-                existing.append(p)
-                self._task_pages[task_id] = existing
-            page_offset = pos % self.page_size
-            page = existing[page_idx]
-            token_slot = page * self.page_size + page_offset
-            self._req_pool.req_to_token[req_idx, pos] = token_slot
-
-        self._task_len[req_idx] = pos + 1
-        return True
-
-    def task_cached(self, task_id: str) -> int:
-        return self._task_cached.get(task_id, 0)
-
-    def task_record_hashes(
-        self, task_id: str, prompt_ids: List[int], start_logical_page: int = 0
-    ):
-        if self._prefix is None or self.contiguous:
-            return
-        pages = self._task_pages.get(task_id, [])
-        full_pages = len(prompt_ids) // self.page_size
-        for i in range(start_logical_page, min(full_pages, len(pages))):
-            self._prefix.record(pages[i], prompt_ids, i)
-
-    # ---- bind for forward ----
-
-    def bind_tasks(
-        self,
-        task_ids: List[str],
-        seq_lens: List[int],
-        device: torch.device,
-        start_pos: Optional[int] = None,
-    ) -> KVCache:
-        req_indices = [self._task_req[tid] for tid in task_ids]
-        req_pool_indices = torch.tensor(req_indices, dtype=torch.long, device=device)
-        seq_lens_t = torch.tensor(seq_lens, dtype=torch.long, device=device)
-
-        if start_pos is not None:
-            seq_len = seq_lens[0]
-            out_cache_loc = self._req_pool.req_to_token[
-                req_pool_indices, start_pos:seq_len
-            ]
-            page_table = None
-            decode_mask = None
-        else:
-            write_pos = seq_lens_t - 1
-            out_cache_loc = self._req_pool.req_to_token[
-                req_pool_indices, write_pos
-            ].unsqueeze(-1)
-            ml = max(seq_lens)
-            page_table = self._req_pool.req_to_token[req_pool_indices, :ml]
-            if len(task_ids) > 1:
-                decode_mask = (
-                    torch.arange(ml, device=device)[None, :] < seq_lens_t[:, None]
-                )
-            else:
-                decode_mask = None
-
-        return KVCache(
-            k_buffer=self._storage.k_buffer,
-            v_buffer=self._storage.v_buffer,
-            req_to_token=self._req_pool.req_to_token,
-            req_pool_indices=req_pool_indices,
-            seq_lens=seq_lens_t,
-            out_cache_loc=out_cache_loc,
-            max_len=max(seq_lens),
-            page_table=page_table,
-            decode_mask=decode_mask,
-        )
-
-    # ---- internals ----
-
-    def _alloc_tokens(self, n: int) -> Optional[List[int]]:
-        if self.page_size != 1:
-            raise RuntimeError("_alloc_tokens is for page_size=1 only")
-        slots = []
-        for _ in range(n):
-            p = self._alloc.alloc()
-            if p < 0:
-                for s in slots:
-                    self._alloc.free(s)
-                return None
-            slots.append(p)
-        return slots
-
-    def _write_req_to_token(self, task_id: str, prompt_ids: List[int], cached: int):
-        req_idx = self._task_req[task_id]
-        total = len(prompt_ids)
-
-        if self.contiguous:
-            return
-
-        if self.page_size == 1:
-            slots = self._task_slots.get(task_id, [])
-            all_slots = slots[: total - cached]
-            if all_slots:
-                self._req_pool.req_to_token[req_idx, cached:total] = torch.tensor(
-                    all_slots, dtype=torch.long, device=self.device
-                )
-        else:
-            pages = self._task_pages.get(task_id, [])
-            for pos in range(cached, total):
-                page_idx = pos // self.page_size
-                page_offset = pos % self.page_size
-                if page_idx < len(pages):
-                    token_slot = pages[page_idx] * self.page_size + page_offset
-                    self._req_pool.req_to_token[req_idx, pos] = token_slot
@@ -1,174 +0,0 @@
-import logging
-from typing import List, Optional
-
-import torch
-
-from astrai.inference.core.cache import PagePool
-from astrai.inference.core.task import Task
-from astrai.inference.sample import sample
-from astrai.model.automodel import AutoModel
-from astrai.tokenize.tokenizer import AutoTokenizer
-
-logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
-
-
-class Executor:
-    """Model forward passes for prefill and decode phases."""
-
-    def __init__(
-        self,
-        model: AutoModel,
-        tokenizer: AutoTokenizer,
-        kv_cache: PagePool,
-        device: Optional[str] = None,
-        dtype: Optional[torch.dtype] = None,
-    ):
-        self.model = model
-        self.tokenizer = tokenizer
-        self.kv_cache = kv_cache
-        self.device = device or next(model.parameters()).device
-        self.dtype = dtype or next(model.parameters()).dtype
-
-    def execute_prefill(self, tasks: List[Task], prompt_len: int, start_pos: int = 0):
-        if start_pos >= prompt_len:
-            return
-
-        tasks = sorted(tasks, key=lambda t: t.task_id)
-        batch_sz = len(tasks)
-
-        input_ids = torch.tensor(
-            [t.prompt_ids[start_pos:prompt_len] for t in tasks],
-            dtype=torch.long,
-            device=self.device,
-        )
-
-        task_ids = [t.task_id for t in tasks]
-        position_ids = (
-            torch.arange(start_pos, prompt_len, dtype=torch.long, device=self.device)
-            .unsqueeze(0)
-            .expand(batch_sz, -1)
-        )
-        input_mask = position_ids.unsqueeze(-1) >= torch.arange(
-            prompt_len, device=self.device
-        )
-
-        with torch.inference_mode():
-            self.model(
-                input_ids,
-                input_mask=input_mask,
-                position_ids=position_ids,
-                kv_cache=self.kv_cache.bind_tasks(
-                    task_ids, [prompt_len] * batch_sz, self.device, start_pos=start_pos
-                ),
-            )
-
-    def execute_decode(
-        self, tasks: List[Task], return_logprobs: bool = False
-    ) -> List[int]:
-        """Decode next token for each task.
-
-        Args:
-            return_logprobs: When ``True``, also record (and return)
-                the log-probability of each sampled token under the
-                post-strategy sampling distribution.  The logprob is
-                appended to ``task.output_logprobs`` and the return
-                list becomes ``List[Tuple[int, float]]``.
-
-        Returns:
-            ``List[int]`` of sampled token IDs, or
-            ``List[Tuple[int, float]]`` of ``(token_id, logprob)`` when
-            ``return_logprobs`` is ``True``.
-        """
-        if not tasks:
-            return []
-
-        input_ids = torch.tensor(
-            [t.output_ids[-1] if t.output_ids else t.prompt_ids[-1] for t in tasks],
-            dtype=torch.long,
-            device=self.device,
-        )
-
-        position_ids = torch.tensor(
-            [t.next_pos for t in tasks], dtype=torch.long, device=self.device
-        )
-        total_len = max(t.next_pos for t in tasks) + 1
-        input_mask = position_ids[:, None, None] >= torch.arange(
-            total_len, device=self.device
-        )
-
-        task_ids = [t.task_id for t in tasks]
-
-        temperatures = torch.tensor([t.temperature for t in tasks], device=self.device)
-        top_ks = torch.tensor([t.top_k for t in tasks], device=self.device)
-        top_ps = torch.tensor([t.top_p for t in tasks], device=self.device)
-        freq_penalties = torch.tensor(
-            [t.frequency_penalty for t in tasks], device=self.device
-        )
-
-        has_freq = bool((freq_penalties != 0).any())
-        if has_freq:
-            history_lists = []
-            history_lens = []
-            for t in tasks:
-                window = t.rep_window
-                prompt_part = t.prompt_ids[-window:]
-                ids = prompt_part + t.output_ids
-                history_lists.append(ids)
-                history_lens.append(len(ids))
-
-            max_len = max(history_lens) if history_lens else 0
-            padded_ids = torch.zeros(
-                len(tasks), max_len, dtype=torch.long, device=self.device
-            )
-            padded_mask = torch.zeros(
-                len(tasks), max_len, dtype=torch.bool, device=self.device
-            )
-            for i, h in enumerate(history_lists):
-                L = history_lens[i]
-                padded_ids[i, :L] = torch.as_tensor(
-                    h, dtype=torch.long, device=self.device
-                )
-                padded_mask[i, :L] = True
-        else:
-            padded_ids = None
-            padded_mask = None
-
-        with torch.inference_mode():
-            outputs = self.model(
-                input_ids.unsqueeze(1),
-                input_mask=input_mask,
-                kv_cache=self.kv_cache.bind_tasks(
-                    task_ids,
-                    [t.next_pos + 1 for t in tasks],
-                    self.device,
-                ),
-                position_ids=position_ids.unsqueeze(1),
-            )
-            logits = outputs["logits"][:, -1, :]
-
-        if return_logprobs:
-            tokens, logprobs = sample(
-                logits,
-                temperature=temperatures,
-                top_k=top_ks,
-                top_p=top_ps,
-                frequency_penalty=freq_penalties,
-                input_ids=padded_ids,
-                input_mask=padded_mask,
-                return_logprobs=True,
-            )
-            tokens_list = tokens.tolist()
-            logprobs_list = logprobs.tolist()
-            for t, lp in zip(tasks, logprobs_list):
-                t.output_logprobs.append(float(lp))
-            return list(zip(tokens_list, logprobs_list))
-
-        return sample(
-            logits,
-            temperature=temperatures,
-            top_k=top_ks,
-            top_p=top_ps,
-            frequency_penalty=freq_penalties,
-            input_ids=padded_ids,
-            input_mask=padded_mask,
-        ).tolist()
@@ -1,311 +0,0 @@
-import logging
-import threading
-import uuid
-from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional, Tuple
-
-import torch
-
-from astrai.inference.core.cache import PagePool
-from astrai.inference.core.executor import Executor
-from astrai.inference.core.task import STOP, Task, TaskManager, TaskStatus
-from astrai.model.automodel import AutoModel
-from astrai.tokenize.tokenizer import AutoTokenizer
-
-logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
-
-
-class InferenceScheduler:
-    """Continuous batching loop: cleanup -> refill -> prefill -> decode (all groups)."""
-
-    def __init__(
-        self,
-        model: AutoModel,
-        tokenizer: AutoTokenizer,
-        max_batch_size: int = 16,
-        max_seq_len: Optional[int] = None,
-        device: Optional[str] = None,
-        dtype: Optional[torch.dtype] = None,
-        cache: Optional[PagePool] = None,
-    ):
-        config = model.config
-
-        if max_seq_len is not None:
-            self.max_seq_len = max_seq_len
-        elif config.max_position_embeddings is not None:
-            self.max_seq_len = config.max_position_embeddings
-        else:
-            raise ValueError(
-                "max_seq_len must be provided either as argument "
-                "or in model config (config.max_position_embeddings)"
-            )
-        self.device = device or next(model.parameters()).device
-        self.dtype = dtype or next(model.parameters()).dtype
-
-        head_dim = config.hidden_size // config.num_attention_heads
-
-        if cache is not None:
-            self._cache = cache
-        else:
-            self._cache = PagePool(
-                n_layers=config.num_hidden_layers,
-                n_kv_heads=config.num_key_value_heads,
-                head_dim=head_dim,
-                max_batch_size=max_batch_size,
-                max_seq_len=self.max_seq_len,
-                device=self.device,
-                dtype=self.dtype,
-            )
-
-        self._task_mgr = TaskManager(
-            tokenizer=tokenizer,
-            max_batch_size=max_batch_size,
-            max_seq_len=self.max_seq_len,
-        )
-
-        self._executor = Executor(
-            model=model,
-            tokenizer=tokenizer,
-            kv_cache=self._cache,
-            device=self.device,
-            dtype=self.dtype,
-        )
-
-        self._stop_event = threading.Event()
-        self._loop_thread: Optional[threading.Thread] = None
-
-    def add_task(self, prompt: str, **kwargs) -> str:
-        return self._task_mgr.add_task(prompt, **kwargs)
-
-    def remove_task(self, task_id: str):
-        for task in self._task_mgr.remove_task(task_id):
-            self._cache.task_free(task.task_id)
-
-    def get_stats(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
-        return self._task_mgr.get_stats()
-
-    def _run_generation_loop(self):
-        stop_ids = self._task_mgr.tokenizer.stop_ids
-        cache = self._cache
-        try:
-            while not self._stop_event.is_set():
-                finished = self._task_mgr.remove_finished_tasks(stop_ids)
-                for task in finished:
-                    cache.task_free(task.task_id)
-
-                active = self._task_mgr.get_active_tasks()
-                available = self._task_mgr.max_batch_size - len(active)
-                if available > 0:
-                    candidates = self._task_mgr.pull_candidates(available)
-                    failed = []
-                    for task in candidates:
-                        if cache.task_alloc(task.task_id, task.prompt_ids):
-                            self._task_mgr.activate(task)
-                        else:
-                            failed.append(task)
-                    if failed:
-                        self._task_mgr.return_to_waiting(failed)
-
-                if not self._task_mgr.has_work():
-                    self._task_mgr.wait_for_tasks(timeout=1.0)
-                    continue
-
-                active = self._task_mgr.get_active_tasks()
-
-                to_prefill = [
-                    t
-                    for t in active
-                    if t.output_tokens == 0
-                    and cache.task_cached(t.task_id) < len(t.prompt_ids)
-                ]
-                if to_prefill:
-                    for t in to_prefill:
-                        t.input_tokens = len(t.prompt_ids)
-
-                    groups: Dict[Tuple[int, int], List[Task]] = {}
-                    for t in to_prefill:
-                        key = (
-                            len(t.prompt_ids),
-                            cache.task_cached(t.task_id),
-                        )
-                        groups.setdefault(key, []).append(t)
-
-                    for (prompt_len, start_pos), group in groups.items():
-                        self._executor.execute_prefill(group, prompt_len, start_pos)
-                        start_logical_page = start_pos // getattr(
-                            cache, "page_size", 64
-                        )
-                        for t in group:
-                            cache.task_record_hashes(
-                                t.task_id, t.prompt_ids, start_logical_page
-                            )
-
-                decode_tasks = active
-
-                valid: List[Task] = []
-                for t in decode_tasks:
-                    if cache.task_extend(t.task_id, t.next_pos):
-                        valid.append(t)
-                    else:
-                        t.status = TaskStatus.ABORTED
-                        self._task_mgr.invoke_callback(t.task_id, STOP)
-
-                if valid:
-                    next_tokens = self._executor.execute_decode(valid)
-
-                    for t, ntok in zip(valid, next_tokens):
-                        t.output_ids.append(ntok)
-                        t.output_tokens += 1
-                        new_text = t.decode_new_token(self._task_mgr.tokenizer)
-                        if new_text:
-                            self._task_mgr.invoke_callback(t.task_id, new_text)
-
-                    for t in valid:
-                        if t.is_finished(stop_ids):
-                            remaining = t.flush_remaining(self._task_mgr.tokenizer)
-                            if remaining:
-                                self._task_mgr.invoke_callback(t.task_id, remaining)
-                            self._task_mgr.invoke_callback(t.task_id, STOP)
-
-        except Exception as e:
-            self._stop_event.set()
-            logger.error(f"Scheduler loop crashed: {e}", exc_info=True)
-            for task in self._task_mgr.get_active_tasks():
-                self._task_mgr.invoke_callback(task.task_id, STOP)
-                cache.task_free(task.task_id)
-            for task in self._task_mgr.get_waiting_tasks():
-                self._task_mgr.invoke_callback(task.task_id, STOP)
-            self._task_mgr.clear_queues()
-
-    def start(self):
-        if self._loop_thread is not None and self._loop_thread.is_alive():
-            return
-        self._stop_event.clear()
-        t = threading.Thread(target=self._run_generation_loop, daemon=True)
-        t.start()
-        self._loop_thread = t
-
-    def stop(self):
-        self._stop_event.set()
-        self._task_mgr.wake()
-        if self._loop_thread is not None:
-            self._loop_thread.join(timeout=2.0)
-        self._loop_thread = None
-        for task in self._task_mgr.get_active_tasks():
-            self._task_mgr.invoke_callback(task.task_id, STOP)
-            self._cache.task_free(task.task_id)
-        for task in self._task_mgr.get_waiting_tasks():
-            self._task_mgr.invoke_callback(task.task_id, STOP)
-            self._cache.task_free(task.task_id)
-        self._task_mgr.clear_queues()
-        if torch.cuda.is_available():
-            torch.cuda.empty_cache()
-
-    def run_batch(
-        self,
-        prompt_ids_list: List[List[int]],
-        *,
-        max_tokens: Optional[int] = None,
-        temperature: float = 1.0,
-        top_p: float = 1.0,
-        top_k: int = 50,
-        frequency_penalty: float = 0.0,
-        rep_window: int = 64,
-        return_logprobs: bool = False,
-    ) -> List[List[int]]:
-        """Synchronous batch generation without the scheduler thread.
-
-        Accepts already-tokenized prompts (no string round-trip) and runs
-        prefill + decode to completion on the calling thread.  Designed for
-        RL rollout, where logprobs of the behaviour policy must be collected
-        alongside generated tokens.
-
-        Args:
-            prompt_ids_list: ``B`` prompts, each a list of token IDs.
-            max_tokens: Maximum tokens to generate per prompt.  ``None``
-                uses ``self.max_seq_len - len(prompt_ids)``.
-            temperature/top_p/top_k/frequency_penalty/rep_window: Sampling
-                parameters (uniform across the batch).
-            return_logprobs: If ``True``, return ``(token_ids, logprobs)``
-                tuples per prompt (logprobs aligned 1-to-1 with token_ids).
-
-        Returns:
-            ``List[List[int]]`` of generated token IDs per prompt, or —
-            when ``return_logprobs`` is ``True`` —
-            ``List[Tuple[List[int], List[float]]]``.
-        """
-        stop_ids = self._task_mgr.tokenizer.stop_ids
-        cache = self._cache
-        seq_cap = self.max_seq_len
-
-        tasks: List[Task] = []
-        for ids in prompt_ids_list:
-            if len(ids) >= seq_cap:
-                tasks.append(None)
-                continue
-            t_max = max_tokens
-            if t_max is None:
-                t_max = seq_cap - len(ids)
-            else:
-                t_max = min(t_max, seq_cap - len(ids))
-            task = Task(
-                task_id=f"batch_{uuid.uuid4().hex[:8]}",
-                prompt_ids=list(ids),
-                max_tokens=t_max,
-                temperature=temperature,
-                top_p=top_p,
-                top_k=top_k,
-                frequency_penalty=frequency_penalty,
-                rep_window=rep_window,
-            )
-            if not cache.task_alloc(task.task_id, task.prompt_ids):
-                tasks.append(None)
-                continue
-            task.input_tokens = len(task.prompt_ids)
-            tasks.append(task)
-
-        try:
-            live = [t for t in tasks if t is not None]
-            prefill_groups: Dict[Tuple[int, int], List[Task]] = {}
-            for t in live:
-                key = (len(t.prompt_ids), cache.task_cached(t.task_id))
-                prefill_groups.setdefault(key, []).append(t)
-            for (prompt_len, start_pos), group in prefill_groups.items():
-                self._executor.execute_prefill(group, prompt_len, start_pos)
-
-            while live:
-                valid: List[Task] = []
-                for t in sorted(live, key=lambda x: x.task_id):
-                    if cache.task_extend(t.task_id, t.next_pos):
-                        valid.append(t)
-                    else:
-                        t.status = TaskStatus.ABORTED
-                if not valid:
-                    break
-
-                step_out = self._executor.execute_decode(
-                    valid, return_logprobs=return_logprobs
-                )
-                if return_logprobs:
-                    for t, (ntok, _lp) in zip(valid, step_out):
-                        t.output_ids.append(ntok)
-                        t.output_tokens += 1
-                else:
-                    for t, ntok in zip(valid, step_out):
-                        t.output_ids.append(ntok)
-                        t.output_tokens += 1
-
-                live = [t for t in valid if not t.is_finished(stop_ids)]
-        finally:
-            for t in tasks:
-                if t is not None:
-                    cache.task_free(t.task_id)
-
-        results: List[Any] = []
-        for t in tasks:
-            if t is None:
-                results.append(([], []) if return_logprobs else [])
-            elif return_logprobs:
-                results.append((list(t.output_ids), list(t.output_logprobs)))
-            else:
-                results.append(list(t.output_ids))
-        return results
@@ -8,9 +8,10 @@ from typing import Any, AsyncGenerator, Dict, Generator, List, Optional, Tuple,
 import torch
 import torch.nn as nn

-from astrai.inference.core.cache import PagePool
-from astrai.inference.core.scheduler import InferenceScheduler
-from astrai.inference.core.task import STOP
+from astrai.extension import ATTN_BACKEND, AttentionBackend, get_backend
+from astrai.inference.cache import PagePool
+from astrai.inference.scheduler import InferenceScheduler
+from astrai.inference.task import STOP
 from astrai.tokenize import AutoTokenizer


@@ -64,44 +65,6 @@ class GenerateResult:
            return self.results.copy()


-class GenerationRequest:
-    """Request parameters for text generation."""
-
-    def __init__(
-        self,
-        messages: List[Dict[str, str]],
-        top_k: int = 50,
-        top_p: float = 1.0,
-        temperature: float = 1.0,
-        max_tokens: Optional[int] = None,
-        frequency_penalty: float = 0.0,
-        rep_window: int = 64,
-        stream: bool = False,
-    ):
-        if not (isinstance(top_k, int) and top_k >= 0):
-            raise ValueError("top_k must be a non-negative integer")
-        if not (0.0 <= top_p <= 1.0):
-            raise ValueError("top_p must be a float between 0.0 and 1.0")
-        if not (isinstance(temperature, (int, float)) and temperature >= 0):
-            raise ValueError("temperature must be a non-negative number")
-        if not (
-            isinstance(frequency_penalty, (int, float))
-            and -2.0 <= frequency_penalty <= 2.0
-        ):
-            raise ValueError("frequency_penalty must be between -2.0 and 2.0")
-        if not (isinstance(rep_window, int) and rep_window > 0):
-            raise ValueError("rep_window must be a positive integer")
-
-        self.messages = messages
-        self.top_k = top_k
-        self.top_p = top_p
-        self.temperature = temperature
-        self.max_tokens = max_tokens
-        self.frequency_penalty = frequency_penalty
-        self.rep_window = rep_window
-        self.stream = stream
-
-
 class InferenceEngine:
    """Unified inference engine backed by continuous-batching scheduler."""

@@ -112,6 +75,8 @@ class InferenceEngine:
        max_batch_size: int = 1,
        max_seq_len: Optional[int] = None,
        cache: Optional[PagePool] = None,
+        enable_cuda_graph: bool = True,
+        backend: Optional[Union[str, ATTN_BACKEND, AttentionBackend, type]] = None,
    ):
        self.model = model
        self.tokenizer = tokenizer
@@ -121,6 +86,8 @@ class InferenceEngine:
            max_batch_size=max_batch_size,
            max_seq_len=max_seq_len,
            cache=cache,
+            enable_cuda_graph=enable_cuda_graph,
+            backend=backend,
        )

        self.scheduler.start()
@@ -146,28 +113,23 @@ class InferenceEngine:
        is_batch = isinstance(prompt, list)
        prompts = prompt if is_batch else [prompt]

-        if stream:
-            return self._generate_streaming(
-                prompts,
-                is_batch,
-                max_tokens,
-                temperature,
-                top_p,
-                top_k,
-                frequency_penalty,
-                rep_window,
-            )
-        else:
-            return self._generate_non_streaming(
-                prompts,
-                is_batch,
-                max_tokens,
-                temperature,
-                top_p,
-                top_k,
-                frequency_penalty,
-                rep_window,
-            )
+        if max_tokens is not None and max_tokens <= 0:
+            if stream:
+                return iter(())
+            results = [""] * len(prompts)
+            return results if is_batch else results[0]
+
+        return self._generate(
+            prompts,
+            is_batch,
+            stream,
+            max_tokens,
+            temperature,
+            top_p,
+            top_k,
+            frequency_penalty,
+            rep_window,
+        )

    def generate_async(
        self,
@@ -179,9 +141,10 @@ class InferenceEngine:
        frequency_penalty: float = 0.0,
        rep_window: int = 64,
    ) -> AsyncGenerator[str, None]:
-        sync_gen = self._generate_streaming(
+        sync_gen = self._generate(
            [prompt],
            False,
+            True,
            max_tokens,
            temperature,
            top_p,
@@ -193,51 +156,30 @@ class InferenceEngine:
        async def _agen():
            loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
            while True:
-                token = await loop.run_in_executor(None, self._next_token, sync_gen)
+                token = await loop.run_in_executor(None, next, sync_gen, None)
                if token is None:
                    break
                yield token

        return _agen()

-    @staticmethod
-    def _next_token(gen: Generator) -> Optional[str]:
-        try:
-            return next(gen)
-        except StopIteration:
-            return None
-
-    def generate_with_request(
-        self, request: GenerationRequest
-    ) -> Union[Generator[str, None, None], str, List[str]]:
-        prompt = self.tokenizer.apply_chat_template(request.messages, tokenize=False)
-        return self.generate(
-            prompt=prompt,
-            stream=request.stream,
-            max_tokens=request.max_tokens,
-            temperature=request.temperature,
-            top_p=request.top_p,
-            top_k=request.top_k,
-            frequency_penalty=request.frequency_penalty,
-            rep_window=request.rep_window,
-        )
-
-    def _submit_tasks(
+    def _generate(
        self,
        prompts: List[str],
+        is_batch: bool,
+        stream: bool,
        max_tokens: Optional[int],
        temperature: float,
        top_p: float,
        top_k: int,
        frequency_penalty: float,
        rep_window: int,
-    ) -> Tuple[GenerateResult, List[str]]:
+    ) -> Union[Generator, str, List[str]]:
        n = len(prompts)
+        request_backend = get_backend(use_default=False)
        result = GenerateResult(count=n)
-        task_ids = []
-        for i, p in enumerate(prompts):
-            cb = self._make_callback(result, i)
-            task_id = self.scheduler.add_task(
+        task_ids = [
+            self.scheduler.add_task(
                prompt=p,
                max_tokens=max_tokens,
                temperature=temperature,
@@ -245,99 +187,54 @@ class InferenceEngine:
                top_k=top_k,
                frequency_penalty=frequency_penalty,
                rep_window=rep_window,
-                stream_callback=cb,
+                backend=request_backend,
+                stream_callback=lambda token, idx=i: result.append(token, idx),
            )
-            task_ids.append(task_id)
-        return result, task_ids
+            for i, p in enumerate(prompts)
+        ]

-    @staticmethod
-    def _make_callback(result: GenerateResult, idx: int):
-        def cb(token):
-            result.append(token, idx)
+        if not stream:
+            try:
+                result.wait_completion()
+            except TimeoutError:
+                for tid in task_ids:
+                    self.scheduler.remove_task(tid)
+                raise
+            for tid in task_ids:
+                self.scheduler.remove_task(tid)
+            res = result.get_results()
+            return res if is_batch else res[0]

-        return cb
-
-    def _generate_streaming(
-        self,
-        prompts: List[str],
-        is_batch: bool,
-        max_tokens: Optional[int],
-        temperature: float,
-        top_p: float,
-        top_k: int,
-        frequency_penalty: float,
-        rep_window: int,
-    ) -> Generator:
-        result, task_ids = self._submit_tasks(
-            prompts,
-            max_tokens,
-            temperature,
-            top_p,
-            top_k,
-            frequency_penalty,
-            rep_window,
-        )
-        n = len(prompts)
        remaining = n
        finished = [False] * n

        def gen():
            nonlocal remaining
-            try:
-                while remaining > 0:
-                    items = result.pop_all()
-                    for idx, token in items:
-                        if token is STOP:
-                            if not finished[idx]:
-                                finished[idx] = True
-                                remaining -= 1
-                        else:
-                            yield (idx, token) if is_batch else token
-                    if remaining > 0:
-                        result.wait(timeout=0.05)
-            finally:
-                for tid in task_ids:
-                    self.scheduler.remove_task(tid)
+            while remaining > 0:
+                items = result.pop_all()
+                for idx, token in items:
+                    if token is STOP:
+                        if not finished[idx]:
+                            finished[idx] = True
+                            remaining -= 1
+                    else:
+                        yield (idx, token) if is_batch else token
+                if remaining > 0:
+                    result.wait(timeout=0.05)

        return gen()

-    def _generate_non_streaming(
-        self,
-        prompts: List[str],
-        is_batch: bool,
-        max_tokens: Optional[int],
-        temperature: float,
-        top_p: float,
-        top_k: int,
-        frequency_penalty: float,
-        rep_window: int,
-    ) -> Union[str, List[str]]:
-        result, task_ids = self._submit_tasks(
-            prompts,
-            max_tokens,
-            temperature,
-            top_p,
-            top_k,
-            frequency_penalty,
-            rep_window,
-        )
-
-        try:
-            result.wait_completion()
-        except TimeoutError:
-            for tid in task_ids:
-                self.scheduler.remove_task(tid)
-            raise
-
-        for tid in task_ids:
-            self.scheduler.remove_task(tid)
-
-        res = result.get_results()
-        return res if is_batch else res[0]
-
    def get_stats(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
        return self.scheduler.get_stats()

+    @property
+    def backend_name(self) -> str:
+        return self.scheduler.backend_name
+
+    @property
+    def cuda_graph_enabled(self) -> bool:
+        return self.scheduler.cuda_graph_enabled
+
    def shutdown(self):
        self.scheduler.stop()
        if torch.cuda.is_available():
@@ -0,0 +1,201 @@
+"""Unified per-task perf/stats: timing records, context-manager scopes, aggregate reporting."""
+
+import time
+from collections import deque
+from contextlib import contextmanager
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+from typing import Any, Deque, Dict, Generator, List, Literal, Optional
+
+
+@dataclass
+class TaskTiming:
+    """Timestamp snapshots and computed metrics for one generation task.
+
+    Created by :class:`MetricsCollector` at task-registration time;
+    updated via ``record`` / ``mark_finished``.
+    """
+
+    task_id: str
+    arrival_time: float
+    prefill_start_time: Optional[float] = None
+    first_token_time: Optional[float] = None
+    finish_time: Optional[float] = None
+    input_tokens: int = 0
+    output_tokens: int = 0
+    _decode_steps: int = 0
+    _decode_total_s: float = 0.0
+
+    # derived metrics
+
+    @property
+    def queue_wait_ms(self) -> Optional[float]:
+        if self.prefill_start_time is not None:
+            return (self.prefill_start_time - self.arrival_time) * 1000
+        return None
+
+    @property
+    def ttft_ms(self) -> Optional[float]:
+        if self.first_token_time is not None:
+            return (self.first_token_time - self.arrival_time) * 1000
+        return None
+
+    @property
+    def prefill_tps(self) -> Optional[float]:
+        if self.prefill_start_time is not None and self.first_token_time is not None:
+            d = self.first_token_time - self.prefill_start_time
+            if d > 0 and self.input_tokens > 0:
+                return self.input_tokens / d
+        return None
+
+    @property
+    def decode_tps(self) -> Optional[float]:
+        if self.first_token_time is not None and self.finish_time is not None:
+            d = self.finish_time - self.first_token_time
+            dt = self.output_tokens - 1
+            if dt > 0 and d > 0:
+                return dt / d
+        return None
+
+    @property
+    def decode_avg_ms(self) -> Optional[float]:
+        if self._decode_steps > 0 and self._decode_total_s > 0:
+            return (self._decode_total_s / self._decode_steps) * 1000
+        return None
+
+    @property
+    def e2e_latency_ms(self) -> Optional[float]:
+        if self.finish_time is not None:
+            return (self.finish_time - self.arrival_time) * 1000
+        return None
+
+    @property
+    def total_tps(self) -> Optional[float]:
+        if self.finish_time is not None:
+            total = self.input_tokens + self.output_tokens
+            d = self.finish_time - self.arrival_time
+            if total > 0 and d > 0:
+                return total / d
+        return None
+
+    def to_dict(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+        return {
+            "task_id": self.task_id,
+            "input_tokens": self.input_tokens,
+            "output_tokens": self.output_tokens,
+            "queue_wait_ms": (
+                round(self.queue_wait_ms, 2) if self.queue_wait_ms is not None else None
+            ),
+            "ttft_ms": (round(self.ttft_ms, 2) if self.ttft_ms is not None else None),
+            "prefill_tps": (
+                round(self.prefill_tps, 2) if self.prefill_tps is not None else None
+            ),
+            "decode_tps": (
+                round(self.decode_tps, 2) if self.decode_tps is not None else None
+            ),
+            "decode_avg_ms": (
+                round(self.decode_avg_ms, 2) if self.decode_avg_ms is not None else None
+            ),
+            "total_tps": (
+                round(self.total_tps, 2) if self.total_tps is not None else None
+            ),
+            "e2e_latency_ms": (
+                round(self.e2e_latency_ms, 2)
+                if self.e2e_latency_ms is not None
+                else None
+            ),
+        }
+
+
+class MetricsCollector:
+    """Single-owner perf/stats hub for all generation tasks.
+
+    Usage::
+
+        metrics = MetricsCollector()
+        metrics.register(task_id, arrival_time)
+
+        with metrics.record(task_ids, "prefill"):
+            run_prefill(...)
+
+        metrics.mark_finished(task_id, input_tokens, output_tokens)
+
+        stats = metrics.get_stats()
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, max_recent: int = 128):
+        self._timings: Dict[str, TaskTiming] = {}
+        self._completed: Deque[TaskTiming] = deque(maxlen=max_recent)
+
+        self._ttft_ms_sum = 0.0
+        self._ttft_ms_count = 0
+        self._decode_tps_sum = 0.0
+        self._decode_tps_count = 0
+        self._e2e_ms_sum = 0.0
+        self._e2e_ms_count = 0
+
+    def register(self, task_id: str):
+        """Create a timing record for a newly-created task."""
+        self._timings[task_id] = TaskTiming(task_id=task_id, arrival_time=time.time())
+
+    def mark_finished(self, task_id: str, input_tokens: int, output_tokens: int):
+        """Close timing for a finished/aborted task and move it to completed."""
+        timing = self._timings.pop(task_id, None)
+        if timing is None:
+            return
+        timing.finish_time = time.time()
+        timing.input_tokens = input_tokens
+        timing.output_tokens = output_tokens
+        self._completed.append(timing)
+        self._accumulate(timing)
+
+    # timing scopes
+
+    @contextmanager
+    def record(
+        self, task_ids: List[str], phase: Literal["prefill", "decode"]
+    ) -> Generator[None, None, None]:
+        tic = time.time()
+        yield
+        toc = time.time()
+        dt = toc - tic
+        for tid in task_ids:
+            t = self._timings.get(tid)
+            if t is None:
+                continue
+            if phase == "prefill":
+                t.prefill_start_time = tic
+                t.first_token_time = toc
+            elif phase == "decode":
+                t._decode_steps += 1
+                t._decode_total_s += dt
+
+    # aggregate stats
+
+    def get_stats(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+        stats: Dict[str, Any] = {}
+        if self._ttft_ms_count > 0:
+            stats["avg_ttft_ms"] = round(self._ttft_ms_sum / self._ttft_ms_count, 2)
+        if self._decode_tps_count > 0:
+            stats["avg_decode_tps"] = round(
+                self._decode_tps_sum / self._decode_tps_count, 2
+            )
+        if self._e2e_ms_count > 0:
+            stats["avg_e2e_latency_ms"] = round(
+                self._e2e_ms_sum / self._e2e_ms_count, 2
+            )
+        if self._completed:
+            stats["recent_tasks"] = [t.to_dict() for t in self._completed]
+        return stats
+
+    # internal
+
+    def _accumulate(self, t: TaskTiming):
+        if t.ttft_ms is not None:
+            self._ttft_ms_sum += t.ttft_ms
+            self._ttft_ms_count += 1
+        if t.decode_tps is not None:
+            self._decode_tps_sum += t.decode_tps
+            self._decode_tps_count += 1
+        if t.e2e_latency_ms is not None:
+            self._e2e_ms_sum += t.e2e_latency_ms
+            self._e2e_ms_count += 1
@@ -4,8 +4,7 @@
 lazy singleton FastAPI instance.
 """

-from astrai.inference.api.protocol import GenContext, ProtocolHandler, StopChecker
-from astrai.inference.api.server import (
+from astrai.inference.network.app import (
    AnthropicMessage,
    ChatCompletionRequest,
    ChatMessage,
@@ -15,7 +14,8 @@ from astrai.inference.api.server import (
    get_app,
    run_server,
 )
-from astrai.inference.api.tool_parser import (
+from astrai.inference.network.protocol import GenContext, ProtocolHandler, StopChecker
+from astrai.inference.network.tool_parser import (
    BaseToolParser,
    SimpleJsonToolParser,
    ToolParserFactory,
@@ -6,13 +6,13 @@ from typing import Any, Dict, List, Tuple, Union

 from pydantic import BaseModel

-from astrai.inference.api.protocol import (
+from astrai.inference.engine import InferenceEngine
+from astrai.inference.network.protocol import (
    GenContext,
    ResponseBuilder,
    StopInfo,
    sse_event,
 )
-from astrai.inference.engine import InferenceEngine


 def _extract_text(content: Union[str, List[Dict[str, Any]]]) -> str:
@@ -18,10 +18,10 @@ import uvicorn
 from fastapi import APIRouter, FastAPI, HTTPException
 from pydantic import BaseModel, Field

-from astrai.inference.api.anthropic import AnthropicResponseBuilder
-from astrai.inference.api.openai import OpenAIResponseBuilder
-from astrai.inference.api.protocol import ProtocolHandler
 from astrai.inference.engine import InferenceEngine
+from astrai.inference.network.anthropic import AnthropicResponseBuilder
+from astrai.inference.network.openai import OpenAIResponseBuilder
+from astrai.inference.network.protocol import ProtocolHandler
 from astrai.model import AutoModel
 from astrai.tokenize import AutoTokenizer

@@ -7,14 +7,14 @@ from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional, Tuple, Union

 from pydantic import BaseModel

-from astrai.inference.api.protocol import (
+from astrai.inference.engine import InferenceEngine
+from astrai.inference.network.protocol import (
    GenContext,
    ResponseBuilder,
    StopInfo,
    sse_event,
 )
-from astrai.inference.api.tool_parser import BaseToolParser, ToolParserFactory
-from astrai.inference.engine import InferenceEngine
+from astrai.inference.network.tool_parser import BaseToolParser, ToolParserFactory

 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)

