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<h1 align="center">Dynamo ModelExpress</h1>
<p align="center">
<strong>Move model weights into GPU memory and reusable artifacts into filesystem caches</strong> — through P2P RDMA, streaming, GPUDirect Storage, or host-staged POSIX I/O.
</p>
<p align="center">
<a href="docs/README.md">Docs hub</a> •
<a href="#features">Features</a> •
<a href="#modelexpress-architecture">Architecture</a> •
<a href="#benchmarks">Benchmarks</a> •
<a href="#quick-start">Quick Start</a> •
<a href="#deployment">Deployment</a> •
<a href="#documentation">Docs</a> •
<a href="#contributing">Contributing</a>
</p>
---
## Overview
ModelExpress (MX) starts with a simple question: before loading a model, where does a compatible copy of its weights already live? Rather than treating every replica as an independent cold start, ModelExpress discovers available sources and selects the fastest supported path into GPU memory. Deploy it standalone or alongside vLLM, SGLang, NVIDIA Dynamo, and other inference runtimes.
| LLM serving problem | How ModelExpress helps |
|---------------------|------------------------|
| **Models take too long to load** | GPU-to-GPU transfer via NIXL/RDMA instead of loading from storage. In P2P mode, weights already serving inference act as the cache—no extra storage. |
| **JIT warmup dominates startup** | Compatible vLLM and SGLang NIXL TorchInductor, Triton, DeepGEMM, TileLang, CuTe DSL, and FlashInfer JIT caches transfer from a ready replica instead of being rebuilt. |
| **Many nodes need the same model** | Metadata backends (Redis, K8s CRD) coordinate sharing: one node loads; others receive via P2P or local paths. |
> **Today, ModelExpress loads DeepSeek-V4-Pro weights from a serving replica in 11 seconds—a 48× speedup over a cold Hugging Face pull. Reusing compatible weights and JIT kernel-cache artifacts reduces process-start-to-API-ready time from 8 minutes 1 second to 1 minute 44 seconds (4.6×).**
>
> Measured with vLLM 0.23.0 and TP=8 on an 8×B200 node with NVIDIA ConnectX-7 NICs. The 48× baseline is the cold Hugging Face pull in the same environment, at 8m 53s. See [Benchmarks](#benchmarks) for the full configuration and the intermediate storage paths.
### Runtime path selection
At startup, ModelExpress probes the capabilities available in the environment and tries the fixed loading strategy chain documented in [Configuration](docs/CONFIGURATION.md#loading-strategy-selection):
1. **Serving peer → GPU** — Transfer post-processed weights directly from a compatible replica over NIXL P2P RDMA. Each new replica then joins the source pool, turning scale-out into GPU-to-GPU fan-out.
2. **Server cache → runtime** — In no-shared-storage mode, fetch the snapshot through the ModelExpress server and hand it to the runtime's native loader.
3. **Local safetensors → GPU** — Use InstantTensor when its package, CUDA-like device, and runtime adapter capability are available.
4. **Remote or local storage → GPU with ModelStreamer** — Fetch safetensor ranges concurrently through a bounded CPU staging buffer while overlapping reads with GPU placement.
5. **Local storage → GPU with GDS** — Use GPUDirect Storage when the platform and runtime adapter support it.
6. **Default loader** — Fall back to the inference engine's native path.
The first applicable strategy runs. If a strategy fails before changing model state, ModelExpress continues to the next one. If weights may already have landed, it reinitializes the model before continuing so a partially loaded model is never served.
The ModelExpress control plane discovers compatible sources through Redis, Kubernetes CRDs, or the decentralized `k8s-service` backend. Weight bytes stay on the data plane and move directly between storage or source and target. For clusters with a shared disk cache, the Model Cache Service also coordinates a single download so concurrent replicas reuse one cached checkpoint instead of multiplying external ingress.
