DeepSeek V4.1

Size
552B + 196B Engram
Published
DeepSeek · Sep 2026
Line
New parts in the block · after DeepSeek-V3.2-Exp
Source

deepseek‑ai/DeepSeek‑V4.1‑Flash @ 2cba9e4 · parameter count checked against the checkpoint’s tensor headers · text model onlyHow to read

Sparse attention

in
WW [B batch, 128 window slots, 512 d_h]ZZ [B batch, 500 compressed positions, 512 d_h]II [B batch, 1 position, 500 selected]QQ [B batch, 64 heads, 1 position, 512 d_h]
out
OO [B batch, 64 heads, 1 position, 512 d_h]
parameters
64 · × 2 groups × 5 layers = 640
mode
decode · one new token after P = 1,000 positions
Parameters

64 parameters per instance, across its learned components

Exact per-instance accounting
ComponentCalculationParameters
Softmax with a sink646464
Per-instance total64

Across 5 independent layers: 64×5=32064 \times 5 = 320 parameters.

Derived from the pinned reference implementation and configuration; equal to the element counts of the checkpoint’s own tensors on the text path. The quantisation scales, the vision encoder and the DSpark blocks are not counted.

Explanation

Which rows a query may read is decided by lists of positions; the kernel sees no mask.

Codemodel.py 410–789 · kernel.py 310–403
model.py 410–426
def get_window_topk_idxs(window_size: int, bsz: int, seqlen: int, start_pos: int):
    """Which sliding-window cache slots each query attends to; -1 marks a slot holding nothing.

    The cache is a ring of `window_size` slots. Prefill needs one row per query, each seeing its own
    causal window. A decode step has a single query that sees the whole ring, listed oldest first.
    Order within a row does not matter to `sparse_attn`, which handles every slot independently.
    """
    if start_pos == 0:
        end = torch.arange(seqlen).unsqueeze(1)
        idxs = (end - window_size + 1).clamp(0) + torch.arange(min(seqlen, window_size))
        idxs = torch.where(idxs > end, -1, idxs)  # before the sequence started
    else:
        oldest = start_pos % window_size + 1
        idxs = torch.cat([torch.arange(oldest, window_size), torch.arange(oldest)])
        idxs = torch.where(idxs > start_pos, -1, idxs)  # ring still filling
    # sparse_attn needs real [b, m, topk] int32 memory, hence the materializing expand
    return idxs.int().unsqueeze(0).expand(bsz, -1, -1).contiguous()
model.py 765–789
    def forward(self, x: torch.Tensor, start_pos: int):
        bsz, seqlen, _ = x.size()
        freqs_cis = self.freqs_cis[start_pos : start_pos + seqlen]
        rd = self.rope_head_dim

        qr = self.q_norm(self.wq_a(x))
        q = self.wq_b(qr).unflatten(-1, (self.n_local_heads, self.head_dim))
        apply_rotary_emb(q[..., -rd:], freqs_cis)

        kv, topk_idxs = self._window_kv(x, freqs_cis, start_pos)
        if self.compress_ratio:
            compress_kv, compress_idxs = self._compress_kv(x, qr, start_pos, kv.size(1))
            kv = torch.cat([kv, compress_kv], dim=1)
            topk_idxs = torch.cat([topk_idxs, compress_idxs], dim=-1)

        o = sparse_attn(q, kv, self.attn_sink, topk_idxs, self.softmax_scale)
        apply_rotary_emb(o[..., -rd:], freqs_cis, True)

        # wo_a is block-diagonal over groups (each projects only its own heads), hence einsum not
        # Linear. convert.py dequantizes it to bf16; an fp8 grouped GEMM would halve the memory.
        o = o.view(bsz, seqlen, self.n_local_groups, -1)
        wo_a = self.wo_a.weight.view(self.n_local_groups, self.o_lora_rank, -1)
        o = torch.einsum("bsgd,grd->bsgr", o, wo_a)
        x = self.wo_b(o.flatten(2))
        return x
model.py 488–580
class Indexer(torch.nn.Module):
    """Keeps the `index_topk` best compressed positions per query.