@@ -181,12 +181,10 @@ class ProtocolHandler:
        self, agen: AsyncGenerator, ctx: GenContext, stop_sequences: List[str]
    ) -> Dict[str, Any]:
        checker = StopChecker(stop_sequences)
-        chunks: List[str] = []
        body = ""
        matched = None

        async for token in agen:
-            chunks.append(token)
            body += token

            matched = checker.check(body)
@@ -195,6 +193,5 @@ class ProtocolHandler:

            ctx.completion_tokens += 1

-        content = "".join(chunks)
        stop = StopInfo(matched=matched, body=body)
-        return self.builder.format_response(ctx, content, stop)
+        return self.builder.format_response(ctx, body, stop)
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+"""Execution primitives: forward passes, CUDA graphs, and sampling."""
+
+from astrai.inference.runtime.executor import Executor
+from astrai.inference.runtime.graph import CudaGraphContext
+from astrai.inference.runtime.sample import (
+    BaseSamplingStrategy,
+    FrequencyPenaltyStrategy,
+    SamplingPipeline,
+    TemperatureStrategy,
+    TopKStrategy,
+    TopPStrategy,
+    sample,
+)
+
+__all__ = [
+    "Executor",
+    "CudaGraphContext",
+    "BaseSamplingStrategy",
+    "FrequencyPenaltyStrategy",
+    "SamplingPipeline",
+    "TemperatureStrategy",
+    "TopKStrategy",
+    "TopPStrategy",
+    "sample",
+]
@@ -0,0 +1,421 @@
+import logging
+import time
+from contextlib import contextmanager
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+from typing import List, Optional
+
+import torch
+from torch import Tensor
+
+from astrai.extension.backend.attention import (
+    CudaBackend,
+    get_backend,
+)
+from astrai.inference.cache import PagePool, TaskCacheManager
+from astrai.inference.runtime.graph import CudaGraphContext
+from astrai.inference.runtime.sample import sample
+from astrai.inference.task import Task
+from astrai.inference.workspace import InferenceWorkspace
+from astrai.model.automodel import AutoModel
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+@contextmanager
+def timed(label: str, log: Optional[logging.Logger] = None):
+    """GPU-precise timer via CUDA events; falls back to perf_counter on CPU."""
+    log = log or logger
+    if not log.isEnabledFor(logging.DEBUG):
+        yield
+        return
+    use_cuda = torch.cuda.is_available()
+    if use_cuda:
+        start = torch.cuda.Event(enable_timing=True)
+        end = torch.cuda.Event(enable_timing=True)
+        start.record()
+    else:
+        tic = time.perf_counter()
+    yield
+    if use_cuda:
+        end.record()
+        torch.cuda.synchronize()
+        elapsed_ms = start.elapsed_time(end)
+    else:
+        elapsed_ms = (time.perf_counter() - tic) * 1000
+    log.debug("%s %.2fms", label, elapsed_ms)
+
+
+@dataclass
+class SamplingBatchInfo:
+    """Per-batch sampling parameters, cached across decode steps.
+
+    Sampling params are constant for a given ordered task set, so they are
+    built once (pinned-memory async H2D) and reused until the task set
+    changes.  ``top_ks`` is int32 to match the native consumers.
+    """
+
+    temperatures: Tensor  # float32 [B]
+    top_ks: Tensor  # int32  [B]
+    top_ps: Tensor  # float32 [B]
+    freq_penalties: Tensor  # float32 [B]
+    has_freq: bool  # any frequency_penalty != 0 (avoids per-step GPU .any())
+
+
+@dataclass
+class DecodeSteadyState:
+    """Cached decode metadata for the steady-state case.
+
+    When the same ordered task set decodes one token per step, sampling
+    params and task signature are reused; only positions advance by 1.
+    """
+
+    task_sig: tuple
+    positions: list[int]
+    sampling_info: SamplingBatchInfo
+
+
+def _build_sampling_batch_info(tasks: List[Task], device) -> SamplingBatchInfo:
+    pin = str(device).startswith("cuda")
+    freq_penalties = torch.tensor(
+        [t.frequency_penalty for t in tasks], dtype=torch.float32, pin_memory=pin
+    ).to(device, non_blocking=True)
+    return SamplingBatchInfo(
+        temperatures=torch.tensor(
+            [t.temperature for t in tasks], dtype=torch.float32, pin_memory=pin
+        ).to(device, non_blocking=True),
+        top_ks=torch.tensor(
+            [t.top_k for t in tasks], dtype=torch.int32, pin_memory=pin
+        ).to(device, non_blocking=True),
+        top_ps=torch.tensor(
+            [t.top_p for t in tasks], dtype=torch.float32, pin_memory=pin
+        ).to(device, non_blocking=True),
+        freq_penalties=freq_penalties,
+        has_freq=bool((freq_penalties != 0).any()),
+    )
+
+
+def _warmup_cuda_graphs(
+    model: AutoModel,
+    pool: PagePool,
+    task_cache: TaskCacheManager,
+    ws: InferenceWorkspace,
+    gctx: CudaGraphContext,
+    max_batch_size: int,
+    prompt_len: int = 1,
+    device: Optional[str] = None,
+):
+    dev = device or next(model.parameters()).device
+
+    # Prefill warmup: cuBLAS auto-tunes for the actual prompt-length tensor
+    # shapes on first call (F.linear is the dominant cost).  This also warms
+    # up the CUDA context (driver init) and compiles the graph-capture trace
+    # that follows.  Custom .so kernels do NOT need this — they are pre-built.
+    warmup_len = 64
+    tid = "_warmup_prefill"
+    if task_cache.task_alloc(tid, list(range(warmup_len))):
+        with (
+            torch.inference_mode(),
+            timed("warmup prefill", logger),
+        ):
+            kv = task_cache.bind([tid], ws, start_pos=0)
+            ids_in = torch.arange(warmup_len, device=dev)
+            pos_in = ids_in
+            model(
+                ids_in,
+                kv_cache=kv,
+                position_ids=pos_in,
+                fwd="prefill",
+            )
+        task_cache.task_free(tid)
+
+    batch_sizes = [1]
+    n = 2
+    while n <= max_batch_size:
+        batch_sizes.append(n)
+        n *= 2
+    if max_batch_size not in batch_sizes:
+        batch_sizes.append(max_batch_size)
+
+    for b in batch_sizes:
+        task_ids = [f"_warmup_decode_{b}_{i}" for i in range(b)]
+        prompt_tokens = [list(range(prompt_len)) for _ in range(b)]
+        alloc_ok = True
+        for tid, pt in zip(task_ids, prompt_tokens):
+            if not task_cache.task_alloc(tid, pt):
+                alloc_ok = False
+                break
+        if not alloc_ok:
+            for tid in task_ids:
+                task_cache.task_free(tid)
+            continue
+
+        with (
+            torch.inference_mode(),
+            timed(f"warmup decode b={b}", logger),
+        ):
+            for step in range(2):
+                seq_pos = step
+                ws.position_ids[:b] = seq_pos
+                for tid in task_ids:
+                    task_cache.task_extend(tid, seq_pos)
+                kv = task_cache.bind(task_ids, ws)
+                ids_buf = ws.fill_input_ids([step] * b)
+                gctx.forward(
+                    model,
+                    key=(b,),
+                    input_ids=ids_buf,
+                    kv_cache=kv,
+                    position_ids=ws.position_ids[:b],
+                    fwd="decode",
+                )
+
+        for tid in task_ids:
+            task_cache.task_free(tid)
+        torch.cuda.synchronize()
+
+
+class Executor:
+    """Model forward passes for prefill and decode phases."""
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        model: AutoModel,
+        kv_cache: PagePool,
+        task_cache: TaskCacheManager,
+        device: Optional[str] = None,
+        dtype: Optional[torch.dtype] = None,
+        enable_cuda_graph: bool = True,
+    ):
+        self.model = model
+        self.kv_cache = kv_cache
+        self.task_cache = task_cache
+        self.device = device or next(model.parameters()).device
+        self.dtype = dtype or next(model.parameters()).dtype
+
+        # Per-step decode cache for the steady-state case (same ordered
+        # task set decodes one token per step).  Sampling params stay
+        # constant; only positions advance.
+        self._decode_cache: Optional[DecodeSteadyState] = None
+
+        # Pre-allocated fixed-shape buffers for the decode hot path
+        # (input_ids, decode mask, KV bind metadata).  Eagerly sized at init
+        # so the workspace is CUDA-graph-capture friendly — no allocation
+        # during capture.
+        config = model.config
+        max_q_heads = config.num_attention_heads
+        head_dim = config.hidden_size // config.num_attention_heads
+        backend = get_backend()
+        self._graph_supported = backend.supports_graph() and (
+            CudaBackend.available() and head_dim in CudaBackend.HEAD_DIMS
+        )
+        self._workspace = InferenceWorkspace(
+            max_batch_size=kv_cache.max_batch_size,
+            max_seq_len=kv_cache.max_seq_len,
+            max_q_heads=max_q_heads,
+            head_dim=head_dim,
+            device=self.device,
+            dtype=self.dtype,
+        )
+
+        # CUDA-graph capture: one graph per (batch_size,) key.
+        # Enabled at init-time via _warmup_cuda_graphs for CudaBackend
+        # on supported head_dims; left disabled otherwise.
+        self._graph_ctx = CudaGraphContext()
+        if enable_cuda_graph:
+            self._try_enable_cuda_graph()
+
+    def _try_enable_cuda_graph(self):
+        if not self._graph_supported:
+            return
+
+        self._graph_ctx.set_enabled(True)
+        _warmup_cuda_graphs(
+            self.model,
+            self.kv_cache,
+            self.task_cache,
+            self._workspace,
+            self._graph_ctx,
+            max_batch_size=self.kv_cache.max_batch_size,
+            device=self.device,
+        )
+
+    @property
+    def cuda_graph_enabled(self) -> bool:
+        return self._graph_ctx.enabled and self._graph_supported
+
+    def _sample_logits(
+        self,
+        logits: Tensor,
+        tasks: List[Task],
+        return_logprobs: bool = False,
+        info: Optional[SamplingBatchInfo] = None,
+    ):
+        info = info or _build_sampling_batch_info(tasks, self.device)
+        if info.has_freq:
+            history_lists = [
+                t.prompt_ids[-t.rep_window :] + t.output_ids for t in tasks
+            ]
+            history_lens = [len(ids) for ids in history_lists]
+            max_len = max(history_lens, default=0)
+            padded_ids = torch.zeros(
+                len(tasks), max_len, dtype=torch.long, device=self.device
+            )
+            padded_mask = torch.zeros(
+                len(tasks), max_len, dtype=torch.bool, device=self.device
+            )
+            for i, ids in enumerate(history_lists):
+                length = len(ids)
+                padded_ids[i, :length] = torch.as_tensor(
+                    ids, dtype=torch.long, device=self.device
+                )
+                padded_mask[i, :length] = True
+        else:
+            padded_ids = None
+            padded_mask = None
+
+        result = sample(
+            logits,
+            temperature=info.temperatures,
+            top_k=info.top_ks,
+            top_p=info.top_ps,
+            frequency_penalty=info.freq_penalties,
+            input_ids=padded_ids,
+            input_mask=padded_mask,
+            return_logprobs=return_logprobs,
+        )
+        if not return_logprobs:
+            return result.tolist()
+
+        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))
+
+    def execute_prefill(
+        self,
+        tasks: List[Task],
+        prompt_len: int,
+        start_pos: int = 0,
+        return_logprobs: bool = False,
+    ):
+        if start_pos >= prompt_len:
+            return []
+
+        tasks = sorted(tasks, key=lambda t: t.task_id)
+        batch_sz = len(tasks)
+
+        input_ids = torch.tensor(
+            [token for t in tasks for token in t.prompt_ids[start_pos:prompt_len]],
+            dtype=torch.long,
+            device=self.device,
+        )
+
+        task_ids = [t.task_id for t in tasks]
+        position_ids = torch.arange(
+            start_pos, prompt_len, dtype=torch.long, device=self.device
+        ).repeat(batch_sz)
+
+        with (
+            torch.inference_mode(),
+            timed(f"execute_prefill b={batch_sz} prompt_len={prompt_len}", logger),
+        ):
+            outputs = self.model(
+                input_ids,
+                position_ids=position_ids,
+                kv_cache=self.task_cache.bind(
+                    task_ids,
+                    self._workspace,
+                    start_pos=start_pos,
+                ),
+                fwd="prefill",
+            )
+            q_len = prompt_len - start_pos
+            logits = outputs["logits"][
+                torch.arange(1, batch_sz + 1, device=self.device) * q_len - 1
+            ]
+
+        return tasks, self._sample_logits(logits, tasks, return_logprobs)
+
+    def execute_decode(
+        self, tasks: List[Task], return_logprobs: bool = False
+    ) -> List[int]:
+        """Decode next token for each task.
+
+        Args:
+            return_logprobs: When ``True``, also record (and return)
+                the log-probability of each sampled token under the
+                post-strategy sampling distribution.  The logprob is
+                appended to ``task.output_logprobs`` and the return
+                list becomes ``List[Tuple[int, float]]``.
+
+        Returns:
+            ``List[int]`` of sampled token IDs, or
+            ``List[Tuple[int, float]]`` of ``(token_id, logprob)`` when
+            ``return_logprobs`` is ``True``.
+        """
+        if not tasks:
+            return []
+
+        b = len(tasks)
+        ws = self._workspace
+
+        # ---- pre-replay: update input buffers in-place ----
+
+        input_ids = ws.fill_input_ids(
+            [t.output_ids[-1] if t.output_ids else t.prompt_ids[-1] for t in tasks]
+        )
+
+        task_ids = [t.task_id for t in tasks]
+        cur_positions = [t.next_pos 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 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
+        else:
+            info = _build_sampling_batch_info(tasks, self.device)
+            ws.position_ids[:b].copy_(
+                torch.tensor(cur_positions, dtype=torch.long, device=self.device)
+            )
+        self._decode_cache = DecodeSteadyState(task_sig, cur_positions, info)
+
+        # ---- forward (graph replay or live run + capture) ----
+
+        use_graph = (
+            self._graph_ctx.enabled
+            and self._graph_supported
+            and get_backend().supports_graph()
+        )
+        key = (b,)
+        with (
+            torch.inference_mode(),
+            timed(f"execute_decode forward b={b}", logger),
+        ):
+            if use_graph:
+                outputs = self._graph_ctx.forward(
+                    self.model,
+                    key=key,
+                    input_ids=input_ids,
+                    kv_cache=kv_cache,
+                    position_ids=ws.position_ids[:b],
+                    fwd="decode",
+                )
+            else:
+                outputs = self.model(
+                    input_ids,
+                    kv_cache=kv_cache,
+                    position_ids=ws.position_ids[:b],
+                    fwd="decode",
+                )
+            logits = outputs["logits"]
+
+        return self._sample_logits(logits, tasks, return_logprobs, info=info)
@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+"""CUDA-graph capture for the decode model-forward step.
+
+Mirrors SGLang's cuda-graph manager: one graph per batch size.  The graph
+pair.  The graph captures ``model.forward()`` with workspace-backed inputs
+(all at fixed addresses).  Before each replay the caller updates the input
+buffer content in-place so the graph sees fresh data at the same tensor
+addresses.
+
+Only the model forward is captured — sampling runs outside the graph
+(via ``torch.multinomial`` which consumes a mutable RNG state).
+"""
+
+import torch
+from torch import Tensor
+
+
+class CudaGraphContext:
+    """CUDA-graph capture/replay for decode steps.
+
+    Parameters:
+        enabled: When ``False``, ``forward()`` always runs the live model
+            forward without capture/replay (graphs are cleared).  Toggle at
+            runtime via the ``set_enabled()`` method.
+
+    Usage::
+
+        gctx = CudaGraphContext()
+        with torch.inference_mode():
+            outputs = gctx.forward(
+                model,
+                key=(batch_size,),
+                input_ids=workspace.input_ids[:b].unsqueeze(1),
+                input_mask=input_mask,
+                kv_cache=kv_cache,
+                position_ids=workspace.position_ids[:b].unsqueeze(1),
+            )
+
+    The first call at a given key runs *without* capture (warmup).  The
+    second call captures the graph.  Subsequent calls replay the captured
+    graph.  A ``torch.cuda.synchronize()`` before capture drains in-flight
+    work so the graph trace is clean.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, enabled: bool = False):
+        self._enabled = enabled
+        self._graphs: dict[tuple, torch.cuda.CUDAGraph] = {}
+        self._outputs: dict[tuple, dict[str, Tensor]] = {}
+        self._warmed: set[tuple] = set()
+
+    @property
+    def enabled(self) -> bool:
+        return self._enabled
+
+    def set_enabled(self, flag: bool):
+        """Enable or disable CUDA-graph capture at runtime.
+
+        Disabling clears all captured graphs (frees GPU memory) and warmup
+        state.  Re-enabling after disable starts fresh — graphs are
+        re-captured on the next warmup cycle.
+        """
+        if flag == self._enabled:
+            return
+        self._enabled = flag
+        if not flag:
+            self._graphs.clear()
+            self._outputs.clear()
+            self._warmed.clear()
+
+    def forward(self, model, *, key, **kwargs) -> dict[str, Tensor]:
+        """Run ``model(**kwargs)`` via graph replay or live forward.
+
+        Args:
+            model: callable, e.g. ``self.model.forward``.
+            key: ``(batch_size,)`` — the dispatch key (one graph per batch size).
+            **kwargs: arguments forwarded to ``model``.  All tensor arguments
+                must reside at stable addresses (workspace buffers).
+
+        Returns:
+            The dict produced by ``model(**kwargs)``, e.g.
+            ``{"logits": ..., "h0": ...}``.
+        """
+        if not self._enabled:
+            self._outputs[key] = model(**kwargs)
+            return self._outputs[key]
+
+        if key in self._graphs:
+            self._graphs[key].replay()
+        elif key in self._warmed:
+            cap_output = model(**kwargs)
+            torch.cuda.synchronize()
+            graph = torch.cuda.CUDAGraph()
+            with torch.cuda.graph(graph):
+                self._outputs[key] = model(**kwargs)
+            self._graphs[key] = graph
+            self._warmed.discard(key)
+            return cap_output
+        else:
+            self._warmed.add(key)
+            self._outputs[key] = model(**kwargs)
+        return self._outputs[key]
+
+    def has_graph(self, key: tuple) -> bool:
+        return key in self._graphs
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ class SamplingPipeline(BaseSamplingStrategy):
    @staticmethod
    def _is_greedy(temperature: Union[float, Tensor]) -> bool:
        if isinstance(temperature, Tensor):
-            return temperature.numel() == 1 and temperature.item() == 0
+            return bool((temperature == 0).all())
        return temperature == 0

    @torch.inference_mode()
@@ -305,12 +305,12 @@ class SamplingPipeline(BaseSamplingStrategy):
            return tokens, chosen

        transformed = self.apply(logits, filter_value, input_ids, input_mask)
-        log_probs = torch.log_softmax(transformed.float(), dim=-1)
        tokens = torch.multinomial(
            torch.softmax(transformed, dim=-1), num_samples=1
        ).squeeze(-1)
        if not return_logprobs:
            return tokens
+        log_probs = torch.log_softmax(transformed.float(), dim=-1)
        chosen = torch.gather(log_probs, -1, tokens.unsqueeze(-1)).squeeze(-1)
        return tokens, chosen

@@ -363,24 +363,6 @@ def sample(
        ``True`` — a ``(token_ids, chosen_logprobs)`` tuple where
        ``chosen_logprobs`` has shape ``[batch]``.
    """
-    greedy = (
-        (
-            isinstance(temperature, Tensor)
-            and temperature.numel() == 1
-            and temperature.item() == 0
-        )
-        if isinstance(temperature, Tensor)
-        else temperature == 0
-    )
-
-    if greedy:
-        tokens = logits.argmax(dim=-1)
-        if not return_logprobs:
-            return tokens
-        log_probs = torch.log_softmax(logits.float(), dim=-1)
-        chosen = torch.gather(log_probs, -1, tokens.unsqueeze(-1)).squeeze(-1)
-        return tokens, chosen
-
    has_freq = (
        (isinstance(frequency_penalty, Tensor) and (frequency_penalty != 0).any())
        if isinstance(frequency_penalty, Tensor)
@@ -0,0 +1,400 @@
+import logging
+import threading
+import uuid
+from contextlib import nullcontext
+from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional, Tuple, Union
+
+import torch
+
+from astrai.extension import (
+    ATTN_BACKEND,
+    AttentionBackend,
+    attn_backend,
+    get_backend,
+)
+from astrai.inference.cache import PagePool, TaskCacheManager
+from astrai.inference.metrics import MetricsCollector
+from astrai.inference.runtime.executor import Executor
+from astrai.inference.task import STOP, Task, TaskManager, TaskStatus
+from astrai.model.automodel import AutoModel
+from astrai.tokenize.tokenizer import AutoTokenizer
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+class InferenceScheduler:
+    """Continuous batching loop: cleanup -> refill -> prefill -> decode (all groups)."""
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        model: AutoModel,
+        tokenizer: AutoTokenizer,
+        max_batch_size: int = 16,
+        max_seq_len: Optional[int] = None,
+        device: Optional[str] = None,
+        dtype: Optional[torch.dtype] = None,
+        cache: Optional[PagePool] = None,
+        enable_cuda_graph: bool = True,
+        backend: Optional[Union[str, ATTN_BACKEND, AttentionBackend, type]] = None,
+    ):
+        config = model.config
+
+        if max_seq_len is not None:
+            self.max_seq_len = max_seq_len
+        elif config.max_position_embeddings is not None:
+            self.max_seq_len = config.max_position_embeddings
+        else:
+            raise ValueError(
+                "max_seq_len must be provided either as argument "
+                "or in model config (config.max_position_embeddings)"
+            )
+        self.device = device or next(model.parameters()).device
+        self.dtype = dtype or next(model.parameters()).dtype
+
+        head_dim = config.hidden_size // config.num_attention_heads
+
+        if cache is not None:
+            self._cache = cache
+        else:
+            self._cache = PagePool(
+                n_layers=config.num_hidden_layers,
+                n_kv_heads=config.num_key_value_heads,
+                head_dim=head_dim,
+                max_batch_size=max_batch_size,
+                max_seq_len=self.max_seq_len,
+                device=self.device,
+                dtype=self.dtype,
+            )
+
+        self._metrics = MetricsCollector()
+
+        self._task_cache = TaskCacheManager(self._cache)
+
+        self._task_mgr = TaskManager(
+            tokenizer=tokenizer,
+            max_batch_size=max_batch_size,
+            max_seq_len=self.max_seq_len,
+            metrics=self._metrics,
+        )
+
+        if backend is None:
+            self._backend = None
+            active_backend = get_backend()
+        else:
+            active_backend = backend
+        with attn_backend(active_backend):
+            if backend is not None:
+                self._backend = get_backend()
+            self._backend_name = type(get_backend()).__name__
+            self._executor = Executor(
+                model=model,
+                kv_cache=self._cache,
+                task_cache=self._task_cache,
+                device=self.device,
+                dtype=self.dtype,
+                enable_cuda_graph=enable_cuda_graph,
+            )
+
+        self._stop_event = threading.Event()
+        self._loop_thread: Optional[threading.Thread] = None
+
+    def add_task(self, prompt: str, **kwargs) -> str:
+        return self._task_mgr.add_task(prompt, **kwargs)
+
+    def remove_task(self, task_id: str):
+        for task in self._task_mgr.remove_task(task_id):
+            self._task_cache.task_free(task.task_id)
+
+    def get_stats(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+        return self._task_mgr.get_stats()
+
+    @property
+    def backend_name(self) -> str:
+        return self._backend_name
+
+    @property
+    def cuda_graph_enabled(self) -> bool:
+        return self._executor.cuda_graph_enabled
+
+    def _backend_context(self):
+        if self._backend is None:
+            return nullcontext()
+        return attn_backend(self._backend)
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _task_backend_groups(tasks: List[Task]):
+        groups = {}
+        for task in tasks:
+            groups.setdefault(task.backend, (task.backend, []))[1].append(task)
+        return groups.values()
+
+    def _step(
+        self, tasks: List[Task], return_logprobs: bool = False
+    ) -> Tuple[List[Task], List[Task]]:
+        """Advance every active task by one token (prefill + decode).
+
+        Single shared primitive for both the continuous-batching loop and
+        the synchronous ``run_batch`` path, so the two cannot drift.
+
+        Tasks must already be allocated in the KV cache. Tasks without output
+        are prefilled first and sample their first token from the final prompt
+        position. Tasks with output extend the cache by one position and decode
+        from their latest generated token.
+
+        Args:
+            tasks: Active tasks to advance by one token.
+            return_logprobs: Forwarded to ``execute_decode``; per-token
+                logprobs are recorded on each task's ``output_logprobs``.
+
+        Returns:
+            ``(decoded, aborted)``: tasks that produced a new token (its ID
+            already appended to ``output_ids``) and tasks that hit the
+            sequence cap and were marked ``ABORTED``.
+        """
+        to_prefill = [t for t in tasks if not t.prefill_done and t.prompt_ids]
+        prefilled_ids = set()
+        produced: List[Task] = []
+        if to_prefill:
+            for t in to_prefill:
+                t.input_tokens = len(t.prompt_ids)
+
+            groups: Dict[Tuple[int, int, Optional[AttentionBackend]], List[Task]] = {}
+            for t in to_prefill:
+                start_pos = min(
+                    self._task_cache.task_cached(t.task_id), len(t.prompt_ids) - 1
+                )
+                groups.setdefault((len(t.prompt_ids), start_pos, t.backend), []).append(
+                    t
+                )
+
+            for (prompt_len, start_pos, _), group in groups.items():
+                backend = group[0].backend
+                backend_context = (
+                    attn_backend(backend) if backend is not None else nullcontext()
+                )
+                with (
+                    backend_context,
+                    self._metrics.record([t.task_id for t in group], "prefill"),
+                ):
+                    prefilled, step_out = self._executor.execute_prefill(
+                        group, prompt_len, start_pos, return_logprobs=return_logprobs
+                    )
+
+                for t, out in zip(prefilled, step_out):
+                    t.output_ids.append(out[0] if return_logprobs else out)
+                    t.output_tokens += 1
+                    t.mark_prefill_done()
+                    prefilled_ids.add(t.task_id)
+                    produced.append(t)
+
+                start_logical_page = start_pos // self._cache.page_size
+                for t in group:
+                    self._task_cache.task_record_hashes(
+                        t.task_id, t.prompt_ids, start_logical_page
+                    )
+
+        decoded: List[Task] = []
+        aborted: List[Task] = []
+        for t in tasks:
+            if t.task_id in prefilled_ids:
+                continue
+            if self._task_cache.task_extend(t.task_id, t.next_pos):
+                decoded.append(t)
+            else:
+                t.status = TaskStatus.ABORTED
+                aborted.append(t)
+
+        for backend, group in self._task_backend_groups(decoded):
+            backend_context = (
+                attn_backend(backend) if backend is not None else nullcontext()
+            )
+            with (
+                backend_context,
+                self._metrics.record([t.task_id for t in group], "decode"),
+            ):
+                step_out = self._executor.execute_decode(
+                    group, return_logprobs=return_logprobs
+                )
+            for t, out in zip(group, step_out):
+                t.output_ids.append(out[0] if return_logprobs else out)
+                t.output_tokens += 1
+                t.advance_kv()
+                produced.append(t)
+
+        return produced, aborted
+
+    def _run_generation_loop(self):
+        stop_ids = self._task_mgr.tokenizer.stop_ids
+        try:
+            with self._backend_context():
+                while not self._stop_event.is_set():
+                    finished = self._task_mgr.remove_finished_tasks(stop_ids)
+                    for task in finished:
+                        if task.status == TaskStatus.FINISHED:
+                            self._task_cache.task_record_hashes(
+                                task.task_id,
+                                self._task_cache.task_cacheable_ids(
+                                    task.task_id, task.prompt_ids, task.output_ids
+                                ),
+                            )
+                        self._task_cache.task_free(task.task_id)
+
+                    active = self._task_mgr.get_active_tasks()
+                    available = self._task_mgr.max_batch_size - len(active)
+                    if available > 0:
+                        candidates = self._task_mgr.pull_candidates(available)
+                        failed = []
+                        for task in candidates:
+                            if self._task_cache.task_alloc(
+                                task.task_id, task.prompt_ids
+                            ):
+                                self._task_mgr.activate(task)
+                            else:
+                                failed.append(task)
+                        if failed:
+                            self._task_mgr.return_to_waiting(failed)
+
+                    if not self._task_mgr.has_work():
+                        self._task_mgr.wait_for_tasks(timeout=1.0)
+                        continue
+
+                    active = self._task_mgr.get_active_tasks()
+
+                    decoded, aborted = self._step(active)
+
+                    for t in aborted:
+                        self._task_mgr.invoke_callback(t.task_id, STOP)
+
+                    for t in decoded:
+                        new_text = t.decode_new_token(self._task_mgr.tokenizer)
+                        if new_text:
+                            self._task_mgr.invoke_callback(t.task_id, new_text)
+                        if t.is_finished(stop_ids):
+                            self._task_mgr.invoke_callback(t.task_id, STOP)
+
+        except Exception as e:
+            self._stop_event.set()
+            logger.error(f"Scheduler loop crashed: {e}", exc_info=True)
+            self._abort_and_clear(free_waiting=False)
+
+    def start(self):
+        if self._loop_thread is not None and self._loop_thread.is_alive():
+            return
+        self._stop_event.clear()
+        t = threading.Thread(target=self._run_generation_loop, daemon=True)
+        t.start()
+        self._loop_thread = t
+
+    def stop(self):
+        self._stop_event.set()
+        self._task_mgr.wake()
+        if self._loop_thread is not None:
+            self._loop_thread.join(timeout=2.0)
+        self._loop_thread = None
+        self._abort_and_clear(free_waiting=True)
+        if torch.cuda.is_available():
+            torch.cuda.empty_cache()
+
+    def _abort_and_clear(self, free_waiting: bool):
+        """Invoke STOP callbacks, release cache slots, and clear task queues."""
+        for task in self._task_mgr.get_active_tasks():
+            self._task_mgr.invoke_callback(task.task_id, STOP)
+            self._task_cache.task_free(task.task_id)
+        for task in self._task_mgr.get_waiting_tasks():
+            self._task_mgr.invoke_callback(task.task_id, STOP)
+            if free_waiting:
+                self._task_cache.task_free(task.task_id)
+        self._task_mgr.clear_queues()
+
+    def run_batch(
+        self,
+        prompt_ids_list: List[List[int]],
+        *,
+        max_tokens: Optional[int] = None,
+        temperature: float = 1.0,
+        top_p: float = 1.0,
+        top_k: int = 50,
+        frequency_penalty: float = 0.0,
+        rep_window: int = 64,
+        return_logprobs: bool = False,
+    ) -> List[List[int]]:
+        """Synchronous batch generation without the scheduler thread.
+
+        Accepts already-tokenized prompts (no string round-trip) and runs
+        prefill + decode to completion on the calling thread.  Designed for
+        RL rollout, where logprobs of the behaviour policy must be collected
+        alongside generated tokens.
+
+        Args:
+            prompt_ids_list: ``B`` prompts, each a list of token IDs.
+            max_tokens: Maximum tokens to generate per prompt.  ``None``
+                uses ``self.max_seq_len - len(prompt_ids)``.
+            temperature/top_p/top_k/frequency_penalty/rep_window: Sampling
+                parameters (uniform across the batch).
+            return_logprobs: If ``True``, return ``(token_ids, logprobs)``
+                tuples per prompt (logprobs aligned 1-to-1 with token_ids).
+
+        Returns:
+            ``List[List[int]]`` of generated token IDs per prompt, or —
+            when ``return_logprobs`` is ``True`` —
+            ``List[Tuple[List[int], List[float]]]``.
+        """
+        stop_ids = self._task_mgr.tokenizer.stop_ids
+        seq_cap = self.max_seq_len
+        request_backend = get_backend(use_default=False)
+
+        tasks: List[Task] = []
+        for ids in prompt_ids_list:
+            if len(ids) >= seq_cap:
+                tasks.append(None)
+                continue
+            t_max = max_tokens
+            if t_max is None:
+                t_max = seq_cap - len(ids)
+            else:
+                t_max = min(t_max, seq_cap - len(ids))
+            if t_max <= 0:
+                tasks.append(None)
+                continue
+            task = Task(
+                task_id=f"batch_{uuid.uuid4().hex[:8]}",
+                prompt_ids=list(ids),
+                max_tokens=t_max,
+                temperature=temperature,
+                top_p=top_p,
+                top_k=top_k,
+                frequency_penalty=frequency_penalty,
+                rep_window=rep_window,
+                backend=request_backend,
+            )
+            if not self._task_cache.task_alloc(task.task_id, task.prompt_ids):
+                tasks.append(None)
+                continue
+            task.input_tokens = len(task.prompt_ids)
+            self._metrics.register(task.task_id)
+            tasks.append(task)
+
+        try:
+            live = [t for t in tasks if t is not None]
+
+            with self._backend_context():
+                while live:
+                    decoded, _ = self._step(live, return_logprobs=return_logprobs)
+                    live = [t for t in decoded if not t.is_finished(stop_ids)]
+        finally:
+            for t in tasks:
+                if t is not None:
+                    self._metrics.mark_finished(
+                        t.task_id, t.input_tokens, t.output_tokens
+                    )
+                    self._task_cache.task_free(t.task_id)
+
+        results: List[Any] = []
+        for t in tasks:
+            if t is None:
+                results.append(([], []) if return_logprobs else [])
+            elif return_logprobs:
+                results.append((list(t.output_ids), list(t.output_logprobs)))
+            else:
+                results.append(list(t.output_ids))
+        return results
@@ -1,16 +1,17 @@
-import logging
 import threading
 import time
 import uuid
 from collections import deque
 from enum import Enum
-from typing import Any, Callable, Deque, Dict, List, Optional
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, Callable, Deque, Dict, List, Optional

 from tokenizers.decoders import DecodeStream

+from astrai.inference.metrics import MetricsCollector
 from astrai.tokenize.tokenizer import AutoTokenizer

-logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from astrai.extension import AttentionBackend

 STOP = object()

@@ -64,6 +65,7 @@ class Task:
        top_k: int = 50,
        frequency_penalty: float = 0.0,
        rep_window: int = 64,
+        backend: Optional["AttentionBackend"] = None,
    ):
        self.task_id = task_id
        self.prompt_ids = prompt_ids
@@ -73,16 +75,25 @@ class Task:
        self.top_k = top_k
        self.frequency_penalty = frequency_penalty
        self.rep_window = rep_window
+        self.backend = backend

        self.status = TaskStatus.PENDING
        self.output_ids: List[int] = []
        self.output_logprobs: List[float] = []
        self.input_tokens: int = 0
        self.output_tokens: int = 0
-        self.arrival_time = time.time()
-        self.finish_time: Optional[float] = None
+        self._kv_len: int = 0
        self._decoder: Optional[StreamDecoder] = None

+    def mark_prefill_done(self):
+        """Prompt KV is materialized by prefill; first output sampled but
+        not yet written to KV."""
+        self._kv_len = self.input_tokens
+
+    def advance_kv(self):
+        """One more position written to KV (after a decode forward)."""
+        self._kv_len += 1
+
    def decode_new_token(self, tokenizer: AutoTokenizer) -> str:
        """Decode the last appended output token, buffering incomplete
        multi-byte sequences across calls.
@@ -93,19 +104,15 @@ class Task:
            self._decoder = StreamDecoder(tokenizer)
        return self._decoder.push(self.output_ids[-1])

-    def flush_remaining(self, tokenizer: AutoTokenizer) -> str:
-        """Emit any text still buffered in the decoder.
-
-        With the Rust-native DecodeStream, the stream is always in a
-        correct state — any completed text was already emitted by the
-        last ``push``.  A trailing incomplete multi-byte sequence has no
-        valid text to emit, so this is a no-op.
-        """
-        return ""
-
    @property
    def next_pos(self) -> int:
-        return self.input_tokens + len(self.output_ids)
+        """KV position where the next decode step will write."""
+        return self._kv_len
+
+    @property
+    def prefill_done(self) -> bool:
+        """True when all prompt KV entries are materialized."""
+        return self._kv_len >= self.input_tokens > 0

    def is_finished(self, stop_ids: List[int]) -> bool:
        if self.max_tokens is not None and self.output_tokens >= self.max_tokens:
@@ -123,6 +130,7 @@ class TaskManager:
        tokenizer: AutoTokenizer,
        max_batch_size: int = 16,
        max_seq_len: int = 8192,
+        metrics: Optional["MetricsCollector"] = None,
    ):
        self.tokenizer = tokenizer
        self.max_batch_size = max_batch_size
@@ -138,6 +146,8 @@ class TaskManager:
        self._total_tasks = 0
        self._total_tokens = 0

+        self._metrics = metrics
+
    def add_task(
        self,
        prompt: str,
@@ -147,6 +157,7 @@ class TaskManager:
        top_k: int = 50,
        frequency_penalty: float = 0.0,
        rep_window: int = 64,
+        backend: Optional["AttentionBackend"] = None,
        stream_callback: Optional[Callable[[str], None]] = None,
    ) -> str:
        task_id = f"task_{int(time.time())}_{uuid.uuid4().hex[:8]}"
@@ -154,11 +165,6 @@ class TaskManager:
        if len(prompt_ids) > self.max_seq_len:
            prompt_ids = prompt_ids[-self.max_seq_len :]

-        if len(prompt_ids) > self.max_seq_len:
-            if stream_callback:
-                stream_callback(STOP)
-            return task_id
-
        if max_tokens is None:
            max_tokens = self.max_seq_len - len(prompt_ids)
        else:
@@ -173,6 +179,7 @@ class TaskManager:
            top_k=top_k,
            frequency_penalty=frequency_penalty,
            rep_window=rep_window,
+            backend=backend,
        )

        with self._lock:
@@ -181,6 +188,9 @@ class TaskManager:
            if stream_callback:
                self._callbacks[task_id] = stream_callback

+        if self._metrics is not None:
+            self._metrics.register(task_id)
+
        self._task_event.set()
        return task_id

@@ -200,26 +210,33 @@ class TaskManager:
            cb(token)

    def get_stats(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
-        return {
+        stats: Dict[str, Any] = {
            "total_tasks": self._total_tasks,
            "total_tokens": self._total_tokens,
            "active_tasks": len(self.active_tasks),
            "waiting_queue": len(self.waiting_queue),
        }
+        if self._metrics is not None:
+            stats.update(self._metrics.get_stats())
+        return stats

    def remove_finished_tasks(self, stop_ids: List[int]) -> List[Task]:
        with self._lock:
            finished = []
            for task in self.active_tasks:
                if task.status == TaskStatus.ABORTED:
-                    task.finish_time = time.time()
                    finished.append(task)
                elif task.is_finished(stop_ids):
                    task.status = TaskStatus.FINISHED
-                    task.finish_time = time.time()
                    finished.append(task)
                    self._total_tokens += task.output_tokens

+            if self._metrics is not None:
+                for task in finished:
+                    self._metrics.mark_finished(
+                        task.task_id, task.input_tokens, task.output_tokens
+                    )
+
            self.active_tasks = [
                t
                for t in self.active_tasks
@@ -0,0 +1,152 @@
+"""Pre-allocated buffers for the inference decode hot path.
+
+Mirrors FlashInfer / SGLang's global workspace pattern: all per-step tensors
+are allocated eagerly at init (nothing is lazy), so the decode step
+reads/writes fixed-address tensors with zero ``torch.empty`` calls during
+the hot loop — a prerequisite for CUDA-graph capture.
+"""
+
+import torch
+from torch import Tensor
+
+_MAX_SPLITS = 32
+Q_TILE_ROWS = 64
+
+
+class InferenceWorkspace:
+    """Reusable fixed-shape per-step buffers for decode.
+
+    Families of buffers, all sized to ``max_batch_size`` / ``max_seq_len``
+    and sliced via views each step:
+
+    - ``decode_mask``: a ``[B, 1, total_len]`` validity mask, the RHS
+      ``arange`` pre-computed so only a single ``torch.ge(out=)`` runs per
+      step.
+    - ``input_ids``: per-step token IDs filled from host (pinned, double-
+      buffered so an in-flight async H2D copy never races the next fill).
+    - KV-cache bind metadata (``req_pool_indices``, ``seq_lens``,
+      ``kv_indptr``, ``inc``, ``out_cache_loc``), written by
+      ``PagePool.bind_tasks`` when the Executor passes this workspace.
+    - ``decode_o_part`` / ``decode_ml_part``: split-KV partial result buffers
+      (mirrors FlashInfer's workspace).  One global alloc, reused by every
+      decode step across all layers.  Sliced views are passed to the CUDA
+      attention kernel so its internal ``torch.empty`` hot-path alloc goes
+      through a stable address (CUDA-graph capturable).
+
+    No re-allocation while the server's bounds are respected.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        max_batch_size: int,
+        max_seq_len: int,
+        max_q_heads: int,
+        head_dim: int,
+        device: torch.device,
+        dtype: torch.dtype,
+    ):
+        self.max_batch_size = max_batch_size
+        self.max_seq_len = max_seq_len
+        self.max_q_heads = max_q_heads
+        self.head_dim = head_dim
+        self.device = device
+        self.dtype = dtype
+
+        # ``position_ids[:, None, None] >= arange`` RHS, reused every step.
+        self.arange = torch.arange(max_seq_len, device=device)
+        # Decode validity mask: [max_batch, 1, max_seq_len] bool.
+        self.input_mask = torch.empty(
+            (max_batch_size, 1, max_seq_len), dtype=torch.bool, device=device
+        )
+
+        # Per-step token IDs.  Values come from host Python lists every
+        # step, so the device buffer is pre-allocated (stable address for
+        # CUDA-graph capture) and filled via a host staging buffer.  A
+        # double buffer keeps a copy in flight from being overwritten by
+        # the next fill.
+        self.input_ids = torch.empty((max_batch_size,), dtype=torch.long, device=device)
+        self._pin = [
+            torch.empty((max_batch_size,), dtype=torch.long),
+            torch.empty((max_batch_size,), dtype=torch.long),
+        ]
+        self._pin_idx = 0
+
+        # KV-cache bind metadata (fixed shape, written by ``PagePool.bind_tasks``
+        # when the Executor passes this workspace).  Stable addresses make the
+        # decode forward CUDA-graph capturable.
+        self.req_pool_indices = torch.empty(
+            (max_batch_size,), dtype=torch.int32, device=device
+        )
+        self.seq_lens = torch.empty((max_batch_size,), dtype=torch.long, device=device)
+        self.kv_indptr = torch.empty(
+            (max_batch_size + 1,), dtype=torch.int32, device=device
+        )
+        self.qo_indptr = torch.empty(
+            (max_batch_size + 1,), dtype=torch.int32, device=device
+        )
+        max_q_tiles = max_batch_size * ((max_seq_len + Q_TILE_ROWS - 1) // Q_TILE_ROWS)
+        self.q_tile_to_batch = torch.empty(
+            (max_q_tiles,), dtype=torch.int32, device=device
+        )
+        self.q_tile_to_index = torch.empty(
+            (max_q_tiles,), dtype=torch.int32, device=device
+        )
+        self.inc = torch.arange(max_batch_size + 1, dtype=torch.int32, device=device)
+        self.out_cache_loc = torch.empty(
+            (max_batch_size, 1), dtype=torch.int32, device=device
+        )
+
+        # Per-step position IDs (must be at a fixed address for CUDA-graph capture).
+        self.position_ids = torch.empty(
+            (max_batch_size,), dtype=torch.long, device=device
+        )
+
+        # Split-KV partial-result buffers for decode (persistent, one global
+        # alloc per process — mirrors FlashInfer's workspace pattern).
+        # Shape: [max_batch_size, max_q_heads, _MAX_SPLITS, head_dim] (o_part)
+        #        [max_batch_size, max_q_heads, _MAX_SPLITS, 2]     (ml_part)
+        self.decode_o_part = torch.empty(
+            (max_batch_size, max_q_heads, _MAX_SPLITS, head_dim),
+            dtype=torch.float32,
+            device=device,
+        )
+        self.decode_ml_part = torch.empty(
+            (max_batch_size, max_q_heads, _MAX_SPLITS, 2),
+            dtype=torch.float32,
+            device=device,
+        )
+
+        # Decode output buffer (graph-safe pre-alloc).  Shape matches the
+        # decode kernel's output: [batch, q_head, head_dim].
+        self.decode_out = torch.empty(
+            (max_batch_size, max_q_heads, head_dim),
+            dtype=dtype,
+            device=device,
+        )
+
+    def fill_input_ids(self, ids: "list[int]") -> Tensor:
+        """Write ``ids`` into the device buffer and return ``[B]``.
+
+        Host values are staged through the double buffer and copied into the
+        stable device buffer (``copy_`` without pinning is synchronous, so
+        the alternating buffers guard against an in-flight transfer).
+        """
+        b = len(ids)
+        pin = self._pin[self._pin_idx]
+        self._pin_idx ^= 1
+        for i, v in enumerate(ids):
+            pin[i] = v
+        self.input_ids[:b].copy_(pin[:b])
+        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.
+
+        Written into the pre-allocated buffer via ``torch.ge(out=)`` — no
+        new tensor is allocated.  ``position_ids`` is the current step's
+        ``[B]`` positions; ``total_len`` must not exceed ``max_seq_len``.
+        """
+        b = position_ids.size(0)
+        out = self.input_mask[:b, :, :total_len]
+        torch.ge(position_ids[:, None, None], self.arange[:total_len], out=out)
+        return out
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+import logging
+import os
+
+
+class _DistributedContextFilter(logging.Filter):
+    def filter(self, record: logging.LogRecord) -> bool:
+        record.rank = os.environ.get("RANK", "0")
+        record.world_size = os.environ.get("WORLD_SIZE", "1")
+        return True
+
+
+def setup_logging(level: str = "INFO"):
+    """Attach a StreamHandler to the ``astrai`` logger (idempotent).
+
+    Call once per process at the top of CLI scripts.
+    Set ``ASTR_LOG_LEVEL`` env var to override the default level.
+
+    Level names: ``DEBUG``, ``INFO``, ``WARNING``, ``ERROR``, ``CRITICAL``.
+    ``DEBUG`` enables per-step prefill/decode timing logs
+    (:func:`astrai.inference.runtime.executor.timed`).
+    """
+    logger = logging.getLogger("astrai")
+    if logger.handlers:
+        return
+    level_name = os.environ.get("ASTR_LOG_LEVEL", level).upper()
+    logger.setLevel(getattr(logging, level_name, logging.INFO))
+    handler = logging.StreamHandler()
+    handler.addFilter(_DistributedContextFilter())
+    handler.setFormatter(
+        logging.Formatter(
+            "%(asctime)s | %(levelname)-8s | rank=%(rank)2s/%(world_size)-2s | %(name)-32s | %(message)s",
+            datefmt="%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S",
+        )
+    )
+    logger.addHandler(handler)
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ from astrai.model.components.lora import (
    merge_lora,
    save_lora,
 )
-from astrai.model.components.mlp import MLP
+from astrai.model.components.mlp import MLP, DeepSeekMoE
 from astrai.model.components.norm import RMSNorm
 from astrai.model.encoder import EmbeddingEncoder
 from astrai.model.transformer import AutoRegressiveLM
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ __all__ = [
    "Linear",
    "RMSNorm",
    "MLP",
+    "DeepSeekMoE",
    "GQA",
    "DecoderBlock",
    # Models
@@ -4,13 +4,21 @@ AutoModel base class for model loading and saving.

