cubecl_server/metadata_cache.rs
1//! Cache of per-launch **metadata info buffers** (kernel shapes, strides and
2//! scalars) keyed by the exact info bytes they were built from (see
3//! [`InfoCacheKey`]).
4//!
5//! Info depends only on shapes and scalar arguments — not on the tensor data
6//! pointers, which are separate kernel arguments — so two launches with identical
7//! info, even of different kernels, can share one read-only device buffer. Caching those
8//! buffers removes a fresh allocation and a host→device copy from every launch,
9//! and it is what makes hardware graph capture clean: a stable-shape decode's
10//! launches all hit warm buffers, so nothing is allocated or copied inside the
11//! capture window (a device allocation mid-capture is illegal).
12//!
13//! [`MetadataCachePolicy`] owns every decision: whether a given metadata info is
14//! worth caching at all (small enough, and the cache enabled) and how many
15//! entries to keep before the least-recently-used one is evicted. Its two knobs,
16//! `max_entries` and `max_cached_size`, are tuned by the backend. The current
17//! [`CacheMode`] feeds into those same decisions — during graph capture the
18//! policy caches everything and evicts nothing — so the runtime never has to
19//! special-case capture: it just asks the policy and follows the answer.
20//!
21//! A captured graph records the device pointer of every info buffer its launches
22//! touch, so those buffers must outlive the graph. While a capture is recording,
23//! every entry the launch path touches — a fresh miss *or* a hit on a buffer
24//! built earlier in normal operation — is **pinned** to the graph being built.
25//! Pinned entries are never evicted, so the pointer a graph recorded stays valid
26//! for its whole life even if the cache would otherwise reclaim it.
27//! [`capture_commit`](MetadataInfoCache::capture_commit) seals those pins under
28//! the graph's id at `end_capture`, and
29//! [`graph_release`](MetadataInfoCache::graph_release) drops them when the graph
30//! is destroyed, freeing any buffer no other live graph still pins. Pins are
31//! refcounted, so an info buffer shared by two graphs survives until both are
32//! gone.
33//!
34//! A launch asks [`lookup`](MetadataInfoCache::lookup) and follows the
35//! [`Lookup`] it gets back: a hit is the buffer, and a miss says whether the
36//! one it is about to build is worth [`store`](MetadataInfoCache::store)ing.
37//! Info the policy will not cache is built and forgotten, so a value is only
38//! ever cloned into the cache when it will actually be kept, and the cache
39//! never learns a key it would not have used.
40
41use alloc::vec::Vec;
42use cubecl_environment::collections::{HashMap, HashSet};
43
44use crate::id::GraphId;
45
46/// Identifies a cached info buffer: the exact metadata words (shapes, strides,
47/// scalars) the buffer was built from — nothing else.
48///
49/// The kernel is deliberately **not** part of the key. An info buffer is
50/// read-only metadata whose bytes are fully determined by these words, so two
51/// launches (even of different kernels) with identical info want a byte-identical
52/// buffer and can safely share one. Keying on the words alone means a hit needs
53/// only the caller's borrowed slice — no owned key to clone on the hot path — and
54/// buffers are reused across kernels, not just within one.
55pub type InfoCacheKey = Vec<u64>;
56
57/// How the cache should behave for the current launch. Fed into the
58/// [`MetadataCachePolicy`], so it shapes every decision, not just a setting.
59#[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy, PartialEq, Eq)]
60pub enum CacheMode {
61 /// Normal operation: cache only info small enough to be worth it, and evict
62 /// the least-recently-used entry once the cache is full.
63 Normal,
64 /// Graph-capture warmup/recording: cache every info buffer regardless of
65 /// size and never evict, so the capture window finds every buffer warm and
66 /// no entry a recorded launch depends on is dropped mid-capture.
67 Capture,
68}
69
70/// Every caching decision, in one place. Given an info's size and the current
71/// [`CacheMode`], the policy decides whether that info is cached at all
72/// ([`should_cache`](Self::should_cache)) and, through its
73/// [`capacity`](Self::capacity), when the cache must evict to stay bounded. How
74/// those decisions are carried out (lookups, eviction) is the cache's job and
75/// differs per runtime; *what* to do lives here.