    A small side attention: fp4 query heads against one shared key per compressed position, scores
    rectified then combined by `weights_proj`. With a candidate source this is the second of two
    levels; `select_candidate_blocks` is the first.
    """

    def __init__(self, args: ModelArgs, layer_id: int):
        super().__init__()
        # the index keys are derived from the compressor's latent, so only a layer that compresses
        # its own KV can produce them; every other indexer reads them from that layer's cache
        self.owns_k = layer_id in args.kv_source_layers
        self.compress_ratio = args.compress_ratios[layer_id]
        self.is_candidate_source = layer_id == args.candidate_source_layer
        self.uses_candidates = 0 <= args.candidate_source_layer < layer_id
        self.candidate_topk_blocks = args.candidate_topk_blocks
        self.candidate_block_size = args.candidate_block_size
        self.dim = args.dim
        self.n_heads = args.index_n_heads
        self.n_local_heads = args.index_n_heads // world_size
        self.index_head_dim = args.index_head_dim
        self.rope_head_dim = args.rope_head_dim
        self.index_topk = args.index_topk
        self.q_lora_rank = args.q_lora_rank
        self.softmax_scale = self.index_head_dim**-0.5
        self.wq_b = ColumnParallelLinear(self.q_lora_rank, self.n_heads * self.index_head_dim)
        self.weights_proj = ColumnParallelLinear(self.dim, self.n_heads, dtype=torch.bfloat16)
        self.freqs_cis: torch.Tensor | None = None
        if self.owns_k:
            self.wk = Linear(args.head_dim, self.index_head_dim, dtype=torch.bfloat16)
            self.k_norm = RMSNorm(self.index_head_dim, args.norm_eps)
            self.k_cache: torch.Tensor
            self.register_buffer(
                "k_cache",
                torch.zeros(args.max_batch_size, args.max_seq_len // self.compress_ratio, args.index_head_dim),
                persistent=False,
            )

    def forward(self, x: torch.Tensor, qr: torch.Tensor, latent: torch.Tensor, start_pos: int, offset: int):
        """`latent` is this layer's RoPE-free compressed latent, None when this layer does not
        compress or when its current group is still incomplete. An index-key owner turns it into
        index keys here, which has to happen before Attention overwrites that same storage with
        the RoPE'd, quantized values."""
        assert self.freqs_cis is not None
        bsz, seqlen, _ = x.size()
        ratio, rd, end_pos = self.compress_ratio, self.rope_head_dim, start_pos + seqlen

        # latent is None while a group is still filling up, so there is nothing to publish yet
        if self.owns_k and latent is not None:
            # a latent stands for the first token of its group, so group j takes position j * ratio
            freqs = (
                self.freqs_cis[: seqlen - seqlen % ratio : ratio]
                if start_pos == 0
                else self.freqs_cis[start_pos + 1 - ratio].unsqueeze(0)
            )
            k = self.k_norm(self.wk(latent))
            apply_rotary_emb(k[..., -rd:], freqs)
            fp4_act_quant(k, fp4_block_size, True)
            self.k_cache[:bsz, start_pos // ratio : start_pos // ratio + k.size(1)] = k
            shared_attn.index_k = self.k_cache

        q = self.wq_b(qr).unflatten(-1, (self.n_local_heads, self.index_head_dim))
        apply_rotary_emb(q[..., -rd:], self.freqs_cis[start_pos:end_pos])
        fp4_act_quant(q, fp4_block_size, True)

        index_k = shared_attn.index_k[:bsz, : end_pos // ratio]
        weights = self.weights_proj(x) * (self.softmax_scale * self.n_heads**-0.5)
        index_score = torch.einsum("bshd,btd->bsht", q, index_k)
        index_score = (index_score.relu_() * weights.unsqueeze(-1)).sum(dim=2)
        if world_size > 1:
            dist.all_reduce(index_score)

        # how many compressed positions each query can see: a block becomes visible once the query
        # has passed its last token. One query per decode step, so there it is just a number.
        if start_pos == 0:
            compress_lens = (torch.arange(1, seqlen + 1, device=x.device) // ratio).unsqueeze(-1)
            index_score.masked_fill_(torch.arange(seqlen // ratio, device=x.device) >= compress_lens, -torch.inf)
        else:
            compress_lens = end_pos // ratio

        if self.is_candidate_source:
            shared_attn.candidates = select_candidate_blocks(
                index_score, compress_lens, self.candidate_topk_blocks, self.candidate_block_size
            )
        elif self.uses_candidates:
            # level two: score with our own weights, but only inside the source's candidate blocks
            index_score = index_score.masked_fill(~shared_attn.candidates, -torch.inf)