 from contextlib import contextmanager
 from pathlib import Path
-from typing import Self, Union
+from typing import Union

 import torch.nn as nn

 from astrai.config.model_config import BaseModelConfig, ConfigFactory
 from astrai.factory import BaseFactory
-from astrai.serialization import load_model_config, load_model_weights, save_model
+from astrai.serialization import (
+    HF_MODEL_TYPES,
+    adapt_config,
+    convert_hf_weights,
+    load_model_config,
+    load_model_weights,
+    looks_like_hf_state_dict,
+    save_model,
+)


@contextmanager
@@ -57,7 +65,25 @@ class AutoModel(nn.Module):
        path: Union[str, Path],
        disable_random_init: bool = True,
        strict: bool = True,
+        weights_format: str = "auto",
    ) -> nn.Module:
+        """Load a model directory.
+
+        Args:
+            path: Directory containing ``config.json`` and optionally
+                ``model.safetensors``.
+            disable_random_init: Replace parameter initializers with no-ops
+                while building the model.
+            strict: Passed to ``load_state_dict``.
+            weights_format: ``"auto"`` detects HuggingFace checkpoints
+                (LLaMA-style keys and ``model_type``) and converts them;
+                ``"astrai"`` skips conversion; ``"hf"`` forces it.
+        """
+        if weights_format not in ("auto", "astrai", "hf"):
+            raise ValueError(
+                f"weights_format must be one of 'auto', 'astrai', 'hf', "
+                f"got {weights_format!r}"
+            )

        model_path = Path(path)

@@ -66,6 +92,12 @@ class AutoModel(nn.Module):
            raise FileNotFoundError(f"Config file not found: {config_path}")

        raw = load_model_config(str(model_path))
+        is_hf_config = weights_format == "hf" or (
+            weights_format == "auto" and raw.get("model_type") in HF_MODEL_TYPES
+        )
+        if is_hf_config:
+            raw = adapt_config(raw)
+
        config = ConfigFactory.load(raw)
        model_type = config.model_type or "autoregressive_lm"

@@ -75,8 +107,14 @@ class AutoModel(nn.Module):
            model = actual_cls(config)

        weights_path = model_path / "model.safetensors"
-        if weights_path.exists():
+        index_path = model_path / "model.safetensors.index.json"
+        if weights_path.exists() or index_path.exists():
            state_dict = load_model_weights(str(model_path))
+            is_hf_weights = is_hf_config or (
+                weights_format == "auto" and looks_like_hf_state_dict(state_dict)
+            )
+            if is_hf_weights:
+                state_dict = convert_hf_weights(state_dict, config)
            model.load_state_dict(state_dict, strict=strict)

        return model
@@ -90,7 +128,3 @@ class AutoModel(nn.Module):
            state_dict=self.state_dict(),
            save_directory=str(save_directory),
        )
-
-    def to(self, *args, **kwargs) -> Self:
-        """Move model to device/dtype."""
-        return super().to(*args, **kwargs)
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
-from astrai.extension.rotary_backend import apply_rotary_emb
+from astrai.extension.backend.rotary import apply_rotary_emb
 from astrai.model.components.attention import GQA, MLA
 from astrai.model.components.decoder_block import DecoderBlock
 from astrai.model.components.embedding import Embedding
 from astrai.model.components.linear import Linear
-from astrai.model.components.mlp import MLP
+from astrai.model.components.mlp import MLP, DeepSeekMoE
 from astrai.model.components.norm import RMSNorm
 from astrai.model.components.rope import (
    RotaryEmbedding,
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ __all__ = [
    "Linear",
    "RMSNorm",
    "MLP",
+    "DeepSeekMoE",
    "Embedding",
    "GQA",
    "MLA",
@@ -5,10 +5,9 @@ import torch.nn as nn
 import torch.nn.functional as F
 from torch import Tensor

-from astrai.extension import attention
-from astrai.extension.rotary_backend import apply_rotary_emb
+from astrai.extension.backend import apply_rotary_emb, attention
 from astrai.factory import BaseFactory
-from astrai.inference.core.cache import KVCache
+from astrai.inference.cache import KVCache
 from astrai.model.components.linear import Linear
 from astrai.model.components.norm import RMSNorm

@@ -56,9 +55,7 @@ class GQA(nn.Module):
            self.gate = Linear(dim, dim)

    def _split_heads(self, x: Tensor, n_heads) -> Tensor:
-        batch_size, seq_len, _ = x.shape
-        x = x.reshape(batch_size, seq_len, n_heads, self.head_dim)
-        return x
+        return x.reshape(*x.shape[:-1], n_heads, self.head_dim)

    def forward(
        self,
@@ -67,6 +64,7 @@ class GQA(nn.Module):
        attn_mask: Tensor = None,
        kv_cache: Optional[KVCache] = None,
        is_causal: bool = False,
+        fwd: Optional[str] = None,
    ) -> Tensor:
        q = self._split_heads(self.q_proj(x), self.n_heads)
        k = self._split_heads(self.k_proj(x), self.n_kv_heads)
@@ -76,7 +74,9 @@ class GQA(nn.Module):
        if self.use_qk_norm:
            q, k = self.q_norm(q), self.k_norm(k)

-        sdqa_out = attention(q, k, v, kv_cache, self.layer_id, attn_mask, is_causal)
+        sdqa_out = attention(
+            q, k, v, kv_cache, self.layer_id, attn_mask, is_causal, fwd
+        ).reshape(*x.shape[:-1], self.dim)

        if self.use_gated_attention:
            sdqa_out = sdqa_out * F.sigmoid(self.gate(x))
@@ -141,17 +141,16 @@ class MLA(nn.Module):
        attn_mask: Tensor = None,
        kv_cache: Optional[KVCache] = None,
        is_causal: bool = False,
+        fwd: Optional[str] = None,
    ) -> Tensor:
-        bsz, seq_len, _ = x.size()
-
        q = self.q_proj(x)
-        q = q.view(bsz, seq_len, self.n_heads, self.head_dim)
+        q = q.reshape(*x.shape[:-1], self.n_heads, self.head_dim)

        kv_compressed = self.kv_a_proj(x)
        kv_compressed = self.kv_norm(kv_compressed)

        kv = self.kv_b_proj(kv_compressed)
-        kv = kv.view(bsz, seq_len, self.n_kv_heads, -1)
+        kv = kv.reshape(*x.shape[:-1], self.n_kv_heads, -1)

        k_nope, k_rope, v = torch.split(
            kv, [self.qk_nope_head_dim, self.qk_rope_head_dim, self.head_dim], dim=-1
@@ -171,7 +170,9 @@ class MLA(nn.Module):
            q = self.q_norm(q)
            k = self.k_norm(k)

-        attn_out = attention(q, k, v, kv_cache, self.layer_id, attn_mask, is_causal)
+        attn_out = attention(
+            q, k, v, kv_cache, self.layer_id, attn_mask, is_causal, fwd
+        ).reshape(*x.shape[:-1], self.dim)

        if self.use_gated_attention:
            attn_out = attn_out * F.sigmoid(self.gate(x))
@@ -1,15 +1,21 @@
 from dataclasses import asdict
-from typing import Optional
+from typing import Optional, TypedDict

 import torch.nn as nn
 from torch import Tensor

-from astrai.inference.core.cache import KVCache
+from astrai.inference.cache import KVCache
 from astrai.model.components.attention import AttnFactory
-from astrai.model.components.mlp import FFNFactory
+from astrai.model.components.mlp import FFNFactory, RouterStats
 from astrai.model.components.norm import RMSNorm


+class DecoderOutput(TypedDict):
+    hidden_states: Tensor
+    aux_loss: Optional[Tensor]
+    router_stats: Optional[RouterStats]
+
+
 class DecoderBlock(nn.Module):
    def __init__(self, config, layer_id: int):
        super().__init__()
@@ -26,7 +32,20 @@ class DecoderBlock(nn.Module):
        self.attention = AttnFactory.create(config.attn_type, **cfg, layer_id=layer_id)
        self.input_norm = RMSNorm(config.hidden_size, config.rms_norm_eps)
        self.post_attention_norm = RMSNorm(config.hidden_size, config.rms_norm_eps)
-        self.mlp = FFNFactory.create(config.ffn_type, **cfg)
+        ffn_type = self._resolve_ffn_type(config, layer_id)
+        self.mlp = FFNFactory.create(ffn_type, **cfg)
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _resolve_ffn_type(config, layer_id: int) -> str:
+        if config.ffn_type != "moe":
+            return config.ffn_type
+        mlp_only = config.mlp_only_layers or []
+        if layer_id in mlp_only:
+            return "mlp"
+        if config.decoder_sparse_step > 1:
+            if (layer_id + 1) % config.decoder_sparse_step != 0:
+                return "mlp"
+        return "moe"

    def forward(
        self,
@@ -35,15 +54,23 @@ class DecoderBlock(nn.Module):
        attention_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None,
        kv_cache: Optional[KVCache] = None,
        is_causal: bool = False,
-    ) -> Tensor:
+        fwd: Optional[str] = None,
+    ) -> DecoderOutput:
        attn_output = self.attention(
            self.input_norm(x),
            rotary_emb,
            attention_mask,
            kv_cache,
            is_causal,
+            fwd,
        )
        x = attn_output + x
-        x = self.mlp(self.post_attention_norm(x)) + x
+        normalized = self.post_attention_norm(x)
+        mlp_output = self.mlp(normalized)
+        x = mlp_output["hidden_states"] + x

-        return x
+        return {
+            "hidden_states": x,
+            "aux_loss": mlp_output["aux_loss"],
+            "router_stats": mlp_output.get("router_stats"),
+        }
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+from typing import Optional, TypedDict
+
 import torch
 import torch.nn as nn
 import torch.nn.functional as F
@@ -11,6 +13,22 @@ class FFNFactory(BaseFactory[nn.Module]):
    pass


+class RouterStats(TypedDict):
+    """Per-layer MoE routing statistics for training diagnostics.
+
+    Both tensors are detached monitoring data produced during forward.
+    """
+
+    probs: Tensor
+    topk_indices: Tensor
+
+
+class FFNOutput(TypedDict):
+    hidden_states: Tensor
+    aux_loss: Optional[Tensor]
+    router_stats: Optional[RouterStats]
+
+
@FFNFactory.register("mlp")
 class MLP(nn.Module):
    def __init__(self, dim: int, dim_ffn: int, down_init_std: float = 0.02):
@@ -19,10 +37,10 @@ class MLP(nn.Module):
        self.gate = Linear(dim, dim_ffn)
        self.down = Linear(dim_ffn, dim, init_std=down_init_std)

-    def forward(self, x: Tensor) -> Tensor:
+    def forward(self, x: Tensor) -> FFNOutput:
        gated = self.up(x) * F.silu(self.gate(x))
        out = self.down(gated)
-        return out
+        return {"hidden_states": out, "aux_loss": None, "router_stats": None}


@FFNFactory.register("moe")
@@ -36,6 +54,9 @@ class DeepSeekMoE(nn.Module):
        n_activated_experts: int = 2,
        topk_method: str = "greedy",
        n_layers: int = 1,
+        moe_intermediate_size: Optional[int] = None,
+        shared_expert_intermediate_size: Optional[int] = None,
+        norm_topk_prob: bool = True,
    ):
        super().__init__()
        self.dim = dim
@@ -43,6 +64,16 @@ class DeepSeekMoE(nn.Module):
        self.n_shared_experts = n_shared_experts
        self.n_activated_experts = n_activated_experts
        self.topk_method = topk_method
+        self.norm_topk_prob = norm_topk_prob
+
+        expert_dim_ffn = (
+            moe_intermediate_size if moe_intermediate_size is not None else dim_ffn
+        )
+        shared_dim_ffn = (
+            shared_expert_intermediate_size
+            if shared_expert_intermediate_size is not None
+            else dim_ffn
+        )

        self.router = Linear(dim, n_routed_experts, bias=False)
        moe_scale = 1 / max(n_shared_experts, 1) + 1 / n_activated_experts
@@ -50,51 +81,92 @@ class DeepSeekMoE(nn.Module):

        self.shared_experts = nn.ModuleList(
            [
-                MLP(dim, dim_ffn, down_init_std=down_init_std)
+                MLP(dim, shared_dim_ffn, down_init_std=down_init_std)
                for _ in range(n_shared_experts)
            ]
        )
        self.routed_experts = nn.ModuleList(
            [
-                MLP(dim, dim_ffn, down_init_std=down_init_std)
+                MLP(dim, expert_dim_ffn, down_init_std=down_init_std)
                for _ in range(n_routed_experts)
            ]
        )

-    def forward(self, x: Tensor) -> Tensor:
-        bsz, seq_len, dim = x.shape
+    def forward(self, x: Tensor) -> FFNOutput:
+        include_aux_loss = self.training and torch.is_grad_enabled()
+        shape = x.shape
+        dim = shape[-1]
        x_flat = x.view(-1, dim)

        shared_out = self._shared_forward(x_flat)
-        routed_out = self._routed_forward(x_flat)
+        routed_output = self._routed_forward(x_flat, include_aux_loss)

-        out = (shared_out + routed_out).view(bsz, seq_len, dim)
-        return out
+        out = (shared_out + routed_output["hidden_states"]).view(shape)
+        return {
+            "hidden_states": out,
+            "aux_loss": routed_output["aux_loss"],
+            "router_stats": routed_output["router_stats"],
+        }

    def _shared_forward(self, x: Tensor) -> Tensor:
        if self.n_shared_experts == 0:
            return torch.zeros_like(x)
-        return sum(e(x) for e in self.shared_experts) / self.n_shared_experts
+        return (
+            sum(e(x)["hidden_states"] for e in self.shared_experts)
+            / self.n_shared_experts
+        )

-    def _routed_forward(self, x: Tensor) -> Tensor:
+    def _routed_forward(self, x: Tensor, include_aux_loss: bool) -> FFNOutput:
        N, D = x.shape
        K = self.n_activated_experts
+        E = self.n_routed_experts

        router_logits = self.router(x)
        router_probs = torch.softmax(router_logits.float(), dim=-1).to(x.dtype)

-        topk_weights, topk_indices = torch.topk(router_probs, K, dim=-1)
-        topk_weights = topk_weights / topk_weights.sum(dim=-1, keepdim=True)
+        topk_weights, topk_indices = torch.topk(router_probs, K, dim=-1, sorted=False)
+        if self.norm_topk_prob:
+            topk_weights = topk_weights / topk_weights.sum(dim=-1, keepdim=True)
+
+        aux_loss = None
+        router_stats = None
+        if include_aux_loss:
+            expert_load = F.one_hot(topk_indices, num_classes=E).float()
+            expert_load = expert_load.mean(dim=(0, 1))
+            router_prob = router_probs.float().mean(dim=0)
+            aux_loss = E * (expert_load * router_prob).sum()
+            router_stats = {
+                "probs": router_probs.detach(),
+                "topk_indices": topk_indices,
+            }
+
+        # Grouped dispatch: sort (token, slot) pairs by expert so each expert
+        # consumes one contiguous slice instead of a per-expert mask scan.
+        flat_experts = topk_indices.reshape(-1)
+        sorted_experts, order = torch.sort(flat_experts)
+        flat_tokens = x.repeat_interleave(K, dim=0)[order]
+        flat_weights = topk_weights.reshape(-1, 1)[order]
+        boundaries = torch.cumsum(
+            torch.bincount(sorted_experts, minlength=E), dim=0
+        ).tolist()

        output = torch.zeros(N, D, device=x.device, dtype=x.dtype)
-        for expert_idx in range(self.n_routed_experts):
-            expert_mask = topk_indices == expert_idx
-            token_idx, k_idx = expert_mask.nonzero(as_tuple=True)
-            if token_idx.numel() == 0:
+        start = 0
+        for expert_idx, end in enumerate(boundaries):
+            if end == start:
                continue
-            expert_input = x[token_idx]
-            expert_output = self.routed_experts[expert_idx](expert_input)
-            weights = topk_weights[token_idx, k_idx].unsqueeze(-1)
-            output.index_add_(0, token_idx, expert_output * weights)
+            expert_output = self.routed_experts[expert_idx](flat_tokens[start:end])[
+                "hidden_states"
+            ]
+            output.index_add_(
+                0,
+                order[start:end] // K,
+                expert_output * flat_weights[start:end],
+            )
+            start = end

-        return output
+        return {
+            "hidden_states": output,
+            "aux_loss": aux_loss,
+            "router_stats": router_stats,
+        }
@@ -65,9 +65,12 @@ class RotaryEmbedding(nn.Module):
            [batch, seq_len, dim/2, 2] (f32) — [cos, sin] pairs.
        """
        if position_ids is None:
-            position_ids = (
-                torch.arange(x.size(1), device=x.device)
-                .unsqueeze(0)
-                .expand(x.size(0), -1)
-            )
+            if x.ndim == 2:
+                position_ids = torch.arange(x.size(0), device=x.device)
+            else:
+                position_ids = (
+                    torch.arange(x.size(1), device=x.device)
+                    .unsqueeze(0)
+                    .expand(x.size(0), -1)
+                )
        return self.freqs_cis[position_ids].float()
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ class EmbeddingEncoder(AutoModel):
        attn_mask = process_attention_mask(input_mask)

        for layer in self.layers:
-            x = layer(x, rotary_emb, attn_mask)
+            x = layer(x, rotary_emb, attn_mask)["hidden_states"]

        hidden_states = self.norm(x)

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import torch.nn as nn
 from torch import Tensor

 from astrai.config.model_config import AutoRegressiveLMConfig
-from astrai.inference.core.cache import KVCache
+from astrai.inference.cache import KVCache
 from astrai.model.automodel import AutoModel, ModelFactory
 from astrai.model.components.decoder_block import DecoderBlock
 from astrai.model.components.embedding import Embedding
@@ -105,18 +105,48 @@ class AutoRegressiveLM(AutoModel):
        input_mask: Optional[Tensor] = None,
        kv_cache: Optional[KVCache] = None,
        position_ids: Optional[Tensor] = None,
+        fwd: Optional[str] = None,
    ) -> Dict[str, Tensor]:
-        assert input_ids.ndim == 2
+        if fwd is None:
+            if input_ids.ndim != 2:
+                raise ValueError("training input_ids must be [batch, seq_len]")
+            if kv_cache is not None:
+                raise ValueError("training forward does not accept a KV cache")
+        elif fwd in ("prefill", "decode"):
+            if input_ids.ndim != 1:
+                raise ValueError("inference input_ids must be packed [tokens]")
+            if kv_cache is None:
+                raise ValueError("inference forward requires a KV cache")
+        else:
+            raise ValueError(f"unsupported forward mode: {fwd}")

        x = self.embed_tokens(input_ids)
        rotary_emb = self.rotary_embedding(x, position_ids)
        attn_mask = process_attention_mask(input_mask)
        use_sdpa_causal_mask = attn_mask is None

+        aux_losses = []
+        router_stats_list = []
        for layer in self.layers:
-            x = layer(x, rotary_emb, attn_mask, kv_cache, use_sdpa_causal_mask)
+            layer_output = layer(
+                x,
+                rotary_emb,
+                attn_mask,
+                kv_cache,
+                use_sdpa_causal_mask,
+                fwd,
+            )
+            x = layer_output["hidden_states"]
+            stats = layer_output.get("router_stats")
+            if stats is not None:
+                aux_losses.append(layer_output["aux_loss"])
+                router_stats_list.append(stats)

        hidden_states = self.norm(x)
        logits = self.lm_head(hidden_states)

-        return {"logits": logits, "hidden_states": hidden_states}
+        output = {"logits": logits, "hidden_states": hidden_states}
+        if aux_losses:
+            output["aux_loss"] = torch.stack(aux_losses).mean()
+            output["router_stats"] = router_stats_list
+        return output
@@ -247,18 +247,15 @@ class LocalStrategy(LaunchStrategy):
            ctx.join()


-def _detect_launcher() -> str:
-    """Detect the distributed launcher from environment.
-
-    Returns one of: "torchelastic", "torchrun", "external", "local".
-    """
+def _is_external_launcher() -> bool:
+    """Whether an external launcher (torchrun/elastic/manual env) started us."""
    if dist.is_torchelastic_launched():
-        return "torchelastic"
+        return True
    if "LOCAL_WORLD_SIZE" in os.environ:
-        return "torchrun"
+        return True
    if "RANK" in os.environ and "WORLD_SIZE" in os.environ:
-        return "external"
-    return "local"
+        return True
+    return False


 def spawn_parallel_fn(
@@ -273,8 +270,7 @@ def spawn_parallel_fn(
 ):
    if master_port is None:
        master_port = find_free_port()
-    launcher = _detect_launcher()
-    if launcher in ("torchelastic", "torchrun", "external"):
+    if _is_external_launcher():
        strategy = TorchrunStrategy(
            world_size, backend, master_addr, master_port, device_type, start_method
        )
@@ -416,7 +416,11 @@ class MultiOutputMaskBuilder(BaseMaskBuilder):
            return None

        result: dict = {}
-        any_output = False
+        required_outputs = {
+            output_key
+            for output_key, spec in sources_spec.items()
+            if spec.get("sections")
+        }

        for output_key, spec in sources_spec.items():
            sections = spec.get("sections", [])
@@ -428,7 +432,6 @@ class MultiOutputMaskBuilder(BaseMaskBuilder):
                if ids is None:
                    continue
                result[output_key] = ids
-                any_output = True
                continue

            list_field = spec.get("list_field", False)
@@ -444,7 +447,6 @@ class MultiOutputMaskBuilder(BaseMaskBuilder):
                result[output_key] = ids
                if mask is not None:
                    result[mask_key] = mask
-                any_output = True
                continue

            ids, mask = self.renderer.process_sections(
@@ -460,9 +462,7 @@ class MultiOutputMaskBuilder(BaseMaskBuilder):
            elif "mask_key" in spec:
                result[mask_key] = mask

-            any_output = True
-
-        if not any_output:
+        if not required_outputs or not required_outputs.issubset(result):
            return None

        result["domain"] = _extract_domain(item, config.output.domain_key)
@@ -474,6 +474,11 @@ class MultiOutputMaskBuilder(BaseMaskBuilder):
            return [None] * len(items)

        results = [{} for _ in items]
+        required_outputs = {
+            output_key
+            for output_key, spec in sources_spec.items()
+            if spec.get("sections")
+        }
        for output_key, spec in sources_spec.items():
            sections = spec.get("sections", [])
            if not sections:
@@ -506,7 +511,7 @@ class MultiOutputMaskBuilder(BaseMaskBuilder):

        return [
            ({**result, "domain": _extract_domain(item, config.output.domain_key)})
-            if result
+            if required_outputs and required_outputs.issubset(result)
            else None
            for item, result in zip(items, results)
        ]
@@ -22,9 +22,21 @@ from astrai.serialization.dataset import (
    load_bin_offsets,
    save_bin,
 )
+from astrai.serialization.hf_adapter import (
+    HF_MODEL_TYPES,
+    adapt_config,
+    convert_hf_config,
+    convert_hf_weights,
+    looks_like_hf_state_dict,
+)

 __all__ = [
    "Checkpoint",
+    "HF_MODEL_TYPES",
+    "adapt_config",
+    "convert_hf_config",
+    "convert_hf_weights",
+    "looks_like_hf_state_dict",
    "load_json",
    "load_model_config",
    "load_model_weights",
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import json
 import time
 from dataclasses import dataclass, field
 from pathlib import Path
-from typing import Any, Dict, Optional, Union
+from typing import Any, Callable, Dict, Optional, Union

 import safetensors.torch as st
 import torch
@@ -22,39 +22,31 @@ def save_safetensors(state_dict: dict, path: Union[str, Path]):
    st.save_file(state_dict, str(path))


-def load_safetensors(path: Union[str, Path], broadcast: bool = False) -> dict:
+def _broadcast_load(loader: Callable[[], dict], broadcast: bool) -> dict:
+    """Load on rank 0 and broadcast the object to all ranks."""
    if not broadcast or not dist.is_initialized():
-        return st.load_file(str(path))
-
+        return loader()
    rank = get_rank()
    if rank == 0:
-        state_dict = st.load_file(str(path))
+        data = loader()
    else:
-        state_dict = {}
-    tmp = [state_dict]
+        data = {}
+    tmp = [data]
    dist.broadcast_object_list(tmp, src=0)
    return tmp[0]


+def load_safetensors(path: Union[str, Path], broadcast: bool = False) -> dict:
+    return _broadcast_load(lambda: st.load_file(str(path)), broadcast)
+
+
 def save_json(data: dict, path: Union[str, Path]):
    with open(str(path), "w") as f:
        json.dump(data, f, indent=2)


 def load_json(path: Union[str, Path], broadcast: bool = False) -> dict:
-    if not broadcast or not dist.is_initialized():
-        with open(str(path), "r") as f:
-            return json.load(f)
-
-    rank = get_rank()
-    if rank == 0:
-        with open(str(path), "r") as f:
-            data = json.load(f)
-    else:
-        data = {}
-    tmp = [data]
-    dist.broadcast_object_list(tmp, src=0)
-    return tmp[0]
+    return _broadcast_load(lambda: json.loads(Path(path).read_text()), broadcast)


 def save_torch(obj: Any, path: Union[str, Path]):
@@ -99,7 +91,21 @@ def load_model_config(save_directory: str) -> dict:


 def load_model_weights(save_directory: str) -> dict:
-    return load_state_dict(Path(save_directory) / _WEIGHTS_FILE)
+    save_path = Path(save_directory)
+    weights_file = save_path / _WEIGHTS_FILE
+    if weights_file.exists():
+        return load_state_dict(weights_file)
+
+    index_path = save_path / "model.safetensors.index.json"
+    if index_path.exists():
+        index = load_json(index_path)
+        weight_map = index.get("weight_map", {})
+        state_dict = {}
+        for shard in sorted(set(weight_map.values())):
+            state_dict.update(load_state_dict(save_path / shard))
+        return state_dict
+
+    raise FileNotFoundError(f"No model weights found in {save_directory}")


 def load_state_dict(path: Union[str, Path], broadcast: bool = False) -> dict:
@@ -190,8 +196,10 @@ class Checkpoint:
        if meta_path.exists():
            return cls.load(save_dir, broadcast=broadcast)

-        if weights_path.exists():
-            state_dict = load_state_dict(weights_path, broadcast=broadcast)
+        weights_path = save_path / _WEIGHTS_FILE
+        index_path = save_path / "model.safetensors.index.json"
+        if weights_path.exists() or index_path.exists():
+            state_dict = load_model_weights(save_dir)
            config = {}
            config_path = save_path / _CONFIG_FILE
            if config_path.exists():
@@ -0,0 +1,271 @@
+"""HuggingFace checkpoint adaptation for LLaMA-style decoder models.
+
+AstrAI stores weights with its own key names (``layers.<i>.input_norm``,
+``layers.<i>.mlp.gate``), while HuggingFace decoder-only checkpoints use
+``model.layers.<i>.input_layernorm`` / ``model.layers.<i>.mlp.gate_proj``.
+This module translates HF configs and state dicts so external checkpoints
+can be loaded directly.
+
+Supported families (LLaMA layout, dense and MoE):
+- dense FFN: llama, mistral, qwen2, gemma, gemma2, phi3
+- MoE FFN (Mixtral / Qwen2-MoE / DeepSeek-V3 layout): router
+  ``mlp.gate``, routed experts ``mlp.experts.<j>``, shared experts
+  ``mlp.shared_experts.<j>``
+
+Not supported:
+- MLA attention (DeepSeek-V2/V3 ``kv_a_proj_with_mqa``) uses a different
+  KV factorization and cannot be converted numerically.
+- Attention/MLP bias (``attention_bias`` / ``mlp_bias``) — AstrAI
+  projections are bias-free.
+"""
+
+import logging
+import re
+from typing import Any, Dict, Mapping
+
+import torch
+
+from astrai.config.base import BaseConfig
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+HF_MODEL_TYPES = frozenset(
+    {
+        "llama",
+        "mistral",
+        "mixtral",
+        "qwen2",
+        "qwen2_moe",
+        "gemma",
+        "gemma2",
+        "phi3",
+    }
+)
+
+_EMBED = re.compile(r"^model\.embed_tokens\.weight$")
+_ATTN = re.compile(r"^model\.layers\.(\d+)\.self_attn\.(q|k|v|o)_proj\.(weight|bias)$")
+_Q_NORM = re.compile(r"^model\.layers\.(\d+)\.self_attn\.q_norm\.weight$")
+_K_NORM = re.compile(r"^model\.layers\.(\d+)\.self_attn\.k_norm\.weight$")
+_INPUT_NORM = re.compile(r"^model\.layers\.(\d+)\.input_layernorm\.weight$")
+_POST_NORM = re.compile(r"^model\.layers\.(\d+)\.post_attention_layernorm\.weight$")
+_FINAL_NORM = re.compile(r"^model\.norm\.weight$")
+_LM_HEAD = re.compile(r"^lm_head\.weight$")
+_DENSE_MLP = re.compile(
+    r"^model\.layers\.(\d+)\.mlp\.(gate|up|down)_proj\.(weight|bias)$"
+)
+_MOE_ROUTER = re.compile(r"^model\.layers\.(\d+)\.mlp\.gate\.weight$")
+_MOE_EXPERTS = re.compile(
+    r"^model\.layers\.(\d+)\.mlp\.experts\.(\d+)\.(gate|up|down)_proj\.(weight|bias)$"
+)
+_MOE_SHARED = re.compile(
+    r"^model\.layers\.(\d+)\.mlp\.shared_expert(?:s)?\.(\d+)\."
+    r"(gate|up|down)_proj\.(weight|bias)$"
+)
+
+_ASTR_PREFIXES = ("embed_tokens.", "layers.", "norm.", "lm_head.")
+
+
+def looks_like_hf_state_dict(state_dict: Mapping[str, Any]) -> bool:
+    """Return True if *state_dict* uses HuggingFace key names."""
+    return any(
+        key.startswith("model.")
+        or "self_attn." in key
+        or "input_layernorm" in key
+        or "mlp.experts." in key
+        for key in state_dict
+    )
+
+
+def _is_dense_mlp_layer(config: BaseConfig, layer_id: int) -> bool:
+    """Return whether a layer uses dense MLP instead of routed experts."""
+    if getattr(config, "ffn_type", "mlp") != "moe":
+        return True
+    mlp_only = getattr(config, "mlp_only_layers", None) or []
+    if layer_id in mlp_only:
+        return True
+    step = getattr(config, "decoder_sparse_step", 1) or 1
+    return step > 1 and (layer_id + 1) % step != 0
+
+
+def adapt_config(raw: Dict[str, Any]) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+    """Translate *raw* for AstrAI if it looks like an HF model config."""
+    if raw.get("model_type") in HF_MODEL_TYPES:
+        return convert_hf_config(raw)
+    return raw
+
+
+def convert_hf_config(raw: Dict[str, Any]) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+    """Convert an HF LLaMA-style config dict to AstrAI field names."""
+    if raw.get("attention_bias") or raw.get("mlp_bias"):
+        raise NotImplementedError(
+            "attention_bias / mlp_bias checkpoints are not supported; "
+            "AstrAI projections are bias-free"
+        )
+
+    cfg: Dict[str, Any] = {}
+    for key in (
+        "vocab_size",
+        "hidden_size",
+        "num_hidden_layers",
+        "intermediate_size",
+        "rms_norm_eps",
+        "tie_word_embeddings",
+        "max_position_embeddings",
+        "rope_theta",
+        "rope_scaling",
+        "num_attention_heads",
+        "num_key_value_heads",
+        "use_qk_norm",
+        "use_gated_attention",
+        "kv_lora_rank",
+        "qk_nope_head_dim",
+        "qk_rope_head_dim",
+        "moe_intermediate_size",
+        "shared_expert_intermediate_size",
+        "topk_method",
+        "norm_topk_prob",
+        "moe_aux_loss_coef",
+        "decoder_sparse_step",
+        "mlp_only_layers",
+        "neftune_alpha",
+    ):
+        if key in raw:
+            cfg[key] = raw[key]
+
+    if "qk_norm" in raw and "use_qk_norm" not in cfg:
+        cfg["use_qk_norm"] = raw["qk_norm"]
+    if (
+        raw.get("model_type") in ("gemma", "gemma2")
+        and "use_qk_norm" not in cfg
+        and "qk_norm" not in raw
+    ):
+        # Gemma/Gemma2 always apply RMSNorm to Q and K before attention.
+        cfg["use_qk_norm"] = True
+
+    n_heads = raw.get("num_attention_heads")
+    if cfg.get("num_key_value_heads") is None and n_heads is not None:
+        cfg["num_key_value_heads"] = n_heads
+
+    if raw.get("head_dim") is not None and n_heads and raw.get("hidden_size"):
+        expected = raw["hidden_size"] // n_heads
+        if raw["head_dim"] != expected:
+            raise NotImplementedError(
+                f"HF head_dim={raw['head_dim']} differs from the computed "
+                f"head dim {expected}; AstrAI derives head_dim from "
+                "hidden_size / num_attention_heads"
+            )
+
+    if "kv_lora_rank" in raw:
+        cfg["attn_type"] = "mla"
+
+    n_experts = raw.get("num_local_experts") or raw.get("n_routed_experts")
+    if n_experts:
+        cfg["ffn_type"] = "moe"
+        cfg["n_routed_experts"] = n_experts
+        if "num_experts_per_tok" in raw:
+            cfg["n_activated_experts"] = raw["num_experts_per_tok"]
+        if "n_activated_experts" in raw:
+            cfg["n_activated_experts"] = raw["n_activated_experts"]
+        if "n_shared_experts" in raw:
+            cfg["n_shared_experts"] = raw["n_shared_experts"]
+        else:
+            # Mixtral has no shared experts; AstrAI defaults to one.
+            cfg["n_shared_experts"] = 0
+        if cfg.get("moe_intermediate_size") is None and "intermediate_size" in raw:
+            # MoE configs store the per-expert FFN size in intermediate_size.
+            cfg["moe_intermediate_size"] = raw["intermediate_size"]
+        first_k_dense = raw.get("first_k_dense_replace")
+        if isinstance(first_k_dense, int) and first_k_dense > 0:
+            cfg["mlp_only_layers"] = list(range(first_k_dense))
+            cfg["decoder_sparse_step"] = 1
+
+    cfg["model_type"] = "autoregressive_lm"
+    return cfg
+
+
+def convert_hf_weights(
+    state_dict: Mapping[str, Any],
+    config: BaseConfig,
+) -> Dict[str, torch.Tensor]:
+    """Rename HF state dict keys to AstrAI names.
+
+    Keys that are already AstrAI-style pass through unchanged; unmapped
+    HF keys are dropped with a warning. Use with ``strict=True`` to fail
+    loudly when the checkpoint does not match the config.
+    """
+    if getattr(config, "attn_type", "gqa") == "mla":
+        if any("kv_a_proj_with_mqa" in key for key in state_dict):
+            raise NotImplementedError(
+                "MLA attention (DeepSeek-V2/V3 kv_a_proj_with_mqa) uses a "
+                "different KV factorization and cannot be converted"
+            )
+
+    ffn_type = getattr(config, "ffn_type", "mlp")
+    converted: Dict[str, torch.Tensor] = {}
+    skipped: list[str] = []
+    for key, tensor in state_dict.items():
+        if key.startswith(_ASTR_PREFIXES):
+            converted[key] = tensor
+            continue
+
+        new_key = None
+        if ffn_type == "moe":
+            m = _MOE_ROUTER.match(key)
+            if m:
+                new_key = f"layers.{m.group(1)}.mlp.router.weight"
+            else:
+                m = _MOE_EXPERTS.match(key)
+                if m:
+                    new_key = (
+                        f"layers.{m.group(1)}.mlp.routed_experts.{m.group(2)}."
+                        f"{m.group(3)}.{m.group(4)}"
+                    )
+                else:
+                    m = _MOE_SHARED.match(key)
+                    if m:
+                        new_key = (
+                            f"layers.{m.group(1)}.mlp.shared_experts.{m.group(2)}."
+                            f"{m.group(3)}.{m.group(4)}"
+                        )
+            if new_key is None:
+                m = _DENSE_MLP.match(key)
+                if m and _is_dense_mlp_layer(config, int(m.group(1))):
+                    new_key = f"layers.{m.group(1)}.mlp.{m.group(2)}.{m.group(3)}"
+        else:
+            m = _DENSE_MLP.match(key)
+            if m:
+                new_key = f"layers.{m.group(1)}.mlp.{m.group(2)}.{m.group(3)}"
+
+        if new_key is None:
+            m = _ATTN.match(key)
+            if m:
+                new_key = (
+                    f"layers.{m.group(1)}.attention.{m.group(2)}_proj.{m.group(3)}"
+                )
+            elif (m := _Q_NORM.match(key)) is not None:
+                new_key = f"layers.{m.group(1)}.attention.q_norm.weight"
+            elif (m := _K_NORM.match(key)) is not None:
+                new_key = f"layers.{m.group(1)}.attention.k_norm.weight"
+            elif (m := _INPUT_NORM.match(key)) is not None:
+                new_key = f"layers.{m.group(1)}.input_norm.weight"
+            elif (m := _POST_NORM.match(key)) is not None:
+                new_key = f"layers.{m.group(1)}.post_attention_norm.weight"
+            elif (m := _EMBED.match(key)) is not None:
+                new_key = "embed_tokens.weight"
+            elif (m := _FINAL_NORM.match(key)) is not None:
+                new_key = "norm.weight"
+            elif (m := _LM_HEAD.match(key)) is not None:
+                new_key = "lm_head.weight"
+
+        if new_key is None:
+            skipped.append(key)
+        else:
+            converted[new_key] = tensor
+
+    if skipped:
+        logger.warning(
+            "Dropped %d unmapped HuggingFace weight key(s): %s",
+            len(skipped),
+            ", ".join(sorted(skipped)[:10]),
+        )
+    return converted
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import math
 from typing import Dict

 import torch
@@ -27,6 +28,8 @@ class GradSNRTracker:

    SNR = E[g]^2 / Var(g) = E[g]^2 / (E[g^2] - E[g]^2)

+    The reported value is the power ratio in decibels: ``10 * log10(SNR)``.
+
    The tracker accumulates per-parameter EMA moments across optimizer steps.
    Call ``update`` after backward (before ``optimizer.step``) and read
    ``snr`` to get the aggregate SNR across all parameters.
@@ -64,7 +67,8 @@ class GradSNRTracker:
            noise = (v - m.pow(2)).clamp(min=0).sum().item()
            total_signal += signal
            total_noise += noise
-        return total_signal / (total_noise + self.eps)
+        snr = total_signal / (total_noise + self.eps)
+        return 10.0 * math.log10(max(snr, self.eps))


 def ctx_get_loss(ctx):
@@ -88,3 +92,7 @@ def ctx_get_grad_snr(ctx):
    if tracker is None:
        return None
    return tracker.snr
+
+
+def ctx_get_moe_metric(ctx, key):
+    return ctx.strategy._moe_metrics.get(key)
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ Provides:
 - :class:`BaseRewardModel` — pluggable reward interface
 - :class:`RolloutGenerator` — KV-cache-backed generation of grouped
  responses + decoding (no reward); delegates the generation loop to
-  :class:`~astrai.inference.core.scheduler.InferenceScheduler.run_batch`
+  :class:`~astrai.inference.scheduler.InferenceScheduler.run_batch`
  so rollout and the production inference server share one code path
 - :class:`RolloutRunner` — orchestrates generation + scoring with a
  step-driven cache; its ``__call__`` returns ``(RolloutResult, is_fresh)``
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ from typing import Dict, List, Optional, Tuple
 import torch
 from torch import Tensor

-from astrai.inference.core.scheduler import InferenceScheduler
+from astrai.inference.scheduler import InferenceScheduler


@dataclass(kw_only=True)
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ class RolloutGenerator:
    """Pure generation + decoding for a group of responses per prompt.