---
## Features
- **Cold start reduction** — GPU-to-GPU P2P transfer over InfiniBand instead of disk load
- **Capability-driven loading** — Fixed priority chain: P2P RDMA → server cache → InstantTensor → ModelStreamer → GDS → native loader, with safe fallback
- **HuggingFace caching** — PVC-backed cache, `HF_HUB_OFFLINE`, `ignore_weights`, `get_model_path` for Dynamo
- **P2P GPU transfer** — vLLM `modelexpress` loader, SGLang `remote_instance` loader with the `modelexpress` backend, and TRT-LLM `checkpoint_format="MX"` with NVIDIA NIXL over InfiniBand, RoCE, NVLink, EFA, and other supported fabrics
- **JIT cache transfer** — Reuse compatible vLLM and SGLang NIXL compilation caches when replicas scale out
- **Metadata backends** — Redis, Kubernetes CRD, or decentralized Kubernetes Service routing
- **Kubernetes** — Helm chart, CRDs/Redis for P2P, no-shared-storage support
- **CLI** — Health, download, list, validate, clear; init-container support for pre-warming
- **ModelStreamer integration** — Pipeline concurrent reads from S3, Azure Blob, GCS, or local storage into vLLM and SGLang
- **Expanded model pull providers**: NGC catalog and Google Cloud Storage in addition to Hugging Face
- **GDS (GPUDirect Storage)**: load model weights directly from NVMe into GPU memory, bypassing the CPU/DRAM copy path
- **Lower NIXL registration overhead** — Opt in to allocation-level pool registration or a single VMM arena registration
### Integrations
| Runtime | Integration |
|---------|-------------|
| vLLM | Native `--load-format modelexpress` in 0.23.0+ for P2P weight and JIT cache transfer; older versions use the ModelExpress plugin |
| SGLang | `remote_instance` + `modelexpress` backend with `transport=nixl` or `transport=transfer_engine` — see [`docs/SGLANG.md`](docs/SGLANG.md) |
| TensorRT-LLM | Native `checkpoint_format="MX"` for Llama-family P2P weight transfer (beta) — [TensorRT-LLM example](examples/p2p_transfer_k8s/client/trtllm/) |
| NVIDIA Dynamo vLLM runtime | `--load-format modelexpress` for P2P weight and JIT cache transfer — [Dynamo P2P example](examples/dynamo_p2p_transfer_k8s/README.md) |
| NVIDIA Dynamo SGLang runtime | `remote_instance` + `modelexpress` backend for P2P weight transfer; `transport=nixl` also supports JIT cache transfer — see [`docs/SGLANG.md`](docs/SGLANG.md) |
| llm-d | Upstream Optimized Baseline integration — [llm-d integration guide](docs/integrations/orchestrators/llm-d.md) |
---
## ModelExpress Architecture
*The ModelExpress server brokers metadata only. Weight bytes move directly from a compatible serving peer, object storage, or file storage into the new inference engine.*
*Phase 1 — Bootstrap once:* The seed pod selects the fastest available storage path, loads and post-processes the weights, registers GPU memory with NIXL, and publishes metadata. *Phase 2 — Scale out:* Compatible pods discover a serving peer through the control plane and receive weights directly over NIXL GPUDirect RDMA; the ModelExpress server never handles the weight bytes.
- **modelexpress_server**: gRPC server with configurable metadata backends (Redis, Kubernetes CRD).
- **modelexpress_client**: Rust CLI for cache management; Python package with inference engine loaders and `MxClient` for gRPC.
- **modelexpress_common**: Protobuf definitions, model-provider traits, and shared configuration.
See [Architecture](docs/ARCHITECTURE.md).
---
## Benchmarks
The following results use DeepSeek-V4-Pro with vLLM 0.23.0 and TP=8 on an 8×B200 GPU node with NVIDIA ConnectX-7 NICs. Runs used `--enable-flashinfer-autotune`; timings are end-to-end startup measurements from the benchmark environment and will vary with storage, network, and runtime configuration.
