40 layers › 2 groups of 6 layers › 5 reusing layers › Compressed sparse attention › Sparse attention
Scaled dot products
×no parameterssparse_attn(q, kv, …, self.softmax_scale) · 780; kernel.py 365
Score every gathered row against every query head.
- in
- [B batch, 64 heads, T positions, 512 d_h] [B batch, T positions, n listed rows, 512 d_h]
- out
- [B batch, 64 heads, T positions, n listed rows]
Codekernel.py 310–403 · model.py 613–698
@tilelang.jit(pass_configs=pass_configs)
def sparse_attn_kernel(h: int, d: int, scale=None):
"""Sparse multi-head attention via index gathering + online softmax (FlashAttention-style).
For each (batch, seq_pos), gathers top-k KV positions by index, computes attention
with numerically stable running max/sum, and includes a learnable attn_sink bias."""
b = T.symbolic("b")
m = T.symbolic("m")
n = T.symbolic("n")
topk = T.symbolic("topk")
if scale is None:
scale = (1.0 / d) ** 0.5
num_stages = 2
threads = 256
block = 64
num_blocks = tilelang.cdiv(topk, block)
@T.prim_func
def sparse_attn_kernel_(
q: T.Tensor[(b, m, h, d), BF16],
kv: T.Tensor[(b, n, d), BF16],
o: T.Tensor[(b, m, h, d), BF16],
attn_sink: T.Tensor[(h,), FP32],
topk_idxs: T.Tensor[(b, m, topk), INT32],
):
with T.Kernel(m, b, threads=threads) as (bx, by):
q_shared = T.alloc_shared((h, d), BF16)
kv_shared = T.alloc_shared((block, d), BF16)
o_shared = T.alloc_shared((h, d), BF16)
acc_s_cast = T.alloc_shared((h, block), BF16)
idxs = T.alloc_fragment(block, INT32)
acc_s = T.alloc_fragment((h, block), FP32)
acc_o = T.alloc_fragment((h, d), FP32)
scores_max = T.alloc_fragment(h, FP32)
scores_max_prev = T.alloc_fragment(h, FP32)
scores_scale = T.alloc_fragment(h, FP32)
scores_sum = T.alloc_fragment(h, FP32)
sum_exp = T.alloc_fragment(h, FP32)
T.clear(acc_o)
T.clear(sum_exp)
# Finite lower bound instead of -inf: a row with no valid index (all -1) would otherwise
# produce exp(-inf - (-inf)) = NaN. With a finite bound such rows yield an all-zero output,
# matching the training kernel's convention.
T.fill(scores_max, -1e30)
T.copy(q[by, bx, :, :], q_shared)
for t in T.Pipelined(num_blocks, num_stages=num_stages):
for i in T.Parallel(block):
idxs[i] = T.if_then_else(t * block + i < topk, topk_idxs[by, bx, t * block + i], -1)
for i, j in T.Parallel(block, d):
kv_shared[i, j] = T.if_then_else(idxs[i] != -1, kv[by, idxs[i], j], 0)
for i, j in T.Parallel(h, block):
acc_s[i, j] = T.if_then_else(idxs[j] != -1, 0, -T.infinity(FP32))
T.gemm(q_shared, kv_shared, acc_s, transpose_B=True, policy=T.GemmWarpPolicy.FullRow)
for i, j in T.Parallel(h, block):
acc_s[i, j] *= scale
T.copy(scores_max, scores_max_prev)
T.reduce_max(acc_s, scores_max, dim=1, clear=False)
for i in T.Parallel(h):
scores_scale[i] = T.exp(scores_max_prev[i] - scores_max[i])
for i, j in T.Parallel(h, block):
acc_s[i, j] = T.exp(acc_s[i, j] - scores_max[i])
T.reduce_sum(acc_s, scores_sum, dim=1)
for i in T.Parallel(h):
sum_exp[i] = sum_exp[i] * scores_scale[i] + scores_sum[i]
T.copy(acc_s, acc_s_cast)
for i, j in T.Parallel(h, d):
acc_o[i, j] *= scores_scale[i]
T.gemm(acc_s_cast, kv_shared, acc_o, policy=T.GemmWarpPolicy.FullRow)
for i in T.Parallel(h):
sum_exp[i] += T.exp(attn_sink[i] - scores_max[i])
for i, j in T.Parallel(h, d):
acc_o[i, j] /= sum_exp[i]
T.copy(acc_o, o_shared)
T.copy(o_shared, o[by, bx, :, :])
return sparse_attn_kernel_
def sparse_attn(q: torch.Tensor, kv: torch.Tensor, attn_sink: torch.Tensor, topk_idxs: torch.Tensor, softmax_scale: float) -> torch.Tensor:
b, s, h, d = q.size()
# Pad heads to 16 for kernel efficiency (stripped after)
if h < 16:
q = torch.cat([q, q.new_zeros(b, s, 16 - h, d)], dim=2)
attn_sink = torch.cat([attn_sink, attn_sink.new_zeros(16 - h)])
o = torch.empty_like(q)
kernel = sparse_attn_kernel(q.size(2), d, softmax_scale)
kernel(q, kv, o, attn_sink, topk_idxs)
if h < 16:
o = o.narrow(2, 0, h).contiguous()
return oclass Attention(nn.Module):
"""Latent attention over two KV sources at once, concatenated into one `sparse_attn` call: a
sliding window of raw KV, plus -- when compress_ratio > 0 -- `index_topk` compressed positions
reaching further back. Q and the output projection are both low-rank, the latter grouped.