    Delegates the prefill/decode loop to
-    :meth:`~astrai.inference.core.scheduler.InferenceScheduler.run_batch`,
+    :meth:`~astrai.inference.scheduler.InferenceScheduler.run_batch`,
    which uses a real KV cache (no O(n²) recompute).  Has no dependency
    on any reward model; can be reused in isolation for offline
    generation, qualitative sampling, or eval pipelines.
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@

 import math
 from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
-from typing import Any, Dict, List
+from typing import List

 from torch.optim.lr_scheduler import LRScheduler

@@ -20,12 +20,6 @@ class BaseScheduler(LRScheduler, ABC):
        """Calculate the current learning rate."""
        raise NotImplementedError

-    def state_dict(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
-        return super().state_dict()
-
-    def load_state_dict(self, state_dict: Dict[str, Any]):
-        super().load_state_dict(state_dict)
-

 class SchedulerFactory(BaseFactory["BaseScheduler"]):
    """Factory class for creating learning rate schedulers.
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 """Training strategy implementations with factory pattern."""

-from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
-from typing import Callable, Dict, Union
+from abc import ABC
+from typing import Callable, Dict, List, Optional, TypedDict, Union

 import torch
 import torch.nn as nn
@@ -9,10 +9,22 @@ import torch.nn.functional as F
 from torch import Tensor

 from astrai.factory import BaseFactory
+from astrai.model.components.mlp import RouterStats
 from astrai.parallel.executor import broadcast_state_dict
 from astrai.trainer.rollout import RolloutResult


+class LossOutput(TypedDict):
+    loss: Tensor
+    metrics: Dict[str, float]
+
+
+class LogprobsOutput(TypedDict):
+    logprobs: Tensor
+    aux_loss: Optional[Tensor]
+    router_stats: Optional[List[RouterStats]]
+
+
 def move_to_device(batch: Dict[str, Tensor], device: str) -> Dict[str, Tensor]:
    """Move batch tensors to specified device with non-blocking transfer."""
    return {key: value.to(device, non_blocking=True) for key, value in batch.items()}
@@ -24,7 +36,7 @@ def get_logprobs(
    attn_mask: Tensor,
    loss_mask: Tensor,
    reduction: str,
-) -> Tensor:
+) -> LogprobsOutput:
    """Compute token-wise log probabilities from model outputs.

    Args:
@@ -46,10 +58,11 @@ def get_logprobs(
    shifted_input_ids = input_ids[:, 1:]
    shifted_loss_mask = loss_mask[:, 1:]

-    logits = model(
+    outputs = model(
        input_ids[:, :-1],
        attn_mask[:, :, :-1, :-1] if attn_mask.dim() == 4 else attn_mask[:, :-1],
-    )["logits"]
+    )
+    logits = outputs["logits"]
    log_probs = torch.log_softmax(logits.float(), dim=-1)

    token_logprobs = torch.gather(
@@ -57,13 +70,18 @@ def get_logprobs(
    ).squeeze(-1)

    if reduction == "mean":
-        return (token_logprobs * shifted_loss_mask).sum(dim=-1) / shifted_loss_mask.sum(
+        logprobs = (token_logprobs * shifted_loss_mask).sum(
            dim=-1
-        ).clamp(min=1.0)
+        ) / shifted_loss_mask.sum(dim=-1).clamp(min=1.0)
    elif reduction == "sum":
-        return (token_logprobs * shifted_loss_mask).sum(dim=-1)
+        logprobs = (token_logprobs * shifted_loss_mask).sum(dim=-1)
    else:
-        return token_logprobs * shifted_loss_mask
+        logprobs = token_logprobs * shifted_loss_mask
+    return {
+        "logprobs": logprobs,
+        "aux_loss": outputs.get("aux_loss"),
+        "router_stats": outputs.get("router_stats"),
+    }


 def make_doc_boundary_mask(position_ids: Tensor) -> Tensor:
@@ -82,6 +100,68 @@ def make_doc_boundary_mask(position_ids: Tensor) -> Tensor:
    return (same_doc & causal).unsqueeze(1)


+def _collect_moe_diagnostics(
+    router_stats_list: List[RouterStats],
+) -> Dict[str, float]:
+    """Collect MoE routing diagnostic metrics from per-layer router stats.
+
+    Args:
+        router_stats_list: One :class:`RouterStats` dict per MoE layer with
+            keys ``probs`` (N, E) and ``topk_indices`` (N, K), both detached.
+
+    Returns:
+        Dict with keys: router_entropy, dead_expert_fraction,
+        load_imbalance_mean, load_imbalance_max.  Values are averaged
+        across layers.
+    """
+    layer_entropies: List[Tensor] = []
+    layer_dead_fractions: List[Tensor] = []
+    layer_imbalance_means: List[Tensor] = []
+    layer_imbalance_maxs: List[Tensor] = []
+
+    for stats in router_stats_list:
+        probs = stats["probs"].float()
+        topk_indices = stats["topk_indices"]
+        num_experts = probs.shape[-1]
+        if num_experts == 0:
+            continue
+        probs = probs.reshape(-1, num_experts)
+        if probs.numel() == 0:
+            continue
+
+        # Router entropy
+        entropy = -(probs * torch.log(probs.clamp_min(1e-8))).sum(dim=-1).mean()
+
+        # Load from the actual dispatch: one-hot sum of top-k assignments.
+        expert_counts = F.one_hot(topk_indices, num_experts).sum(dim=(0, 1)).float()
+        ideal_load = expert_counts.mean()  # N*K / E
+        load_ratios = expert_counts / max(float(ideal_load), 1.0)
+        imbalance_mean = (load_ratios - 1.0).abs().mean()
+        imbalance_max = load_ratios.max()
+        dead_fraction = (expert_counts == 0).float().mean()
+
+        layer_entropies.append(entropy)
+        layer_dead_fractions.append(dead_fraction)
+        layer_imbalance_means.append(imbalance_mean)
+        layer_imbalance_maxs.append(imbalance_max)
+
+    if not layer_entropies:
+        return {}
+
+    return {
+        "router_entropy": float(torch.stack(layer_entropies).mean().cpu().item()),
+        "dead_expert_fraction": float(
+            torch.stack(layer_dead_fractions).mean().cpu().item()
+        ),
+        "load_imbalance_mean": float(
+            torch.stack(layer_imbalance_means).mean().cpu().item()
+        ),
+        "load_imbalance_max": float(
+            torch.stack(layer_imbalance_maxs).mean().cpu().item()
+        ),
+    }
+
+
 class BaseStrategy(ABC):
    """Abstract base class for training strategies.

@@ -102,10 +182,11 @@ class BaseStrategy(ABC):
        self.model = model
        self.device = device
        self.executor = kwargs.pop("executor", None)
-        self.extra_kwargs = kwargs
+        self.moe_aux_loss_coef = kwargs.pop("moe_aux_loss_coef", 0.01)
+        self._moe_metrics: Dict[str, float] = {}
+        self.strategy_kwargs = kwargs
        self._rollout_runner = None

-    @abstractmethod
    def compute_loss(self, batch: Dict[str, Tensor]) -> Tensor:
        """Compute loss for the given batch.

@@ -115,7 +196,36 @@ class BaseStrategy(ABC):
        Returns:
            Computed loss tensor
        """
-        raise NotImplementedError
+        return self.compute_loss_output(batch)["loss"]
+
+    def compute_loss_output(self, batch: Dict[str, Tensor]) -> LossOutput:
+        return self._normalize_output(self.compute_loss(batch))
+
+    def _loss_output(
+        self,
+        task_loss: Tensor,
+        metrics: Dict[str, Tensor],
+        aux_loss: Optional[Tensor] = None,
+        router_stats: Optional[List[RouterStats]] = None,
+    ) -> LossOutput:
+        total_loss = task_loss
+        if aux_loss is not None:
+            weighted_aux_loss = self.moe_aux_loss_coef * aux_loss
+            total_loss = total_loss + weighted_aux_loss
+            metrics["moe_aux_loss"] = aux_loss
+            metrics["moe_aux_loss_weighted"] = weighted_aux_loss
+            self._refresh_moe_diagnostics(aux_loss, router_stats)
+        metrics["loss"] = total_loss
+        return {
+            "loss": total_loss,
+            "metrics": {name: value.detach().item() for name, value in metrics.items()},
+        }
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _normalize_output(output: Union[LossOutput, Tensor]) -> LossOutput:
+        if isinstance(output, dict):
+            return output
+        return {"loss": output, "metrics": {"loss": output.detach().item()}}

    def supports_online(self) -> bool:
        """Whether this strategy can operate with a rollout runner.
@@ -148,22 +258,36 @@ class BaseStrategy(ABC):
        """
        pass

+    def _refresh_moe_diagnostics(
+        self,
+        aux_loss: Tensor,
+        router_stats: Optional[List[RouterStats]] = None,
+    ) -> None:
+        """Collect MoE routing diagnostics from the latest forward pass.
+
+        Populates ``self._moe_metrics`` with router entropy, dead expert
+        fraction, load imbalance, and aux_loss.  Called from
+        :meth:`_loss_output` when an MoE aux loss is present.
+        """
+        self._moe_metrics = _collect_moe_diagnostics(router_stats or [])
+        self._moe_metrics["aux_loss"] = float(aux_loss.detach().cpu().item())
+
    def on_optimizer_step(self):
        """Advance online rollout state after a successful optimizer step."""
        if self._rollout_runner is not None:
            self._rollout_runner.step()

-    def __call__(self, batch: Dict[str, Tensor]) -> Tensor:
+    def __call__(self, batch: Dict[str, Tensor]) -> LossOutput:
        """Run offline or online forward depending on runner injection."""
        if self._rollout_runner is None:
-            return self.compute_loss(batch)
+            return self.compute_loss_output(batch)

        result, is_fresh = self._rollout_runner(batch)
        if is_fresh:
            self._on_rollout_refresh()

        train_batch = self.prepare_from_rollout(result)
-        return self.compute_loss(train_batch)
+        return self.compute_loss_output(train_batch)


 class StrategyFactory(BaseFactory["BaseStrategy"]):
@@ -190,6 +314,7 @@ class SEQStrategy(BaseStrategy):
    """Standard next-token prediction training strategy.

    Computes cross-entropy loss for next token prediction.
+    Optionally adds MoE load balancing auxiliary loss.
    """

    def __init__(
@@ -202,10 +327,11 @@ class SEQStrategy(BaseStrategy):
        super().__init__(model, device, **kwargs)
        self.label_smoothing = label_smoothing

-    def compute_loss(self, batch: Dict[str, Tensor]) -> Tensor:
+    def compute_loss_output(self, batch: Dict[str, Tensor]) -> LossOutput:
        batch = move_to_device(batch, self.device)
        input_ids, target_ids = batch["input_ids"], batch["target_ids"]
-        logits = self.model(input_ids=input_ids)["logits"]
+        outputs = self.model(input_ids=input_ids)
+        logits = outputs["logits"]

        loss = F.cross_entropy(
            input=logits.flatten(0, 1).float(),
@@ -213,7 +339,12 @@ class SEQStrategy(BaseStrategy):
            label_smoothing=self.label_smoothing,
        )

-        return loss
+        return self._loss_output(
+            loss,
+            {"task_loss": loss},
+            outputs.get("aux_loss"),
+            outputs.get("router_stats"),
+        )


@StrategyFactory.register("sft")
@@ -221,6 +352,7 @@ class SFTStrategy(BaseStrategy):
    """Supervised Fine-tuning strategy with loss masking.

    Applies cross-entropy loss only to tokens where loss_mask is True.
+    Optionally adds MoE load balancing auxiliary loss.
    """

    def __init__(
@@ -233,7 +365,7 @@ class SFTStrategy(BaseStrategy):
        super().__init__(model, device, **kwargs)
        self.label_smoothing = label_smoothing

-    def compute_loss(self, batch: Dict[str, Tensor]) -> Tensor:
+    def compute_loss_output(self, batch: Dict[str, Tensor]) -> LossOutput:
        batch = move_to_device(batch, self.device)
        input_ids, target_ids, position_ids, loss_mask = (
            batch["input_ids"],
@@ -245,9 +377,10 @@ class SFTStrategy(BaseStrategy):
        ignore_index = -100
        input_mask = make_doc_boundary_mask(position_ids)
        target_ids = target_ids.masked_fill(~loss_mask, ignore_index)
-        logits = self.model(
+        outputs = self.model(
            input_ids=input_ids, position_ids=position_ids, input_mask=input_mask
-        )["logits"]
+        )
+        logits = outputs["logits"]

        loss = F.cross_entropy(
            input=logits.flatten(0, 1).float(),
@@ -256,7 +389,12 @@ class SFTStrategy(BaseStrategy):
            label_smoothing=self.label_smoothing,
        )

-        return loss
+        return self._loss_output(
+            loss,
+            {"task_loss": loss},
+            outputs.get("aux_loss"),
+            outputs.get("router_stats"),
+        )


@StrategyFactory.register("dpo")
@@ -281,7 +419,7 @@ class DPOStrategy(BaseStrategy):
        self.beta = beta
        self.reduction = reduction

-    def compute_loss(self, batch: Dict[str, Tensor]) -> Tensor:
+    def compute_loss_output(self, batch: Dict[str, Tensor]) -> LossOutput:
        batch = move_to_device(batch, self.device)
        chosen_ids, rejected_ids = batch["chosen"], batch["rejected"]
        chosen_mask, rejected_mask = batch["chosen_mask"], batch["rejected_mask"]
@@ -297,22 +435,25 @@ class DPOStrategy(BaseStrategy):
        )[None, None, :, :]  # [1, 1, S, S]
        full_mask = key_pad & causal  # [B*2, 1, S, S] — composed

-        log_pi = get_logprobs(
+        policy_output = get_logprobs(
            self.model,
            concat_ids,
            full_mask,
            concat_loss_mask,
            self.reduction,
        )
+        log_pi = policy_output["logprobs"]
+        aux_loss = policy_output["aux_loss"]

        with torch.no_grad():
-            log_ref = get_logprobs(
+            ref_output = get_logprobs(
                self.ref_model,
                concat_ids,
                full_mask,
                concat_loss_mask,
                self.reduction,
            )
+            log_ref = ref_output["logprobs"]

        log_pi_chosen = log_pi[: chosen_ids.shape[0]]
        log_pi_rejected = log_pi[chosen_ids.shape[0] :]
@@ -325,7 +466,12 @@ class DPOStrategy(BaseStrategy):
        ratio_diff = pi_log_ratio - ref_log_ratio
        dpo_loss = -F.logsigmoid(self.beta * ratio_diff).mean()

-        return dpo_loss
+        return self._loss_output(
+            dpo_loss,
+            {"dpo_loss": dpo_loss},
+            aux_loss,
+            policy_output.get("router_stats"),
+        )

    def supports_online(self) -> bool:
        return True
@@ -397,7 +543,7 @@ class GRPOStrategy(BaseStrategy):
        if state_dict is not None:
            self.old_model.load_state_dict(state_dict)

-    def compute_loss(self, batch: Dict[str, Tensor]) -> Tensor:
+    def compute_loss_output(self, batch: Dict[str, Tensor]) -> LossOutput:
        batch = move_to_device(batch, self.device)
        prompts = batch["prompts"]
        responses = batch["responses"]
@@ -438,16 +584,23 @@ class GRPOStrategy(BaseStrategy):
        # get_logprobs returns [B*G, S-1] (S = prompt_len + response_len).
        # Response token logprobs occupy the last ``response_len`` positions
        # (the first response token is predicted from the last prompt token).
-        token_log_probs_policy = get_logprobs(
+        policy_output = get_logprobs(
            self.model, full_sequences, attn_mask, full_masks, "none"
-        )[:, prompt_len - 1 :]
+        )
+        token_log_probs_policy = policy_output["logprobs"]
+        aux_loss = policy_output["aux_loss"]
+        token_log_probs_policy = token_log_probs_policy[:, prompt_len - 1 :]
        with torch.no_grad():
-            token_log_probs_old = get_logprobs(
+            old_output = get_logprobs(
                self.old_model, full_sequences, attn_mask, full_masks, "none"
-            )[:, prompt_len - 1 :]
-            token_log_probs_ref = get_logprobs(
+            )
+            token_log_probs_old = old_output["logprobs"]
+            token_log_probs_old = token_log_probs_old[:, prompt_len - 1 :]
+            ref_output = get_logprobs(
                self.ref_model, full_sequences, attn_mask, full_masks, "none"
-            )[:, prompt_len - 1 :]
+            )
+            token_log_probs_ref = ref_output["logprobs"]
+            token_log_probs_ref = token_log_probs_ref[:, prompt_len - 1 :]

        # Reshape to [B, G, response_len]
        token_log_probs_policy = token_log_probs_policy.view(batch_size, group_size, -1)
@@ -480,9 +633,13 @@ class GRPOStrategy(BaseStrategy):
        kl_per_token = r - torch.log(r + eps) - 1.0
        kl_penalty = self.kl_coef * (kl_per_token * token_masks).sum() / token_count

-        total_loss = policy_loss + kl_penalty
-
-        return total_loss
+        task_loss = policy_loss + kl_penalty
+        return self._loss_output(
+            task_loss,
+            {"policy_loss": policy_loss, "kl_loss": kl_penalty},
+            aux_loss,
+            policy_output.get("router_stats"),
+        )

    def supports_online(self) -> bool:
        return True
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import logging
 import os
 import sys
 import time
+from functools import partial
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import IO, Callable, List, Optional, Protocol, runtime_checkable

@@ -21,6 +22,7 @@ from astrai.trainer.metric_util import (
    ctx_get_grad_snr,
    ctx_get_loss,
    ctx_get_lr,
+    ctx_get_moe_metric,
    ctx_get_val_loss,
 )
 from astrai.trainer.train_context import TrainContext
@@ -257,14 +259,40 @@ class MetricCallback(TrainCallback):
            "val_loss": ctx_get_val_loss,
            "grad_norm": ctx_get_grad_norm,
            "grad_snr": ctx_get_grad_snr,
+            "moe_aux_loss": partial(ctx_get_moe_metric, key="aux_loss"),
+            "router_entropy": partial(ctx_get_moe_metric, key="router_entropy"),
+            "dead_expert_fraction": partial(
+                ctx_get_moe_metric, key="dead_expert_fraction"
+            ),
+            "load_imbalance_mean": partial(
+                ctx_get_moe_metric, key="load_imbalance_mean"
+            ),
+            "load_imbalance_max": partial(ctx_get_moe_metric, key="load_imbalance_max"),
        }

    def _metrics(self, context: TrainContext, names):
-        return {
-            m: self._metric_funcs[m](context)
-            for m in names
-            if self._metric_funcs[m](context) is not None
-        }
+        metrics = dict(context.metrics)
+        for name in names:
+            metric_fn = self._metric_funcs.get(name)
+            if metric_fn is None:
+                continue
+            value = metric_fn(context)
+            if value is not None:
+                metrics[name] = value
+        selected = set(context.metrics) | set(names)
+        selected.discard("*")
+        result = {name: metrics[name] for name in selected if name in metrics}
+        if context.world_size > 1 and dist.is_initialized() and result:
+            metric_names = sorted(result)
+            values = torch.tensor(
+                [result[name] for name in metric_names],
+                dtype=torch.float32,
+                device=get_current_device(),
+            )
+            dist.all_reduce(values, op=dist.ReduceOp.SUM)
+            values /= context.world_size
+            result.update(zip(metric_names, values.tolist()))
+        return result

    @only_on_rank(0)
    def _append(self, event_type: str, context: TrainContext, **extra):
@@ -286,8 +314,8 @@ class MetricCallback(TrainCallback):

        with torch.no_grad():
            for batch in context.val_dataloader:
-                loss = context.strategy(batch)
-                total_loss += loss.item()
+                loss_output = context.strategy(batch)
+                total_loss += loss_output["loss"].item()
                num_batches += 1

        if context.world_size > 1 and dist.is_initialized():
@@ -8,14 +8,21 @@ import torch
 import torch.nn as nn
 from torch.utils.data import DataLoader, random_split

+from astrai.config.model_config import ConfigFactory
 from astrai.config.train_config import TrainConfig
 from astrai.dataset import RDSampler
-from astrai.inference.core.scheduler import InferenceScheduler
+from astrai.inference.scheduler import InferenceScheduler
 from astrai.model.components.lora import inject_lora
 from astrai.parallel.executor import BaseExecutor, ExecutorFactory, create_ref_model
 from astrai.parallel.setup import get_current_device, get_rank, get_world_size
 from astrai.protocols import OptimizerProtocol, SchedulerProtocol
-from astrai.serialization import Checkpoint, load_json
+from astrai.serialization import (
+    Checkpoint,
+    adapt_config,
+    convert_hf_weights,
+    load_json,
+    looks_like_hf_state_dict,
+)
 from astrai.tokenize import AutoTokenizer
 from astrai.trainer.metric_util import GradSNRTracker
 from astrai.trainer.rollout import RolloutGenerator, RolloutRunner
@@ -38,6 +45,7 @@ class TrainContext:
    epoch: int = field(default=0)
    consumed_samples: int = field(default=0)
    loss: float = field(default=0.0)
+    metrics: Dict[str, float] = field(default_factory=dict)
    grad_norm: Optional[float] = field(default=None)
    grad_snr_tracker: GradSNRTracker = field(default_factory=GradSNRTracker)
    val_dataloader: Optional[DataLoader] = field(default=None)
@@ -65,6 +73,15 @@ class TrainContext:
        )


+@dataclass
+class _PreloadedState:
+    model_config: dict = field(default_factory=dict)
+    state_dict: Optional[dict] = None
+    epoch: int = 0
+    consumed_samples: int = 0
+    checkpoint: Optional[Checkpoint] = None
+
+
 class TrainContextBuilder:
    def __init__(
        self,
@@ -80,212 +97,241 @@ class TrainContextBuilder:
        return self

    def build(self) -> TrainContext:
-        cfg = self.config
-        device = get_current_device()
+        # Resolve persisted state.
+        preloaded_state = self._load_preloaded_state()

-        executor = ExecutorFactory.create(
+        # Build the core training components and restore their persisted state.
+        executor = self._create_executor()
+        context = self._create_context(preloaded_state, executor)
+        self._prepare_model(context, executor, preloaded_state)
+        self._restore_optimizer_state(context)
+
+        # Resolve datasets.
+        train_dataset, val_dataset = self._get_datasets()
+        self._create_dataloaders(context, train_dataset, val_dataset)
+
+        # Strategies depend on the prepared model; online rollout depends on both.
+        strategy_kwargs = self._create_strategy(context, executor)
+        self._configure_rollout(context, strategy_kwargs)
+
+        return context
+
+    def _create_executor(self) -> BaseExecutor:
+        cfg = self.config
+        return ExecutorFactory.create(
            cfg.parallel_mode,
            grad_accum_steps=cfg.grad_accum_steps,
            **cfg.executor_kwargs,
        )

-        model_config = {}
+    def _load_preloaded_state(self) -> _PreloadedState:
+        cfg = self.config
+        state = _PreloadedState(
+            epoch=cfg.start_epoch,
+            consumed_samples=cfg.start_samples * get_world_size(),
+        )
        if self._param_path:
            config_path = Path(self._param_path) / "config.json"
            if config_path.exists():
-                model_config = load_json(config_path)
-
-        preloaded_state_dict = None
-        preloaded_epoch = cfg.start_epoch
-        preloaded_consumed = cfg.start_samples * get_world_size()
-        preloaded_checkpoint = None
-        if self._param_path:
+                state.model_config = adapt_config(load_json(config_path))
            checkpoint = Checkpoint.load_any(self._param_path)
            if checkpoint is not None:
-                preloaded_state_dict = checkpoint.state_dict
                if checkpoint.config:
-                    model_config = checkpoint.config
+                    checkpoint.config = adapt_config(checkpoint.config)
+                if checkpoint.state_dict and looks_like_hf_state_dict(
+                    checkpoint.state_dict
+                ):
+                    checkpoint.state_dict = convert_hf_weights(
+                        checkpoint.state_dict,
+                        ConfigFactory.load(checkpoint.config or state.model_config),
+                    )
+                state.state_dict = checkpoint.state_dict
+                state.model_config = checkpoint.config or state.model_config
                if self._resume:
-                    preloaded_epoch = checkpoint.epoch
+                    state.epoch = checkpoint.epoch
                    per_step = (
                        cfg.batch_per_device * get_world_size() * cfg.grad_accum_steps
                    )
-                    preloaded_consumed = (
-                        checkpoint.consumed_samples // per_step
-                    ) * per_step
-                    preloaded_checkpoint = checkpoint
+                    state.consumed_samples = (
+                        checkpoint.consumed_samples // per_step * per_step
+                    )
+                    state.checkpoint = checkpoint
+        if not state.model_config:
+            model = cfg.model_fn()
+            if hasattr(model, "config"):
+                state.model_config = model.config.to_dict()
+        return state

-        if not model_config and hasattr(cfg.model_fn(), "config"):
-            model_config = cfg.model_fn().config.to_dict()
+    def _create_context(
+        self, state: _PreloadedState, executor: BaseExecutor
+    ) -> TrainContext:
+        return TrainContext(
+            world_size=get_world_size(),
+            rank=get_rank(),
+            config=self.config,
+            model_config=state.model_config,
+            executor=executor,
+            epoch=state.epoch,
+            consumed_samples=state.consumed_samples,
+            checkpoint=state.checkpoint,
+        )

-        def _before_wrap(m):
-            m = m.to(device=device)
+    def _prepare_model(
+        self, context: TrainContext, executor: BaseExecutor, state: _PreloadedState
+    ) -> None:
+        cfg = self.config
+        device = get_current_device()
+
+        def before_wrap(model):
+            model = model.to(device=device)
            if cfg.lora is not None:
                inject_lora(
-                    m,
+                    model,
                    r=cfg.lora.r,
                    alpha=cfg.lora.alpha,
                    target_modules=set(cfg.lora.target_modules),
                )
-            if preloaded_state_dict is not None:
-                m.load_state_dict(preloaded_state_dict, strict=False)
-            return m
+            if state.state_dict is not None:
+                model.load_state_dict(state.state_dict, strict=False)
+            return model

-        def _after_wrap(m):
+        def after_wrap(model):
            if cfg.compile_mode is not None:
                logger.info("torch.compile enabled (mode=%s)", cfg.compile_mode)
-                m = torch.compile(m, mode=cfg.compile_mode)
-            return m
-
-        context = TrainContext(
-            world_size=get_world_size(),
-            rank=get_rank(),
-            config=cfg,
-            model_config=model_config,
-            executor=executor,
-            epoch=preloaded_epoch,
-            consumed_samples=preloaded_consumed,
-            checkpoint=preloaded_checkpoint,
-        )
+                model = torch.compile(model, mode=cfg.compile_mode)
+            return model

        context.model, context.optimizer, context.scheduler = executor.prepare(
            cfg.model_fn,
            cfg.optimizer_fn,
            cfg.scheduler_fn,
-            before_wrap=_before_wrap,
-            after_wrap=_after_wrap,
+            before_wrap=before_wrap,
+            after_wrap=after_wrap,
        )

-        train_dataset = cfg.dataset
-        val_dataset = cfg.val_dataset
+    def _get_datasets(self):
+        cfg = self.config
+        if cfg.val_dataset is not None or cfg.val_split is None:
+            return cfg.dataset, cfg.val_dataset
+        n_val = max(1, int(len(cfg.dataset) * cfg.val_split))
+        generator = torch.Generator().manual_seed(cfg.random_seed)
+        return random_split(
+            cfg.dataset, [len(cfg.dataset) - n_val, n_val], generator=generator
+        )

-        if val_dataset is None and cfg.val_split is not None:
-            n_total = len(cfg.dataset)
-            n_val = max(1, int(n_total * cfg.val_split))
-            n_train = n_total - n_val
-            generator = torch.Generator().manual_seed(cfg.random_seed)
-            train_dataset, val_dataset = random_split(
-                cfg.dataset, [n_train, n_val], generator=generator
+    def _create_dataloaders(
+        self, context: TrainContext, train_dataset, val_dataset
+    ) -> None:
+        sampler_offset = context.consumed_samples // context.world_size
+        if self._resume and sampler_offset > 0:
+            samples_per_replica = (
+                len(train_dataset) + context.world_size - 1
+            ) // context.world_size
+            if samples_per_replica > 0:
+                context.epoch = sampler_offset // samples_per_replica
+        context.dataloader = self._create_dataloader(
+            train_dataset, context.epoch, sampler_offset
+        )
+        if val_dataset is not None:
+            context.val_dataloader = self._create_dataloader(
+                val_dataset, 0, 0, shuffle=False
            )

-        sampler_offset = context.consumed_samples // context.world_size
-
-        if self._resume and sampler_offset > 0:
-            offset = context.world_size - 1
-            num_samples_per_replica = (
-                len(train_dataset) + offset
-            ) // context.world_size
-            if num_samples_per_replica > 0:
-                context.epoch = sampler_offset // num_samples_per_replica
-
+    def _create_dataloader(
+        self, dataset, epoch: int, start_iter: int, shuffle: bool = True
+    ):
+        cfg = self.config
        sampler = RDSampler(
-            data_source=train_dataset,
-            start_epoch=context.epoch,
-            start_iter=sampler_offset,
+            dataset,
+            start_epoch=epoch,
+            start_iter=start_iter,
            seed=cfg.random_seed,
+            shuffle=shuffle,
        )
-        context.dataloader = DataLoader(
-            train_dataset,
+        loader_kwargs = dict(
+            dataset=dataset,
            batch_size=cfg.batch_per_device,
            sampler=sampler,
            num_workers=cfg.num_workers,
            pin_memory=cfg.pin_memory,
-            prefetch_factor=cfg.prefetch_factor,
            collate_fn=cfg.collate_fn,
        )
-
-        if val_dataset is not None:
-            val_sampler = RDSampler(
-                data_source=val_dataset,
-                start_epoch=0,
-                start_iter=0,
-                seed=cfg.random_seed,
-                shuffle=False,
-            )
-            context.val_dataloader = DataLoader(
-                val_dataset,
-                batch_size=cfg.batch_per_device,
-                sampler=val_sampler,
-                num_workers=cfg.num_workers,
-                pin_memory=cfg.pin_memory,
-                prefetch_factor=cfg.prefetch_factor,
-                collate_fn=cfg.collate_fn,
-            )
-
-        if context.checkpoint and context.checkpoint.extra:
-            extra = context.checkpoint.extra
-            for name in ("optimizer", "scheduler"):
-                if name in extra:
-                    obj = getattr(context, name, None)
-                    if obj is not None:
-                        obj.load_state_dict(extra[name])
-
-        strategy_kwargs = dict(cfg.extra_kwargs)
-
-        needs_ref = cfg.strategy in (
-            "dpo",
-            "grpo",
-            "online_grpo",
-            "online_dpo",
+        # PyTorch rejects prefetch_factor/persistent_workers when workers=0.
+        if cfg.num_workers > 0:
+            loader_kwargs["persistent_workers"] = cfg.persistent_workers
+            if cfg.prefetch_factor is not None:
+                loader_kwargs["prefetch_factor"] = cfg.prefetch_factor
+        return DataLoader(
+            **loader_kwargs,
        )
-        needs_old = cfg.strategy in ("grpo", "online_grpo")

-        if needs_ref:
-            strategy_kwargs["ref_model"] = create_ref_model(
-                cfg.model_fn, executor=executor, model=context.model, device=device
+    def _restore_optimizer_state(self, context: TrainContext) -> None:
+        if context.checkpoint and context.checkpoint.extra:
+            for name in ("optimizer", "scheduler"):
+                if (
+                    name in context.checkpoint.extra
+                    and getattr(context, name, None) is not None
+                ):
+                    getattr(context, name).load_state_dict(
+                        context.checkpoint.extra[name]
+                    )
+
+    def _create_strategy(self, context: TrainContext, executor: BaseExecutor) -> dict:
+        cfg = self.config
+        kwargs = dict(cfg.strategy_kwargs)
+        kwargs.setdefault("moe_aux_loss_coef", cfg.moe_aux_loss_coef)
+        if cfg.strategy in ("dpo", "grpo", "online_grpo", "online_dpo"):
+            kwargs["ref_model"] = create_ref_model(
+                cfg.model_fn,
+                executor=executor,
+                model=context.model,
+                device=get_current_device(),
            )
-
-        if needs_old:
-            strategy_kwargs["old_model"] = create_ref_model(
-                cfg.model_fn, executor=executor, model=context.model, device=device
+        if cfg.strategy in ("grpo", "online_grpo"):
+            kwargs["old_model"] = create_ref_model(
+                cfg.model_fn,
+                executor=executor,
+                model=context.model,
+                device=get_current_device(),
            )
-
        context.strategy = StrategyFactory.create(
            cfg.strategy,
            model=context.model,
-            device=device,
+            device=get_current_device(),
            executor=executor,
-            **strategy_kwargs,
+            **kwargs,
        )
+        return kwargs

