# DSV4 Audit — Decode Repetition + Precision / Tensor-Core Plan

# PART B — Precision / NVFP4 / tensor-core (WE ARE SKIPPING PART A FOR RIGHT NOW AND WILL REVISIT IT)

Goal: native NVFP4 where the math allows, FP8_E4M3 where it doesn't, BF16/FP32 only where required. Validate each change with per-layer cosine vs `dsv4/reference` before trusting it.

## B0 — What's already optimal: DO NOT "fix" the MoE
`dsv4/layers/moe.py` already runs **native NVFP4**: expert weights and activations are `float4_e2m1fn_x2`, block scales are `float8_e4m3fn`. This matches the paper (routed experts in FP4). Leave it. The remaining wins are in **attention** and the **indexer**, not MoE.

### P5 — Fused mHC pre_block + RMSNorm + NVFP4 quantize: ✅ DONE
- `fused_mhc_rmsnorm_quantize.cu` — 2-kernel approach (mhc_rmsnorm_amax_gsa + mhc_rmsnorm_quantize_nvfp4)
- **Integrated into `forward_layer`** for BOTH attn and ffn mHC paths (commit 0b6ca0d)
- Replaces: pre_block bmm (1 launch) + rmsnorm (4+ launches) + quantize (2 launches) → 2 launches
- Savings: ~5 launches/site × 2 sites × 61 layers = 610 launches/token
- Unit test: cos=0.999 vs unfused, 0.995 vs true mHC+RMSNorm at T=1/8/128
- gsa per-row diff: ~1-2e-6 (excellent)

### P4 — Fused RMSNorm + NVFP4 quantize: ✅ DONE
- `fused_rmsnorm_quantize.cu` — 2-kernel approach
- Integrated for standalone rmsnorm+quantize paths
- gsa scalar fix in `Nvfp4Linear.run_from_quantized`: per-row gsa reduced to scalar (max) for GEMM compatibility

### Stale Lock Fix: ✅ DONE (commit 845227c)
- `dsv4/kernels/cuda/loader.py`: _cleanup_stale_lock() removes lock files older than 10 minutes
- Prevents infinite spin after crash/kill during CUDA kernel compilation

## B1 — FP8_E4M3 FMHA (BIG win; perf + memory + native Blackwell)

> Implementation note from ChatGPT B1 pass: a decode-only mixed FP8/BF16 FMHA path has been added. See `docs/B1_MIXED_FP8_FMHA.md`. CUDA compile/runtime validation still needs to be run on a Blackwell box with `nvcc`.

Today: KV is *stored* mixed (FP8 nope + BF16 rope), then in "5. Gather KV" it's **dequantized to BF16** into `gbuf`, and the FMHA runs in **BF16**. That throws away the FP8 you stored and runs the heaviest kernel at half the tensor-core throughput Blackwell offers.

NVFP4 KV is correctly ruled out — your own `KVCache` docstring shows 4-bit KV values cost ~0.4%/round-trip that compounds fatally over 61 layers. **FP8_E4M3 is the right target**, and you already store the nope dims in it. Plan:
- Feed FP8 nope dims to the FMHA **directly** (skip the FP8→BF16 dequant in `comp_nope_selective`/`comp_nope_all`). Keep the 64 rope dims in BF16 (precision-sensitive) → a split-precision FMHA, or quantize rope to FP8 too and measure cos.
- Quantize `q` to FP8 before the FMHA (it's BF16 now; see B3). Blackwell FP8 MMA consumes FP8×FP8.
- Wins: removes the per-entry dequant, **halves `gbuf` bandwidth** (the per-step gather is on the decode hot path), and uses FP8 tensor cores. The DeepGEMM reference `fp8_mqa_logits` / FP8 attention paths are the template.
- Gate it behind a cos check vs the BF16 FMHA per layer; if rope-in-FP8 drops cos, keep rope BF16.
-  DeepGemm will probably show E4M3 for forward passes and E5M2 for gradients, which is correct