compress_ratio > 0 does not mean the layer compresses its own KV: only kv_source_layers do,
the rest read that same cache.
"""
def __init__(self, layer_id: int, args: ModelArgs):
super().__init__()
self.layer_id = layer_id
self.dim = args.dim
self.n_heads = args.n_heads
self.n_local_heads = args.n_heads // world_size
self.q_lora_rank = args.q_lora_rank
self.o_lora_rank = args.o_lora_rank
self.head_dim = args.head_dim
self.rope_head_dim = args.rope_head_dim
self.nope_head_dim = args.head_dim - args.rope_head_dim
self.n_groups = args.o_groups
self.n_local_groups = self.n_groups // world_size
self.window_size = args.window_size
self.compress_ratio = args.compress_ratios[layer_id]
self.eps = args.norm_eps
self.attn_sink = nn.Parameter(torch.empty(self.n_local_heads, dtype=torch.float32))
self.wq_a = Linear(self.dim, self.q_lora_rank)
self.q_norm = RMSNorm(self.q_lora_rank, self.eps)
self.wq_b = ColumnParallelLinear(self.q_lora_rank, self.n_heads * self.head_dim)
self.wkv = Linear(self.dim, self.head_dim)
self.kv_norm = RMSNorm(self.head_dim, self.eps)
self.wo_a = ColumnParallelLinear(
self.n_heads * self.head_dim // self.n_groups,
self.n_groups * args.o_lora_rank,
dtype=torch.bfloat16,
)
self.wo_b = RowParallelLinear(self.n_groups * args.o_lora_rank, self.dim)
self.softmax_scale = self.head_dim**-0.5
is_backbone = layer_id < args.n_layers
self.is_kv_source = is_backbone and layer_id in args.kv_source_layers
self.is_index_source = is_backbone and layer_id in args.index_source_layers
self.compressor: Compressor | None = None
self.indexer: Indexer | None = None
if self.is_kv_source:
self.compressor = Compressor(args, layer_id)
if self.is_index_source:
self.indexer = Indexer(args, layer_id)
self.window_kv_cache: torch.Tensor
self.register_buffer(
"window_kv_cache",
torch.zeros(args.max_batch_size, args.window_size, self.head_dim),
persistent=False,
)
if self.is_kv_source:
self.compress_kv_cache: torch.Tensor
self.register_buffer(
"compress_kv_cache",
torch.zeros(
args.max_batch_size,
args.max_seq_len // self.compress_ratio,
self.head_dim,
),
persistent=False,
)
if self.compress_ratio:
original_seq_len, rope_theta = (
args.original_seq_len,
args.compress_rope_theta,
)
else:
# disable YaRN and use base rope_theta in pure sliding-window attention
original_seq_len, rope_theta = 0, args.rope_theta
freqs_cis = precompute_freqs_cis(
self.rope_head_dim,
args.max_seq_len,
original_seq_len,
rope_theta,
args.rope_factor,
args.beta_fast,
args.beta_slow,
)
self.freqs_cis: torch.Tensor
self.register_buffer("freqs_cis", freqs_cis, persistent=False)Sources2
Direct evidence
Sparse attention: each query head scores the gathered key–value rows, the softmax has one more term in its denominator from the head’s learned sink, and the output is the weighted sum of the same rows.
sparse-attn · deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash / inference/kernel.py
Pinned revision 2cba9e42aa02 ↗ · lines 310–403
Read code excerpt
@tilelang.jit(pass_configs=pass_configs)
def sparse_attn_kernel(h: int, d: int, scale=None):
"""Sparse multi-head attention via index gathering + online softmax (FlashAttention-style).