        # top-k by score, re-sorted into position order; unreachable -> -1, rest shifted by offset
        topk = min(self.index_topk, end_pos // ratio)
        idxs = index_score.topk(topk, dim=-1, sorted=False).indices.sort(dim=-1).values
        return torch.where(idxs < compress_lens, idxs + offset, -1).int()
kernel.py 310–403
@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 o
model.py 613–698
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)
Sources5

Direct evidence

The positions a query may attend to inside the sliding window: in a prefill the last 128 up to itself, in a decode step the whole ring.

window-indices · deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash / inference/model.py
Pinned revision 2cba9e42aa02 ↗ · lines 410–426

Read code excerpt
def get_window_topk_idxs(window_size: int, bsz: int, seqlen: int, start_pos: int):
    """Which sliding-window cache slots each query attends to; -1 marks a slot holding nothing.

    The cache is a ring of `window_size` slots. Prefill needs one row per query, each seeing its own
    causal window. A decode step has a single query that sees the whole ring, listed oldest first.
    Order within a row does not matter to `sparse_attn`, which handles every slot independently.
    """
    if start_pos == 0:
        end = torch.arange(seqlen).unsqueeze(1)
        idxs = (end - window_size + 1).clamp(0) + torch.arange(min(seqlen, window_size))
        idxs = torch.where(idxs > end, -1, idxs)  # before the sequence started
    else:
        oldest = start_pos % window_size + 1
        idxs = torch.cat([torch.arange(oldest, window_size), torch.arange(oldest)])
        idxs = torch.where(idxs > start_pos, -1, idxs)  # ring still filling
    # sparse_attn needs real [b, m, topk] int32 memory, hence the materializing expand
    return idxs.int().unsqueeze(0).expand(bsz, -1, -1).contiguous()

Direct evidence

Queries through the latent with their rotary part rotated; window and compressed keys and values joined; sparse attention over the listed positions; the output rotated back, projected per group of heads and then to the model width.

attention-forward · deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash / inference/model.py
Pinned revision 2cba9e42aa02 ↗ · lines 765–789

Read code excerpt
    def forward(self, x: torch.Tensor, start_pos: int):
        bsz, seqlen, _ = x.size()
        freqs_cis = self.freqs_cis[start_pos : start_pos + seqlen]
        rd = self.rope_head_dim

        qr = self.q_norm(self.wq_a(x))
        q = self.wq_b(qr).unflatten(-1, (self.n_local_heads, self.head_dim))
        apply_rotary_emb(q[..., -rd:], freqs_cis)

        kv, topk_idxs = self._window_kv(x, freqs_cis, start_pos)
        if self.compress_ratio:
            compress_kv, compress_idxs = self._compress_kv(x, qr, start_pos, kv.size(1))
            kv = torch.cat([kv, compress_kv], dim=1)
            topk_idxs = torch.cat([topk_idxs, compress_idxs], dim=-1)

        o = sparse_attn(q, kv, self.attn_sink, topk_idxs, self.softmax_scale)
        apply_rotary_emb(o[..., -rd:], freqs_cis, True)

        # wo_a is block-diagonal over groups (each projects only its own heads), hence einsum not
        # Linear. convert.py dequantizes it to bf16; an fp8 grouped GEMM would halve the memory.
        o = o.view(bsz, seqlen, self.n_local_groups, -1)
        wo_a = self.wo_a.weight.view(self.n_local_groups, self.o_lora_rank, -1)
        o = torch.einsum("bsgd,grd->bsgr", o, wo_a)
        x = self.wo_b(o.flatten(2))
        return x

Direct evidence

The indexer scores every compressed position for every query with few small heads against one shared key, masks what the query may not see, and keeps the best 512; the candidate source also publishes its candidate blocks, and later indexers score inside them.

indexer · deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash / inference/model.py
Pinned revision 2cba9e42aa02 ↗ · lines 488–580

Read code excerpt
class Indexer(torch.nn.Module):
    """Keeps the `index_topk` best compressed positions per query.