76///
77/// `max_entries` and `max_cached_size` are the backend-tunable knobs.
78#[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy)]
79pub struct MetadataCachePolicy {
80 max_entries: usize,
81 max_cached_size: usize,
82 mode: CacheMode,
83}
84
85impl Default for MetadataCachePolicy {
86 fn default() -> Self {
87 // 4096 entries, ~256 metadata words (2048 bytes): a handful of tensors'
88 // shapes and strides. Larger infos (many tensors / high rank) are
89 // cheaper to rebuild than to hash and look up.
90 Self::new(4096, 2048)
91 }
92}
93
94impl MetadataCachePolicy {
95 /// Build a policy in [`CacheMode::Normal`]. `max_entries` caps the number of
96 /// cached entries; `max_cached_size` (bytes) is the largest info still worth
97 /// caching in normal operation.
98 pub fn new(max_entries: usize, max_cached_size: usize) -> Self {
99 Self {
100 max_entries,
101 max_cached_size,
102 mode: CacheMode::Normal,
103 }
104 }
105
106 /// Switch the mode driving the policy's decisions (see [`CacheMode`]).
107 pub fn mode(&mut self, mode: CacheMode) {
108 self.mode = mode;
109 }
110
111 /// Whether an info of `size` bytes should go through the cache at all. In
112 /// [`CacheMode::Normal`] a too-large info (or a disabled cache) is skipped:
113 /// the runtime should create it directly, without a lookup or a store. In
114 /// [`CacheMode::Capture`] everything is cached so the capture window stays
115 /// warm.
116 pub fn should_cache(&self, size: usize) -> bool {
117 match self.mode {
118 CacheMode::Capture => true,
119 CacheMode::Normal => self.max_entries > 0 && size <= self.max_cached_size,
120 }
121 }
122
123 /// The entry bound the cache must hold to, or `None` when unbounded. In
124 /// [`CacheMode::Capture`] the cache is unbounded and never evicts (dropping
125 /// an entry could free a buffer a recorded launch still needs); in
126 /// [`CacheMode::Normal`] it is capped at `max_entries`.
127 pub fn capacity(&self) -> Option<usize> {
128 match self.mode {
129 CacheMode::Capture => None,
130 CacheMode::Normal => Some(self.max_entries),
131 }
132 }
133
134 /// Whether entries touched right now must be pinned to the graph being
135 /// captured. True in [`CacheMode::Capture`]: a graph records the device
136 /// pointer of every info buffer its launches touch, so those entries must
137 /// not be evicted for the graph's lifetime — even after the cache returns to
138 /// [`CacheMode::Normal`].
139 pub fn pins_entries(&self) -> bool {
140 matches!(self.mode, CacheMode::Capture)
141 }
142}
143
144#[derive(Debug)]
145struct Entry<V> {
146 value: V,
147 /// Clock tick of this entry's most recent use (insert or hit); the smallest
148 /// marks the least-recently-used entry, evicted first.
149 last_used: u64,
150 /// Number of live captured graphs that pinned this entry. While `> 0` the
151 /// entry is never evicted, so every graph that recorded this info buffer
152 /// keeps replaying against the exact buffer it captured. Dropped back toward
153 /// zero as those graphs are destroyed (see [`MetadataInfoCache::graph_release`]).
154 locks: u32,
155}
156
157/// What the cache says about an info buffer a launch is about to need.
158///
159/// Two answers, because a miss still has to say whether the result is worth
160/// keeping: an info too large for the policy is built and forgotten, and the
161/// cache never learns a key it would not have used.
162pub enum Lookup<V> {
163 /// The buffer is already cached, and this is it.
164 Hit(V),
165 /// Nothing is cached for it; build the buffer.
166 Build {
167 /// Whether to hand the result back through [`MetadataInfoCache::store`].
168 store: bool,
169 },
170}
171
172/// A cache of metadata info buffers keyed by [`InfoCacheKey`], generic over the
173/// value type `V` (a device buffer handle for a compute backend). Evicting an
174/// entry drops its `V`; when `V` is a memory handle that returns the buffer to
175/// the pool, so the cache never pins more device memory than its live entries.