-        # Enable online rollout when the train_type is an ``online_*`` variant.
-        is_online = cfg.strategy.startswith("online_")
-        if is_online:
-            if not context.strategy.supports_online():
-                raise ValueError(
-                    f"Strategy '{cfg.strategy}' does not support online rollout"
-                )
-            if cfg.reward_model_fn is None:
-                raise ValueError("reward_model_fn is required for online RL strategies")
-
-            tokenizer = AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained(self._param_path)
-            reward_model = cfg.reward_model_fn()
-
-            group_size = strategy_kwargs.get("group_size", 1)
-            rollout_batch_size = group_size * max(1, cfg.batch_per_device)
-            max_seq_len = getattr(context.model.config, "max_position_embeddings", None)
-
-            scheduler = InferenceScheduler(
-                model=context.model,
-                tokenizer=tokenizer,
-                max_batch_size=rollout_batch_size,
-                max_seq_len=max_seq_len,
+    def _configure_rollout(self, context: TrainContext, strategy_kwargs: dict) -> None:
+        cfg = self.config
+        if not cfg.strategy.startswith("online_"):
+            return
+        if not context.strategy.supports_online():
+            raise ValueError(
+                f"Strategy '{cfg.strategy}' does not support online rollout"
            )
-
-            generator = RolloutGenerator(
-                scheduler=scheduler,
-                tokenizer=tokenizer,
-                max_tokens=cfg.rollout_max_tokens,
-                group_size=group_size,
-                temperature=cfg.rollout_temperature,
-                top_k=cfg.rollout_top_k,
-                top_p=cfg.rollout_top_p,
-            )
-            runner = RolloutRunner(
+        tokenizer = AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained(self._param_path)
+        group_size = strategy_kwargs.get("group_size", 1)
+        scheduler = InferenceScheduler(
+            model=context.model,
+            tokenizer=tokenizer,
+            max_batch_size=group_size * max(1, cfg.batch_per_device),
+            max_seq_len=getattr(context.model.config, "max_position_embeddings", None),
+        )
+        generator = RolloutGenerator(
+            scheduler=scheduler,
+            tokenizer=tokenizer,
+            max_tokens=cfg.rollout_max_tokens,
+            group_size=group_size,
+            temperature=cfg.rollout_temperature,
+            top_k=cfg.rollout_top_k,
+            top_p=cfg.rollout_top_p,
+        )
+        context.strategy.set_rollout_runner(
+            RolloutRunner(
                generator=generator,
-                reward_model=reward_model,
+                reward_model=cfg.reward_model_fn(),
                rollout_interval=cfg.rollout_interval,
            )
-            context.strategy.set_rollout_runner(runner)
-
-        return context
+        )
@@ -82,9 +82,10 @@ class Trainer:
                        break
                    with executor.accumulate(context.model):
                        self._call_callbacks("on_batch_begin", context)
-                        loss = context.strategy(batch)
-                        context.loss = loss.item()
-                        stand_loss = loss / executor.grad_accum_steps
+                        loss_output = context.strategy(batch)
+                        context.loss = loss_output["loss"].item()
+                        context.metrics = loss_output["metrics"]
+                        stand_loss = loss_output["loss"] / executor.grad_accum_steps
                        executor.backward(stand_loss)
                        context.consumed_samples += (
                            context.config.batch_per_device * context.world_size
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.18)
+project(astrai_kernels LANGUAGES CUDA CXX)
+
+set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
+set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
+set(CMAKE_CUDA_STANDARD 17)
+
+find_package(CUDAToolkit REQUIRED)
+
+if(NOT DEFINED TORCH_HOME)
+    set(TORCH_HOME "$ENV{TORCH_HOME}")
+endif()
+if(NOT TORCH_HOME)
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "TORCH_HOME must point at the torch install dir (site-packages/torch)")
+endif()
+
+if(NOT DEFINED PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR)
+    set(PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR "/usr/include/python${PYTHON_VERSION_MAJOR}.${PYTHON_VERSION_MINOR}")
+endif()
+
+if(NOT DEFINED ASTRAI_CUDA_ARCH)
+    if(DEFINED ENV{ASTRAI_CUDA_ARCH})
+        set(ASTRAI_CUDA_ARCH "$ENV{ASTRAI_CUDA_ARCH}")
+    else()
+        set(ASTRAI_CUDA_ARCH 80)
+    endif()
+endif()
+
+set(TORCH_LIB_DIR "${TORCH_HOME}/lib")
+set(CUDA_LIB_DIR "/usr/local/cuda/lib64")
+
+set(CXX_FLAGS -O3 -funroll-loops)
+set(NVCC_FLAGS -O3
+    --expt-relaxed-constexpr
+    --use_fast_math
+    "--ptxas-options=-O3,-v"
+    --extra-device-vectorization
+    --threads=16)
+
+set(TORCH_LIBS
+    "${TORCH_LIB_DIR}/libtorch_python.so"
+    "${TORCH_LIB_DIR}/libtorch_cuda.so"
+    "${TORCH_LIB_DIR}/libc10_cuda.so"
+    "${TORCH_LIB_DIR}/libtorch_cpu.so"
+    "${TORCH_LIB_DIR}/libtorch.so"
+    "${TORCH_LIB_DIR}/libc10.so"
+    CUDA::cudart)
+
+set(CMAKE_CUDA_ARCHITECTURES "${ASTRAI_CUDA_ARCH}")
+
+# Kernel registry — parallel lists of module names (.so / pybind names,
+# globally unique across families) and their per-family source paths under
+# kernels/. `loader.py` auto-discovers the .so files in astrai/extension/lib/,
+# so this CMake registry is the single place to register a new kernel.
+set(KERNEL_NAMES
+    attn_decode
+    attn_prefill
+    attn_paged_decode
+    attn_paged_prefill
+    rotary_emb
+    fp8_ops
+)
+set(KERNEL_SRCS
+    attention/decode.cu
+    attention/prefill.cu
+    attention/paged_decode.cu
+    attention/paged_prefill.cu
+    rotary/rotary_emb.cu
+    fp8/ops.cu
+)
+
+list(LENGTH KERNEL_NAMES _kernel_count)
+math(EXPR _kernel_last "${_kernel_count} - 1")
+foreach(i RANGE ${_kernel_last})
+    list(GET KERNEL_NAMES ${i} name)
+    list(GET KERNEL_SRCS ${i} src)
+    add_library(${name} MODULE "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/kernels/${src}")
+
+    target_compile_definitions(${name} PRIVATE TORCH_EXTENSION_NAME=${name})
+
+    target_include_directories(${name} PRIVATE
+        "${TORCH_HOME}/include"
+        "${TORCH_HOME}/include/torch/csrc/api/include"
+        "${PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR}")
+
+    target_link_libraries(${name} PRIVATE ${TORCH_LIBS})
+    target_link_options(${name} PRIVATE "-Wl,-rpath,${TORCH_LIB_DIR}")
+
+    target_compile_options(${name} PRIVATE
+        $<$<COMPILE_LANGUAGE:CXX>:${CXX_FLAGS}>
+        $<$<COMPILE_LANGUAGE:CUDA>:${NVCC_FLAGS}>)
+
+    set_target_properties(${name} PROPERTIES
+        PREFIX ""
+        SUFFIX ".${PY_SOABI}.so"
+        LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/../astrai/extension/lib")
+endforeach()
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 # Source directory for CUDA kernels — build-time only.
-# Compiled .so files live in astrAI/_ext/.
+# Compiled .so files live in astrai/extension/lib/ (see csrc/CMakeLists.txt).
@@ -1,75 +0,0 @@
-from pathlib import Path
-
-
-def cuda_toolkit_version() -> tuple[int, int] | None:
-    """Return ``(major, minor)`` of the nvcc on PATH, or ``None``.
-
-    Used by ``setup.py`` to detect nvcc/torch CUDA version mismatches
-    (e.g. nvcc 13.0 with a cu128 torch wheel) which cause cryptic ABI errors.
-    """
-    import shutil
-    import subprocess
-
-    nvcc = shutil.which("nvcc")
-    if nvcc is None:
-        return None
-    try:
-        out = subprocess.check_output(
-            [nvcc, "--version"], stderr=subprocess.STDOUT, text=True
-        )
-        for line in out.splitlines():
-            if "release" in line:
-                ver = line.split("release")[1].split(",")[0].strip()
-                major, minor = ver.split(".")
-                return (int(major), int(minor))
-    except Exception:
-        pass
-    return None
-
-
-def _arch_flags() -> list[str]:
-    import torch
-
-    if torch.cuda.is_available():
-        cap = torch.cuda.get_device_capability()
-    else:
-        cap = (8, 0)
-    ver = f"{cap[0]}{cap[1]}"
-    flags = [f"-gencode=arch=compute_{ver},code=sm_{ver}"]
-    # tensor-core mma path (mma.sync.m16n8k16.bf16) requires sm_80+; decide the
-    # kernel dispatch at build time via this define rather than at runtime.
-    if cap[0] < 8:
-        flags.append("-DASTRAI_NO_MMA")
-    return flags
-
-
-_kernels_dir = Path("csrc/kernels")
-REGISTRY: dict[str, dict] = {}
-
-CXX_FLAGS = ["-O3", "-funroll-loops"]
-NVCC_FLAGS = [
-    "-O3",
-    "--expt-relaxed-constexpr",
-    "--use_fast_math",
-    "--ptxas-options=-O3,-v",
-    "--extra-device-vectorization",
-    "--threads=16",
-]
-
-
-def register(name: str, sources: list[str] | None = None, **kwargs):
-    if sources is None:
-        sources = [str(_kernels_dir / f"{name}.cu")]
-    REGISTRY[name] = {
-        "sources": sources,
-        "cxx_flags": [*CXX_FLAGS],
-        "nvcc_flags": [*NVCC_FLAGS, *_arch_flags()],
-        "extra_link_args": kwargs.pop("extra_link_args", []),
-        **kwargs,
-    }
-
-
-register("attn_decode")
-register("attn_prefill")
-register("attn_paged_decode")
-register("rotary_emb")
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+#pragma once
+
+// Pure POD header
+
+namespace astrai {
+namespace attention {
+
+// Tensor layout for Q/K/V tensors passed to attention kernels.
+// Internally, kernels always operate on BHLD [batch, n_heads, seq_len, head_dim].
+// When the caller passes BLHD, dims 1 and 2 are transposed at entry.
+enum TensorLayout : int {
+    BHLD = 0,  // [batch, n_heads, seq_len, head_dim]
+    BLHD = 1,  // [batch, seq_len, n_heads, head_dim]
+};
+
+// Split-KV workspace cap: max decode splits per (batch, q_head).
+constexpr int MAX_SPLITS = 32;
+
+
+// Unified attention params covering BOTH addressing modes:
+//   - Contiguous K/V: dense [batch, kv_head, kv_len, head_dim] tensors (k/v).
+//   - Paged (SGLang-style): flat pool [size, kv_head, head_dim] + req_to_token.
+// Each kernel selects the addressing via a KVSource policy (see
+// layout_policies.cuh); a given call only touches the fields of one mode, so
+// this is a POD shared by both paths rather than two parallel structs that
+// drift out of sync.
+//
+// Pointer/flag members carry default member initializers: the pointers gate
+// optional paths via null checks (new_k_ptr, mask, o_part, ...), so a stack
+// `AttentionParams<T> p;` left partially packed must never see garbage
+// non-null pointers or a garbage use_mask/causal_offset — that class of bug
+// reads through wild addresses. NSDMI keeps the struct an aggregate (C++17)
+// and trivially copyable, so `= {}`, memcpy-style packing and by-value kernel
+// params all behave exactly as before.
+template<typename T, typename AT = float>
+struct AttentionParams {
+    // Shape
+    int batch;
+    int q_head;
+    int kv_head;
+    int head_dim;
+    int q_len;   // Per-request in contiguous mode; total_q in paged mode.
+    int kv_len;  // Contiguous mode; paged mode uses kv_indptr.
+
+    // Attention behavior
+    float scale;
+    // -1 = non-causal; >=0 = absolute position of first Q token
+    int causal_offset = -1;
+    int use_mask = 0;
+
+    // pointers
+    const T* __restrict__ q_ptr = nullptr;
+    const T* __restrict__ k_ptr = nullptr;
+    const T* __restrict__ v_ptr = nullptr;
+    const T* __restrict__ new_k_ptr = nullptr;
+    const T* __restrict__ new_v_ptr = nullptr;
+    T* __restrict__ o_ptr = nullptr;
+    const bool* __restrict__ mask = nullptr;
+
+    // strides
+    int q_b_stride;
+    int q_h_stride;
+    int q_l_stride;
+    int q_d_stride;
+
+    int kv_b_stride;
+    int kv_h_stride;
+    int kv_l_stride;
+    int kv_d_stride;
+
+    int new_kv_b_stride;
+    int new_kv_h_stride;
+
+    int mask_b_stride;
+    int mask_h_stride;
+    int mask_l_stride;
+
+    // Paged K/V addressing
+    const int* __restrict__ req_to_token = nullptr;      // [num_reqs, max_context_len]
+    const int* __restrict__ req_pool_indices = nullptr;  // [batch]
+    const int* __restrict__ kv_indptr = nullptr;         // [batch + 1]
+    const int* __restrict__ qo_indptr = nullptr;         // [batch + 1] or nullptr for decode
+    const int* __restrict__ q_tile_to_batch = nullptr;   // [num_q_tiles], prefill only
+    const int* __restrict__ q_tile_to_index = nullptr;   // [num_q_tiles], prefill only
+    int num_q_tiles;
+    int max_context_len; // req_to_token stride (dim 1)
+
+    // Decode split-KV workspace
+    int num_splits;
+    AT* __restrict__ o_part = nullptr;
+    AT* __restrict__ ml_part = nullptr;
+};
+
+}  // namespace attention
+}  // namespace astrai
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+#include "dispatchers.cuh"
+#include "entry_utils.cuh"
+
+using namespace astrai::attention;
+
+torch::Tensor attn_decode(
+    torch::Tensor q,
+    torch::Tensor k,
+    torch::Tensor v,
+    c10::optional<torch::Tensor> mask,
+    int64_t causal_offset,
+    double scale,
+    int64_t layout,
+    c10::optional<torch::Tensor> o_part_buf,
+    c10::optional<torch::Tensor> ml_part_buf
+) {
+    const at::cuda::OptionalCUDAGuard device_guard(device_of(q));
+    auto stream = at::cuda::getCurrentCUDAStream();
+
+    AttentionParams<bf16> p;
+    attn_pack_params(q, k, v, mask, causal_offset, scale, layout, p);
+    TORCH_CHECK(p.q_len == 1, "Q seq_len must be 1");
+    TORCH_CHECK(p.head_dim % 32 == 0, "head_dim must be multiple of 32");
+
+    auto O = torch::empty_strided(q.sizes(), q.strides(), q.options());
+    auto O_view = (layout == BLHD) ? O.transpose(1, 2) : O;
+    p.o_ptr = (bf16*)O_view.data_ptr();
+
+    if (o_part_buf.has_value() && ml_part_buf.has_value()
+        && o_part_buf->defined() && ml_part_buf->defined()) {
+        TORCH_CHECK(o_part_buf->scalar_type() == torch::kFloat32, "o_part_buf must be f32");
+        TORCH_CHECK(ml_part_buf->scalar_type() == torch::kFloat32, "ml_part_buf must be f32");
+        int64_t o_needed = (int64_t)p.batch * p.q_head * MAX_SPLITS * p.head_dim;
+        int64_t ml_needed = (int64_t)p.batch * p.q_head * MAX_SPLITS * 2;
+        TORCH_CHECK(o_part_buf->numel() >= o_needed,
+                     "o_part_buf too small: need ", o_needed, " got ", o_part_buf->numel());
+        TORCH_CHECK(ml_part_buf->numel() >= ml_needed,
+                     "ml_part_buf too small: need ", ml_needed, " got ", ml_part_buf->numel());
+        TORCH_CHECK(o_part_buf->is_cuda() && ml_part_buf->is_cuda(),
+                     "split buffers must be CUDA tensors");
+        TORCH_CHECK(o_part_buf->is_contiguous() && ml_part_buf->is_contiguous(),
+                     "split buffers must be contiguous");
+        p.o_part = (float*)o_part_buf->data_ptr();
+        p.ml_part = (float*)ml_part_buf->data_ptr();
+    } else {
+        alloc_split_partials(p);
+    }
+    DISPATCH_HEAD_DIM(p.head_dim, dispatch_decode, p, stream);
+    C10_CUDA_CHECK(cudaGetLastError());
+    return O;
+}
+
+PYBIND11_MODULE(TORCH_EXTENSION_NAME, m) {
+    m.def("attn_decode", &attn_decode,
+        py::arg("q"),
+        py::arg("k"),
+        py::arg("v"),
+        py::arg("mask") = py::none(),
+        py::arg("causal_offset") = -1,
+        py::arg("scale") = 0.0,
+        py::arg("layout") = (int64_t)BHLD,
+        py::arg("o_part_buf") = py::none(),
+        py::arg("ml_part_buf") = py::none(),
+        "GQA decode (tensor-core head-packing on sm_80+, scalar fallback)");
+}
@@ -1,11 +1,21 @@
 #pragma once
 #include <cuda_bf16.h>
 #include <float.h>
-#include "attn_common.h"
-#include "attn_warp_utils.cuh"
+#include "common.h"
+#include "layout_policies.cuh"
+#include "../common/reduce.cuh"
+
+namespace astrai {
+namespace attention {
+
 constexpr int DC_CHUNK = 64;

-template <int HEAD_DIM, bool IsCausal, bool HasMask>
+// Scalar split-KV decode (fallback for sm < 80, no tensor cores), unified
+// across contiguous and paged (SGLang flat-pool) K/V via the KV template
+// parameter.  For decode the query is the last token, so its valid range
+// [0, seq_len) IS the causal range; KV::decode_attend_len expresses that
+// bound per addressing mode (contig clips to causal_offset, paged = seq_len).
+template <int HEAD_DIM, typename KV, bool IsCausal, bool HasMask>
 __global__ void attn_decode_split_kv_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
    int batch = blockIdx.x / p.kv_head;
    int kv_head = blockIdx.x % p.kv_head;
@@ -15,40 +25,46 @@ __global__ void attn_decode_split_kv_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
    int lane = threadIdx.x;
    int hd_per_thread = p.head_dim / 32;

+    const int seq_len = KV::kv_len(p, batch);
+    const KVContext kctx = KV::template make_ctx<HEAD_DIM>(p, batch, kv_head);
+
    // Q: [batch, q_head, q_len=1, head_dim] — stride-based
    float q_reg[8];
-    int q_off = batch * p.q_stride_b + q_head * p.q_stride_h
-              + lane * hd_per_thread * p.q_stride_d;
+    int q_off = KV::q_decode_base(p, batch, q_head)
+              + lane * hd_per_thread * p.q_d_stride;
    for (int i = 0; i < hd_per_thread; i++)
-        q_reg[i] = __bfloat162float(p.q[q_off + i * p.q_stride_d]);
+        q_reg[i] = __bfloat162float(p.q_ptr[q_off + i * p.q_d_stride]);

-    // KV: [batch, kv_head, kv_len, head_dim] — stride-based base
-    int kv_base = batch * p.kv_stride_b + kv_head * p.kv_stride_h;
    int mask_base = batch * p.mask_b_stride + q_head * p.mask_h_stride;

    float m = -FLT_MAX, d = 0.0f, acc_reg[8] = {0.0f};

-    extern __shared__ __align__(16) bf16 k_smem[];
+    extern __shared__ __align__(16) bf16 smem[];
+    bf16* k_smem = smem;
+    bf16* v_smem = smem + DC_CHUNK * p.head_dim;

    // Split-KV: each split processes a contiguous subset of chunks
-    int chunks_total = (p.kv_len + DC_CHUNK - 1) / DC_CHUNK;
+    int chunks_total = (seq_len + DC_CHUNK - 1) / DC_CHUNK;
    int chunks_per_split = (chunks_total + p.num_splits - 1) / p.num_splits;
    int ch_begin = split * chunks_per_split;
    int ch_end = min(chunks_total, ch_begin + chunks_per_split);

    for (int ci = ch_begin; ci < ch_end; ci++) {
        int chunk_start = ci * DC_CHUNK;
-        int this_chunk = min(DC_CHUNK, p.kv_len - chunk_start);
+        int this_chunk = min(DC_CHUNK, seq_len - chunk_start);

-        // Load K into shared memory (gather from strided global)
+        // Load K and V into shared memory (addressing via KV policy;
+        // paged guards empty slots with zero-fill).
        int total = this_chunk * p.head_dim;
        for (int i = threadIdx.y * 32 + lane; i < total;
             i += blockDim.x * blockDim.y) {
            int s = i / p.head_dim;
            int d_dim = i % p.head_dim;
-            int kv_idx = chunk_start + s;
-            int g_off = kv_base + kv_idx * p.kv_stride_l + d_dim * p.kv_stride_d;
-            k_smem[i] = p.k[g_off];
+            int kc = chunk_start + s;
+            KVAddr a = KV::template decode_addr<1>(
+                p, kctx, batch, kv_head, kc, d_dim, true, true);
+            k_smem[i] = a.valid ? *reinterpret_cast<const bf16*>(a.k) : (bf16)0.f;
+            v_smem[i] = a.valid ? *reinterpret_cast<const bf16*>(a.v) : (bf16)0.f;
        }
        __syncthreads();

@@ -65,7 +81,7 @@ __global__ void attn_decode_split_kv_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
                    partial = -FLT_MAX;
            }
            if constexpr (IsCausal) {
-                if (kv_idx > p.causal_offset)
+                if (kv_idx >= KV::decode_attend_len(p, batch))
                    partial = -FLT_MAX;
            }

@@ -74,11 +90,10 @@ __global__ void attn_decode_split_kv_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
            float beta  = __expf(partial - new_m);
            d = d * alpha + beta;

-            int v_off = kv_base + kv_idx * p.kv_stride_l
-                        + lane * hd_per_thread * p.kv_stride_d;
-            for (int i = 0; i < hd_per_thread; i++)
-                acc_reg[i] = fmaf(acc_reg[i], alpha,
-                                  __bfloat162float(p.v[v_off + i * p.kv_stride_d]) * beta);
+            for (int i = 0; i < hd_per_thread; i++) {
+                float vv = __bfloat162float(v_smem[s * p.head_dim + lane * hd_per_thread + i]);
+                acc_reg[i] = fmaf(acc_reg[i], alpha, vv * beta);
+            }
            m = new_m;
        }
        __syncthreads();
@@ -98,6 +113,10 @@ __global__ void attn_decode_split_kv_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
    }
 }

+// Split-combine: merges the per-split partials (o_part/ml_part) into the
+// final normalised O.  KV selects the O addressing (contig batch stride vs
+// paged row stride).
+template <typename KV>
 __global__ void attn_decode_combine_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
    int bh = blockIdx.x;
    int d = threadIdx.x;
@@ -124,6 +143,9 @@ __global__ void attn_decode_combine_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
    }

    float inv = (l > 1e-20f) ? (1.0f / l) : 0.0f;
-    int o_off = batch * p.q_stride_b + q_head * p.q_stride_h + d * p.q_stride_d;
-    p.o[o_off] = __float2bfloat16(acc * inv);
+    int o_off = KV::q_decode_base(p, batch, q_head) + d * p.q_d_stride;
+    p.o_ptr[o_off] = __float2bfloat16(acc * inv);
 }
+
+}  // namespace attention
+}  // namespace astrai
@@ -1,20 +1,25 @@
 #pragma once
 #include <cfloat>
 #include <cuda_bf16.h>
-#include "attn_common.h"
-#include "attn_mma_utils.cuh"
-#include "attn_warp_utils.cuh"
+#include "common.h"
+#include "layout_policies.cuh"
+#include "mma_utils.cuh"

-// Split-K (FlashDecoding) tensor-core decode via GQA head-packing.
-// Decode has q_len == 1, so we pack G = q_head/kv_head query heads into the
-// M=16 rows of mma.sync.m16n8k16, turning G independent GEMVs into a single
-// GEMM that reuses each loaded K/V tile across all G heads.
+namespace astrai {
+namespace attention {
+
+// Split-K (FlashDecoding) tensor-core decode via GQA head-packing, unified
+// across contiguous and paged (SGLang flat-pool) K/V via the KV template
+// parameter.  Decode has q_len == 1, so we pack G = q_head/kv_head query
+// heads into the M=16 rows of mma.sync.m16n8k16, turning G independent GEMVs
+// into a single GEMM that reuses each loaded K/V tile across all G heads.
 //
+// KV = ContigKV (dense tensors) or PagedKV (flat pool + req_to_token).
 // IsCausal and HasMask are compile-time bools — no runtime branch in the
 // inner compute loop.
 //
-// Traits = KernelTraits<HEAD_DIM, BC=32, WARPS=1, STAGES=<2 or 1>>.
-template <typename Traits, bool IsCausal, bool HasMask>
+// Traits = KernelTraits<HEAD_DIM, BC=16, WARPS=1, STAGES=2>.
+template <typename Traits, typename KV, bool IsCausal, bool HasMask>
 __global__ void attn_decode_split_kv_mma_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
    const int lane = threadIdx.x;
    const int gid = lane >> 2;
@@ -31,18 +36,21 @@ __global__ void attn_decode_split_kv_mma_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
    const int G = min(MAX_G, G_total - g_begin);
    const int q_head0 = kv_head * G_total + g_begin;

+    // Per-request seq_len (paged reads kv_indptr; contig uses p.kv_len).
+    const int seq_len = KV::kv_len(p, batch);
+    const KVContext kctx = KV::template make_ctx<Traits::HEAD_DIM>(p, batch, kv_head);
+
    // Double-buffered shared memory for K/V (no sQ needed)
    __shared__ __align__(16) bf16 sK[Traits::STAGES * Traits::BC * Traits::LD];
    __shared__ __align__(16) bf16 sV[Traits::STAGES * Traits::BC * Traits::LD];

    // Load Q directly from global into mma A-operand registers.
-    // stride_row = p.q_stride_h for decode (q_len=1).
-    const int q_base = batch * p.q_stride_b + q_head0 * p.q_stride_h;
+    const int q_base = KV::q_decode_base(p, batch, q_head0);
    const int qra = gid;
    const int qrb = gid + 8;
    const bool va = qra < G, vb = qrb < G;
    unsigned Qa[Traits::KD][4];
-    load_q_mma_frags<Traits::KD>(p.q + q_base, p.q_stride_h, p.q_stride_d,
+    load_q_mma_frags<Traits::KD>(p.q_ptr + q_base, p.q_h_stride, p.q_d_stride,
                                  qra, qrb, va, vb, tid4, Qa);

    float Oacc[Traits::DN8][4];
@@ -51,13 +59,12 @@ __global__ void attn_decode_split_kv_mma_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
        Oacc[j][0] = Oacc[j][1] = Oacc[j][2] = Oacc[j][3] = 0.0f;
    float m0 = -FLT_MAX, m1 = -FLT_MAX, l0 = 0.0f, l1 = 0.0f;

-    const int kv_base = batch * p.kv_stride_b + kv_head * p.kv_stride_h;
-    const int tiles_total = (p.kv_len + Traits::BC - 1) / Traits::BC;
+    const int tiles_total = (seq_len + Traits::BC - 1) / Traits::BC;
    const int tiles_per_split = (tiles_total + p.num_splits - 1) / p.num_splits;
    const int ti_begin = split * tiles_per_split;
    const int ti_end = min(tiles_total, ti_begin + tiles_per_split);

-    // ---- Load tile lambda: predicated cp.async ----
+    // ---- Load tile lambda: predicated cp.async (addressing via KV policy) ----
    auto load_tile = [&](int ti, int buf) {
        int kv0 = ti * Traits::BC;
        bf16* dK = sK + buf * Traits::BC * Traits::LD;
@@ -67,13 +74,16 @@ __global__ void attn_decode_split_kv_mma_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
             i += Traits::NUM_THREADS * Traits::VEC) {
            int r = i / Traits::HEAD_DIM, d = i % Traits::HEAD_DIM;
            int kc = kv0 + r;
-            bool valid = kc < p.kv_len;
+            bool valid = kc < seq_len;
+            // All GQA passes consume new K/V directly. Only the first pass
+            // persists it, so no cross-block synchronization is required.
+            KVAddr a = KV::template decode_addr<Traits::VEC>(
+                p, kctx, batch, kv_head, kc, d, valid, pass == 0);
            int off = r * Traits::LD + swiz_col(d, r, Traits::SWIZ_MASK);
-            int g_off = kv_base + kc * p.kv_stride_l + d * p.kv_stride_d;
-            cp_async_16_pred(&dK[off], &p.k[g_off], valid);
-            cp_async_16_pred(&dV[off], &p.v[g_off], valid);
+            astrai::cp_async_16(&dK[off], a.k, a.valid);
+            astrai::cp_async_16(&dV[off], a.v, a.valid);
        }
-        cp_async_commit();
+        astrai::cp_async_commit_group();
    };

    // ---- Multi-stage cp.async pipeline ----
@@ -96,14 +106,17 @@ __global__ void attn_decode_split_kv_mma_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
            Sacc[n8][0] *= p.scale, Sacc[n8][1] *= p.scale,
            Sacc[n8][2] *= p.scale, Sacc[n8][3] *= p.scale;

-        // Decode: q_len=1, so qrow0=qrow1=0
-        int maxc = IsCausal ? min(p.kv_len, p.causal_offset + 1) : p.kv_len;
+        // Decode: q_len=1, so qrow0=qrow1=0.  Paged treats [0, seq_len) as
+        // the causal range (query is the last token); contig clips to the
+        // causal_offset bound.  Dead code eliminated when IsCausal == false.
+        int maxc = IsCausal ? KV::decode_attend_len(p, batch) : seq_len;
        mma_softmax_tile<Traits, HasMask>(kv0, maxc, maxc,
                                           0, 0,
-                                           p.mask_b_stride, 0, 0,
-                                           batch, 0,
-                                           p.mask,
-                                           Sacc, Oacc, m0, m1, l0, l1, lane);
+                                            p.mask_b_stride, p.mask_h_stride, p.mask_l_stride,
+                                            batch, q_head0 + gid, q_head0 + gid + 8,
+                                            p.mask,
+                                            va, vb,
+                                            Sacc, Oacc, m0, m1, l0, l1, lane);

        mma_pv_accumulate<Traits>(Sacc, bV, lane, Oacc);
    };
@@ -114,7 +127,10 @@ __global__ void attn_decode_split_kv_mma_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
            load_tile(ti_begin + i, i);