    A small side attention: fp4 query heads against one shared key per compressed position, scores
    rectified then combined by `weights_proj`. With a candidate source this is the second of two
    levels; `select_candidate_blocks` is the first.
    """

    def __init__(self, args: ModelArgs, layer_id: int):
        super().__init__()
        # the index keys are derived from the compressor's latent, so only a layer that compresses
        # its own KV can produce them; every other indexer reads them from that layer's cache
        self.owns_k = layer_id in args.kv_source_layers
        self.compress_ratio = args.compress_ratios[layer_id]
        self.is_candidate_source = layer_id == args.candidate_source_layer
        self.uses_candidates = 0 <= args.candidate_source_layer < layer_id
        self.candidate_topk_blocks = args.candidate_topk_blocks
        self.candidate_block_size = args.candidate_block_size
        self.dim = args.dim
        self.n_heads = args.index_n_heads
        self.n_local_heads = args.index_n_heads // world_size
        self.index_head_dim = args.index_head_dim
        self.rope_head_dim = args.rope_head_dim
        self.index_topk = args.index_topk
        self.q_lora_rank = args.q_lora_rank
        self.softmax_scale = self.index_head_dim**-0.5
        self.wq_b = ColumnParallelLinear(self.q_lora_rank, self.n_heads * self.index_head_dim)
        self.weights_proj = ColumnParallelLinear(self.dim, self.n_heads, dtype=torch.bfloat16)
        self.freqs_cis: torch.Tensor | None = None
        if self.owns_k:
            self.wk = Linear(args.head_dim, self.index_head_dim, dtype=torch.bfloat16)
            self.k_norm = RMSNorm(self.index_head_dim, args.norm_eps)
            self.k_cache: torch.Tensor
            self.register_buffer(
                "k_cache",
                torch.zeros(args.max_batch_size, args.max_seq_len // self.compress_ratio, args.index_head_dim),
                persistent=False,
            )

    def forward(self, x: torch.Tensor, qr: torch.Tensor, latent: torch.Tensor, start_pos: int, offset: int):
        """`latent` is this layer's RoPE-free compressed latent, None when this layer does not
        compress or when its current group is still incomplete. An index-key owner turns it into
        index keys here, which has to happen before Attention overwrites that same storage with
        the RoPE'd, quantized values."""
        assert self.freqs_cis is not None
        bsz, seqlen, _ = x.size()
        ratio, rd, end_pos = self.compress_ratio, self.rope_head_dim, start_pos + seqlen

        # latent is None while a group is still filling up, so there is nothing to publish yet
        if self.owns_k and latent is not None:
            # a latent stands for the first token of its group, so group j takes position j * ratio
            freqs = (
                self.freqs_cis[: seqlen - seqlen % ratio : ratio]
                if start_pos == 0
                else self.freqs_cis[start_pos + 1 - ratio].unsqueeze(0)
            )
            k = self.k_norm(self.wk(latent))
            apply_rotary_emb(k[..., -rd:], freqs)
            fp4_act_quant(k, fp4_block_size, True)
            self.k_cache[:bsz, start_pos // ratio : start_pos // ratio + k.size(1)] = k
            shared_attn.index_k = self.k_cache

        q = self.wq_b(qr).unflatten(-1, (self.n_local_heads, self.index_head_dim))
        apply_rotary_emb(q[..., -rd:], self.freqs_cis[start_pos:end_pos])
        fp4_act_quant(q, fp4_block_size, True)

        index_k = shared_attn.index_k[:bsz, : end_pos // ratio]
        weights = self.weights_proj(x) * (self.softmax_scale * self.n_heads**-0.5)
        index_score = torch.einsum("bshd,btd->bsht", q, index_k)
        index_score = (index_score.relu_() * weights.unsqueeze(-1)).sum(dim=2)
        if world_size > 1:
            dist.all_reduce(index_score)

        # how many compressed positions each query can see: a block becomes visible once the query
        # has passed its last token. One query per decode step, so there it is just a number.
        if start_pos == 0:
            compress_lens = (torch.arange(1, seqlen + 1, device=x.device) // ratio).unsqueeze(-1)
            index_score.masked_fill_(torch.arange(seqlen // ratio, device=x.device) >= compress_lens, -torch.inf)
        else:
            compress_lens = end_pos // ratio

        if self.is_candidate_source:
            shared_attn.candidates = select_candidate_blocks(
                index_score, compress_lens, self.candidate_topk_blocks, self.candidate_block_size
            )
        elif self.uses_candidates:
            # level two: score with our own weights, but only inside the source's candidate blocks
            index_score = index_score.masked_fill(~shared_attn.candidates, -torch.inf)

        # top-k by score, re-sorted into position order; unreachable -> -1, rest shifted by offset
        topk = min(self.index_topk, end_pos // ratio)
        idxs = index_score.topk(topk, dim=-1, sorted=False).indices.sort(dim=-1).values
        return torch.where(idxs < compress_lens, idxs + offset, -1).int()

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 o

Direct 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)