For each (batch, seq_pos), gathers top-k KV positions by index, computes attention
with numerically stable running max/sum, and includes a learnable attn_sink bias."""
b = T.symbolic("b")
m = T.symbolic("m")
n = T.symbolic("n")
topk = T.symbolic("topk")
if scale is None:
scale = (1.0 / d) ** 0.5
num_stages = 2
threads = 256
block = 64
num_blocks = tilelang.cdiv(topk, block)
@T.prim_func
def sparse_attn_kernel_(
q: T.Tensor[(b, m, h, d), BF16],
kv: T.Tensor[(b, n, d), BF16],
o: T.Tensor[(b, m, h, d), BF16],
attn_sink: T.Tensor[(h,), FP32],
topk_idxs: T.Tensor[(b, m, topk), INT32],
):
with T.Kernel(m, b, threads=threads) as (bx, by):
q_shared = T.alloc_shared((h, d), BF16)
kv_shared = T.alloc_shared((block, d), BF16)
o_shared = T.alloc_shared((h, d), BF16)
acc_s_cast = T.alloc_shared((h, block), BF16)
idxs = T.alloc_fragment(block, INT32)
acc_s = T.alloc_fragment((h, block), FP32)
acc_o = T.alloc_fragment((h, d), FP32)
scores_max = T.alloc_fragment(h, FP32)
scores_max_prev = T.alloc_fragment(h, FP32)
scores_scale = T.alloc_fragment(h, FP32)
scores_sum = T.alloc_fragment(h, FP32)
sum_exp = T.alloc_fragment(h, FP32)
T.clear(acc_o)
T.clear(sum_exp)
# Finite lower bound instead of -inf: a row with no valid index (all -1) would otherwise
# produce exp(-inf - (-inf)) = NaN. With a finite bound such rows yield an all-zero output,
# matching the training kernel's convention.
T.fill(scores_max, -1e30)
T.copy(q[by, bx, :, :], q_shared)
for t in T.Pipelined(num_blocks, num_stages=num_stages):
for i in T.Parallel(block):
idxs[i] = T.if_then_else(t * block + i < topk, topk_idxs[by, bx, t * block + i], -1)
for i, j in T.Parallel(block, d):
kv_shared[i, j] = T.if_then_else(idxs[i] != -1, kv[by, idxs[i], j], 0)
for i, j in T.Parallel(h, block):
acc_s[i, j] = T.if_then_else(idxs[j] != -1, 0, -T.infinity(FP32))
T.gemm(q_shared, kv_shared, acc_s, transpose_B=True, policy=T.GemmWarpPolicy.FullRow)
for i, j in T.Parallel(h, block):
acc_s[i, j] *= scale
T.copy(scores_max, scores_max_prev)
T.reduce_max(acc_s, scores_max, dim=1, clear=False)
for i in T.Parallel(h):
scores_scale[i] = T.exp(scores_max_prev[i] - scores_max[i])
for i, j in T.Parallel(h, block):
acc_s[i, j] = T.exp(acc_s[i, j] - scores_max[i])
T.reduce_sum(acc_s, scores_sum, dim=1)
for i in T.Parallel(h):
sum_exp[i] = sum_exp[i] * scores_scale[i] + scores_sum[i]
T.copy(acc_s, acc_s_cast)
for i, j in T.Parallel(h, d):
acc_o[i, j] *= scores_scale[i]
T.gemm(acc_s_cast, kv_shared, acc_o, policy=T.GemmWarpPolicy.FullRow)
for i in T.Parallel(h):
sum_exp[i] += T.exp(attn_sink[i] - scores_max[i])
for i, j in T.Parallel(h, d):
acc_o[i, j] /= sum_exp[i]
T.copy(acc_o, o_shared)
T.copy(o_shared, o[by, bx, :, :])
return sparse_attn_kernel_
def sparse_attn(q: torch.Tensor, kv: torch.Tensor, attn_sink: torch.Tensor, topk_idxs: torch.Tensor, softmax_scale: float) -> torch.Tensor:
b, s, h, d = q.size()
# Pad heads to 16 for kernel efficiency (stripped after)
if h < 16:
q = torch.cat([q, q.new_zeros(b, s, 16 - h, d)], dim=2)
attn_sink = torch.cat([attn_sink, attn_sink.new_zeros(16 - h)])
o = torch.empty_like(q)
kernel = sparse_attn_kernel(q.size(2), d, softmax_scale)
kernel(q, kv, o, attn_sink, topk_idxs)
if h < 16:
o = o.narrow(2, 0, h).contiguous()
return oDirect evidence
Attention owns a low-rank query, one key–value projection, a learned sink per head, a grouped low-rank output, a ring buffer for the window, and, by the two source lists, a compressor and an indexer; layers that attend to compressed positions use the larger rotary base with YaRN.