176///
177/// All policy is delegated to [`MetadataCachePolicy`]; this type only carries
178/// out its decisions. See the [module docs](self) for the intended
179/// [`lookup`](MetadataInfoCache::lookup) is the entry point a launch wants;
180/// the steps it composes are public for the paths that need them apart.
181#[derive(Debug)]
182pub struct MetadataInfoCache<V> {
183 entries: HashMap<InfoCacheKey, Entry<V>>,
184 policy: MetadataCachePolicy,
185 /// Monotonic logical clock; advanced once per [`get`](Self::get).
186 clock: u64,
187 /// Keys touched during the in-progress capture, each pinned exactly once,
188 /// awaiting association with a [`GraphId`] at
189 /// [`capture_commit`](Self::capture_commit) (or release at
190 /// [`capture_discard`](Self::capture_discard) if the capture is abandoned).
191 pending: HashSet<InfoCacheKey>,
192 /// The keys each live captured graph pinned, so
193 /// [`graph_release`](Self::graph_release) can drop that graph's locks when it
194 /// is destroyed.
195 graph_locks: HashMap<GraphId, Vec<InfoCacheKey>>,
196}
197
198impl<V> MetadataInfoCache<V> {
199 /// Create a cache governed by `policy`.
200 pub fn new(policy: MetadataCachePolicy) -> Self {
201 Self {
202 entries: HashMap::new(),
203 policy,
204 clock: 0,
205 pending: HashSet::new(),
206 graph_locks: HashMap::new(),
207 }
208 }
209
210 /// Switch the [`CacheMode`] driving the policy (see
211 /// [`MetadataCachePolicy::mode`]).
212 pub fn mode(&mut self, mode: CacheMode) {
213 self.policy.mode(mode);
214 }
215
216 /// Whether an info of `size` bytes should be cached — see
217 /// [`MetadataCachePolicy::should_cache`]. When `false`, skip the cache
218 /// entirely and create the value directly.
219 pub fn should_cache(&self, size: usize) -> bool {
220 self.policy.should_cache(size)
221 }
222
223 /// Number of entries currently cached.
224 pub fn len(&self) -> usize {
225 self.entries.len()
226 }
227
228 /// Whether the cache holds no entries.
229 pub fn is_empty(&self) -> bool {
230 self.entries.is_empty()
231 }
232
233 /// Drop every cached entry (releasing every held `V`).
234 pub fn clear(&mut self) {
235 self.entries.clear();
236 }
237
238 /// Drop every entry no live graph pins (releasing their held `V`s),
239 /// keeping the pinned ones — their device pointers are recorded inside
240 /// captured graphs that will replay against them.
241 ///
242 /// The explicit-cleanup hook. Cached info buffers are live slices in the
243 /// dynamic memory pools, so a cleanup that left them there would hold a
244 /// page of every pool the workload ever grew out of.
245 pub fn clear_unpinned(&mut self) {
246 self.entries.retain(|_, entry| entry.locks > 0);
247 }
248}
249
250impl<V: Clone> MetadataInfoCache<V> {
251 /// Look up `key`, advancing the logical clock by one tick. On a hit the
252 /// entry is marked used — its recency resets — and the value is cloned out.
253 /// During a capture ([`pins_entries`](MetadataCachePolicy::pins_entries)) a
254 /// hit also pins the entry to the graph being recorded, once per capture.
255 ///
256 /// Call only when [`should_cache`](Self::should_cache) is `true`; on a miss
257 /// create the value and hand it to [`insert`](Self::insert).
258 /// What to do about the info `words`, under `mode`.
259 ///
260 /// The one entry point a launch needs: it sets the mode, asks the policy
261 /// whether this info is worth caching at all, and looks it up if so. A
262 /// caller that reached for [`mode`](Self::mode), [`should_cache`] and
263 /// [`get`] in sequence was spelling this out, and every backend spelled it
264 /// out the same way.
265 ///
266 /// The words are borrowed here so a hit clones nothing; a miss hands them
267 /// to [`store`](Self::store) by value, as the key.