        for (int it = 0; it < ntiles; it++) {
-            cp_async_wait_group<STAGES - 1>();
+            if (it + 1 == ntiles)
+                astrai::cp_async_wait_group<0>();
+            else
+                astrai::cp_async_wait_group<STAGES - 1>();
            __syncwarp();
            process_tile(it, it & (STAGES - 1));
            __syncwarp();
@@ -125,7 +141,7 @@ __global__ void attn_decode_split_kv_mma_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
        // Fewer tiles than stages: load all, wait for all, process.
        for (int i = 0; i < ntiles; i++)
            load_tile(ti_begin + i, i);
-        cp_async_wait_group<0>();
+        astrai::cp_async_wait_all();
        __syncwarp();
        for (int it = 0; it < ntiles; it++)
            process_tile(it, it);
@@ -167,3 +183,6 @@ __global__ void attn_decode_split_kv_mma_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
        }
    }
 }
+
+}  // namespace attention
+}  // namespace astrai
@@ -0,0 +1,238 @@
+#pragma once
+// Shared attention dispatchers — used by both production .cu and test .cu.
+// No torch dependency; pure CUDA.
+//
+// The paged and contiguous kernels are unified by the KVSource policy
+// (ContigKV / PagedKV from layout_policies.cuh), so each launcher struct
+// below is templated on KV and the paged dispatch is just the same launcher
+// instantiated with PagedKV.  Only the grid/split math differs, and that is
+// covered by KV::host_q_len / KV::host_kv_len.
+
+#include <cuda_runtime.h>
+#include <algorithm>
+#include "layout_policies.cuh"
+#include "prefill_split_q.cuh"
+#include "decode_split_kv.cuh"
+#ifndef ASTRAI_NO_MMA
+#include "prefill_split_q_mma.cuh"
+#include "decode_split_kv_mma.cuh"
+#endif
+
+namespace astrai {
+namespace attention {
+
+// Split-KV: compute number of splits to fill all SMs for small-batch decode.
+// Caps splits so each split processes at least `min_tiles_per_split` tiles,
+// avoiding excessive loop/prologue overhead when tiles are small.
+//
+// Target total grid blocks (`TARGET_BLOCKS`) rather than scaling splits by SM
+// count.  Decode blocks are single-warp (32 threads) and a SM hosts ~11 of
+// them, so the old `2*sm/base` cap badly undersplit at large batch (B=16 got
+// 3 splits, optimal ~8).  Measured (L20, grid search): bandwidth saturates
+// near 256-512 total blocks; 512 minimizes worst-case latency across the
+// B x kv grid; more is pure oversplit overhead.
+constexpr int DECODE_TARGET_BLOCKS = 512;
+inline int compute_num_splits(int base_blocks, int tiles_total,
+                               int min_tiles_per_split = 1) {
+    int n = (DECODE_TARGET_BLOCKS + base_blocks - 1) / base_blocks;
+    int max_by_work = tiles_total / min_tiles_per_split;
+    return std::max(1, std::min(n, std::min(max_by_work, MAX_SPLITS)));
+}
+
+// Dispatch IsCausal × HasMask — eliminates the duplicated 4-way if/else
+// ladder that appeared in each dispatch_* function.  FN must be a function
+// template <int HEAD_DIM, bool IsCausal, bool HasMask>; HEAD_DIM is forwarded
+// as the first template argument so callers only spell it once.
+//
+// Usage:  DISPATCH_CAUSAL_MASK(is_causal, has_mask, launcher<KV>::template launch, HEAD_DIM, p, stream);
+#define DISPATCH_CAUSAL_MASK(is_causal, has_mask, FN, HEAD_DIM, ...) \
+    do { \
+        if (is_causal) { \
+            if (has_mask) FN<HEAD_DIM, true,  true>(__VA_ARGS__); \
+            else          FN<HEAD_DIM, true,  false>(__VA_ARGS__); \
+        } else { \
+            if (has_mask) FN<HEAD_DIM, false, true>(__VA_ARGS__); \
+            else          FN<HEAD_DIM, false, false>(__VA_ARGS__); \
+        } \
+    } while (0)
+
+// ======================================================================
+// Prefill launchers (KV selects ContigKV or PagedKV addressing)
+// ======================================================================
+
+#ifndef ASTRAI_NO_MMA
+template <int BC_>
+struct PrefillKernelConfig {
+    static constexpr int BC = BC_;
+    static constexpr int WARPS = 4;
+    static constexpr int STAGES = 2;
+};
+
+// Compile-time configuration map shared by contiguous and paged prefill.
+// Unsupported head dimensions intentionally have no mapping.
+template <int HEAD_DIM, bool IsCausal>
+struct PrefillConfigMap;
+
+template <> struct PrefillConfigMap<32, false>  : PrefillKernelConfig<32> {};
+template <> struct PrefillConfigMap<32, true>   : PrefillKernelConfig<64> {};
+template <> struct PrefillConfigMap<64, false>  : PrefillKernelConfig<32> {};
+template <> struct PrefillConfigMap<64, true>   : PrefillKernelConfig<64> {};
+template <> struct PrefillConfigMap<128, false> : PrefillKernelConfig<32> {};
+template <> struct PrefillConfigMap<128, true>  : PrefillKernelConfig<32> {};
+template <> struct PrefillConfigMap<256, false> : PrefillKernelConfig<16> {};
+template <> struct PrefillConfigMap<256, true>  : PrefillKernelConfig<16> {};
+
+template <typename QSchedule, typename KV>
+struct PrefillLauncherMMA {
+    template <int HEAD_DIM, bool IsCausal, bool HasMask>
+    static void launch(AttentionParams<bf16>& p, cudaStream_t stream) {
+        using Config = PrefillConfigMap<HEAD_DIM, IsCausal>;
+        using Traits = KernelTraits<HEAD_DIM, Config::BC, Config::WARPS, Config::STAGES>;
+        constexpr int ROWS = Traits::BR * Config::WARPS;
+        dim3 grid(QSchedule::host_q_blocks(p, ROWS), p.q_head,
+                  QSchedule::host_grid_batch(p));
+        dim3 block(Traits::NUM_THREADS);
+        attn_prefill_split_q_mma_kernel<Traits, QSchedule, KV, IsCausal, HasMask>
+            <<<grid, block, 0, stream>>>(p);
+    }
+};
+#endif
+
+template <typename QSchedule, typename KV>
+struct PrefillLauncherScalar {
+    template <int HEAD_DIM, bool IsCausal, bool HasMask>
+    static void launch(AttentionParams<bf16>& p, cudaStream_t stream) {
+        constexpr int G = (HEAD_DIM == 32) ? 4 : 8, ROWS = 64, P_BC = 32;
+        dim3 grid(QSchedule::host_q_blocks(p, ROWS), p.q_head,
+                  QSchedule::host_grid_batch(p));
+        dim3 block(G, ROWS);
+        attn_prefill_split_q_kernel_t<HEAD_DIM, QSchedule, KV, G, ROWS, P_BC,
+                                      IsCausal, HasMask>
+            <<<grid, block, 0, stream>>>(p);
+    }
+};
+
+template <int HEAD_DIM>
+static inline void dispatch_prefill(AttentionParams<bf16>& p, cudaStream_t stream) {
+    bool is_causal = (p.causal_offset >= 0);
+    bool has_mask = (p.use_mask && p.mask);
+
+#ifndef ASTRAI_NO_MMA
+    using Launcher = PrefillLauncherMMA<DenseQSchedule, ContigKV>;
+    DISPATCH_CAUSAL_MASK(is_causal, has_mask,
+                         Launcher::template launch,
+                         HEAD_DIM, p, stream);
+#else
+    using Launcher = PrefillLauncherScalar<DenseQSchedule, ContigKV>;
+    DISPATCH_CAUSAL_MASK(is_causal, has_mask,
+                         Launcher::template launch,
+                         HEAD_DIM, p, stream);
+#endif
+}
+
+template <int HEAD_DIM>
+static inline void dispatch_paged_prefill(AttentionParams<bf16>& p, cudaStream_t stream) {
+    bool is_causal = (p.causal_offset >= 0);
+    bool has_mask = (p.use_mask && p.mask);
+
+#ifndef ASTRAI_NO_MMA
+    using Launcher = PrefillLauncherMMA<PackedQSchedule, PagedKV>;
+    DISPATCH_CAUSAL_MASK(is_causal, has_mask,
+                         Launcher::template launch,
+                         HEAD_DIM, p, stream);
+#else
+    using Launcher = PrefillLauncherScalar<PackedQSchedule, PagedKV>;
+    DISPATCH_CAUSAL_MASK(is_causal, has_mask,
+                         Launcher::template launch,
+                         HEAD_DIM, p, stream);
+#endif
+}
+
+// ======================================================================
+// Decode launchers (KV selects ContigKV or PagedKV addressing)
+// ======================================================================
+
+#ifndef ASTRAI_NO_MMA
+// BC=16: halves smem (16KB vs 32KB) → doubles occupancy (6 vs 3 blocks/SM).
+// For D=256, BC=16 also reduces register pressure (fewer Sacc/PV frags),
+// enabling STAGES=2 (double-buffer) within the 32KB smem budget — eliminates
+// the 176-byte spill that STAGES=1+BC=32 suffered.
+template <typename KV>
+struct DecodeLauncherMMA {
+    template <int HEAD_DIM, bool IsCausal, bool HasMask>
+    static void launch(AttentionParams<bf16>& p, cudaStream_t stream) {
+        int G = p.q_head / p.kv_head;
+        constexpr int MAX_G = 16;
+        int num_passes = (G + MAX_G - 1) / MAX_G;
+        constexpr int BC = 16;
+        int kv_len = KV::host_kv_len(p);
+        int tiles_total = (kv_len + BC - 1) / BC;
+        p.num_splits = compute_num_splits(p.batch * p.kv_head * num_passes, tiles_total, 2);
+        constexpr int STAGES = 2;
+        using Traits = KernelTraits<HEAD_DIM, BC, 1, STAGES>;
+        dim3 grid(p.kv_head * num_passes, p.batch, p.num_splits);
+        attn_decode_split_kv_mma_kernel<Traits, KV, IsCausal, HasMask>
+            <<<grid, 32, 0, stream>>>(p);
+    }
+};
+#endif
+
+template <typename KV>
+struct DecodeLauncherScalar {
+    template <int HEAD_DIM, bool IsCausal, bool HasMask>
+    static void launch(AttentionParams<bf16>& p, cudaStream_t stream) {
+        int kv_len = KV::host_kv_len(p);
+        int chunks_total = (kv_len + DC_CHUNK - 1) / DC_CHUNK;
+        p.num_splits = compute_num_splits(p.batch * p.kv_head, chunks_total);
+        size_t smem = 2 * DC_CHUNK * p.head_dim * sizeof(bf16);
+        int group_size = p.q_head / p.kv_head;
+        int g = min(group_size, 32);  // cap at 32 to respect 1024-thread limit
+        dim3 grid(p.batch * p.kv_head, 1, p.num_splits);
+        dim3 block(32, g);
+        cudaFuncSetAttribute(
+            attn_decode_split_kv_kernel<HEAD_DIM, KV, IsCausal, HasMask>,
+            cudaFuncAttributeMaxDynamicSharedMemorySize,
+            smem);
+        attn_decode_split_kv_kernel<HEAD_DIM, KV, IsCausal, HasMask>
+            <<<grid, block, smem, stream>>>(p);
+    }
+};
+
+template <int HEAD_DIM>
+static inline void dispatch_decode(AttentionParams<bf16>& p, cudaStream_t stream) {
+    bool is_causal = (p.causal_offset >= 0);
+    bool has_mask = (p.use_mask && p.mask);
+
+#ifndef ASTRAI_NO_MMA
+    DISPATCH_CAUSAL_MASK(is_causal, has_mask,
+                         DecodeLauncherMMA<ContigKV>::template launch,
+                         HEAD_DIM, p, stream);
+#else
+    DISPATCH_CAUSAL_MASK(is_causal, has_mask,
+                         DecodeLauncherScalar<ContigKV>::template launch,
+                         HEAD_DIM, p, stream);
+#endif
+
+    attn_decode_combine_kernel<ContigKV><<<p.batch * p.q_head, p.head_dim, 0, stream>>>(p);
+}
+
+template <int HEAD_DIM>
+static inline void dispatch_paged_decode(AttentionParams<bf16>& p, cudaStream_t stream) {
+    bool is_causal = (p.causal_offset >= 0);
+    bool has_mask = (p.use_mask && p.mask);
+
+#ifndef ASTRAI_NO_MMA
+    DISPATCH_CAUSAL_MASK(is_causal, has_mask,
+                         DecodeLauncherMMA<PagedKV>::template launch,
+                         HEAD_DIM, p, stream);
+#else
+    DISPATCH_CAUSAL_MASK(is_causal, has_mask,
+                         DecodeLauncherScalar<PagedKV>::template launch,
+                         HEAD_DIM, p, stream);
+#endif
+
+    attn_decode_combine_kernel<PagedKV><<<p.batch * p.q_head, p.head_dim, 0, stream>>>(p);
+}
+
+}  // namespace attention
+}  // namespace astrai
@@ -0,0 +1,363 @@
+#pragma once
+#include <float.h>
+#include <torch/extension.h>
+#include <c10/cuda/CUDAGuard.h>
+#include "common.h"
+
+// Dispatch head_dim: shared macro — avoids C++20 lambda template syntax.
+// Usage: DISPATCH_HEAD_DIM(hd, fn, args...)
+//   Expands to: fn<32>(args...); fn<64>(args...); etc.
+#define DISPATCH_HEAD_DIM(hd, fn, ...) \
+    switch (hd) { \
+        case 32:  fn<32>(__VA_ARGS__); break; \
+        case 64:  fn<64>(__VA_ARGS__); break; \
+        case 128: fn<128>(__VA_ARGS__); break; \
+        case 256: fn<256>(__VA_ARGS__); break; \
+        default: \
+            TORCH_CHECK(false, "unsupported head_dim ", hd, \
+                         " (supported: 32, 64, 128, 256)"); \
+    }
+
+namespace astrai {
+namespace attention {
+
+using bf16 = __nv_bfloat16;
+
+// The split kernel unconditionally writes every (batch, q_head, split) slot it
+// owns — including empty split ranges, which store m = -FLT_MAX so the combine
+// skips them. Allocators are therefore left uninitialized (torch::empty); the
+// per-call memset (torch::zeros / torch::full) was pure overhead.
+template<typename P>
+inline void alloc_split_partials(P& p) {
+    auto fopt = torch::TensorOptions().dtype(torch::kFloat32).device(torch::kCUDA);
+    auto o_part = torch::empty(at::IntArrayRef{p.batch, p.q_head, MAX_SPLITS, p.head_dim}, fopt);
+    auto ml_part = torch::empty(at::IntArrayRef{p.batch, p.q_head, MAX_SPLITS, 2}, fopt);
+    p.o_part = (float*)o_part.data_ptr();
+    p.ml_part = (float*)ml_part.data_ptr();
+}
+
+// ---- Shared Q-dims + strides extraction ----
+template <typename P>
+inline void extract_q_dims_and_strides(torch::Tensor& q, int64_t layout, P& p) {
+    if (layout == BLHD) q = q.transpose(1, 2);
+    p.batch = (int)q.size(0);
+    p.q_head = (int)q.size(1);
+    p.q_len = (int)q.size(2);
+    p.head_dim = (int)q.size(3);
+    p.q_b_stride = (int)q.stride(0);
+    p.q_h_stride = (int)q.stride(1);
+    p.q_l_stride = (int)q.stride(2);
+    p.q_d_stride = (int)q.stride(3);
+}
+
+// ---- Shared mask packing ----
+// Accepts 2D [batch, kv_len], 3D [batch, q_len, kv_len],
+// or 4D [batch, n_heads, q_len, kv_len].
+// Head/q dimensions with size 1 broadcast (stride set to 0).
+template <typename P>
+inline void pack_mask(const c10::optional<torch::Tensor>& mask, P& p) {
+    if (p.use_mask) {
+        auto m = mask.value();
+        TORCH_CHECK(m.is_cuda(), "mask must be on CUDA");
+        TORCH_CHECK(m.dtype() == torch::kBool, "mask must be bool");
+        TORCH_CHECK(m.size(0) == p.batch, "mask batch mismatch");
+        TORCH_CHECK(m.size(m.dim() - 1) == p.kv_len, "mask kv_len mismatch");
+        if (m.dim() == 2) {
+            p.mask_b_stride = (int)m.stride(0);
+            p.mask_h_stride = 0;
+            p.mask_l_stride = 0;
+        } else if (m.dim() == 3) {
+            TORCH_CHECK(m.size(1) == 1 || m.size(1) == p.q_len, "mask q_len mismatch");
+            p.mask_b_stride = (int)m.stride(0);
+            p.mask_h_stride = 0;
+            p.mask_l_stride = (m.size(1) == 1) ? 0 : (int)m.stride(1);
+        } else if (m.dim() == 4) {
+            TORCH_CHECK(m.size(2) == 1 || m.size(2) == p.q_len, "mask q_len mismatch");
+            p.mask_b_stride = (int)m.stride(0);
+            p.mask_h_stride = (m.size(1) == 1) ? 0 : (int)m.stride(1);
+            p.mask_l_stride = (m.size(2) == 1) ? 0 : (int)m.stride(2);
+        } else {
+            TORCH_CHECK(false, "mask must be 2D, 3D, or 4D");
+        }
+        p.mask = m.data_ptr<bool>();
+    } else {
+        p.mask = nullptr;
+        p.mask_b_stride = 0;
+        p.mask_h_stride = 0;
+        p.mask_l_stride = 0;
+    }
+}
+
+// ---- attn_pack_params (contiguous KV) ----
+template<typename T>
+inline void attn_pack_params(
+    torch::Tensor q,
+    torch::Tensor k,
+    torch::Tensor v,
+    c10::optional<torch::Tensor> mask,
+    int64_t causal_offset,
+    double scale,
+    int64_t layout,
+    AttentionParams<T>& p
+) {
+    const at::cuda::OptionalCUDAGuard device_guard(device_of(q));
+
+    TORCH_CHECK(q.is_cuda() && k.is_cuda() && v.is_cuda());
+    TORCH_CHECK(q.dtype() == torch::kBFloat16);
+    TORCH_CHECK(k.dtype() == torch::kBFloat16);
+    TORCH_CHECK(v.dtype() == torch::kBFloat16);
+    TORCH_CHECK(k.sizes() == v.sizes(), "K and V must have identical shapes");
+    TORCH_CHECK(q.dim() == 4 && k.dim() == 4, "Q/K/V must be 4D");
+    extract_q_dims_and_strides(q, layout, p);
+
+    if (layout == BLHD) k = k.transpose(1, 2), v = v.transpose(1, 2);
+
+    p.kv_head = (int)k.size(1);
+    p.kv_len = (int)k.size(2);
+    TORCH_CHECK(p.q_head % p.kv_head == 0,
+                "q_head must be divisible by kv_head");
+    TORCH_CHECK(k.size(3) == p.head_dim, "K/V head_dim must match Q");
+    TORCH_CHECK(q.stride(3) == 1 && k.stride(3) == 1 && v.stride(3) == 1,
+                "Q/K/V head_dim must be contiguous");
+
+    p.kv_b_stride = (int)k.stride(0);
+    p.kv_h_stride = (int)k.stride(1);
+    p.kv_l_stride = (int)k.stride(2);
+    p.kv_d_stride = (int)k.stride(3);
+
+    p.causal_offset = (int)causal_offset;
+    p.use_mask = mask.has_value() ? 1 : 0;
+    p.scale = (scale > 0.0) ? (float)scale : 1.0f / sqrtf((float)p.head_dim);
+
+    p.q_ptr = (const T*)q.data_ptr();
+    p.k_ptr = (const T*)k.data_ptr();
+    p.v_ptr = (const T*)v.data_ptr();
+    p.new_k_ptr = nullptr;
+    p.new_v_ptr = nullptr;
+    p.o_ptr = nullptr;
+    p.o_part = nullptr;
+    p.ml_part = nullptr;
+
+    pack_mask(mask, p);
+}
+
+// ---- attn_pack_paged_decode_params ----
+// SGLang-style: flat KV pool + req_to_token indexing + variable
+// seq_lens via kv_indptr.  Q is [batch, q_head, head_dim] (q_len=1 per req).
+template<typename T>
+inline void attn_pack_paged_decode_params(
+    torch::Tensor q,
+    torch::Tensor k_cache,
+    torch::Tensor v_cache,
+    torch::Tensor req_to_token,
+    torch::Tensor req_pool_indices,
+    torch::Tensor kv_indptr,
+    const c10::optional<torch::Tensor>& new_k,
+    const c10::optional<torch::Tensor>& new_v,
+    c10::optional<torch::Tensor> mask,
+    int64_t causal_offset,
+    double scale,
+    AttentionParams<T>& p
+) {
+    const at::cuda::OptionalCUDAGuard device_guard(device_of(q));
+
+    TORCH_CHECK(q.is_cuda() && k_cache.is_cuda() && v_cache.is_cuda());
+    TORCH_CHECK(req_to_token.is_cuda() && req_pool_indices.is_cuda() && kv_indptr.is_cuda());
+    TORCH_CHECK(q.dtype() == torch::kBFloat16, "q must be bf16");
+    TORCH_CHECK(k_cache.dtype() == torch::kBFloat16, "k_cache must be bf16");
+    TORCH_CHECK(v_cache.dtype() == torch::kBFloat16, "v_cache must be bf16");
+    TORCH_CHECK(req_to_token.dtype() == torch::kInt32, "req_to_token must be int32");
+    TORCH_CHECK(req_pool_indices.dtype() == torch::kInt32,
+                "req_pool_indices must be int32");
+    TORCH_CHECK(kv_indptr.dtype() == torch::kInt32, "kv_indptr must be int32");
+    TORCH_CHECK(k_cache.sizes() == v_cache.sizes(), "k_cache and v_cache must match");
+    TORCH_CHECK(k_cache.dim() == 3, "k_cache must be 3D [size, kv_head, head_dim]");
+    TORCH_CHECK(q.dim() == 3, "q must be 3D [batch, q_head, head_dim]");
+
+    p.batch = (int)q.size(0);
+    p.q_head = (int)q.size(1);
+    p.head_dim = (int)q.size(2);
+    p.kv_head = (int)k_cache.size(1);
+    TORCH_CHECK(k_cache.size(2) == p.head_dim, "k_cache head_dim mismatch");
+    TORCH_CHECK(q.stride(2) == 1 && k_cache.stride(2) == 1 && v_cache.stride(2) == 1,
+                "Q/K/V head_dim must be contiguous");
+    TORCH_CHECK(p.head_dim % 32 == 0, "head_dim must be multiple of 32");
+    TORCH_CHECK(p.q_head % p.kv_head == 0, "q_head must be divisible by kv_head");
+
+    p.q_l_stride = (int)q.stride(0);
+    p.q_h_stride = (int)q.stride(1);
+    p.q_d_stride = (int)q.stride(2);
+
+    p.k_ptr = (const T*)k_cache.data_ptr();
+    p.v_ptr = (const T*)v_cache.data_ptr();
+    p.q_ptr = (const T*)q.data_ptr();
+    p.req_to_token = req_to_token.data_ptr<int>();
+    p.req_pool_indices = req_pool_indices.data_ptr<int>();
+    p.kv_indptr = kv_indptr.data_ptr<int>();
+    p.qo_indptr = nullptr;
+    p.max_context_len = (int)req_to_token.size(1);
+
+    TORCH_CHECK(new_k.has_value() == new_v.has_value(),
+                "new_k and new_v must be provided together");
+    if (new_k.has_value()) {
+        auto nk = new_k.value();
+        auto nv = new_v.value();
+        TORCH_CHECK(nk.is_cuda() && nv.is_cuda(), "new K/V must be CUDA tensors");
+        TORCH_CHECK(nk.dtype() == torch::kBFloat16 && nv.dtype() == torch::kBFloat16,
+                    "new K/V must be bf16");
+        TORCH_CHECK(nk.dim() == 3 && nv.dim() == 3,
+                    "new K/V must be 3D [batch, kv_head, head_dim]");
+        TORCH_CHECK(nk.sizes() == nv.sizes(), "new K and V must have identical shapes");
+        TORCH_CHECK(nk.strides() == nv.strides(),
+                    "new K and V must have identical strides");
+        TORCH_CHECK(nk.size(0) == p.batch && nk.size(1) == p.kv_head
+                    && nk.size(2) == p.head_dim, "new K/V shape mismatch");
+        TORCH_CHECK(nk.stride(2) == 1 && nv.stride(2) == 1,
+                    "new K/V head_dim must be contiguous");
+        p.new_k_ptr = (const T*)nk.data_ptr();
+        p.new_v_ptr = (const T*)nv.data_ptr();
+        p.new_kv_b_stride = (int)nk.stride(0);
+        p.new_kv_h_stride = (int)nk.stride(1);
+    } else {
+        p.new_k_ptr = nullptr;
+        p.new_v_ptr = nullptr;
+        p.new_kv_b_stride = p.new_kv_h_stride = 0;
+    }
+
+    p.causal_offset = (int)causal_offset;
+    p.use_mask = (mask.has_value() && mask.value().defined()) ? 1 : 0;
+    p.scale = (scale > 0.0) ? (float)scale : 1.0f / sqrtf((float)p.head_dim);
+
+    if (p.use_mask) {
+        auto m = mask.value();
+        TORCH_CHECK(m.is_cuda() && m.dtype() == torch::kBool, "mask must be bool CUDA");
+        TORCH_CHECK(m.size(0) == p.batch, "mask batch mismatch");
+        p.mask_b_stride = (int)m.stride(0);
+        p.mask_h_stride = 0;
+        p.mask_l_stride = 0;
+        p.mask = m.data_ptr<bool>();
+    } else {
+        p.mask = nullptr;
+        p.mask_b_stride = 0;
+        p.mask_h_stride = 0;
+        p.mask_l_stride = 0;
+    }
+
+    p.o_ptr = nullptr;
+    p.o_part = nullptr;
+    p.ml_part = nullptr;
+}
+
+// ---- attn_pack_paged_prefill_params ----
+// SGLang-style: flat KV pool + req_to_token + ragged batch via qo_indptr.
+// Q is [total_q, q_head, head_dim] (flattened across all requests).
+template<typename T>
+inline void attn_pack_paged_prefill_params(
+    torch::Tensor q,
+    torch::Tensor k_cache,
+    torch::Tensor v_cache,
+    torch::Tensor req_to_token,
+    torch::Tensor req_pool_indices,
+    torch::Tensor kv_indptr,
+    torch::Tensor qo_indptr,
+    torch::Tensor q_tile_to_batch,
+    torch::Tensor q_tile_to_index,
+    c10::optional<torch::Tensor> mask,
+    int64_t causal_offset,
+    double scale,
+    AttentionParams<T>& p
+) {
+    const at::cuda::OptionalCUDAGuard device_guard(device_of(q));
+
+    TORCH_CHECK(q.is_cuda() && k_cache.is_cuda() && v_cache.is_cuda());
+    TORCH_CHECK(req_to_token.is_cuda() && req_pool_indices.is_cuda());
+    TORCH_CHECK(kv_indptr.is_cuda() && qo_indptr.is_cuda());
+    TORCH_CHECK(q_tile_to_batch.is_cuda() && q_tile_to_index.is_cuda());
+    TORCH_CHECK(q.dtype() == torch::kBFloat16, "q must be bf16");
+    TORCH_CHECK(k_cache.dtype() == torch::kBFloat16, "k_cache must be bf16");
+    TORCH_CHECK(v_cache.dtype() == torch::kBFloat16, "v_cache must be bf16");
+    TORCH_CHECK(req_to_token.dtype() == torch::kInt32, "req_to_token must be int32");
+    TORCH_CHECK(req_pool_indices.dtype() == torch::kInt32,
+                "req_pool_indices must be int32");
+    TORCH_CHECK(kv_indptr.dtype() == torch::kInt32, "kv_indptr must be int32");
+    TORCH_CHECK(qo_indptr.dtype() == torch::kInt32, "qo_indptr must be int32");
+    TORCH_CHECK(q_tile_to_batch.dtype() == torch::kInt32,
+                "q_tile_to_batch must be int32");
+    TORCH_CHECK(q_tile_to_index.dtype() == torch::kInt32,
+                "q_tile_to_index must be int32");
+    TORCH_CHECK(k_cache.sizes() == v_cache.sizes(), "k_cache and v_cache must match");
+    TORCH_CHECK(k_cache.dim() == 3, "k_cache must be 3D [size, kv_head, head_dim]");
+    TORCH_CHECK(q.dim() == 3, "q must be 3D [total_q, q_head, head_dim]");
+
+    p.q_head = (int)q.size(1);
+    p.head_dim = (int)q.size(2);
+    p.q_len = (int)q.size(0);
+    p.kv_head = (int)k_cache.size(1);
+    p.batch = (int)req_pool_indices.size(0);
+    TORCH_CHECK(k_cache.size(2) == p.head_dim, "k_cache head_dim mismatch");
+    TORCH_CHECK(q.stride(2) == 1 && k_cache.stride(2) == 1 && v_cache.stride(2) == 1,
+                "Q/K/V head_dim must be contiguous");
+    TORCH_CHECK(p.head_dim % 16 == 0, "head_dim must be multiple of 16");
+    TORCH_CHECK(p.q_head % p.kv_head == 0, "q_head must be divisible by kv_head");
+    TORCH_CHECK(kv_indptr.size(0) == p.batch + 1, "kv_indptr must be [batch+1]");
+    TORCH_CHECK(qo_indptr.size(0) == p.batch + 1, "qo_indptr must be [batch+1]");
+    TORCH_CHECK(q_tile_to_batch.dim() == 1 && q_tile_to_index.dim() == 1,
+                "Q tile mappings must be 1D");
+    TORCH_CHECK(q_tile_to_batch.size(0) == q_tile_to_index.size(0),
+                "Q tile mappings must have equal length");
+
+    p.q_l_stride = (int)q.stride(0);
+    p.q_h_stride = (int)q.stride(1);
+    p.q_d_stride = (int)q.stride(2);
+
+    p.k_ptr = (const T*)k_cache.data_ptr();
+    p.v_ptr = (const T*)v_cache.data_ptr();
+    p.new_k_ptr = nullptr;
+    p.new_v_ptr = nullptr;
+    p.q_ptr = (const T*)q.data_ptr();
+    p.req_to_token = req_to_token.data_ptr<int>();
+    p.req_pool_indices = req_pool_indices.data_ptr<int>();
+    p.kv_indptr = kv_indptr.data_ptr<int>();
+    p.qo_indptr = qo_indptr.data_ptr<int>();
+    p.q_tile_to_batch = q_tile_to_batch.data_ptr<int>();
+    p.q_tile_to_index = q_tile_to_index.data_ptr<int>();
+    p.num_q_tiles = (int)q_tile_to_batch.size(0);
+    p.max_context_len = (int)req_to_token.size(1);
+
+    p.causal_offset = (int)causal_offset;
+    p.use_mask = (mask.has_value() && mask.value().defined()) ? 1 : 0;
+    if (p.use_mask) {
+        auto m = mask.value();
+        TORCH_CHECK(m.is_cuda() && m.dtype() == torch::kBool, "mask must be bool CUDA");
+        TORCH_CHECK(m.size(0) == p.batch, "mask batch mismatch");
+        if (m.dim() == 2) {
+            TORCH_CHECK(m.size(1) <= p.max_context_len, "mask kv_len mismatch");
+            p.mask_b_stride = (int)m.stride(0);
+            p.mask_h_stride = 0;
+            p.mask_l_stride = 0;
+        } else if (m.dim() == 4) {
+            TORCH_CHECK(m.size(1) == 1 || m.size(1) == p.q_head, "mask head mismatch");
+            TORCH_CHECK(m.size(2) > 0 && m.size(2) <= p.q_len, "mask q_len mismatch");
+            TORCH_CHECK(m.size(3) <= p.max_context_len, "mask kv_len mismatch");
+            p.mask_b_stride = (int)m.stride(0);
+            p.mask_h_stride = (m.size(1) == 1) ? 0 : (int)m.stride(1);
+            p.mask_l_stride = (m.size(2) == 1) ? 0 : (int)m.stride(2);
+        } else {
+            TORCH_CHECK(false, "mask must be 2D or 4D");
+        }
+        p.mask = m.data_ptr<bool>();
+    } else {
+        p.mask = nullptr;
+        p.mask_b_stride = 0;
+        p.mask_h_stride = 0;
+        p.mask_l_stride = 0;
+    }
+    p.scale = (scale > 0.0) ? (float)scale : 1.0f / sqrtf((float)p.head_dim);
+
+    p.o_ptr = nullptr;
+    p.o_part = nullptr;
+    p.ml_part = nullptr;
+}
+
+}  // namespace attention
+}  // namespace astrai
@@ -0,0 +1,261 @@
+#pragma once
+#include <cuda_bf16.h>
+#include "common.h"
+
+// ============================================================================
+// Attention layout policies keep Q scheduling independent from K/V storage.
+// DenseQSchedule / PackedQSchedule map blocks to Q tiles; ContigKV / PagedKV
+// resolve logical K/V positions to physical addresses. This lets the shared
+// kernels compose Q layout and K/V storage without coupling the two concerns.
+//
+//   ContigKV:  K/V are dense [batch, kv_head, kv_len, head_dim] tensors.
+//              Params fields used: k, v, kv_stride_*, kv_len, q_len,
+//              q_b_stride, causal_offset.
+//   PagedKV:   K/V live in a flat pool [size, kv_head, head_dim] indexed via
+//              req_to_token.  Params fields used: k_cache, v_cache,
+//              req_to_token, req_pool_indices, kv_indptr, qo_indptr,
+//              max_context_len, q_l_stride.
+//
+// Addressing state that is constant across a whole kernel invocation for one
+// (batch, kv_head) pair is captured once by make_ctx<HEAD_DIM>() and passed
+// to kv_addr, so the load loops never redo the hoistable base computation
+// (e.g. the req_pool_indices global read) element-by-element.
+// ============================================================================
+
+#define HOST_FORCEINLINE static __host__ __forceinline__
+#define DEVICE_FORCEINLINE static __device__ __forceinline__
+#define HOST_DEV_FORCEINLINE static __host__ __device__ __forceinline__
+
+namespace astrai {
+namespace attention {
+
+using bf16 = __nv_bfloat16;
+
+// ============================================================================
+// Q scheduling policies
+//
+// Map CUDA blocks to request-local Q tiles independently of K/V storage.
+// Dense tensors encode the request in blockIdx.z; packed ragged tensors use
+// a compact precomputed work map indexed by blockIdx.x.
+// ============================================================================
+
+struct DenseQSchedule {
+    HOST_FORCEINLINE int host_q_blocks(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, int rows) {
+        return (p.q_len + rows - 1) / rows;
+    }
+
+    HOST_FORCEINLINE int host_grid_batch(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>& p) {
+        return p.batch;
+    }
+
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE void map_block(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>&, int& batch, int& q_tile) {
+        batch = blockIdx.z;
+        q_tile = blockIdx.x;
+    }
+
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE int q_len(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, int) {
+        return p.q_len;
+    }
+
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE int q_base(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, int batch, int q_head) {
+        return batch * p.q_b_stride + q_head * p.q_h_stride;
+    }
+};
+
+struct PackedQSchedule {
+    HOST_FORCEINLINE int host_q_blocks(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, int) {
+        return p.num_q_tiles;
+    }
+
+    HOST_FORCEINLINE int host_grid_batch(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>&) {
+        return 1;
+    }
+
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE void map_block(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, int& batch, int& q_tile) {
+        batch = p.q_tile_to_batch[blockIdx.x];
+        q_tile = p.q_tile_to_index[blockIdx.x];
+    }
+
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE int q_len(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, int batch) {
+        return p.qo_indptr[batch + 1] - p.qo_indptr[batch];
+    }
+
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE int q_base(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, int batch, int q_head) {
+        return p.qo_indptr[batch] * p.q_l_stride + q_head * p.q_h_stride;
+    }
+};
+
+// Hoisted per-(batch, kv_head) addressing context.
+struct KVContext {
+    int kv_base;          // contig: batch*kv_b_stride + kv_head*kv_h_stride
+    int req_idx;          // paged: req_pool_indices[batch]
+    int64_t rtt_stride;   // paged: max_context_len
+    int64_t pool_stride;  // paged: kv_head * HEAD_DIM
+    int64_t head_off;     // paged: kv_head * HEAD_DIM
+};
+
+// Per-element K/V global addresses for one (kc, d) position of a K/V tile.
+// The pointers are ALWAYS the computed addresses (never nullptr) — callers
+// gate on `valid` (cp.async src_size=0, or a guarded scalar deref).  `valid`
+// starts as "within the request's seq_len"; the paged policy further degrades
+// it when req_to_token maps the position to a negative slot (empty padding).
+// This matches the original hand-rolled load loops, where the address was
+// always formed and the predicate decided whether anything was read.
+struct KVAddr {
+    const void* k;
+    const void* v;
+    bool valid;
+};
+
+// ---- Contiguous K/V ----
+struct ContigKV {
+    static constexpr bool kPaged = false;
+
+    HOST_FORCEINLINE int host_kv_len(const AttentionParams<bf16>& p) {
+        return p.kv_len;
+    }
+
+    // decode: same offset (q_len == 1, so there is no row stride component)
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE int q_decode_base(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, int batch, int q_head) {
+        return batch * p.q_b_stride + q_head * p.q_h_stride;
+    }
+
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE int kv_len(const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, int) {
+        return p.kv_len;
+    }
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE int causal_offset(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, int, int) {
+        return p.causal_offset;
+    }
+    // decode: exclusive bound of the single query's attend range
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE int decode_attend_len(const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, int) {
+        return (p.kv_len < p.causal_offset + 1) ? p.kv_len : (p.causal_offset + 1);
+    }
+
+    template <int HEAD_DIM>
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE KVContext make_ctx(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, int batch, int kv_head) {
+        KVContext c = {};
+        c.kv_base = batch * p.kv_b_stride + kv_head * p.kv_h_stride;
+        return c;
+    }
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE int resolve_token(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, const KVContext& c, int kc, bool valid) {
+        return valid ? kc : -1;
+    }
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE KVAddr kv_addr_from_token(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, const KVContext& c, int token, int d) {
+        const bool valid = token >= 0;
+        const int safe_token = valid ? token : 0;
+        const int64_t gmem_off = (int64_t)c.kv_base
+            + (int64_t)safe_token * p.kv_l_stride
+            + (int64_t)d * p.kv_d_stride;
+        return {&p.k_ptr[gmem_off], &p.v_ptr[gmem_off], valid};
+    }
+
+    template <int VEC>
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE KVAddr decode_addr(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, const KVContext& c,
+        int, int, int kc, int d, bool valid, bool) {
+        int token = resolve_token(p, c, kc, valid);
+        return kv_addr_from_token(p, c, token, d);
+    }
+};
+
+// ---- Paged (SGLang-style flat pool) K/V ----
+struct PagedKV {
+    static constexpr bool kPaged = true;
+
+    HOST_FORCEINLINE int host_kv_len(const AttentionParams<bf16>& p) {
+        return p.max_context_len;
+    }
+
+    // decode: Q is [batch, q_head, head_dim], so batch is the outer row
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE int q_decode_base(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, int batch, int q_head) {
+        return batch * p.q_l_stride + q_head * p.q_h_stride;
+    }
+
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE int kv_len(const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, int batch) {
+        return p.kv_indptr[batch + 1] - p.kv_indptr[batch];
+    }
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE int causal_offset(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, int batch, int q_len) {
+        return kv_len(p, batch) - q_len;
+    }
+    // decode: the query is the last token, so [0, seq_len) IS its causal range
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE int decode_attend_len(const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, int batch) {
+        return kv_len(p, batch);
+    }
+
+    template <int HEAD_DIM>
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE KVContext make_ctx(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, int batch, int kv_head) {
+        KVContext c = {};
+        c.req_idx = p.req_pool_indices[batch];
+        c.rtt_stride = (int64_t)p.max_context_len;
+        c.pool_stride = (int64_t)p.kv_head * HEAD_DIM;
+        c.head_off = (int64_t)kv_head * HEAD_DIM;
+        return c;
+    }
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE int resolve_token(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, const KVContext& c, int kc, bool valid) {
+        return valid ? p.req_to_token[c.req_idx * c.rtt_stride + kc] : -1;
+    }
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE KVAddr kv_addr_from_token(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, const KVContext& c, int slot, int d) {
+        const bool valid = slot >= 0;
+        const int safe_slot = valid ? slot : 0;
+        const int64_t gmem_off = (int64_t)safe_slot * c.pool_stride + c.head_off + d;
+        return {&p.k_ptr[gmem_off], &p.v_ptr[gmem_off], valid};
+    }
+
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE KVAddr new_kv_addr(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, int batch, int kv_head, int d) {
+        const int64_t off = (int64_t)batch * p.new_kv_b_stride
+            + (int64_t)kv_head * p.new_kv_h_stride + d;
+        return {&p.new_k_ptr[off], &p.new_v_ptr[off], true};
+    }
+
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE void store_new_kv(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, const KVContext& c,
+        int seq_len, int d, const KVAddr& src) {
+        int slot = resolve_token(p, c, seq_len - 1, true);
+        const int64_t off = (int64_t)slot * c.pool_stride + c.head_off + d;
+        const_cast<bf16*>(p.k_ptr)[off] = *reinterpret_cast<const bf16*>(src.k);
+        const_cast<bf16*>(p.v_ptr)[off] = *reinterpret_cast<const bf16*>(src.v);
+    }
+
+    template <int VEC>
+    DEVICE_FORCEINLINE KVAddr decode_addr(
+        const AttentionParams<bf16>& p, const KVContext& c,
+        int batch, int kv_head, int kc, int d, bool valid, bool persist) {
+        if (p.new_k_ptr && valid && kc == kv_len(p, batch) - 1) {
+            KVAddr src = new_kv_addr(p, batch, kv_head, d);
+            if (persist) {
+                #pragma unroll
+                for (int j = 0; j < VEC; j++) {
+                    KVAddr value = new_kv_addr(p, batch, kv_head, d + j);
+                    store_new_kv(p, c, kc + 1, d + j, value);
+                }
+            }
+            return src;
+        }
+        int token = resolve_token(p, c, kc, valid);
+        return kv_addr_from_token(p, c, token, d);
+    }
+};
+
+}  // namespace attention
+}  // namespace astrai
@@ -3,12 +3,18 @@
 #include <cuda_fp16.h>
 #include <cuda_runtime.h>

+#include "../common/cp_async.cuh"
+#include "../common/mma.cuh"
+
 // Predicated cp.async (4-operand form) requires CUDA 11.2+.
 // bf16 mma.sync requires sm_80+ (guarded at build time by ASTRAI_NO_MMA).
 #if CUDART_VERSION < 11020
 #error "AstrAI CUDA kernels require CUDA 11.2 or later (CUDART_VERSION >= 11020)."
 #endif

+namespace astrai {
+namespace attention {
+
 // ============================================================================
 // KernelTraits — FlashAttention-v2 style compile-time configuration bundle.
 //
@@ -24,10 +30,10 @@ struct KernelTraits {

    static constexpr int BR = 16;             // Q rows per warp (mma M=16)

-    // Derived: mma.sync.m16n8k16 tile counts
-    static constexpr int KD  = HEAD_DIM / 16;  // Q/K k-slides
+    // Derived: mma tile counts from the shared mma_shape (m16n8k16 for bf16)
+    static constexpr int KD  = HEAD_DIM / astrai::mma_shape<bf16>::k;  // Q/K k-slides
    static constexpr int NC8 = BC / 8;          // S n-tiles (N=8)
-    static constexpr int KT2 = BC / 16;         // P k-tiles (K=16)
+    static constexpr int KT2 = BC / astrai::mma_shape<bf16>::k;        // P k-tiles (K=16)
    static constexpr int DN8 = HEAD_DIM / 8;    // O n-tiles (N=8)

    static constexpr int LD = HEAD_DIM;         // smem leading dim
@@ -43,16 +49,7 @@ struct KernelTraits {

 // ---- PTX wrappers ----
 using bf16 = __nv_bfloat16;
-
-__device__ __forceinline__ void mma16816(float* d, const unsigned* a,
-                                          const unsigned* b, const float* c) {
-    asm volatile(
-        "mma.sync.aligned.m16n8k16.row.col.f32.bf16.bf16.f32 "
-        "{%0,%1,%2,%3}, {%4,%5,%6,%7}, {%8,%9}, {%10,%11,%12,%13};"
-        : "=f"(d[0]), "=f"(d[1]), "=f"(d[2]), "=f"(d[3])
-        : "r"(a[0]), "r"(a[1]), "r"(a[2]), "r"(a[3]), "r"(b[0]), "r"(b[1]),
-          "f"(c[0]), "f"(c[1]), "f"(c[2]), "f"(c[3]));
-}
+// bf16 mma.sync lives in the shared astrai::mma_sync template (common/mma.cuh).

 // read two adjacent bf16 from smem as one packed .b32 (elem0 low, elem1 high)
 __device__ __forceinline__ unsigned ld2(const bf16* p) {
@@ -73,68 +70,24 @@ __device__ __forceinline__ unsigned pkb(bf16 a, bf16 b) {
    return *reinterpret_cast<unsigned*>(&v);
 }

-// ldmatrix: cooperatively load mma fragments from smem (one instruction per
-// 16x16 / 16x8 tile) with the exact register layout mma expects.
-__device__ __forceinline__ void ldmatrix_x4(unsigned* r, const bf16* p) {
-    unsigned a = __cvta_generic_to_shared(p);
-    asm volatile("ldmatrix.sync.aligned.m8n8.x4.shared.b16 {%0,%1,%2,%3}, [%4];"
-                 : "=r"(r[0]), "=r"(r[1]), "=r"(r[2]), "=r"(r[3])
-                 : "r"(a));
-}
-__device__ __forceinline__ void ldmatrix_x2(unsigned* r, const bf16* p) {
-    unsigned a = __cvta_generic_to_shared(p);
-    asm volatile("ldmatrix.sync.aligned.m8n8.x2.shared.b16 {%0,%1}, [%2];"
-                 : "=r"(r[0]), "=r"(r[1])
-                 : "r"(a));
-}
-__device__ __forceinline__ void ldmatrix_x2_trans(unsigned* r, const bf16* p) {
-    unsigned a = __cvta_generic_to_shared(p);
-    asm volatile("ldmatrix.sync.aligned.m8n8.x2.trans.shared.b16 {%0,%1}, [%2];"
-                 : "=r"(r[0]), "=r"(r[1])
-                 : "r"(a));
-}
+// ldmatrix lives in the shared template (common/mma.cuh):
+// `astrai::ldmatrix_x2<bf16>` / `<bf16, /*Trans=*/true>` load the K/V
+// fragments with the exact register layout mma expects.

 // XOR swizzle for shared-memory column at 8-bf16 chunk granularity.
 __device__ __forceinline__ int swiz_col(int d, int r, int mask = 7) {
    return ((d >> 3) ^ (r & mask)) << 3 | (d & 7);
 }

-// cp.async: copy 16 bytes (8 bf16) from global to shared memory directly.
-__device__ __forceinline__ void cp_async_16(bf16* smem_ptr, const void* gmem_ptr) {
-    unsigned smem_addr = __cvta_generic_to_shared(smem_ptr);
-    asm volatile("cp.async.ca.shared.global [%0], [%1], 16;"
-                 :: "r"(smem_addr), "l"(gmem_ptr));
-}
-
-// Predicated cp.async: copy 16 bytes when `pred`, otherwise zero-fill.
-// src_size=0 → no bytes read from src, so out-of-bounds src address is safe.
-__device__ __forceinline__ void cp_async_16_pred(bf16* smem_ptr,
-                                                  const void* gmem_ptr,
-                                                  bool pred) {
-    unsigned smem_addr = __cvta_generic_to_shared(smem_ptr);
-    int src_size = pred ? 16 : 0;
-    asm volatile("cp.async.ca.shared.global [%0], [%1], 16, %2;"
-                 :: "r"(smem_addr), "l"(gmem_ptr), "r"(src_size));
-}
-
-__device__ __forceinline__ void cp_async_commit() {
-    asm volatile("cp.async.commit_group;");
-}
-
-__device__ __forceinline__ void cp_async_wait_all() {
-    asm volatile("cp.async.wait_all;");
-}
-
-template <int N>
-__device__ __forceinline__ void cp_async_wait_group() {
-    asm volatile("cp.async.wait_group %0;" :: "n"(N));
-}
+// cp.async primitives live in the shared template (common/cp_async.cuh):
+// `astrai::cp_async_16` (predicated), `astrai::cp_async_commit_group`,
+// `astrai::cp_async_wait_group<N>` / `_wait_all` stage the K/V tiles.

 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Q-load: load query rows directly from global memory into mma A-operand
 // register layout. One call replaces ~15 duplicated lines in each MMA kernel.
-// stride_row is p.q_stride_h for decode (q_len=1, G heads) or
-//              p.q_stride_l for prefill (multi-q rows).
+// stride_row is p.q_h_stride for decode (q_len=1, G heads) or
+//              p.q_l_stride for prefill (multi-q rows).
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 template <int KD>
 __device__ inline void load_q_mma_frags(
@@ -180,9 +133,9 @@ __device__ inline void mma_compute_scores(
        #pragma unroll
        for (int kt = 0; kt < Traits::KD; kt++) {
            unsigned b[2];
-            ldmatrix_x2(b, &sK[krow_l * Traits::LD
+            astrai::ldmatrix_x2<bf16>(b, &sK[krow_l * Traits::LD
                + swiz_col(kt * 16 + kcol_h, krow_l, Traits::SWIZ_MASK)]);
-            mma16816(Sacc[n8], Qa[kt], b, Sacc[n8]);
+            astrai::mma_sync<bf16>(Sacc[n8], Qa[kt], b, Sacc[n8]);
        }
    }
 }
@@ -198,9 +151,10 @@ __device__ inline void mma_softmax_tile(
    int kv0,
    int maxc0, int maxc1,
    int qrow0, int qrow1,
-    int mask_b_stride, int mask_h_stride, int mask_q_stride,
-    int mask_batch, int mask_head,
+    int mask_b_stride, int mask_h_stride, int mask_l_stride,
+    int mask_batch, int mask_head0, int mask_head1,
    const bool* __restrict__ mask,
+    bool valid0, bool valid1,
    float Sacc[Traits::NC8][4],
    float Oacc[Traits::DN8][4],
    float& m0, float& m1,
@@ -210,16 +164,16 @@ __device__ inline void mma_softmax_tile(
    int tid4 = lane & 3;

    float rmax0 = -FLT_MAX, rmax1 = -FLT_MAX;
-    int mask_base0 = mask_batch * mask_b_stride + mask_head * mask_h_stride + qrow0 * mask_q_stride;
-    int mask_base1 = mask_batch * mask_b_stride + mask_head * mask_h_stride + qrow1 * mask_q_stride;
+    int mask_base0 = mask_batch * mask_b_stride + mask_head0 * mask_h_stride + qrow0 * mask_l_stride;
+    int mask_base1 = mask_batch * mask_b_stride + mask_head1 * mask_h_stride + qrow1 * mask_l_stride;
    #pragma unroll
    for (int n8 = 0; n8 < Traits::NC8; n8++) {
        int cc = kv0 + n8 * 8 + 2 * tid4;
        int c1 = cc + 1;
-        bool b0 = (cc >= maxc0) || (HasMask && !mask[mask_base0 + cc]);
-        bool b1 = (c1 >= maxc0) || (HasMask && !mask[mask_base0 + c1]);
-        bool b2 = (cc >= maxc1) || (HasMask && !mask[mask_base1 + cc]);
-        bool b3 = (c1 >= maxc1) || (HasMask && !mask[mask_base1 + c1]);
+        bool b0 = !valid0 || (cc >= maxc0) || (HasMask && !mask[mask_base0 + cc]);
+        bool b1 = !valid0 || (c1 >= maxc0) || (HasMask && !mask[mask_base0 + c1]);
+        bool b2 = !valid1 || (cc >= maxc1) || (HasMask && !mask[mask_base1 + cc]);
+        bool b3 = !valid1 || (c1 >= maxc1) || (HasMask && !mask[mask_base1 + c1]);
        float s0 = b0 ? -FLT_MAX : Sacc[n8][0];
        float s1 = b1 ? -FLT_MAX : Sacc[n8][1];
        float s2 = b2 ? -FLT_MAX : Sacc[n8][2];
@@ -289,9 +243,12 @@ __device__ inline void mma_pv_accumulate(
        #pragma unroll
        for (int dn8 = 0; dn8 < Traits::DN8; dn8++) {
            unsigned b[2];
-            ldmatrix_x2_trans(b, &sV[vrow_l * Traits::LD
+            astrai::ldmatrix_x2<bf16, true>(b, &sV[vrow_l * Traits::LD
                + swiz_col(dn8 * 8, vrow_l, Traits::SWIZ_MASK)]);
-            mma16816(Oacc[dn8], Pa, b, Oacc[dn8]);
+            astrai::mma_sync<bf16>(Oacc[dn8], Pa, b, Oacc[dn8]);
        }
    }
 }
+
+}  // namespace attention
+}  // namespace astrai
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+#include "dispatchers.cuh"
+#include "entry_utils.cuh"
+
+using namespace astrai::attention;
+
+torch::Tensor attn_paged_decode(
+    torch::Tensor q,
+    torch::Tensor k_cache,
+    torch::Tensor v_cache,
+    torch::Tensor req_to_token,
+    torch::Tensor req_pool_indices,
+    torch::Tensor kv_indptr,
+    c10::optional<torch::Tensor> new_k,
+    c10::optional<torch::Tensor> new_v,
+    c10::optional<torch::Tensor> mask,
+    int64_t causal_offset,
+    double scale,
+    c10::optional<torch::Tensor> o_part_buf,
+    c10::optional<torch::Tensor> ml_part_buf,
+    c10::optional<torch::Tensor> out_buf
+) {
+    const at::cuda::OptionalCUDAGuard device_guard(device_of(q));
+    auto stream = at::cuda::getCurrentCUDAStream();
+
+    AttentionParams<bf16> p;
+    attn_pack_paged_decode_params(q, k_cache, v_cache,
+                                   req_to_token, req_pool_indices, kv_indptr,
+                                   new_k, new_v,
+                                   mask, causal_offset, scale, p);
+
+    torch::Tensor O;
+    if (out_buf.has_value() && out_buf->defined()) {
+        TORCH_CHECK(out_buf->dtype() == q.dtype(), "out_buf dtype must match q");
+        TORCH_CHECK(out_buf->is_cuda() && out_buf->is_contiguous(),
+                    "out_buf must be a contiguous CUDA tensor");
+        TORCH_CHECK(out_buf->size(0) >= q.size(0), "out_buf batch too small");
+        TORCH_CHECK(out_buf->size(1) == q.size(1), "out_buf heads must match q");
+        TORCH_CHECK(out_buf->size(2) == q.size(2), "out_buf head_dim must match q");
+        TORCH_CHECK(q.is_contiguous(),
+                    "q must be contiguous when out_buf is provided");
+        O = out_buf.value().slice(0, 0, q.size(0));
+    } else {
+        O = torch::empty({q.size(0), q.size(1), q.size(2)}, q.options());
+    }
+    p.o_ptr = (bf16*)O.data_ptr();
+
+    if (o_part_buf.has_value() && ml_part_buf.has_value()
+        && o_part_buf->defined() && ml_part_buf->defined()) {
+        TORCH_CHECK(o_part_buf->scalar_type() == torch::kFloat32, "o_part_buf must be f32");
+        TORCH_CHECK(ml_part_buf->scalar_type() == torch::kFloat32, "ml_part_buf must be f32");
+        int64_t o_needed = (int64_t)p.batch * p.q_head * MAX_SPLITS * p.head_dim;
+        int64_t ml_needed = (int64_t)p.batch * p.q_head * MAX_SPLITS * 2;
+        TORCH_CHECK(o_part_buf->numel() >= o_needed,
+                     "o_part_buf too small: need ", o_needed, " got ", o_part_buf->numel());
+        TORCH_CHECK(ml_part_buf->numel() >= ml_needed,
+                     "ml_part_buf too small: need ", ml_needed, " got ", ml_part_buf->numel());
+        TORCH_CHECK(o_part_buf->is_cuda() && ml_part_buf->is_cuda(),
+                    "split buffers must be CUDA tensors");
+        TORCH_CHECK(o_part_buf->is_contiguous() && ml_part_buf->is_contiguous(),
+                    "split buffers must be contiguous");
+        p.o_part = (float*)o_part_buf->data_ptr();
+        p.ml_part = (float*)ml_part_buf->data_ptr();
+    } else {
+        alloc_split_partials(p);
+    }
+    DISPATCH_HEAD_DIM(p.head_dim, dispatch_paged_decode, p, stream);
+    C10_CUDA_CHECK(cudaGetLastError());
+    return O;
+}
+
+PYBIND11_MODULE(TORCH_EXTENSION_NAME, m) {
+    m.def("attn_paged_decode", &attn_paged_decode,
+        py::arg("q"),
+        py::arg("k_cache"),
+        py::arg("v_cache"),
+        py::arg("req_to_token"),
+        py::arg("req_pool_indices"),
+        py::arg("kv_indptr"),
+        py::arg("new_k") = py::none(),
+        py::arg("new_v") = py::none(),
+        py::arg("mask") = py::none(),
+        py::arg("causal_offset") = -1,
+        py::arg("scale") = 0.0,
+        py::arg("o_part_buf") = py::none(),
+        py::arg("ml_part_buf") = py::none(),
+        py::arg("out_buf") = py::none(),
+        "SGLang-style paged decode: flat KV pool + req_to_token + kv_indptr.");
+}
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+#include "dispatchers.cuh"
+#include "entry_utils.cuh"
+
+using namespace astrai::attention;
+
+torch::Tensor attn_paged_prefill(
+    torch::Tensor q,
+    torch::Tensor k_cache,
+    torch::Tensor v_cache,
+    torch::Tensor req_to_token,
+    torch::Tensor req_pool_indices,
+    torch::Tensor kv_indptr,
+    torch::Tensor qo_indptr,
+    torch::Tensor q_tile_to_batch,
+    torch::Tensor q_tile_to_index,
+    c10::optional<torch::Tensor> mask,
+    int64_t causal_offset,
+    double scale
+) {
+    const at::cuda::OptionalCUDAGuard device_guard(device_of(q));
+    auto stream = at::cuda::getCurrentCUDAStream();
+
+    AttentionParams<bf16> p;
+    attn_pack_paged_prefill_params(q, k_cache, v_cache,
+                                     req_to_token, req_pool_indices,
+                                     kv_indptr, qo_indptr,
+                                     q_tile_to_batch, q_tile_to_index, mask,
+                                    causal_offset, scale, p);
+
+    auto O = torch::empty({q.size(0), q.size(1), q.size(2)}, q.options());
+    p.o_ptr = (bf16*)O.data_ptr();
+
+    DISPATCH_HEAD_DIM(p.head_dim, dispatch_paged_prefill, p, stream);
+    C10_CUDA_CHECK(cudaGetLastError());
+    return O;
+}
+
+PYBIND11_MODULE(TORCH_EXTENSION_NAME, m) {
+    m.def("attn_paged_prefill", &attn_paged_prefill,
+        py::arg("q"),
+        py::arg("k_cache"),
+        py::arg("v_cache"),
+        py::arg("req_to_token"),
+        py::arg("req_pool_indices"),
+        py::arg("kv_indptr"),
+        py::arg("qo_indptr"),
+        py::arg("q_tile_to_batch"),
+        py::arg("q_tile_to_index"),
+        py::arg("mask") = py::none(),
+        py::arg("causal_offset") = -1,
+        py::arg("scale") = 0.0,
+        "SGLang-style paged prefill: flat KV pool + ragged batch.");
+}
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
-#include "attn_dispatchers.cuh"
-#include "attn_entry_utils.cuh"
+#include "dispatchers.cuh"
+#include "entry_utils.cuh"
+
+using namespace astrai::attention;

 torch::Tensor attn_prefill(
    torch::Tensor q,
@@ -10,15 +12,19 @@ torch::Tensor attn_prefill(
    double scale,
    int64_t layout
 ) {
+    const at::cuda::OptionalCUDAGuard device_guard(device_of(q));
+    auto stream = at::cuda::getCurrentCUDAStream();
+
    AttentionParams<bf16> p;
    attn_pack_params(q, k, v, mask, causal_offset, scale, layout, p);
    TORCH_CHECK(p.head_dim % 16 == 0, "head_dim must be multiple of 16");

    auto O = torch::empty_strided(q.sizes(), q.strides(), q.options());
-    auto O_view = (layout == 1) ? O.transpose(1, 2) : O;
-    p.o = (bf16*)O_view.data_ptr();
+    auto O_view = (layout == BLHD) ? O.transpose(1, 2) : O;
+    p.o_ptr = (bf16*)O_view.data_ptr();

-    DISPATCH_HEAD_DIM(p.head_dim, dispatch_prefill, p);
+    DISPATCH_HEAD_DIM(p.head_dim, dispatch_prefill, p, stream);
+    C10_CUDA_CHECK(cudaGetLastError());
    return O;
 }

@@ -30,6 +36,6 @@ PYBIND11_MODULE(TORCH_EXTENSION_NAME, m) {
        py::arg("mask") = py::none(),
        py::arg("causal_offset") = -1,
        py::arg("scale") = 0.0,
-        py::arg("layout") = 0,
+        py::arg("layout") = (int64_t)BHLD,
        "GQA prefill (tensor-core mma on sm_80+, scalar fallback)");
 }
@@ -1,22 +1,21 @@
 #pragma once
 #include <cfloat>
 #include <cuda_bf16.h>
-#include "attn_common.h"
+#include "common.h"
+#include "layout_policies.cuh"
+#include "../common/reduce.cuh"
+
+namespace astrai {
+namespace attention {

 using bf16 = __nv_bfloat16;

 // v9: group-split register blocking. G threads cooperate on one query row,
 // each owning HEAD_DIM/G dims of qreg[]/acc[]. IsCausal and HasMask are
 // compile-time bools — the compiler eliminates dead branches.
-// Templated on <HEAD_DIM, G, ROWS, P_BC, IsCausal, HasMask>.
-
-template <int G>
-__device__ __forceinline__ float group_reduce_sum(float v, unsigned mask) {
-#pragma unroll
-    for (int o = G / 2; o > 0; o >>= 1)
-        v += __shfl_xor_sync(mask, v, o);
-    return v;
-}
+// Unified across contiguous and paged (SGLang flat-pool) K/V via KV.
+// Templated on <HEAD_DIM, KV, G, ROWS, P_BC, IsCausal, HasMask>.
+// group_reduce_sum<G> lives in common/reduce.cuh (astrai::).