### Cold-start loading paths
| Loading path | Time | Speedup vs. cold Hugging Face pull |
|--------------|-----:|-----------------------------------:|
| Cold pull from Hugging Face | 8m 53s | 1× |
| ModelStreamer from S3 | 3m 16s | 2.7× |
| High-throughput local storage, cold page cache | 1m 10s | 7.6× |
| P2P GPU-to-GPU over NIXL/RDMA | 11s | 48× |
### NIXL memory registration
| Registration strategy | Time | Speedup |
|-----------------------|-----:|--------:|
| Per tensor (default) | 8.16s | 1× |
| Pool registration (`MX_POOL_REG=1`) | 1.14s | 7.1× |
| VMM arena (`MX_VMM_ARENA=1`) | 0.79s | 10.3× |
Pool registration and VMM arena registration are alternatives; enable only one.
### Weight and kernel-artifact transfer
| Startup path | API ready | Speedup |
|--------------|----------:|--------:|
| Cold start from VAST, no P2P source | 8m 1s | 1× |
| P2P RDMA weights only | 7m | 1.1× |
| P2P RDMA weights and kernel artifacts | 1m 44s | 4.6× |
The artifact-enabled run reused compatible Triton, DeepGEMM, TileLang, CuTe DSL, and FlashInfer caches. ModelExpress transfers these file-backed artifacts between registered host-memory buffers, verifies them, and installs them into the target engine's filesystem cache; they are not loaded into GPU memory.
---
## Quick Start
This Quick Start sets up the P2P path, which is what the benchmarks above measure, so it needs the full NIXL and metadata-backend prerequisites listed below. For a local single-machine setup instead, `docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml up --build` brings up the server with a Redis backend and no NIXL, and the `modelexpress-cli` commands in [CLI](docs/CLI.md) exercise it. See the [documentation hub](docs/README.md) for the scenario that matches your storage and orchestration setup.
**Requirements:** vLLM 0.23.0+, the ModelExpress Python package, NIXL-compatible GPU nodes, and a reachable [metadata backend](examples/p2p_transfer_k8s/server/README.md).
```bash
git clone https://github.com/ai-dynamo/modelexpress.git
cd modelexpress
python -m pip install ./modelexpress_client/python
export MX_SERVER_ADDRESS=modelexpress-server:8001
export MX_P2P_METADATA=1
export MX_ARTIFACT_TRANSFER=1
export MX_ARTIFACT_BACKEND=nixl
vllm serve deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4-Pro \
--load-format modelexpress \
--tensor-parallel-size 8 \
--trust-remote-code
```
Start the first replica with weights available through local storage or `MX_MODEL_URI`. After it becomes healthy, launch the same command on another compatible node: ModelExpress discovers the serving replica and transfers its post-processed weights directly over NIXL P2P RDMA.
`MX_ARTIFACT_TRANSFER=1` enables compatible JIT-cache installation and
publication. `MX_ARTIFACT_BACKEND` selects exactly one artifact transport and
defaults to `nixl`. The NIXL backend requires `MX_P2P_METADATA=1` and a central
coordinator (`redis` or `kubernetes`). The `mooncake` backend instead uses a
configured Mooncake distributed store and does not require an MX server or P2P
metadata. Both backends require writable staging/runtime cache directories and
a trusted deployment; there is no automatic fallback between them.
See the [Kubernetes P2P example](examples/p2p_transfer_k8s/README.md) for metadata-server and inference-worker manifests.
---
## Deployment
### Kubernetes (Helm)
```bash
kubectl create secret generic hf-token-secret --from-literal=HF_TOKEN=${HF_TOKEN} -n <namespace>
helm install modelexpress ./helm --namespace modelexpress --create-namespace
```
Override [values-production.yaml](helm/values-production.yaml) for your env. Full config: [helm/README.md](helm/README.md).
### P2P GPU Transfer (vLLM)
```bash
vllm serve deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4-Pro \
--load-format modelexpress \
--tensor-parallel-size 8 \
--trust-remote-code
```
vLLM 0.23.0 recognizes the load format natively; the ModelExpress Python package must still be installed in the runtime image. The first instance loads from disk, while subsequent instances receive weights via RDMA. Set `MX_ARTIFACT_TRANSFER=1` to transfer compatible JIT caches as well, and select `MX_ARTIFACT_BACKEND=nixl` (the default) or `mooncake`. [P2P guide](examples/p2p_transfer_k8s/README.md) · [Server setup](examples/p2p_transfer_k8s/server/README.md).