268 ///
269 /// [`should_cache`]: Self::should_cache
270 /// [`get`]: Self::get
271 pub fn lookup(&mut self, mode: CacheMode, words: &[u64]) -> Lookup<V> {
272 self.mode(mode);
273 if !self.should_cache(core::mem::size_of_val(words)) {
274 return Lookup::Build { store: false };
275 }
276 match self.get(words) {
277 Some(value) => Lookup::Hit(value),
278 None => Lookup::Build { store: true },
279 }
280 }
281
282 /// Record `value` as the buffer for `words`, after a [`Lookup::Build`]
283 /// that asked for it.
284 pub fn store(&mut self, words: InfoCacheKey, value: V) {
285 self.insert(words, value);
286 }
287
288 /// Look up `key`, advancing the logical clock by one tick. On a hit the
289 /// entry is marked used — its recency resets — and the value is cloned out.
290 /// During a capture ([`pins_entries`](MetadataCachePolicy::pins_entries)) a
291 /// hit also pins the entry to the graph being recorded, once per capture.
292 ///
293 /// [`lookup`](Self::lookup) composes this with the policy check ahead of
294 /// it; reach for this directly only when that check has already been made.
295 pub fn get(&mut self, key: &[u64]) -> Option<V> {
296 self.clock += 1;
297 let clock = self.clock;
298 // Pin once per capture. Check membership first (borrowed, no alloc); only
299 // when this is a fresh pin do we materialize an owned key for `pending`.
300 // `pending`/`entries` are disjoint fields, so both borrows coexist.
301 let pin = self.policy.pins_entries() && !self.pending.contains(key);
302 let entry = self.entries.get_mut(key)?;
303 entry.last_used = clock;
304 if pin {
305 self.pending.insert(key.to_vec());
306 entry.locks += 1;
307 }
308 Some(entry.value.clone())
309 }
310
311 /// Store `value` under `key` after a [`get`](Self::get) miss. During a
312 /// capture the new entry is pinned to the graph being recorded; otherwise it
313 /// evicts the least-recently-used *unpinned* entry first if the cache is at
314 /// [capacity](MetadataCachePolicy::capacity) (a capture is unbounded and
315 /// never evicts).
316 ///
317 /// Because the runtime only reaches here on a
318 /// [`should_cache`](Self::should_cache) miss, the value it clones in is
319 /// always kept — no wasted clones.
320 pub fn insert(&mut self, key: InfoCacheKey, value: V) {
321 if let Some(capacity) = self.policy.capacity() {
322 if capacity == 0 {
323 return;
324 }
325 if self.entries.len() >= capacity {
326 self.evict_least_recently_used();
327 }
328 }
329 // A miss during capture pins the fresh entry to the graph being recorded.
330 let locks = if self.policy.pins_entries() {
331 self.pending.insert(key.clone());
332 1
333 } else {
334 0
335 };
336 self.entries.insert(
337 key,
338 Entry {
339 value,
340 last_used: self.clock,
341 locks,
342 },
343 );
344 }
345
346 /// Seal the entries pinned during the just-finished capture under `graph`,
347 /// so [`graph_release`](Self::graph_release) can drop their locks when the
348 /// graph is destroyed. Call once from `end_capture` after the graph is built.
349 pub fn capture_commit(&mut self, graph: GraphId) {
350 if !self.pending.is_empty() {
351 let keys = self.pending.drain().collect();
352 self.graph_locks.insert(graph, keys);
353 }
354 }
355
356 /// Drop the locks taken during a capture that was abandoned (never turned
357 /// into a graph), so the touched entries become evictable again. The entries
358 /// themselves stay as ordinary cached values.
359 pub fn capture_discard(&mut self) {
360 let keys: Vec<_> = self.pending.drain().collect();
361 for key in keys {
362 if let Some(entry) = self.entries.get_mut(&key) {
363 entry.locks = entry.locks.saturating_sub(1);
364 }
365 }
366 }
367
368 /// Release the entries a destroyed `graph` pinned. An entry no other live
369 /// graph still pins is removed, freeing its buffer — this is how the cache
370 /// is cleaned up when a graph is destroyed.