 // load 8 contiguous bf16 from (16-byte aligned) smem as one float4
 __device__ __forceinline__ void ld8(const bf16* p, float* o) {
@@ -30,30 +29,37 @@ __device__ __forceinline__ void ld8(const bf16* p, float* o) {
    }
 }

-template <int HEAD_DIM, int G, int ROWS, int P_BC, bool IsCausal, bool HasMask>
+template <int HEAD_DIM, typename QSchedule, typename KV, int G, int ROWS, int P_BC,
+          bool IsCausal, bool HasMask>
 __global__ void attn_prefill_split_q_kernel_t(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
    constexpr int DPT = HEAD_DIM / G;

-    int q_tile = blockIdx.x;
+    int batch, q_tile;
+    QSchedule::map_block(p, batch, q_tile);
+
    int q_head = blockIdx.y;
-    int batch  = blockIdx.z;
    int gpos   = threadIdx.x;  // 0..G-1  (which d-chunk)
    int row    = threadIdx.y;  // 0..ROWS-1
    int q_row  = q_tile * ROWS + row;

-    int kv_head = q_head / (p.q_head / p.kv_head);
+    // Per-request dims (from KV policy — paged reads kv_indptr/qo_indptr).
+    const int seq_len    = KV::kv_len(p, batch);
+    const int q_len      = QSchedule::q_len(p, batch);
+    const int causal_off = KV::causal_offset(p, batch, q_len);
+    const int kv_head = q_head / (p.q_head / p.kv_head);
+    const KVContext kctx = KV::template make_ctx<HEAD_DIM>(p, batch, kv_head);

    __shared__ __align__(16) bf16 sK[P_BC * HEAD_DIM];
    __shared__ __align__(16) bf16 sV[P_BC * HEAD_DIM];

    // Q: stride-based load [batch, q_head, q_len, head_dim]
+    const int q_base = QSchedule::q_base(p, batch, q_head);
    float qreg[DPT];
-    if (q_row < p.q_len) {
-        int q_off = batch * p.q_stride_b + q_head * p.q_stride_h
-                  + q_row * p.q_stride_l + gpos * DPT * p.q_stride_d;
+    if (q_row < q_len) {
+        int q_off = q_base + q_row * p.q_l_stride + gpos * DPT * p.q_d_stride;
 #pragma unroll
        for (int i = 0; i < DPT; i++)
-            qreg[i] = __bfloat162float(p.q[q_off + i * p.q_stride_d]);
+            qreg[i] = __bfloat162float(p.q_ptr[q_off + i * p.q_d_stride]);
    }

    float m = -FLT_MAX, l = 0.0f;
@@ -62,10 +68,8 @@ __global__ void attn_prefill_split_q_kernel_t(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
    for (int i = 0; i < DPT; i++)
        acc[i] = 0.0f;

-    // KV: stride-based base
-    int kv_base = batch * p.kv_stride_b + kv_head * p.kv_stride_h;
    int mask_batch_base = batch * p.mask_b_stride + q_head * p.mask_h_stride;
-    int tiles   = (p.kv_len + P_BC - 1) / P_BC;
+    int tiles   = (seq_len + P_BC - 1) / P_BC;
    int tt      = G * ROWS;
    int lid     = row * G + gpos;

@@ -75,23 +79,25 @@ __global__ void attn_prefill_split_q_kernel_t(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {

    for (int ti = 0; ti < tiles; ti++) {
        int kv0  = ti * P_BC;
-        int tlen = min(P_BC, p.kv_len - kv0);
+        int tlen = min(P_BC, seq_len - kv0);

-        // Load K/V into shared memory from strided global
+        // Load K/V into shared memory (addressing via KV policy; paged
+        // guards empty slots with zero-fill).
        for (int i = lid; i < tlen * HEAD_DIM; i += tt) {
            int s = i / HEAD_DIM;
            int d_dim = i % HEAD_DIM;
-            int kv_idx = kv0 + s;
-            int g_off = kv_base + kv_idx * p.kv_stride_l + d_dim * p.kv_stride_d;
-            sK[i] = p.k[g_off];
-            sV[i] = p.v[g_off];
+            int kc = kv0 + s;
+            int token = KV::resolve_token(p, kctx, kc, true);
+            KVAddr a = KV::kv_addr_from_token(p, kctx, token, d_dim);
+            sK[i] = a.valid ? *reinterpret_cast<const bf16*>(a.k) : (bf16)0.f;
+            sV[i] = a.valid ? *reinterpret_cast<const bf16*>(a.v) : (bf16)0.f;
        }
        __syncthreads();

        int lim = tlen;
        if constexpr (IsCausal) {
-            if (q_row < p.q_len) {
-                int ep = q_row + p.causal_offset + 1;
+            if (q_row < q_len) {
+                int ep = causal_off + q_row + 1;
                if (kv0 >= ep)
                    lim = 0;
                else if (kv0 + tlen > ep)
@@ -99,7 +105,7 @@ __global__ void attn_prefill_split_q_kernel_t(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
            }
        }

-        int mask_row_base = mask_batch_base + q_row * p.mask_q_stride;
+        int mask_row_base = mask_batch_base + q_row * p.mask_l_stride;
        for (int s = 0; s < lim; s++) {
            const bf16* kr = sK + s * HEAD_DIM + gpos * DPT;
            float part = 0.0f;
@@ -138,12 +144,14 @@ __global__ void attn_prefill_split_q_kernel_t(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
        __syncthreads();
    }

-    if (q_row < p.q_len) {
-        int o_off = batch * p.q_stride_b + q_head * p.q_stride_h
-                  + q_row * p.q_stride_l + gpos * DPT * p.q_stride_d;
+    if (q_row < q_len) {
+        int o_off = q_base + q_row * p.q_l_stride + gpos * DPT * p.q_d_stride;
        float rl = (l > 1e-20f) ? (1.0f / l) : 0.0f;
 #pragma unroll
        for (int i = 0; i < DPT; i++)
-            p.o[o_off + i * p.q_stride_d] = __float2bfloat16(acc[i] * rl);
+            p.o_ptr[o_off + i * p.q_d_stride] = __float2bfloat16(acc[i] * rl);
    }
 }
+
+}  // namespace attention
+}  // namespace astrai
@@ -1,18 +1,25 @@
 #pragma once
 #include <cfloat>
 #include <cuda_bf16.h>
-#include "attn_common.h"
-#include "attn_mma_utils.cuh"
+#include "common.h"
+#include "layout_policies.cuh"
+#include "mma_utils.cuh"

-// Tensor-core prefill flash attention (raw mma.sync PTX).
+namespace astrai {
+namespace attention {
+
+// Tensor-core prefill flash attention (raw mma.sync PTX), unified across
+// contiguous and paged (SGLang flat-pool) K/V via the KV template parameter.
 // One warp owns BR=16 query rows. S = Q@K^T and O = P@V run on bf16 tensor
 // cores via mma.sync.m16n8k16 (f32 accumulate).
 //
+// KV = ContigKV (dense [batch, kv_head, kv_len, head_dim]) or PagedKV
+//      (flat pool + req_to_token, ragged batches via qo_indptr/kv_indptr).
 // IsCausal and HasMask are compile-time bools — the compiler eliminates all
 // dead branches in the inner compute loop (FA2-style).
 //
 // Traits = KernelTraits<HEAD_DIM, BC, WARPS=4, STAGES=2>.
-template <typename Traits, bool IsCausal, bool HasMask>
+template <typename Traits, typename QSchedule, typename KV, bool IsCausal, bool HasMask>
 __global__ void attn_prefill_split_q_mma_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
    const int warp = threadIdx.x / 32;
    const int lane = threadIdx.x % 32;
@@ -20,9 +27,16 @@ __global__ void attn_prefill_split_q_mma_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
    const int tid4 = lane & 3;   // 0..3

    const int q_head = blockIdx.y;
-    const int batch = blockIdx.z;
+    int batch, q_tile;
+    QSchedule::map_block(p, batch, q_tile);
    const int kv_head = q_head / (p.q_head / p.kv_head);
-    const int qrow0 = (blockIdx.x * Traits::WARPS + warp) * Traits::BR;
+    const int qrow0 = (q_tile * Traits::WARPS + warp) * Traits::BR;
+
+    // Per-request dims (from KV policy — paged reads kv_indptr/qo_indptr).
+    const int seq_len    = KV::kv_len(p, batch);
+    const int q_len      = QSchedule::q_len(p, batch);
+    const int causal_off = KV::causal_offset(p, batch, q_len);
+    const KVContext kctx = KV::template make_ctx<Traits::HEAD_DIM>(p, batch, kv_head);

    // Static shared memory: double-buffered K/V (no sQ — Q goes direct
    // to registers in mma A-operand layout).
@@ -30,12 +44,12 @@ __global__ void attn_prefill_split_q_mma_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
    __shared__ __align__(16) bf16 sV[Traits::STAGES * Traits::BC * Traits::LD];

    // Load Q fragments straight from global into mma A-operand layout.
-    const int q_base = batch * p.q_stride_b + q_head * p.q_stride_h;
+    const int q_base = QSchedule::q_base(p, batch, q_head);
    const int qra = qrow0 + gid;
    const int qrb = qrow0 + gid + 8;
-    const bool va = qra < p.q_len, vb = qrb < p.q_len;
+    const bool va = qra < q_len, vb = qrb < q_len;
    unsigned Qa[Traits::KD][4];
-    load_q_mma_frags<Traits::KD>(p.q + q_base, p.q_stride_l, p.q_stride_d,
+    load_q_mma_frags<Traits::KD>(p.q_ptr + q_base, p.q_l_stride, p.q_d_stride,
                                  qra, qrb, va, vb, tid4, Qa);

    float Oacc[Traits::DN8][4];
@@ -44,17 +58,15 @@ __global__ void attn_prefill_split_q_mma_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
        Oacc[j][0] = Oacc[j][1] = Oacc[j][2] = Oacc[j][3] = 0.0f;
    float m0 = -FLT_MAX, m1 = -FLT_MAX, l0 = 0.0f, l1 = 0.0f;

-    // KV: stride-based base
-    const int kv_base = batch * p.kv_stride_b + kv_head * p.kv_stride_h;
-    const int tiles = (p.kv_len + Traits::BC - 1) / Traits::BC;
+    const int tiles = (seq_len + Traits::BC - 1) / Traits::BC;
    const int qr0 = qrow0 + gid;
    const int qr1 = qrow0 + gid + 8;

    // Causal tile-skip bounds (dead code when IsCausal == false)
-    const int max_kv = qrow0 + Traits::BR - 1 + p.causal_offset;
+    const int max_kv = qrow0 + Traits::BR - 1 + causal_off;
    const int block_max_kv =
-        blockIdx.x * Traits::WARPS * Traits::BR + Traits::WARPS * Traits::BR - 1
-        + p.causal_offset;
+        q_tile * Traits::WARPS * Traits::BR + Traits::WARPS * Traits::BR - 1
+        + causal_off;

    int t_end = tiles - 1;
    if constexpr (IsCausal) {
@@ -62,7 +74,7 @@ __global__ void attn_prefill_split_q_mma_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
        if (bt < t_end) t_end = bt;
    }

-    // ---- Load tile lambda: predicated cp.async ----
+    // ---- Load tile lambda: predicated cp.async (addressing via KV policy) ----
    auto load_tile = [&](int ti, int buf) {
        int kv0 = ti * Traits::BC;
        bf16* dK = sK + buf * Traits::BC * Traits::LD;
@@ -72,13 +84,14 @@ __global__ void attn_prefill_split_q_mma_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
             i += Traits::NUM_THREADS * Traits::VEC) {
            int r = i / Traits::HEAD_DIM, d = i % Traits::HEAD_DIM;
            int kc = kv0 + r;
-            bool valid = kc < p.kv_len;
+            bool valid = kc < seq_len;
+            int token = KV::resolve_token(p, kctx, kc, valid);
+            KVAddr a = KV::kv_addr_from_token(p, kctx, token, d);
            int off = r * Traits::LD + swiz_col(d, r, Traits::SWIZ_MASK);
-            int g_off = kv_base + kc * p.kv_stride_l + d * p.kv_stride_d;
-            cp_async_16_pred(&dK[off], &p.k[g_off], valid);
-            cp_async_16_pred(&dV[off], &p.v[g_off], valid);
+            astrai::cp_async_16(&dK[off], a.k, a.valid);
+            astrai::cp_async_16(&dV[off], a.v, a.valid);
        }
-        cp_async_commit();
+        astrai::cp_async_commit_group();
    };

    // ---- Prologue: issue first tile load ----
@@ -88,7 +101,7 @@ __global__ void attn_prefill_split_q_mma_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
        int buf = ti & 1;

        // Wait for current tile, then publish cross-warp + guard buffer reuse.
-        cp_async_wait_group<0>();
+        astrai::cp_async_wait_group<0>();
        __syncthreads();
        if (ti < t_end) load_tile(ti + 1, (ti + 1) & 1);

@@ -108,15 +121,16 @@ __global__ void attn_prefill_split_q_mma_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
                Sacc[n8][0] *= p.scale, Sacc[n8][1] *= p.scale,
                Sacc[n8][2] *= p.scale, Sacc[n8][3] *= p.scale;

-            int maxc0 = IsCausal ? min(p.kv_len, qr0 + p.causal_offset + 1)
-                                 : p.kv_len;
-            int maxc1 = IsCausal ? min(p.kv_len, qr1 + p.causal_offset + 1)
-                                 : p.kv_len;
+            int maxc0 = IsCausal ? min(seq_len, causal_off + qr0 + 1)
+                                 : seq_len;
+            int maxc1 = IsCausal ? min(seq_len, causal_off + qr1 + 1)
+                                 : seq_len;
            mma_softmax_tile<Traits, HasMask>(kv0, maxc0, maxc1,
                                               qr0, qr1,
-                                               p.mask_b_stride, p.mask_h_stride, p.mask_q_stride,
-                                               batch, q_head,
+                                               p.mask_b_stride, p.mask_h_stride, p.mask_l_stride,
+                                               batch, q_head, q_head,
                                               p.mask,
+                                               va, vb,
                                               Sacc, Oacc, m0, m1, l0, l1, lane);