## B2 — Indexer scoring on FP8/FP4 tensor cores (BIG at long context; native FP4)
`single_shot_inference.py` indexer scoring is `torch.einsum('tnd,cd->tnc', q_idx.float(), k_idx.float())` → **full FP32 einsum on CUDA cores over all `n_comp` entries, every CSA layer, every decode step.** At long context this is the dominant indexer cost and it's the *opposite* of native-FP4. The indexer keys are already FP8 in cache. Replace with a tensor-core **weighted-ReLU MQA-logits kernel** in FP8 (or FP4 for the QK path, as the paper does: "lightning indexer ... FP4"). Mirror DeepGEMM `fp8_fp4_mqa_logits`. This is both the long-context perf unlock and a native-FP4 conversion. (The dead `dsv4/kernels/indexer/*.cu` is not this — write it fresh against the DeepGEMM kernel, score in FP8/FP4, top-k with a warp-local reduction, no global lock.)

## B3 — Fused rmsnorm→quant for q_a_norm / kv_norm (small, removes BF16 round-trips)
- ✅ DONE: `q_a_norm` → `q_b` path now uses fused `rmsnorm_quantize_nvfp4` + `run_from_quantized` (commit 0b6ca0d)
- Skips BF16 materialization between q_a_norm and q_b GEMM
- Saves ~6 kernel launches per layer
- `kv_norm` still uses unfused rmsnorm — requires FP8 FMHA (B1) to fully benefit, since kv goes to RoPE not another GEMM

## B4 — General "producer BF16 → consumer FP32" sweep (the user's pattern)
Find and fix places that cast up immediately after producing a narrower dtype:
```bash
grep -nE "\.float\(\)" single_shot_inference.py dsv4/layers/*.py dsv4/ops/*.py
```
For each hit, check the producing line just above. The rule: **emit the dtype the next consumer needs.** Two directions:
- Producer makes BF16, consumer's first act is `.float()` → make the producer emit FP32 (or fuse), skip the cast.
- Producer makes FP32 only to be quantized to FP4/FP8 next → fuse the quant into the producing kernel (as B3).
Do **not** apply this to the compression boundaries: the compressor *should* emit FP32 then downcast to FP8/BF16 for storage — that downcast is the architecture's memory budget, not a wasted step.

## B5 — Residual-stream precision (low priority; only if A-items don't fully resolve degeneration)
The mHC residual `X` is BF16 at `|X|≈300`, where BF16 ULP ≈ 2. This is probably fine (matches the reference / paper's expected magnitude, and mHC's doubly-stochastic B is non-expansive). But if late-decode degeneration survives Part A, A/B test the residual stream in FP32 for a few layers and watch whether the repetition onset moves. If it does, the residual precision is a contributor; if not, rule it out. Keep this last — FP32 residual doubles mHC activation memory/bandwidth, against the concurrency goal.

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# PART C — Guardrails for the agent

2. **Every precision change is gated by a per-layer cosine vs `dsv4/reference`** for a fixed prompt, *before* judging end-to-end output. Record the cos in the commit message.
3. **One change per commit**, with the A/B result. If a change drops end-to-end coherence, the per-layer cos tells you which layer/op regressed.
4. **Don't re-create the dead indexer.** B2 is a new FP8/FP4 kernel; the `dsv4/kernels/indexer/*.cu` files are archived/dead — confirm with `helpers/import_closure.py` before reusing anything there.
5. **Re-validate the stop fix (A1) on a long generation** (≥512 tokens) and a multi-turn prompt, not just "capital of France" — the turn-end token differs by prompt type.

## Suggested sequence
B1 (FP8 FMHA) → B2 (FP8/FP4 indexer) → B3 (fused norm+quant) → B4 (cast sweep) → B5 only if needed.


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# PART D — Dangling TODOS

  - It is mentioned in `/home/openclaw/dev/nvfp4-megamoe-kernel/docs/PERFORMANCE_AUDIT.md` that P5 (Fuse mHC pre_block + RMSNorm into a single op) is done but kernel, pending integration. Please wire that up if you have not done so already

  - Batched Prefill. Did we ever do this???