371 pub fn graph_release(&mut self, graph: GraphId) {
372 let Some(keys) = self.graph_locks.remove(&graph) else {
373 return;
374 };
375 for key in keys {
376 let drop_entry = match self.entries.get_mut(&key) {
377 Some(entry) => {
378 entry.locks = entry.locks.saturating_sub(1);
379 entry.locks == 0
380 }
381 None => false,
382 };
383 if drop_entry {
384 self.entries.remove(&key);
385 }
386 }
387 }
388
389 /// Drop the entry whose last use is oldest (largest "time since last use"),
390 /// skipping entries pinned to a live graph.
391 fn evict_least_recently_used(&mut self) {
392 let victim = self
393 .entries
394 .iter()
395 .filter(|(_, entry)| entry.locks == 0)
396 .min_by_key(|(_, entry)| entry.last_used)
397 .map(|(key, _)| key.clone());
398 if let Some(key) = victim {
399 self.entries.remove(&key);
400 }
401 }
402}
403
404#[cfg(test)]
405mod tests {
406 use super::*;
407
408 fn key(n: u64) -> InfoCacheKey {
409 alloc::vec![n]
410 }
411
412 fn cache(max_entries: usize) -> MetadataInfoCache<u32> {
413 MetadataInfoCache::new(MetadataCachePolicy::new(max_entries, 64))
414 }
415
416 #[test]
417 fn normal_mode_gates_on_size() {
418 let cache = cache(8);
419 assert!(cache.should_cache(64), "within max_cached_size");
420 assert!(!cache.should_cache(65), "over max_cached_size");
421 }
422
423 /// An explicit cleanup drops every entry except the ones live graphs pin:
424 /// the unpinned buffers are what keeps the dynamic pools from ever being
425 /// rebuilt, and the pinned ones are what recorded graphs replay against.
426 #[test]
427 fn clear_unpinned_keeps_only_graph_pinned_entries() {
428 let mut cache = cache(8);
429 cache.insert(key(0), 0);
430
431 // A capture touches entry 1 (fresh) and seals it under a graph.
432 cache.mode(CacheMode::Capture);
433 cache.insert(key(1), 1);
434 cache.capture_commit(GraphId::new());
435 cache.mode(CacheMode::Normal);
436
437 cache.insert(key(2), 2);
438 assert_eq!(cache.len(), 3);
439
440 cache.clear_unpinned();
441 assert!(cache.get(&key(0)).is_none(), "unpinned entries are dropped");
442 assert!(cache.get(&key(2)).is_none(), "unpinned entries are dropped");
443 assert_eq!(
444 cache.get(&key(1)),
445 Some(1),
446 "a graph-pinned entry survives: its pointer is recorded in the graph"
447 );
448 }
449
450 #[test]
451 fn capture_mode_caches_any_size() {
452 let mut cache = cache(8);
453 cache.mode(CacheMode::Capture);
454 assert!(cache.should_cache(10_000));
455 }
456
457 #[test]
458 fn hit_returns_value_and_records_use() {
459 let mut cache = cache(8);
460 let k = key(1);
461 assert!(cache.get(&k).is_none());
462 cache.insert(k.clone(), 42);
463 assert_eq!(cache.get(&k), Some(42));
464 }
465
466 #[test]
467 fn normal_mode_evicts_least_recently_used() {
468 // Capacity 2: fill it, keep entry 0 hot so entry 1 is the LRU, then
469 // insert a third entry and expect entry 1 evicted, entry 0 kept.
470 let mut cache = cache(2);
471 cache.insert(key(0), 0);
472 cache.insert(key(1), 1);
473
474 // Touch entry 0 so entry 1 becomes least-recently-used.
