40 layers › 2 groups of 6 layers › Source layer, pairs pooled › Compressed sparse attention › Sparse attention
Listed rows
×tensortopk_idxs
For each query, the rows it attends to: up to 128 from the window and 512 compressed.
- shape
- [B batch, 1 position, 628 listed rows]
Sources
Contextual evidence from Join lists
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
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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 xContextual evidence from Join lists
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
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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()Contextual evidence from Gather rows
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
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@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