attention-init · deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash / inference/model.py
Pinned revision 2cba9e42aa02 ↗ · lines 613–698
Read code excerpt
class Attention(nn.Module):
"""Latent attention over two KV sources at once, concatenated into one `sparse_attn` call: a
sliding window of raw KV, plus -- when compress_ratio > 0 -- `index_topk` compressed positions
reaching further back. Q and the output projection are both low-rank, the latter grouped.
compress_ratio > 0 does not mean the layer compresses its own KV: only kv_source_layers do,
the rest read that same cache.
"""
def __init__(self, layer_id: int, args: ModelArgs):
super().__init__()
self.layer_id = layer_id
self.dim = args.dim
self.n_heads = args.n_heads
self.n_local_heads = args.n_heads // world_size
self.q_lora_rank = args.q_lora_rank
self.o_lora_rank = args.o_lora_rank
self.head_dim = args.head_dim
self.rope_head_dim = args.rope_head_dim
self.nope_head_dim = args.head_dim - args.rope_head_dim
self.n_groups = args.o_groups
self.n_local_groups = self.n_groups // world_size
self.window_size = args.window_size
self.compress_ratio = args.compress_ratios[layer_id]
self.eps = args.norm_eps
self.attn_sink = nn.Parameter(torch.empty(self.n_local_heads, dtype=torch.float32))
self.wq_a = Linear(self.dim, self.q_lora_rank)
self.q_norm = RMSNorm(self.q_lora_rank, self.eps)
self.wq_b = ColumnParallelLinear(self.q_lora_rank, self.n_heads * self.head_dim)
self.wkv = Linear(self.dim, self.head_dim)
self.kv_norm = RMSNorm(self.head_dim, self.eps)
self.wo_a = ColumnParallelLinear(
self.n_heads * self.head_dim // self.n_groups,
self.n_groups * args.o_lora_rank,
dtype=torch.bfloat16,
)
self.wo_b = RowParallelLinear(self.n_groups * args.o_lora_rank, self.dim)
self.softmax_scale = self.head_dim**-0.5
is_backbone = layer_id < args.n_layers
self.is_kv_source = is_backbone and layer_id in args.kv_source_layers
self.is_index_source = is_backbone and layer_id in args.index_source_layers
self.compressor: Compressor | None = None
self.indexer: Indexer | None = None
if self.is_kv_source:
self.compressor = Compressor(args, layer_id)
if self.is_index_source:
self.indexer = Indexer(args, layer_id)
self.window_kv_cache: torch.Tensor
self.register_buffer(
"window_kv_cache",
torch.zeros(args.max_batch_size, args.window_size, self.head_dim),
persistent=False,
)
if self.is_kv_source:
self.compress_kv_cache: torch.Tensor
self.register_buffer(
"compress_kv_cache",
torch.zeros(
args.max_batch_size,
args.max_seq_len // self.compress_ratio,
self.head_dim,
),
persistent=False,
)
if self.compress_ratio:
original_seq_len, rope_theta = (
args.original_seq_len,
args.compress_rope_theta,
)
else:
# disable YaRN and use base rope_theta in pure sliding-window attention
original_seq_len, rope_theta = 0, args.rope_theta
freqs_cis = precompute_freqs_cis(
self.rope_head_dim,
args.max_seq_len,
original_seq_len,
rope_theta,
args.rope_factor,
args.beta_fast,
args.beta_slow,
)
self.freqs_cis: torch.Tensor
self.register_buffer("freqs_cis", freqs_cis, persistent=False)