### ModelStreamer on Kubernetes
Set `MX_MODEL_URI` to an `s3://`, `gs://`, or `az://` URI or an absolute local path. For tensor-parallel deployments, participating ranks divide remote reads via `MX_MS_DISTRIBUTED` (on by default; set to `0` to disable); TP=1 ignores the setting. [ModelStreamer examples](examples/model_streamer_k8s/README.md) · [vLLM recipes](examples/model_streamer_k8s/client/vllm/README.md).
### Docker
```bash
docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml up --build
```
---
## Configuration
**Precedence:** CLI → env vars (`MODEL_EXPRESS_*`, `MX_*`) → YAML → defaults. See the [configuration reference](docs/CONFIGURATION.md) for defaults and eligibility gates.
| Variable | Default | Description |
|----------|---------|-------------|
| `MODEL_EXPRESS_SERVER_PORT` | `8001` | gRPC port |
| `MODEL_EXPRESS_CACHE_DIRECTORY` | `./cache` | Cache root |
| `MX_METADATA_BACKEND` | Server: required; client: unset | Server: `redis` \| `kubernetes`. Client: unset, `server`, `redis`, or `kubernetes` uses a central coordinator; `k8s-service` enables decentralized Kubernetes Service routing. |
| `REDIS_URL` | (required for `redis`) | Redis connection URL. Alternatively set `MX_REDIS_HOST` + `MX_REDIS_PORT`. No localhost fallback. |
| `MX_SERVER_ADDRESS` | `localhost:8001` | Client-side gRPC server address (P2P). Recommended. |
| `MODEL_EXPRESS_URL` | `localhost:8001` | Deprecated in favor of `MX_SERVER_ADDRESS`. Still read by all client paths and still takes precedence when both are set, because the TRT-LLM live-transfer integration reads only this name. It is removed once that path reads `MX_SERVER_ADDRESS`; until then set both to the same value. |
| `MX_MODEL_URI` | (unset) | Enable ModelStreamer for an object-store URI or absolute local path. |
| `MX_MS_DISTRIBUTED` | `1` | Divide ModelStreamer reads across tensor-parallel ranks when TP > 1. On by default; set to `0` to disable. |
| `MX_POOL_REG` | `0` | Register each underlying CUDA allocation once instead of registering every tensor. |
| `MX_VMM_ARENA` | `0` | Load into a CUDA VMM arena and register the used range once; alternative to `MX_POOL_REG`. |
| `MX_P2P_SOURCE_SELECTOR` | `random` | Peer ordering policy; set `rendezvous_hash` for deterministic, minimally disruptive selection. |
```bash
cargo run --bin config_gen -- --output model-express.yaml
cargo run --bin modelexpress-server -- --config model-express.yaml --validate-config
```
Full reference: [docs/DEPLOYMENT.md](docs/DEPLOYMENT.md).
---
## CLI
```bash
modelexpress-cli health
modelexpress-cli model download <model-id>
modelexpress-cli model list
modelexpress-cli model validate <model-id>
modelexpress-cli model clear <model-id>
```
[CLI Reference](docs/CLI.md)
---
## Testing
```bash
cargo test
cargo test --test integration_tests
cargo run --bin test_client -- --test-model "google-t5/t5-small"
./run_integration_tests.sh
cargo bench
```
---
## Documentation
Start with the [ModelExpress documentation hub](docs/README.md).