475 assert_eq!(cache.get(&key(0)), Some(0));
476
477 cache.insert(key(2), 2);
478 assert_eq!(cache.len(), 2, "stayed at capacity");
479 assert_eq!(cache.get(&key(0)), Some(0), "recently used entry kept");
480 assert!(cache.get(&key(1)).is_none(), "least-recently-used evicted");
481 assert_eq!(cache.get(&key(2)), Some(2), "new entry cached");
482 }
483
484 #[test]
485 fn capture_mode_is_unbounded() {
486 let mut cache = cache(2);
487 cache.mode(CacheMode::Capture);
488 for i in 0..10 {
489 cache.insert(key(i), i as u32);
490 }
491 assert_eq!(cache.len(), 10, "capture must cache every buffer");
492 }
493
494 #[test]
495 fn zero_capacity_disables_caching() {
496 let mut cache = cache(0);
497 assert!(!cache.should_cache(8), "disabled cache never caches");
498 cache.insert(key(0), 0);
499 assert!(cache.is_empty());
500 }
501
502 /// Capture one entry into a graph, then thrash the cache well past capacity
503 /// in normal mode: the pinned entry must survive (its buffer is still
504 /// replayed against), and only after the graph is released can it be evicted.
505 #[test]
506 fn pinned_entry_survives_eviction_until_graph_released() {
507 let mut cache = cache(2);
508 let graph = GraphId::new();
509
510 // Capture pins entry 0.
511 cache.mode(CacheMode::Capture);
512 cache.insert(key(0), 0);
513 cache.capture_commit(graph);
514
515 // Back to normal: flood the cache far past capacity (get-then-insert,
516 // as the launch path does, so recency advances per entry).
517 cache.mode(CacheMode::Normal);
518 for i in 1..20 {
519 cache.get(&key(i));
520 cache.insert(key(i), i as u32);
521 }
522 assert_eq!(cache.get(&key(0)), Some(0), "pinned entry never evicted");
523
524 // Destroying the graph releases the pin and drops the entry.
525 cache.graph_release(graph);
526 assert!(cache.get(&key(0)).is_none(), "released entry cleaned up");
527 }
528
529 /// A cache hit during capture (on a buffer built earlier in normal mode)
530 /// must pin that entry — otherwise later eviction would free a buffer the
531 /// graph still replays against. This is the finding-#1 regression guard.
532 #[test]
533 fn capture_hit_on_normal_entry_pins_it() {
534 let mut cache = cache(2);
535 let graph = GraphId::new();
536
537 // Built in normal mode (e.g. regular pool), cached.
538 cache.insert(key(0), 0);
539
540 // Captured: the launch hits the existing entry, which must pin it.
541 cache.mode(CacheMode::Capture);
542 assert_eq!(cache.get(&key(0)), Some(0));
543 cache.capture_commit(graph);
544
545 cache.mode(CacheMode::Normal);
546 for i in 1..20 {
547 cache.get(&key(i));
548 cache.insert(key(i), i as u32);
549 }
550 assert_eq!(cache.get(&key(0)), Some(0), "hit-pinned entry survives");
551 }
552
553 /// An entry shared by two graphs stays until both are destroyed (refcount).
554 #[test]
555 fn pin_is_refcounted_across_graphs() {
556 let mut cache = cache(8);
557 let (g1, g2) = (GraphId::new(), GraphId::new());
558
559 cache.mode(CacheMode::Capture);
560 cache.insert(key(0), 0);
561 cache.capture_commit(g1);
562
563 // Second capture hits the same entry.
564 assert_eq!(cache.get(&key(0)), Some(0));
565 cache.capture_commit(g2);
566
567 cache.mode(CacheMode::Normal);
568 cache.graph_release(g1);
569 assert_eq!(cache.get(&key(0)), Some(0), "still pinned by g2");
570 cache.graph_release(g2);
571 assert!(cache.get(&key(0)).is_none(), "gone once both released");
572 }
573
574 /// An abandoned capture releases its pins but keeps the entries as ordinary
575 /// cached values (they become evictable again).
576 #[test]
577 fn capture_discard_unpins_without_removing() {
578 let mut cache = cache(8);
579 cache.mode(CacheMode::Capture);
580 cache.insert(key(0), 0);
581 cache.capture_discard();
582
583 // Entry still present, but now evictable: flood past capacity in normal.
584 cache.mode(CacheMode::Normal);
585 assert_eq!(cache.get(&key(0)), Some(0), "kept as a normal entry");
586 for i in 1..20 {
587 cache.get(&key(i));
588 cache.insert(key(i), i as u32);
589 }
590 assert!(cache.get(&key(0)).is_none(), "no longer pinned, evicted");
591 }
592}