            mma_pv_accumulate<Traits>(Sacc, bV, lane, Oacc);
@@ -126,21 +140,24 @@ __global__ void attn_prefill_split_q_mma_kernel(AttentionParams<bf16> p) {
    // ---- write output: packed bf16x2 stores ----
    float rl0 = (l0 > 1e-20f) ? (1.0f / l0) : 0.0f;
    float rl1 = (l1 > 1e-20f) ? (1.0f / l1) : 0.0f;
-    const int o_base = batch * p.q_stride_b + q_head * p.q_stride_h;
+    const int o_base = QSchedule::q_base(p, batch, q_head);
    #pragma unroll
    for (int dn8 = 0; dn8 < Traits::DN8; dn8++) {
        int d = dn8 * 8 + 2 * tid4;
-        if (qr0 < p.q_len) {
+        if (qr0 < q_len) {
            __nv_bfloat162 v = __floats2bfloat162_rn(Oacc[dn8][0] * rl0,
                                                      Oacc[dn8][1] * rl0);
            *reinterpret_cast<__nv_bfloat162*>(
-                &p.o[o_base + qr0 * p.q_stride_l + d * p.q_stride_d]) = v;
+                &p.o_ptr[o_base + qr0 * p.q_l_stride + d * p.q_d_stride]) = v;
        }
-        if (qr1 < p.q_len) {
+        if (qr1 < q_len) {
            __nv_bfloat162 v = __floats2bfloat162_rn(Oacc[dn8][2] * rl1,
-                                                      Oacc[dn8][3] * rl1);
+                                                     Oacc[dn8][3] * rl1);
            *reinterpret_cast<__nv_bfloat162*>(
-                &p.o[o_base + qr1 * p.q_stride_l + d * p.q_stride_d]) = v;
+                &p.o_ptr[o_base + qr1 * p.q_l_stride + d * p.q_d_stride]) = v;
        }
    }
 }
+
+}  // namespace attention
+}  // namespace astrai
@@ -1,71 +0,0 @@
-#pragma once
-
-
-template<typename T, typename AT = float>
-struct AttentionParams {
-    int batch;
-    int q_head;
-    int kv_head;
-    int q_len;
-    int kv_len;
-    int head_dim;
-    int use_mask;
-    int causal_offset;   // -1 = non-causal; >=0 = absolute position of first Q token
-    int num_splits;
-    float scale;
-
-    // Q strides (element offsets for each dim — layout-agnostic)
-    int q_stride_b, q_stride_h, q_stride_l, q_stride_d;
-    // KV strides (K and V share the same layout — only base pointers differ)
-    int kv_stride_b, kv_stride_h, kv_stride_l, kv_stride_d;
-
-    // Mask: 2D [batch, kv_len], 3D [batch, q_len, kv_len],
-    // or 4D [batch, n_heads, q_len, kv_len] (head dim broadcasts when stride=0)
-    int mask_b_stride;   // batch stride
-    int mask_h_stride;   // head stride (0 = broadcast across heads)
-    int mask_q_stride;   // q stride (0 = all q rows share)
-
-    const T* __restrict__ q;
-    const T* __restrict__ k;
-    const T* __restrict__ v;
-    const bool* __restrict__ mask;
-
-    T* __restrict__ o;
-    AT* __restrict__ o_part;
-    AT* __restrict__ ml_part;
-};
-
-template<typename T, typename AT = float>
-struct PagedAttentionParams {
-    int batch;
-    int q_head;
-    int kv_head;
-    int q_len;
-    int kv_len;
-    int head_dim;
-    int use_mask;
-    int causal_offset;
-    float scale;
-
-    int num_splits;
-    int page_size;
-    int max_pages;
-
-    // Q strides (layout-agnostic)
-    int q_stride_b, q_stride_h, q_stride_l, q_stride_d;
-
-    // Mask strides (2D, 3D, or 4D)
-    int mask_b_stride;
-    int mask_h_stride;
-    int mask_q_stride;
-
-    const T* __restrict__ q;
-    const T* __restrict__ k_cache;
-    const T* __restrict__ v_cache;
-    const bool* __restrict__ mask;
-    const int64_t* __restrict__ page_table;
-
-    T* __restrict__ o;
-    AT* __restrict__ o_part;
-    AT* __restrict__ ml_part;
-};
@@ -1,37 +0,0 @@
-#include "attn_dispatchers.cuh"
-#include "attn_entry_utils.cuh"
-
-torch::Tensor attn_decode(
-    torch::Tensor q,
-    torch::Tensor k,
-    torch::Tensor v,
-    c10::optional<torch::Tensor> mask,
-    int64_t causal_offset,
-    double scale,
-    int64_t layout
-) {
-    AttentionParams<bf16> p;
-    attn_pack_params(q, k, v, mask, causal_offset, scale, layout, p);
-    TORCH_CHECK(p.q_len == 1, "Q seq_len must be 1");
-    TORCH_CHECK(p.head_dim % 32 == 0, "head_dim must be multiple of 32");
-
-    auto O = torch::empty_strided(q.sizes(), q.strides(), q.options());
-    auto O_view = (layout == 1) ? O.transpose(1, 2) : O;
-    p.o = (bf16*)O_view.data_ptr();
-
-    alloc_split_partials(p);
-    DISPATCH_HEAD_DIM(p.head_dim, dispatch_decode, p);
-    return O;
-}
-
-PYBIND11_MODULE(TORCH_EXTENSION_NAME, m) {
-    m.def("attn_decode", &attn_decode,
-        py::arg("q"),
-        py::arg("k"),
-        py::arg("v"),
-        py::arg("mask") = py::none(),
-        py::arg("causal_offset") = -1,
-        py::arg("scale") = 0.0,
-        py::arg("layout") = 0,
-        "GQA decode (tensor-core head-packing on sm_80+, scalar fallback)");
-}
@@ -1,195 +0,0 @@
-#pragma once
-// Shared attention dispatchers — used by both production .cu and test .cu.
-// No torch dependency; pure CUDA.
-
-#include <cuda_runtime.h>
-#include <algorithm>
-#include "attn_warp_utils.cuh"
-#include "attn_prefill_split_q.cuh"
-#include "attn_decode_split_kv.cuh"
-#include "attn_paged_decode_split_kv.cuh"
-#ifndef ASTRAI_NO_MMA
-#include "attn_prefill_split_q_mma.cuh"
-#include "attn_decode_split_kv_mma.cuh"
-#include "attn_paged_decode_split_kv_mma.cuh"
-#endif
-
-// Split-KV: compute number of splits to fill all SMs for small-batch decode.
-// Caps splits so each split processes at least `min_tiles_per_split` tiles,
-// avoiding excessive loop/prologue overhead when tiles are small.
-inline int compute_num_splits(int base_blocks, int tiles_total,
-                              int min_tiles_per_split = 1) {
-    int sm_count = 0;
-    cudaDeviceGetAttribute(&sm_count, cudaDevAttrMultiProcessorCount, 0);
-    int n = (2 * sm_count + base_blocks - 1) / base_blocks;
-    int max_by_work = tiles_total / min_tiles_per_split;
-    return std::max(1, std::min(n, std::min(max_by_work, MAX_SPLITS)));
-}
-
-// ======================================================================
-// Prefill
-// ======================================================================
-
-#ifndef ASTRAI_NO_MMA
-template <int HEAD_DIM, bool IsCausal, bool HasMask>
-static inline void launch_prefill_mma(AttentionParams<bf16>& p) {
-    constexpr int WARPS = 4;
-    constexpr int BC = (HEAD_DIM <= 128) ? 32 : 16;
-    using Traits = KernelTraits<HEAD_DIM, BC, WARPS, 2>;
-    dim3 grid((p.q_len + Traits::BR * WARPS - 1) / (Traits::BR * WARPS), p.q_head, p.batch);
-    dim3 block(Traits::NUM_THREADS);
-    attn_prefill_split_q_mma_kernel<Traits, IsCausal, HasMask><<<grid, block>>>(p);
-}
-#endif
-
-template <int HEAD_DIM, bool IsCausal, bool HasMask>
-static inline void launch_prefill_scalar(AttentionParams<bf16>& p) {
-    constexpr int G = 8, ROWS = 32, P_BC = 32;
-    dim3 grid((p.q_len + ROWS - 1) / ROWS, p.q_head, p.batch);
-    dim3 block(G, ROWS);
-    attn_prefill_split_q_kernel_t<HEAD_DIM, G, ROWS, P_BC, IsCausal, HasMask><<<grid, block>>>(p);
-}
-
-template <int HEAD_DIM>
-static inline void dispatch_prefill(AttentionParams<bf16>& p) {
-    bool is_causal = (p.causal_offset >= 0);
-    bool has_mask = (p.use_mask && p.mask);
-
-#ifndef ASTRAI_NO_MMA
-    if (is_causal) {
-        if (has_mask)      launch_prefill_mma<HEAD_DIM, true, true>(p);
-        else               launch_prefill_mma<HEAD_DIM, true, false>(p);
-    } else {
-        if (has_mask)      launch_prefill_mma<HEAD_DIM, false, true>(p);
-        else               launch_prefill_mma<HEAD_DIM, false, false>(p);
-    }
-#else
-    if (is_causal) {
-        if (has_mask)      launch_prefill_scalar<HEAD_DIM, true, true>(p);
-        else               launch_prefill_scalar<HEAD_DIM, true, false>(p);
-    } else {
-        if (has_mask)      launch_prefill_scalar<HEAD_DIM, false, true>(p);
-        else               launch_prefill_scalar<HEAD_DIM, false, false>(p);
-    }
-#endif
-}
-
-// ======================================================================
-// Decode
-// ======================================================================
-
-#ifndef ASTRAI_NO_MMA
-// BC=16: halves smem (16KB vs 32KB) → doubles occupancy (6 vs 3 blocks/SM).
-// For D=256, BC=16 also reduces register pressure (fewer Sacc/PV frags),
-// enabling STAGES=2 (double-buffer) within the 32KB smem budget — eliminates
-// the 176-byte spill that STAGES=1+BC=32 suffered.
-template <int HEAD_DIM, bool IsCausal, bool HasMask>
-static inline void launch_decode_mma(AttentionParams<bf16>& p, int group_size) {
-    int G = p.q_head / p.kv_head;
-    constexpr int MAX_G = 16;
-    int num_passes = (G + MAX_G - 1) / MAX_G;
-    constexpr int BC = 16;
-    int tiles_total = (p.kv_len + BC - 1) / BC;
-    p.num_splits = compute_num_splits(p.batch * p.kv_head, tiles_total, 2);
-    constexpr int STAGES = 2;
-    using Traits = KernelTraits<HEAD_DIM, BC, 1, STAGES>;
-    dim3 grid(p.kv_head * num_passes, p.batch, p.num_splits);
-    attn_decode_split_kv_mma_kernel<Traits, IsCausal, HasMask><<<grid, 32>>>(p);
-}
-#endif
-
-template <int HEAD_DIM, bool IsCausal, bool HasMask>
-static inline void launch_decode_scalar(AttentionParams<bf16>& p, int group_size) {
-    int chunks_total = (p.kv_len + DC_CHUNK - 1) / DC_CHUNK;
-    p.num_splits = compute_num_splits(p.batch * p.kv_head, chunks_total);
-    size_t smem = DC_CHUNK * p.head_dim * sizeof(bf16);
-    int g = min(group_size, 32);  // cap at 32 to respect 1024-thread limit
-    dim3 grid(p.batch * p.kv_head, 1, p.num_splits);
-    dim3 block(32, g);
-    attn_decode_split_kv_kernel<HEAD_DIM, IsCausal, HasMask><<<grid, block, smem>>>(p);
-}
-
-template <int HEAD_DIM>
-static inline void dispatch_decode(AttentionParams<bf16>& p) {
-    bool is_causal = (p.causal_offset >= 0);
-    bool has_mask = (p.use_mask && p.mask);
-    int group_size = p.q_head / p.kv_head;
-
-#ifndef ASTRAI_NO_MMA
-    if (is_causal) {
-        if (has_mask)      launch_decode_mma<HEAD_DIM, true, true>(p, group_size);
-        else               launch_decode_mma<HEAD_DIM, true, false>(p, group_size);
-    } else {
-        if (has_mask)      launch_decode_mma<HEAD_DIM, false, true>(p, group_size);
-        else               launch_decode_mma<HEAD_DIM, false, false>(p, group_size);
-    }
-#else
-    if (is_causal) {
-        if (has_mask)      launch_decode_scalar<HEAD_DIM, true, true>(p, group_size);
-        else               launch_decode_scalar<HEAD_DIM, true, false>(p, group_size);
-    } else {
-        if (has_mask)      launch_decode_scalar<HEAD_DIM, false, true>(p, group_size);
-        else               launch_decode_scalar<HEAD_DIM, false, false>(p, group_size);
-    }
-#endif
-
-    attn_decode_combine_kernel<<<p.batch * p.q_head, p.head_dim>>>(p);
-}
-
-// ======================================================================
-// Paged Decode
-// ======================================================================
-
-#ifndef ASTRAI_NO_MMA
-template <int HEAD_DIM, bool IsCausal, bool HasMask>
-static inline void launch_paged_decode_mma(PagedAttentionParams<bf16>& p, int group_size) {
-    int G = p.q_head / p.kv_head;
-    constexpr int MAX_G = 16;
-    constexpr int BC = 16;
-    int num_passes = (G + MAX_G - 1) / MAX_G;
-    int tiles_total = (p.kv_len + BC - 1) / BC;
-    p.num_splits = compute_num_splits(p.batch * p.kv_head, tiles_total, 2);
-    constexpr int STAGES = 2;
-    using Traits = KernelTraits<HEAD_DIM, BC, 1, STAGES>;
-    dim3 grid(p.kv_head * num_passes, p.batch, p.num_splits);
-    paged_attn_decode_split_kv_mma_kernel<Traits, IsCausal, HasMask> <<<grid, 32>>>(p);
-}
-#endif
-
-template <int HEAD_DIM, bool IsCausal, bool HasMask>
-static inline void launch_paged_decode_scalar(PagedAttentionParams<bf16>& p, int group_size) {
-    int chunks_total = (p.kv_len + PDC_CHUNK - 1) / PDC_CHUNK;
-    p.num_splits = compute_num_splits(p.batch * p.kv_head, chunks_total);
-    size_t smem = PDC_CHUNK * p.head_dim * sizeof(bf16);
-    int g = min(group_size, 32);  // cap at 32 to respect 1024-thread limit
-    dim3 grid(p.batch * p.kv_head, 1, p.num_splits);
-    dim3 block(32, g);
-    paged_attn_decode_split_kv_kernel<HEAD_DIM, IsCausal, HasMask><<<grid, block, smem>>>(p);
-}
-
-template <int HEAD_DIM>
-static inline void dispatch_paged_decode(PagedAttentionParams<bf16>& p) {
-    bool is_causal = (p.causal_offset >= 0);
-    bool has_mask = (p.use_mask && p.mask);
-    int group_size = p.q_head / p.kv_head;
-
-#ifndef ASTRAI_NO_MMA
-    if (is_causal) {
-        if (has_mask)      launch_paged_decode_mma<HEAD_DIM, true, true>(p, group_size);
-        else               launch_paged_decode_mma<HEAD_DIM, true, false>(p, group_size);
-    } else {
-        if (has_mask)      launch_paged_decode_mma<HEAD_DIM, false, true>(p, group_size);
-        else               launch_paged_decode_mma<HEAD_DIM, false, false>(p, group_size);
-    }
-#else
-    if (is_causal) {
-        if (has_mask)      launch_paged_decode_scalar<HEAD_DIM, true, true>(p, group_size);
-        else               launch_paged_decode_scalar<HEAD_DIM, true, false>(p, group_size);
-    } else {
-        if (has_mask)      launch_paged_decode_scalar<HEAD_DIM, false, true>(p, group_size);
-        else               launch_paged_decode_scalar<HEAD_DIM, false, false>(p, group_size);
-    }
-#endif
-
-    paged_attn_decode_combine_kernel<<<p.batch * p.q_head, p.head_dim>>>(p);
-}
@@ -1,187 +0,0 @@
-#pragma once
-#include <float.h>
-#include <torch/extension.h>
-#include <c10/cuda/CUDAGuard.h>
-#include "attn_common.h"
-#include "attn_warp_utils.cuh"
-
-using bf16 = __nv_bfloat16;
-
-// Dispatch head_dim: shared macro — avoids C++20 lambda template syntax.
-// Usage: DISPATCH_HEAD_DIM(hd, fn, arg)
-//   Expands to: fn<32>(arg); fn<64>(arg); etc.
-#define DISPATCH_HEAD_DIM(hd, fn, arg) \
-    switch (hd) { \
-        case 32:  fn<32>(arg); break; \
-        case 64:  fn<64>(arg); break; \
-        case 128: fn<128>(arg); break; \
-        case 256: fn<256>(arg); break; \
-        default: \
-            TORCH_CHECK(false, "unsupported head_dim ", hd, \
-                         " (supported: 32, 64, 128, 256)"); \
-    }
-
-// The split kernel unconditionally writes every (batch, q_head, split) slot it
-// owns — including empty split ranges, which store m = -FLT_MAX so the combine
-// skips them. Allocators are therefore left uninitialized (torch::empty); the
-// per-call memset (torch::zeros / torch::full) was pure overhead.
-template<typename P>
-inline void alloc_split_partials(P& p) {
-    auto fopt = torch::TensorOptions().dtype(torch::kFloat32).device(torch::kCUDA);
-    auto o_part = torch::empty(at::IntArrayRef{p.batch, p.q_head, MAX_SPLITS, p.head_dim}, fopt);
-    auto ml_part = torch::empty(at::IntArrayRef{p.batch, p.q_head, MAX_SPLITS, 2}, fopt);
-    p.o_part = (float*)o_part.data_ptr();
-    p.ml_part = (float*)ml_part.data_ptr();
-}
-
-// ---- Shared Q-dims + strides extraction ----
-template <typename P>
-inline void extract_q_dims_and_strides(torch::Tensor& q, int64_t layout, P& p) {
-    if (layout == 1) q = q.transpose(1, 2);
-    p.batch = (int)q.size(0);
-    p.q_head = (int)q.size(1);
-    p.q_len = (int)q.size(2);
-    p.head_dim = (int)q.size(3);
-    p.q_stride_b = (int)q.stride(0);
-    p.q_stride_h = (int)q.stride(1);
-    p.q_stride_l = (int)q.stride(2);
-    p.q_stride_d = (int)q.stride(3);
-}
-
-// ---- Shared mask packing ----
-// Accepts 2D [batch, kv_len], 3D [batch, q_len, kv_len],
-// or 4D [batch, n_heads, q_len, kv_len].
-// Head/q dimensions with size 1 broadcast (stride set to 0).
-template <typename P>
-inline void pack_mask(const c10::optional<torch::Tensor>& mask, P& p) {
-    if (p.use_mask) {
-        auto m = mask.value();
-        TORCH_CHECK(m.is_cuda(), "mask must be on CUDA");
-        TORCH_CHECK(m.dtype() == torch::kBool, "mask must be bool");
-        TORCH_CHECK(m.size(0) == p.batch, "mask batch mismatch");
-        TORCH_CHECK(m.size(m.dim() - 1) == p.kv_len, "mask kv_len mismatch");
-        if (m.dim() == 2) {
-            p.mask_b_stride = (int)m.stride(0);
-            p.mask_h_stride = 0;
-            p.mask_q_stride = 0;
-        } else if (m.dim() == 3) {
-            TORCH_CHECK(m.size(1) == 1 || m.size(1) == p.q_len, "mask q_len mismatch");
-            p.mask_b_stride = (int)m.stride(0);
-            p.mask_h_stride = 0;
-            p.mask_q_stride = (m.size(1) == 1) ? 0 : (int)m.stride(1);
-        } else if (m.dim() == 4) {
-            TORCH_CHECK(m.size(2) == 1 || m.size(2) == p.q_len, "mask q_len mismatch");
-            p.mask_b_stride = (int)m.stride(0);
-            p.mask_h_stride = (m.size(1) == 1) ? 0 : (int)m.stride(1);
-            p.mask_q_stride = (m.size(2) == 1) ? 0 : (int)m.stride(2);
-        } else {
-            TORCH_CHECK(false, "mask must be 2D, 3D, or 4D");
-        }
-        p.mask = m.data_ptr<bool>();
-    } else {
-        p.mask = nullptr;
-        p.mask_b_stride = 0;
-        p.mask_h_stride = 0;
-        p.mask_q_stride = 0;
-    }
-}
-
-// ---- attn_pack_params (contiguous KV) ----
-template<typename T>
-inline void attn_pack_params(
-    torch::Tensor q,
-    torch::Tensor k,
-    torch::Tensor v,
-    c10::optional<torch::Tensor> mask,
-    int64_t causal_offset,
-    double scale,
-    int64_t layout,
-    AttentionParams<T>& p
-) {
-    const at::cuda::OptionalCUDAGuard device_guard(device_of(q));
-
-    TORCH_CHECK(q.is_cuda() && k.is_cuda() && v.is_cuda());
-    TORCH_CHECK(q.dtype() == torch::kBFloat16);
-    TORCH_CHECK(k.dtype() == torch::kBFloat16);
-    TORCH_CHECK(v.dtype() == torch::kBFloat16);
-    TORCH_CHECK(k.sizes() == v.sizes(), "K and V must have identical shapes");
-    TORCH_CHECK(q.dim() == 4 && k.dim() == 4, "Q/K/V must be 4D");
-
-    extract_q_dims_and_strides(q, layout, p);
-
-    if (layout == 1) k = k.transpose(1, 2), v = v.transpose(1, 2);
-
-    p.kv_head = (int)k.size(1);
-    p.kv_len = (int)k.size(2);
-    TORCH_CHECK(k.size(3) == p.head_dim, "K/V head_dim must match Q");
-
-    p.kv_stride_b = (int)k.stride(0);
-    p.kv_stride_h = (int)k.stride(1);
-    p.kv_stride_l = (int)k.stride(2);
-    p.kv_stride_d = (int)k.stride(3);
-
-    p.causal_offset = (int)causal_offset;
-    p.use_mask = mask.has_value() ? 1 : 0;
-    p.scale = (scale > 0.0) ? (float)scale : 1.0f / sqrtf((float)p.head_dim);
-
-    p.q = (const T*)q.data_ptr();
-    p.k = (const T*)k.data_ptr();
-    p.v = (const T*)v.data_ptr();
-    p.o = nullptr;
-    p.o_part = nullptr;
-    p.ml_part = nullptr;
-
-    pack_mask(mask, p);
-}
-
-// ---- attn_pack_paged_params ----
-template<typename T>
-inline void attn_pack_paged_params(
-    torch::Tensor q,
-    torch::Tensor page_table,
-    torch::Tensor k_cache,
-    torch::Tensor v_cache,
-    int64_t page_size,
-    int64_t kv_len,
-    c10::optional<torch::Tensor> mask,
-    int64_t causal_offset,
-    double scale,
-    int64_t layout,
-    PagedAttentionParams<T>& p
-) {
-    const at::cuda::OptionalCUDAGuard device_guard(device_of(q));
-
-    TORCH_CHECK(q.is_cuda() && page_table.is_cuda() && k_cache.is_cuda() && v_cache.is_cuda());
-    TORCH_CHECK(q.dtype() == torch::kBFloat16, "q must be bf16");
-    TORCH_CHECK(k_cache.dtype() == torch::kBFloat16, "k_cache must be bf16");
-    TORCH_CHECK(v_cache.dtype() == torch::kBFloat16, "v_cache must be bf16");
-    TORCH_CHECK(page_table.dtype() == torch::kLong, "page_table must be int64");
-    TORCH_CHECK(k_cache.sizes() == v_cache.sizes(), "k_cache and v_cache must have identical shapes");
-
-    extract_q_dims_and_strides(q, layout, p);
-
-    p.kv_head = (int)k_cache.size(2);
-    p.kv_len = (int)kv_len;
-    p.page_size = (int)page_size;
-    p.max_pages = (int)page_table.size(1);
-
-    TORCH_CHECK(q.size(2) == 1, "Q seq_len must be 1 (decode)");
-    TORCH_CHECK(p.head_dim % 32 == 0, "head_dim must be multiple of 32");
-    TORCH_CHECK(k_cache.size(1) == page_size,
-                "k_cache dim 1 must equal page_size, got ",
-                k_cache.size(1), " vs ", page_size);
-
-    p.causal_offset = (int)causal_offset;
-    p.use_mask = (mask.has_value() && mask.value().defined()) ? 1 : 0;
-    p.scale = (scale > 0.0) ? (float)scale : 1.0f / sqrtf((float)p.head_dim);
-
-    p.page_table = page_table.data_ptr<int64_t>();
-    p.k_cache = (const T*)k_cache.data_ptr();
-    p.v_cache = (const T*)v_cache.data_ptr();
-    p.q = (const T*)q.data_ptr();
-    p.o = nullptr;
-    p.o_part = nullptr;
-    p.ml_part = nullptr;
-
-    pack_mask(mask, p);
-}
@@ -1,42 +0,0 @@
-#include "attn_dispatchers.cuh"
-#include "attn_entry_utils.cuh"
-
-torch::Tensor attn_paged_decode(
-    torch::Tensor q,
-    torch::Tensor page_table,
-    torch::Tensor k_cache,
-    torch::Tensor v_cache,
-    int64_t page_size,
-    int64_t kv_len,
-    c10::optional<torch::Tensor> mask,
-    int64_t causal_offset,
-    double scale,
-    int64_t layout
-) {
-    PagedAttentionParams<bf16> p;
-    attn_pack_paged_params(q, page_table, k_cache, v_cache,
-                           page_size, kv_len, mask, causal_offset, scale, layout, p);
-
-    auto O = torch::empty_strided(q.sizes(), q.strides(), q.options());
-    auto O_view = (layout == 1) ? O.transpose(1, 2) : O;
-    p.o = (bf16*)O_view.data_ptr();
-
-    alloc_split_partials(p);
-    DISPATCH_HEAD_DIM(p.head_dim, dispatch_paged_decode, p);
-    return O;
-}
-
-PYBIND11_MODULE(TORCH_EXTENSION_NAME, m) {
-    m.def("attn_paged_decode", &attn_paged_decode,
-        py::arg("q"),
-        py::arg("page_table"),
-        py::arg("k_cache"),
-        py::arg("v_cache"),
-        py::arg("page_size"),
-        py::arg("kv_len"),
-        py::arg("mask") = py::none(),
-        py::arg("causal_offset") = -1,
-        py::arg("scale") = 0.0,
-        py::arg("layout") = 0,
-        "Paged GQA decode — split-KV with direct page-table access.");
-}
@@ -1,153 +0,0 @@
-#pragma once
-#include <cuda_bf16.h>
-#include <float.h>
-#include "attn_common.h"
-#include "attn_warp_utils.cuh"
-constexpr int PDC_CHUNK = 64;
-
-template <int HEAD_DIM, bool IsCausal, bool HasMask>
-__global__ void paged_attn_decode_split_kv_kernel(PagedAttentionParams<bf16> p) {
-    int batch = blockIdx.x / p.kv_head;
-    int kv_head = blockIdx.x % p.kv_head;
-    int split = blockIdx.z;
-    int group_size = blockDim.y;
-    int q_head = kv_head * group_size + threadIdx.y;
-    int lane = threadIdx.x;
-    int hd_per_thread = p.head_dim / 32;
-
-    float q_reg[8];
-    int q_off = batch * p.q_stride_b + q_head * p.q_stride_h
-              + lane * hd_per_thread * p.q_stride_d;
-    #pragma unroll
-    for (int i = 0; i < hd_per_thread; i++)
-        q_reg[i] = __bfloat162float(p.q[q_off + i * p.q_stride_d]);
-
-    float m = -FLT_MAX, d = 0.0f, acc_reg[8] = {0.0f};
-
-    extern __shared__ __align__(16) bf16 k_smem[];
-
-    int chunks_total = (p.kv_len + PDC_CHUNK - 1) / PDC_CHUNK;
-    int chunks_per_split = (chunks_total + p.num_splits - 1) / p.num_splits;
-    int ch_begin = split * chunks_per_split;
-    int ch_end = min(chunks_total, ch_begin + chunks_per_split);
-
-    const int mask_base = batch * p.mask_b_stride + q_head * p.mask_h_stride;
-
-    for (int ci = ch_begin; ci < ch_end; ci++) {
-        int chunk_start = ci * PDC_CHUNK;
-        int this_chunk = min(PDC_CHUNK, p.kv_len - chunk_start);
-
-        int total = this_chunk * p.head_dim;
-        for (int i = threadIdx.y * 32 + lane; i < total;
-             i += blockDim.x * blockDim.y) {
-            int s = i / p.head_dim;
-            int d_dim = i % p.head_dim;
-            int pos = chunk_start + s;
-            int logical_page = pos / p.page_size;
-            int page_offset = pos % p.page_size;
-            int phys_page = p.page_table[batch * p.max_pages + logical_page];
-            if (phys_page >= 0) {
-                int64_t off = (int64_t)phys_page * p.page_size * p.kv_head * p.head_dim
-                            + (int64_t)page_offset * p.kv_head * p.head_dim
-                            + (int64_t)kv_head * p.head_dim
-                            + d_dim;
-                k_smem[i] = p.k_cache[off];
-            } else {
-                k_smem[i] = __float2bfloat16(0.0f);
-            }
-        }
-        __syncthreads();
-
-        for (int s = 0; s < this_chunk; s++) {
-            float partial = 0.0f;
-            #pragma unroll
-            for (int i = 0; i < hd_per_thread; i++)
-                partial += q_reg[i] * __bfloat162float(
-                    k_smem[s * p.head_dim + lane * hd_per_thread + i]);
-            partial = warp_reduce_sum(partial) * p.scale;
-
-            int kv_idx = chunk_start + s;
-            bool masked = false;
-            if constexpr (HasMask) {
-                if (!p.mask[mask_base + kv_idx])
-                    masked = true;
-            }
-            if constexpr (IsCausal) {
-                if (kv_idx > p.causal_offset)
-                    masked = true;
-            }
-            if (masked)
-                partial = -FLT_MAX;
-
-            float new_m = fmaxf(m, partial);
-            float alpha = __expf(m - new_m);
-            float beta  = __expf(partial - new_m);
-            d = d * alpha + beta;
-
-            int pos = chunk_start + s;
-            int logical_page = pos / p.page_size;
-            int page_offset = pos % p.page_size;
-            int phys_page = p.page_table[batch * p.max_pages + logical_page];
-            if (masked) {
-                #pragma unroll
-                for (int i = 0; i < hd_per_thread; i++)
-                    acc_reg[i] = fmaf(acc_reg[i], alpha, 0.0f);
-            } else if (phys_page >= 0) {
-                int64_t v_base = (int64_t)phys_page * p.page_size * p.kv_head * p.head_dim
-                               + (int64_t)page_offset * p.kv_head * p.head_dim
-                               + (int64_t)kv_head * p.head_dim;
-                #pragma unroll
-                for (int i = 0; i < hd_per_thread; i++)
-                    acc_reg[i] = fmaf(acc_reg[i], alpha,
-                                      __bfloat162float(p.v_cache[v_base + lane * hd_per_thread + i]) * beta);
-            } else {
-                #pragma unroll
-                for (int i = 0; i < hd_per_thread; i++)
-                    acc_reg[i] = fmaf(acc_reg[i], alpha, 0.0f);
-            }
-            m = new_m;
-        }
-        __syncthreads();
-    }
-
-    size_t bh = (size_t)batch * p.q_head + q_head;
-    size_t slot = bh * MAX_SPLITS + split;
-    int d0 = lane * hd_per_thread;
-    #pragma unroll
-    for (int i = 0; i < hd_per_thread; i++)
-        p.o_part[slot * p.head_dim + (d0 + i)] = acc_reg[i];
-    if (lane == 0) {
-        p.ml_part[slot * 2] = m;
-        p.ml_part[slot * 2 + 1] = d;
-    }
-}
-
-__global__ void paged_attn_decode_combine_kernel(PagedAttentionParams<bf16> p) {
-    int bh = blockIdx.x;
-    int d = threadIdx.x;
-    if (d >= p.head_dim) return;
-
-    int batch = bh / p.q_head;
-    int q_head = bh % p.q_head;
-
-    size_t split_base = (size_t)bh * MAX_SPLITS;
-    const float* mlp = p.ml_part + split_base * 2;
-    const float* op = p.o_part + split_base * p.head_dim;
-
-    float m = -FLT_MAX, l = 0.0f, acc = 0.0f;
-    for (int s = 0; s < p.num_splits; s++) {
-        float mi = mlp[s * 2];
-        if (mi <= -FLT_MAX) continue;
-        float li = mlp[s * 2 + 1];
-        float nm = fmaxf(m, mi);
-        float corr = __expf(m - nm);
-        float e = __expf(mi - nm);
-        acc = fmaf(acc, corr, op[s * p.head_dim + d] * e);
-        l = fmaf(l, corr, li * e);
-        m = nm;
-    }
-
-    float inv = (l > 1e-20f) ? (1.0f / l) : 0.0f;
-    int o_off = batch * p.q_stride_b + q_head * p.q_stride_h + d * p.q_stride_d;
-    p.o[o_off] = __float2bfloat16(acc * inv);
-}
@@ -1,182 +0,0 @@
-#pragma once
-#include <cfloat>
-#include <cuda_bf16.h>
-#include "attn_common.h"
-#include "attn_mma_utils.cuh"
-#include "attn_warp_utils.cuh"
-
-// Paged split-KV tensor-core decode via GQA head-packing.
-// Reads K/V directly from the page pool through a page table — one tile
-// (BC=32) fits within a single page (page_size >= 32), so the page-table
-// lookup happens once per tile for cp.async.
-//
-// IsCausal and HasMask are compile-time bools.
-template <typename Traits, bool IsCausal, bool HasMask>
-__global__ void paged_attn_decode_split_kv_mma_kernel(PagedAttentionParams<bf16> p) {
-    const int lane = threadIdx.x;
-    const int gid = lane >> 2;
-    const int tid4 = lane & 3;
-
-    const int pass = blockIdx.x / p.kv_head;
-    const int kv_head = blockIdx.x % p.kv_head;
-    const int batch = blockIdx.y;
-    const int split = blockIdx.z;
-
-    constexpr int MAX_G = 16;
-    const int G_total = p.q_head / p.kv_head;
-    const int g_begin = pass * MAX_G;
-    const int G = min(MAX_G, G_total - g_begin);
-    const int q_head0 = kv_head * G_total + g_begin;
-
-    __shared__ __align__(16) bf16 sK[Traits::STAGES * Traits::BC * Traits::LD];
-    __shared__ __align__(16) bf16 sV[Traits::STAGES * Traits::BC * Traits::LD];
-
-    #pragma unroll
-    for (int i = lane; i < Traits::STAGES * Traits::BC * Traits::LD; i += 32) {
-        sK[i] = __float2bfloat16(0.0f);
-        sV[i] = __float2bfloat16(0.0f);
-    }
-    __syncwarp();
-
-    const int q_base = batch * p.q_stride_b + q_head0 * p.q_stride_h;
-    const int qra = gid;
-    const int qrb = gid + 8;
-    const bool va = qra < G, vb = qrb < G;
-    unsigned Qa[Traits::KD][4];
-    load_q_mma_frags<Traits::KD>(p.q + q_base, p.q_stride_h, p.q_stride_d,
-                                  qra, qrb, va, vb, tid4, Qa);
-
-    float Oacc[Traits::DN8][4];
-    #pragma unroll
-    for (int j = 0; j < Traits::DN8; j++)
-        Oacc[j][0] = Oacc[j][1] = Oacc[j][2] = Oacc[j][3] = 0.0f;
-    float m0 = -FLT_MAX, m1 = -FLT_MAX, l0 = 0.0f, l1 = 0.0f;
-
-    const int tiles_total = (p.kv_len + Traits::BC - 1) / Traits::BC;
-    const int tiles_per_split = (tiles_total + p.num_splits - 1) / p.num_splits;
-    const int ti_begin = split * tiles_per_split;
-    const int ti_end = min(tiles_total, ti_begin + tiles_per_split);
-
-    const int64_t page_stride = (int64_t)p.page_size * p.kv_head * Traits::HEAD_DIM;
-    const int64_t pos_stride  = (int64_t)p.kv_head * Traits::HEAD_DIM;
-    const int64_t head_off    = (int64_t)kv_head * Traits::HEAD_DIM;
-
-    // ---- Load tile lambda: paged addressing ----
-    // Unified per-element page-table lookup. When page_size >= BC, all
-    // elements in a tile share the same page, so the lookup is redundant
-    // but harmless (L1-cached). This avoids a branch on page_size.
-    auto load_tile = [&](int ti, int buf) {
-        int kv0 = ti * Traits::BC;
-        bf16* dK = sK + buf * Traits::BC * Traits::LD;
-        bf16* dV = sV + buf * Traits::BC * Traits::LD;
-        #pragma unroll
-        for (int i = lane * Traits::VEC; i < Traits::TOTAL;
-             i += Traits::NUM_THREADS * Traits::VEC) {
-            int r = i / Traits::HEAD_DIM, d = i % Traits::HEAD_DIM;
-            int kc = kv0 + r;
-            bool valid = (kc < p.kv_len);
-            if constexpr (HasMask) {
-                valid = valid && p.mask[batch * p.mask_b_stride + kc];
-            }
-            int phys_page = valid ? p.page_table[batch * p.max_pages + kc] : 0;
-            valid = valid && (phys_page >= 0);
-            int page_off = kc % p.page_size;
-            int64_t gmem_base = (int64_t)phys_page * page_stride
-                              + (int64_t)page_off * pos_stride
-                              + head_off;
-            int off = r * Traits::LD + swiz_col(d, r, Traits::SWIZ_MASK);
-            cp_async_16_pred(&dK[off], &p.k_cache[gmem_base + d], valid);
-            cp_async_16_pred(&dV[off], &p.v_cache[gmem_base + d], valid);
-        }
-        cp_async_commit();
-    };
-
-    // ---- Multi-stage cp.async pipeline ----
-    // Prologue loads STAGES tiles; each loop iteration waits only for the
-    // oldest outstanding group (wait_group<STAGES-1>) so the STAGES-1 newer
-    // tile loads stay in flight and overlap with the current tile's compute.
-    constexpr int STAGES = Traits::STAGES;
-    const int ntiles = ti_end - ti_begin;
-
-    auto process_tile = [&](int it, int buf) {
-        const bf16* bK = sK + buf * Traits::BC * Traits::LD;
-        const bf16* bV = sV + buf * Traits::BC * Traits::LD;
-        int kv0 = (ti_begin + it) * Traits::BC;
-
-        float Sacc[Traits::NC8][4];
-        mma_compute_scores<Traits>(Qa, bK, lane, Sacc);
-
-        #pragma unroll
-        for (int n8 = 0; n8 < Traits::NC8; n8++)
-            Sacc[n8][0] *= p.scale, Sacc[n8][1] *= p.scale,
-            Sacc[n8][2] *= p.scale, Sacc[n8][3] *= p.scale;
-
-        int maxc = IsCausal ? min(p.kv_len, p.causal_offset + 1) : p.kv_len;
-        mma_softmax_tile<Traits, HasMask>(kv0, maxc, maxc,
-                                           0, 0,
-                                           p.mask_b_stride, 0, 0,
-                                           batch, 0,
-                                           p.mask,
-                                           Sacc, Oacc, m0, m1, l0, l1, lane);
-
-        mma_pv_accumulate<Traits>(Sacc, bV, lane, Oacc);
-    };
-
-    if (ntiles >= STAGES) {
-        #pragma unroll
-        for (int i = 0; i < STAGES; i++)
-            load_tile(ti_begin + i, i);
-
-        for (int it = 0; it < ntiles; it++) {
-            cp_async_wait_group<STAGES - 1>();
-            __syncwarp();
-            process_tile(it, it & (STAGES - 1));
-            __syncwarp();
-            if (it + STAGES < ntiles)
-                load_tile(ti_begin + it + STAGES, (it + STAGES) & (STAGES - 1));
-        }
-    } else {
-        // Fewer tiles than stages: load all, wait for all, process.
-        for (int i = 0; i < ntiles; i++)
-            load_tile(ti_begin + i, i);
-        cp_async_wait_group<0>();
-        __syncwarp();
-        for (int it = 0; it < ntiles; it++)
-            process_tile(it, it);
-    }
-
-    auto split_slot = [&](int h) -> size_t {
-        size_t bh = (size_t)batch * p.q_head + h;
-        return bh * MAX_SPLITS + split;
-    };
-    #pragma unroll
-    for (int dn8 = 0; dn8 < Traits::DN8; dn8++) {
-        int d = dn8 * 8 + 2 * tid4;
-        int r0 = gid, r1 = gid + 8;
-        if (r0 < G) {
-            int h = q_head0 + r0;
-            float* op = p.o_part + split_slot(h) * Traits::HEAD_DIM;
-            op[d] = Oacc[dn8][0];
-            op[d + 1] = Oacc[dn8][1];
-        }
-        if (r1 < G) {
-            int h = q_head0 + r1;
-            float* op = p.o_part + split_slot(h) * Traits::HEAD_DIM;
-            op[d] = Oacc[dn8][2];
-            op[d + 1] = Oacc[dn8][3];
-        }
-    }
-    if (tid4 == 0) {
-        int r0 = gid, r1 = gid + 8;
-        if (r0 < G) {
-            int h = q_head0 + r0;
-            float* mp = p.ml_part + split_slot(h) * 2;
-            mp[0] = m0; mp[1] = l0;
-        }
-        if (r1 < G) {
-            int h = q_head0 + r1;
-            float* mp = p.ml_part + split_slot(h) * 2;
-            mp[0] = m1; mp[1] = l1;
-        }
-    }
-}
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-#pragma once
-#include <cuda_bf16.h>
-
-using bf16 = __nv_bfloat16;
-
-static constexpr int MAX_SPLITS = 32;
-
-__device__ inline float warp_reduce_sum(float val) {
-    #pragma unroll
-    for (int offset = 16; offset > 0; offset >>= 1)
-        val += __shfl_xor_sync(0xFFFFFFFF, val, offset);
-    return val;
-}
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+// Shared cp.async primitives — pure CUDA, no torch.
+//
+// One header for the async-copy pipeline used by both the attention kernels
+// (predicated 16-byte K/V tile staging) and the fp8 GEMM (predicated operand
+// staging + the fixed-depth wait_group). The emitter is split from its
+// policies: cp_async_16_raw owns the single PTX site, and each wrapper states
+// one destination contract (generic pointer vs loop-carried shared offset)
+// and one predication contract (unconditional vs zero-fill-when-false), so
+// call sites never pass a dead `true` predicate or re-convert a carried
+// offset. PTX requires wait_group's operand to be an immediate, hence the
+// template form below.
+
+#pragma once
+
+#include <cuda_runtime.h>
+
+namespace astrai {
+
+// Raw emitter: read src_size bytes (<= 16) from gmem into the shared
+// offset. src_size = 0 reads nothing, so a predicated-off call zero-fills
+// its destination without touching the (possibly out-of-range) source.
+// BypassL1 selects .cg (L2 only, default) vs .ca (L1 + L2).
+template <bool BypassL1 = true>
+__device__ __forceinline__ void cp_async_16_raw(unsigned smem_addr,
+                                                const void* gmem_ptr,
+                                                int src_size) {
+    if constexpr (BypassL1) {
+        asm volatile("cp.async.cg.shared.global [%0], [%1], 16, %2;"
+                     :: "r"(smem_addr), "l"(gmem_ptr), "r"(src_size));
+    } else {
+        asm volatile("cp.async.ca.shared.global [%0], [%1], 16, %2;"
+                     :: "r"(smem_addr), "l"(gmem_ptr), "r"(src_size));
+    }
+}
+
+// Unconditional 16-byte copy to a generic shared pointer.
+// `T` is the smem element type; only the destination pointer's type matters.
+template <typename T, bool BypassL1 = true>
+__device__ __forceinline__ void cp_async_16(T* smem_ptr,
+                                            const void* gmem_ptr) {
+    cp_async_16_raw<BypassL1>(__cvta_generic_to_shared(smem_ptr), gmem_ptr,
+                              16);
+}
+
+// Predicated: full copy when `pred`, zero-fill otherwise.
+template <typename T, bool BypassL1 = true>
+__device__ __forceinline__ void cp_async_16(T* smem_ptr, const void* gmem_ptr,
+                                            bool pred) {
+    cp_async_16_raw<BypassL1>(__cvta_generic_to_shared(smem_ptr), gmem_ptr,
+                              pred ? 16 : 0);
+}
+
+// Predicated raw-offset form: the destination is an already-converted
+// shared-memory offset (e.g. a loop-carried swizzled stage address), so
+// steady-state prefetch sites issue one LDGSTS straight from the register.
+template <bool BypassL1 = true>
+__device__ __forceinline__ void cp_async_16(unsigned smem_addr,
+                                            const void* gmem_ptr, bool pred) {
+    cp_async_16_raw<BypassL1>(smem_addr, gmem_ptr, pred ? 16 : 0);
+}
+
+// Commit all outstanding cp.async ops of this thread as one group.
+__device__ __forceinline__ void cp_async_commit_group() {
+    asm volatile("cp.async.commit_group;");
+}
+
+// Wait for every committed group (pipeline drain).
+__device__ __forceinline__ void cp_async_wait_all() {
+    asm volatile("cp.async.wait_all;");
+}
+
+// Wait until at most KeepGroups committed groups are still in flight.
+// PTX requires an immediate operand; keep it as a template argument so the
+// stage policy stays compile-time configurable.
+template <int KeepGroups>
+__device__ __forceinline__ void cp_async_wait_group() {
+    static_assert(KeepGroups >= 0 && KeepGroups <= 7,
+                  "cp.async.wait_group supports immediates in [0, 7]");
+    asm volatile("cp.async.wait_group %0;" :: "n"(KeepGroups));
+}
+
+}  // namespace astrai
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+// Pure-CUDA device helpers shared across kernel families (no torch).
+//
+// Family-local headers under kernels/<family>/ own their POD params and
+// strategy traits; anything cross-cutting (compute-capability checks, device
+// constants) lives here.
+
+#pragma once
+
+namespace astrai {
+
+// Compute-capability comparison: is the device at least (major, minor)?
+inline bool sm_at_least(int device_major, int device_minor, int major,
+                        int minor) {
+    return device_major > major ||
+           (device_major == major && device_minor >= minor);
+}
+
+// FP8 tensor-core MMA (`mma.sync.aligned.m16n8k32` with fp8 inputs) exists on
+// Ada (sm_89) and Hopper (sm_90+); sm_80 has no fp8 instructions.
+inline constexpr int kMinSmForFp8Major = 8;
+inline constexpr int kMinSmForFp8Minor = 9;
+
+}  // namespace astrai
@@ -0,0 +1,165 @@
+// Shared mma.sync wrappers — pure CUDA, no torch.
+//
+// One template for every tensor-core MMA used by the kernel families. The
+// instruction shape follows from the input element type:
+//   __nv_bfloat16        -> mma.sync.aligned.m16n8k16 (sm_80+), A = 4x b32, B = 2x b32
+//   __nv_fp8_e4m3/e5m2   -> mma.sync.aligned.m16n8k32 (sm_89+), A = 4x b32, B = 2x b32
+// All variants accumulate into fp32: d = a*b + c, with the PTX mnemonic and
+// the K dimension differing per type. `d` may alias `c` (in-place accumulate,
+// as the FP8 GEMM does).
+
+#pragma once
+
+#include <cuda_bf16.h>
+#include <cuda_fp8.h>
+#include <cuda_runtime.h>
+#include <type_traits>
+
+
+#define DEVICE_FORCEINLINE static __device__ __forceinline__
+
+namespace astrai {
+
+// Compute capability of the current compilation pass: 0 in the host pass,
+// the numeric CC (e.g. 890) in device passes where __CUDA_ARCH__ is defined.
+// Defined() cannot appear in expressions, so this macro lets mma_sync use
+// the arch in a static_assert instead of per-branch #if guards.
+#ifndef __CUDA_ARCH__
+#define ASTRAI_DEVICE_ARCH 0
+#else
+#define ASTRAI_DEVICE_ARCH __CUDA_ARCH__
+#endif
+
+// Compile-time shape of the MMA instruction for an input element type.
+// `min_arch` is the numeric compute capability the instruction requires —
+// the single place that encodes the hardware floor for each type.
+template <typename InT>
+struct mma_shape {
+    static constexpr int k = 16;         // m16n8k16
+    static constexpr int a_regs = 4;     // A fragment: 4x b32
+    static constexpr int b_regs = 2;     // B fragment: 2x b32
+    static constexpr int min_arch = 800; // bf16 mma.sync, sm_80+
+};
+
+template <>
+struct mma_shape<__nv_fp8_e4m3> {
+    static constexpr int k = 32;         // m16n8k32
+    static constexpr int a_regs = 4;
+    static constexpr int b_regs = 2;
+    static constexpr int min_arch = 890; // fp8 mma.sync, sm_89+ (Ada/Hopper)
+};
+
+template <>
+struct mma_shape<__nv_fp8_e5m2> {
+    static constexpr int k = 32;
+    static constexpr int a_regs = 4;
+    static constexpr int b_regs = 2;
+    static constexpr int min_arch = 890;
+};
+
+// d[4] = a[4] x b[2] + c[4], row-major A, col-major B, fp32 accumulator.
+// The PTX mnemonic is selected from InT. Building for a compute capability
+// below `mma_shape<InT>::min_arch` is a **compile error** — the instruction
+// does not exist there, and a silent no-op would produce wrong results.
+template <typename InT>
+DEVICE_FORCEINLINE void mma_sync(float d[4], const unsigned a[4],
+                                 const unsigned b[2],
+                                 const float c[4]) {
+    static_assert(ASTRAI_DEVICE_ARCH == 0 ||
+                      ASTRAI_DEVICE_ARCH >= mma_shape<InT>::min_arch,
+                  "mma_sync: this MMA shape requires a newer compute "
+                  "capability than the build target");
+    if constexpr (std::is_same_v<InT, __nv_bfloat16>) {
+        asm volatile(
+            "mma.sync.aligned.m16n8k16.row.col.f32.bf16.bf16.f32 "
+            "{%0,%1,%2,%3}, {%4,%5,%6,%7}, {%8,%9}, {%10,%11,%12,%13};"
+            : "=f"(d[0]), "=f"(d[1]), "=f"(d[2]), "=f"(d[3])
+            : "r"(a[0]), "r"(a[1]), "r"(a[2]), "r"(a[3]), "r"(b[0]), "r"(b[1]),
+              "f"(c[0]), "f"(c[1]), "f"(c[2]), "f"(c[3]));
+    } else if constexpr (std::is_same_v<InT, __nv_fp8_e5m2>) {
+        asm volatile(
+            "mma.sync.aligned.m16n8k32.row.col.f32.e5m2.e5m2.f32 "
+            "{%0,%1,%2,%3}, {%4,%5,%6,%7}, {%8,%9}, {%10,%11,%12,%13};"
+            : "=f"(d[0]), "=f"(d[1]), "=f"(d[2]), "=f"(d[3])
+            : "r"(a[0]), "r"(a[1]), "r"(a[2]), "r"(a[3]), "r"(b[0]), "r"(b[1]),
+              "f"(c[0]), "f"(c[1]), "f"(c[2]), "f"(c[3]));
+    } else {
+        asm volatile(
+            "mma.sync.aligned.m16n8k32.row.col.f32.e4m3.e4m3.f32 "
+            "{%0,%1,%2,%3}, {%4,%5,%6,%7}, {%8,%9}, {%10,%11,%12,%13};"
+            : "=f"(d[0]), "=f"(d[1]), "=f"(d[2]), "=f"(d[3])
+            : "r"(a[0]), "r"(a[1]), "r"(a[2]), "r"(a[3]), "r"(b[0]), "r"(b[1]),
+              "f"(c[0]), "f"(c[1]), "f"(c[2]), "f"(c[3]));
+    }
+}
+
+#undef ASTRAI_DEVICE_ARCH
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// ldmatrix — cooperatively load 8x8 b16 matrices from smem into registers.
+//
+// The instruction is identical for every 16-bit-storage element type: bf16
+// maps 1:1 onto b16 slots; fp8 is stored packed two-per-slot (see
+// fp8/gemm.cuh), so one b16 slot holds two fp8 values. `T` is the element
+// type and only serves as a semantic tag.
+//
+//   x2 (single address): matrix0 = p (8 rows), matrix1 = p + 8*16 bytes
+//   x4:                  four matrices at p, +128, +256, +384 bytes
+//   Trans:               transpose variant (V fragments of attention)
+//
+// ldmatrix takes a *single* smem address per thread, but the addresses of
+// the 32 lanes are *not* all the same: lane i supplies the start address of
+// matrix-row i (modulo 8) for matrix (i/8) — lanes 0-7 feed matrix 0's rows,
+// lanes 8-15 matrix 1's rows (x2/x4), lanes 16-23 / 24-31 matrix 2 / 3's rows
+// (x4 only; their addresses are ignored by x2). Each matrix is 8 rows x 16
+// bytes, and consecutive matrices of one instruction are contiguous at
+// 128-byte strides. fp8 fragment layouts in fp8/gemm.cuh are arranged around
+// this constraint.
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+template <typename T, bool Trans = false>
+DEVICE_FORCEINLINE void ldmatrix_x2(unsigned r[2], const T* p) {
+    const unsigned a = __cvta_generic_to_shared(p);
+    if constexpr (Trans) {
+        asm volatile(
+            "ldmatrix.sync.aligned.m8n8.x2.trans.shared.b16 {%0,%1}, [%2];"
+            : "=r"(r[0]), "=r"(r[1])
+            : "r"(a));
+    } else {
+        asm volatile(
+            "ldmatrix.sync.aligned.m8n8.x2.shared.b16 {%0,%1}, [%2];"
+            : "=r"(r[0]), "=r"(r[1])
+            : "r"(a));
+    }
+}
+
+// Four matrices at p, p+128, p+256, p+384 bytes (16-byte row stride).
+template <typename T>
+DEVICE_FORCEINLINE void ldmatrix_x4(unsigned r[4], const T* p) {
+    const unsigned a = __cvta_generic_to_shared(p);
+    asm volatile(
+        "ldmatrix.sync.aligned.m8n8.x4.shared.b16 {%0,%1,%2,%3}, [%4];"
+        : "=r"(r[0]), "=r"(r[1]), "=r"(r[2]), "=r"(r[3])
+        : "r"(a));
+}
+
+// Per-lane-address variants: the caller supplies a raw shared-memory address
+// per lane instead of one common pointer. Use when the fragment tiles are
+// XOR-swizzled per 16B chunk so each lane must compute its own row and chunk
+// address (see fp8/gemm.cuh's frag_addr + lane selectors for the m16n8k32
+// operand layouts).
+DEVICE_FORCEINLINE void ldmatrix_x2_lane(unsigned r[2],
+                                          unsigned addr) {
+    asm volatile("ldmatrix.sync.aligned.m8n8.x2.shared.b16 {%0,%1}, [%2];"
+                 : "=r"(r[0]), "=r"(r[1])
+                 : "r"(addr));
+}
+
+DEVICE_FORCEINLINE void ldmatrix_x4_lane(unsigned r[4],
+                                          unsigned addr) {
+    asm volatile("ldmatrix.sync.aligned.m8n8.x4.shared.b16 {%0,%1,%2,%3}, [%4];"
+                 : "=r"(r[0]), "=r"(r[1]), "=r"(r[2]), "=r"(r[3])
+                 : "r"(addr));
+}
+
+}  // namespace astrai
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+// Shared warp/block reduction + atomic helpers — pure CUDA, no torch.
+//
+// Extracted from the attention and fp8 families so both share one
+// implementation: warp_reduce_sum (decode scalar kernel), warp_reduce_max +
+// atomic_max_float (fp8 quantize amax), group_reduce_sum<G> (prefill scalar
+// kernel).
+
+#pragma once
+
+namespace astrai {
+
+// Full-warp butterfly sum reduction (32 lanes).
+__device__ __forceinline__ float warp_reduce_sum(float val) {
+#pragma unroll
+    for (int offset = 16; offset > 0; offset >>= 1)
+        val += __shfl_xor_sync(0xFFFFFFFF, val, offset);
+    return val;
+}
+
+// Full-warp butterfly max reduction (32 lanes).
+__device__ __forceinline__ float warp_reduce_max(float value) {
+#pragma unroll
+    for (int offset = 16; offset > 0; offset >>= 1)
+        value = fmaxf(value, __shfl_xor_sync(0xffffffffu, value, offset));
+    return value;
+}
+
+// Sub-warp group reduction over G consecutive lanes (G a power of two).
+// `mask` is the full participating-lane mask of the group (see the
+// prefill scalar kernel's gmask computation).
+template <int G>
+__device__ __forceinline__ float group_reduce_sum(float v, unsigned mask) {
+#pragma unroll
+    for (int o = G / 2; o > 0; o >>= 1)
+        v += __shfl_xor_sync(mask, v, o);
+    return v;
+}
+
+// Unsigned-bit-pattern atomicMax for non-negative floats; a null
+// destination disables the update (kernels with optional amax slots).
+__device__ __forceinline__ void atomic_max_float(float* destination,
+                                                 float value) {
+    if (destination)
+        atomicMax(reinterpret_cast<unsigned*>(destination),
+                  __float_as_uint(value));
+}
+
+}  // namespace astrai
@@ -0,0 +1,135 @@
+#pragma once
+
+#include <cuda_bf16.h>
+#include <cuda_fp8.h>
+#include <cuda_runtime.h>
+#include <cstdint>
+
+// Pure POD/traits header — no .cuh/CUDA-kernel includes; raw __nv_* type
+// spellings only.
+
+namespace astrai {
+namespace fp8 {
+
+// Compile-time FP8 format: E4M3 (forward / high precision, max 448) or
+// E5M2 (gradient / large dynamic range, max 57344).
+enum class FP8Format : int {
+    E4M3 = 0,
+    E5M2 = 1,
+};
+
+// Operand memory layouts as types (CUTLASS-style tags). The tag names the
+// storage order of the raw buffer relative to the operand's canonical GEMM
+// matrix — A is [M][K], B is [K][N]:
+//   A RowMajor = [M][K] storage (K-contiguous rows; the default)
+//   A ColMajor = [K][M] storage (M-contiguous; A^T)
+//   B RowMajor = [K][N] storage (N-contiguous; the plain a @ b operand)
+//   B ColMajor = [N][K] storage (K-contiguous; the nn.Linear weight layout)
+// Empty tags: selection happens by type at compile time (see load_operand_tile).
+struct RowMajor {};
+struct ColMajor {};
+
+// Transpose of a layout tag: the same buffer with the rows and contract dims
+// swapped. B's tag is relative to the canonical [K][N] GEMM matrix, so the
+// stage-load (which views any operand as [rows][contract]) sees the transposed
+// tag — this trait makes that inversion explicit.
+template <typename Layout>
+struct transpose_layout;
+template <>
+struct transpose_layout<RowMajor> {
+    using type = ColMajor;
+};
+template <>
+struct transpose_layout<ColMajor> {
+    using type = RowMajor;
+};
+template <typename Layout>
+using transpose_layout_t = typename transpose_layout<Layout>::type;
+
+// Compile-time tile configuration, mirroring KernelTraits<HEAD_DIM, BC,
+// WARPS, STAGES> in the attention kernels. `Fmt` selects the FP8 conversion
+// and the MMA PTX mnemonic; the remaining parameters shape the CTA tile, the
+// warp tile (WarpM x WarpN — e.g. 64x32 on the 128x128 CTA, or 32x32 on the
+// cuBLAS-style 64x64 small CTA that lifts small-shape occupancy) and the
+// cp.async pipeline depth.
+template <FP8Format Fmt, int BlockM, int BlockN, int K, int Stages,
+          int WarpM = 64, int WarpN = 32>
+struct Fp8GemmTraits {
+    static constexpr FP8Format kFormat = Fmt;
+    static constexpr int kBlockM = BlockM;
+    static constexpr int kBlockN = BlockN;
+    static constexpr int kK = K;
+    static constexpr int kStages = Stages;
+    static constexpr int kWarpM = WarpM;
+    static constexpr int kWarpN = WarpN;
+    static constexpr bool kIsE5M2 = (Fmt == FP8Format::E5M2);
+    static constexpr __nv_fp8_interpretation_t kNvFormat =
+        kIsE5M2 ? __NV_E5M2 : __NV_E4M3;
+    static constexpr float kFp8Max = kIsE5M2 ? 57344.0f : 448.0f;
+
+    // Derived launch geometry: WarpM x WarpN warp tiles tile the CTA. The
+    // shared-memory budget is layout-aware (crosswise operands add K-major
+    // staging + a canonical buffer), so it lives in Fp8GemmSmem in gemm.cuh
+    // together with the resident-CTA hint for __launch_bounds__.
+    static constexpr int kWarpsM = BlockM / WarpM;
+    static constexpr int kWarpsN = BlockN / WarpN;
+    static constexpr int kCtaThreads = kWarpsM * kWarpsN * 32;
+    static_assert(kWarpsM * WarpM == BlockM && kWarpsN * WarpN == BlockN,
+                  "warp tiles must exactly tile the CTA");
+    static_assert(WarpM % 16 == 0 && WarpN % 8 == 0,
+                  "warp tile must be a multiple of the m16n8 MMA shape");
+};
+
+// Quantize-kernel parameter POD: float input (bf16 / fp16 / fp32) -> FP8
+// with fused amax.
+struct FP8QuantizeParams {
+    // Float input and FP8 output buffers; scale is the quantization
+    // multiplier (device scalar). amax (may be null) is zero-initialized by
+    // the binding and receives the raw-domain absolute maximum.
+    const void* __restrict__ input_ptr = nullptr;
+    void* __restrict__ output_ptr = nullptr;
+
+    const float* __restrict__ scale = nullptr;
+    float* __restrict__ amax = nullptr;
+
+    // Element count (only the elementwise quantize kernel uses it).
+    int total = 0;
+};
+
+// Unified GEMM parameter POD, mirroring AttentionParams: one struct flows
+// through the pre-quantized GEMM kernels. Each kernel touches only the
+// fields it needs; buffers are raw pointers packed by the torch binding.
+// Pointer members default to null so optional paths cannot hold garbage.
+struct FP8Params {
+    // Inputs: a/b are FP8 for the pre-quantized path. Scales are
+    // quantization steps (device scalars).
+    // Optional bf16 bias broadcast over output rows (fused into the epilogue
+    // before the bf16 rounding, so it adds in fp32 — one rounding fewer than
+    // the separate out + bias elementwise kernel it replaces). Null disables.
+    const void* __restrict__ a_ptr = nullptr;
+    const void* __restrict__ b_ptr = nullptr;
+    const void* __restrict__ bias_ptr = nullptr;
+    void* __restrict__ out_ptr = nullptr;
+
+    const float* __restrict__ scale = nullptr;
+    // Shapes. `int` covers every realistic LLM shape; the kernels promote
+    // to int64 for all pointer arithmetic.
+    int m, n, k;
+
+    // Batched (bmm) geometry: grid.z slices step the operand/output pointers
+    // by these element strides (0 broadcasts the operand across batches).
+    int batch = 1;
+    int64_t a_batch_stride = 0;
+    int64_t b_batch_stride = 0;
+    int64_t out_batch_stride = 0;
+
+    // Physical leading dimensions (column count, i.e. row stride) of A and
+    // B. For a non-transposed operand the stride equals the contract dim;
+    // for a transposed operand it is the operand's own column count. The
+    // binding packs these so the kernel reads both buffers either naturally
+    // or transposed depending on the LayoutA/LayoutB tags (see gemm.cuh).
+    int a_ld, b_ld;
+};
+
+}  // namespace fp8
+}  // namespace astrai
--- a/Show More
+++ b/Show More