| Doc | Description |
|-----|-------------|
| [Choose a path](docs/guides/choose-a-path.md) | Scenario-driven path selection for P2P, storage, no shared storage, and orchestrators |
| [Deployment](docs/DEPLOYMENT.md) | Server prerequisites, Docker, Kubernetes, Helm, and rollout |
| [Configuration](docs/CONFIGURATION.md) | ModelExpress-owned settings, defaults, and fixed loader-chain eligibility |
| [Integrations](docs/integrations/README.md) | vLLM, SGLang, TensorRT-LLM, Dynamo, and llm-d |
| [Troubleshooting](docs/TROUBLESHOOTING.md) | Symptom-driven diagnostics |
| [Architecture](docs/ARCHITECTURE.md) | Components, gRPC, NIXL, FP8 |
| [Benchmarks](docs/BENCHMARKS.md) | Loading paths, NIXL registration, and artifact-transfer results |
| [RL package](docs/rl/README.md) | Quickstart, imports, runtime plugins, and support boundaries |
| [RL architecture](docs/rl/ARCHITECTURE.md) | Weight versions, stage_weight, staged transfer, caching, and failure recovery |
| [RL configuration](docs/rl/CONFIGURATION.md) | RL staging, streaming, checksum, and diagnostics settings |
| [S3 delta refit](docs/rl/S3_DELTA_WEIGHT_REFIT.md) | Trainer-to-generator S3 delta workflow |
| [CLI](docs/CLI.md) | Full CLI reference |
| [Metrics](docs/METRICS.md) | Prometheus exposition for the server and the client |
| [Metadata](docs/metadata.md) | Redis keys, K8s CRD schema |
| [Helm](helm/README.md) | Kubernetes configuration |
---
## Known Issues
- **GDS loader does not scale with TP** — Each TP rank reads full checkpoint tensors and vLLM shards them afterward, so GDS/disk reads scale with TP degree. This can reduce or reverse expected GDS speedups versus the default mmap-based disk loader; TP-aware range reads are needed for a full fix. See [GDS Reads Full Checkpoint Tensors Under TP](docs/ARCHITECTURE.md#gds-reads-full-checkpoint-tensors-under-tp).
- **P2P source wedges after a reader is torn down (UCX/InfiniBand)** — Once a reader that pulled from a source is removed, the source can stop serving new readers: their RDMA reads stall to the transfer timeout and fall back to disk, while the source keeps advertising `Ready` and serving inference normally. Loading stays correct, but P2P is effectively lost for that source until the source worker pod is restarted. The cause is NIXL retaining queue-pair state for a peer it holds no record of, so it is not fixable from ModelExpress; tracked as nvbug 6519532. Lower `MX_TRANSFER_TIMEOUT` to bound the stall.
---
## Roadmap
### Priorities Under Development
- **DRAM and NVMe-resident shard streaming**: Stream shards across workers while keeping weights in DRAM and host local high-speed NVMe.
- **[RL post-training refit](docs/rl/README.md)**: Trainer ranks publish their owned shards; rollout workers plan against their target layout, then pull, convert, reshard, and load directly over NIXL.
- **Earlier weight availability**: Bring weights to prefill earlier; identify prefill workers that can act as strong source nodes.
- **Multi-tier cache hierarchy**: Promote and demote models across DRAM, NVMe, and PVC tiers based on access patterns.
- **Distributed sharded cache**: Shard large models across nodes using consistent hashing and parallel shard assembly.
- **Training checkpoint management**: Cache and reuse CUDA kernel compilations (torch.compile, deepGEMM) and CUDA graphs across restarts.
- **Metrics and observability**: The exposition path exists today — the server serves `/metrics` on its own port, and the client collector is opt-in behind `MX_METRICS_ENABLED=1` (see [Metrics](docs/METRICS.md)). Still to build on it: cache hit rates, eviction frequency, and P2P RDMA utilization.
- **Predictive prefetching**: Pre-warm caches from workload history or scheduling hints.
- **Dynamic EPLB (Expert Parallelism Load Balancer)**: Rebalance MoE expert placement across GPUs at runtime via P2P transfer of expert weights as load shifts.
---
## Contributing
Contributions welcome. See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md).
```bash
pip install pre-commit && pre-commit install
pre-commit run --all-files
```
**Issues:** [GitHub Issues](https://github.com/ai-dynamo/modelexpress/issues)
---
## License
Apache 2.0. See [LICENSE](LICENSE).
The `helm/LICENSE` entry is a symbolic link to that top-level file. It exists only so Helm includes
the license when packaging the chart; Helm dereferences the link and writes a regular-file copy into
the chart archive.