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[None][fix] Refuse paged-context attention when no fused kernel exists - #19353

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Description

TrtllmAttentionMetadata enables use_paged_context_fmha whenever chunked prefill, KV block reuse or speculative draft tokens are configured. All three require the context phase to attend to KV that is already in the cache, and only the fused context FMHA kernel can do that.

AttentionOp::initialize() ends with mEnableContextFMHA = mIsGenerationMLA || mFmhaDispatcher->isSupported(), so a configuration with no compiled kernel silently clears the flag and the context phase runs the unfused path. That path builds K and V from the current chunk alone: the cached prefix is dropped from attention and then overwritten by the chunk's write-back. Every request with a non-zero cached length returns a plausible wrong answer with no error and no warning that reaches the caller.

A kernel can be missing either because the kernel set has none for that combination, or because the build's --cuda_architectures does not name the SM of the device it is running on — cuda_configuration.cmake stamps -DEXCLUDE_SM_<arch> for every omitted architecture, which compiles the matching block of the trtllm-gen cubin table out. Both cases reach the same silent fallback.

This PR refuses instead: get_attention_op now rejects a non-MLA paged-context configuration whose initialization produced no context FMHA kernel. The check runs after initialize() (only the initialized op reflects the exact Q/KV/output precision, mask type and page size) and outside initialize() itself, which is noexcept. The error names both causes and the available remedies.

It also adds thop.fused_context_fmha_kernel_exists(head_size, kv_cache_dtype, tokens_per_block, output_dtype) to query what the running build contains for a dense causal paged-context probe (output dtype is explicit because the runtime chooses it independently of the KV cache dtype). The probe fixes the mask, layout and head ratio, so it is a diagnostic; the op-level refusal is the authoritative check. A new developer-guide section documents both.

Test Coverage

tests/unittest/_torch/attention/test_context_fmha_kernel_presence.py (requires a GPU): the lookup rejects invalid dimensions and unsupported precisions, reports present for a configuration the SM100-family kernel table carries, reports absent for a head size it does not, and is page-size sensitive.

PR Checklist

Please review the following before submitting your PR:

  • PR description clearly explains what and why. If using CodeRabbit's summary, please make sure it makes sense.

  • PR Follows TRT-LLM CODING GUIDELINES to the best of your knowledge.

  • Test cases are provided for new code paths (see test instructions)

  • If PR introduces API changes, an appropriate PR label is added - either api-compatible or api-breaking. For api-breaking, include BREAKING in the PR title.

  • Any new dependencies have been scanned for license and vulnerabilities

  • CODEOWNERS updated if ownership changes

  • Documentation updated as needed

  • Update tava architecture diagram if there is a significant design change in PR.

  • The reviewers assigned automatically/manually are appropriate for the PR.

  • Please check this after reviewing the above items as appropriate for this PR.

Dev Engineer Review

  • attentionOp.cpp rejects non-MLA paged-context attention when no compatible fused context FMHA kernel exists.
  • bindings.cpp adds thop.fused_context_fmha_kernel_exists(...) for diagnostic kernel checks.
  • The developer guide documents the validation behavior and kernel availability limitations.
  • Four reported L0 MergeRequest pipelines failed. The failures require investigation and a CI rerun triggered by an NVIDIA team member.

QA Engineer Review

  • Added GPU tests for invalid dimensions, unsupported precisions, supported configurations, unsupported head sizes, and page-size sensitivity.
  • Tests cover architecture-specific behavior and fail when the binding is missing on an available GPU.
  • No matching CI or manual-QA test-list entries were found.
  • Coverage verdict: needs follow-up because the reported L0 MergeRequest pipelines failed.

Per-File QA Perspective

  • cpp/tensorrt_llm/thop/attentionOp.cpp: Verify rejection of unsupported non-MLA paged-context requests and preservation of valid MLA and fused-kernel paths.
  • cpp/tensorrt_llm/nanobind/thop/bindings.cpp: Verify Python exposure and results of thop.fused_context_fmha_kernel_exists(...).
  • tensorrt_llm/_torch/attention/ATTENTION_DEVELOPER_GUIDE.md: Verify that documentation matches runtime validation and diagnostic behavior.
  • tests/unittest/_torch/attention/test_context_fmha_kernel_presence.py: Verify kernel lookup validation and architecture-sensitive behavior. No matching CI or manual-QA test-list entry was found.

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brnguyen2 requested a review from a team as a code owner September 17, 2026 12:27
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PR_Github #74118 [ run ] triggered by Bot. Commit: 1ba5432 Link to invocation

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Review Change StackReview Change Stack

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Walkthrough

The change adds a nanobind diagnostic for fused context FMHA kernel availability. get_attention_op rejects unsupported non-MLA paged-context configurations. Tests and developer guidance cover the new behavior.

Changes

Context FMHA availability and enforcement

Layer / File(s) Summary
Kernel availability probe and validation
cpp/tensorrt_llm/nanobind/thop/bindings.cpp, tests/unittest/_torch/attention/test_context_fmha_kernel_presence.py
The nanobind module exposes fused_context_fmha_kernel_exists. The probe validates dimensions and datatypes, then checks causal paged-KV FMHA support. GPU tests cover supported, unsupported, invalid, and page-size-sensitive configurations.
Paged-context attention enforcement
cpp/tensorrt_llm/thop/attentionOp.cpp, tensorrt_llm/_torch/attention/ATTENTION_DEVELOPER_GUIDE.md
get_attention_op rejects non-MLA paged-context operations when no fused context FMHA kernel is available. The guide documents required scenarios, diagnostic usage, and kernel availability limitations.

Priority: ➖ Normal

Estimated code review effort: 3 (Moderate) | ~25 minutes

Change: Bug fix · Severity of issue fixed: Medium

Sequence Diagram(s)

sequenceDiagram
  participant Attention as get_attention_op
  participant Binding as fused_context_fmha_kernel_exists
  participant Dispatcher as FMHA dispatcher
  Attention->>Binding: Check requested FMHA configuration
  Binding->>Dispatcher: Probe causal paged-KV support
  Dispatcher-->>Binding: Return kernel availability
  Binding-->>Attention: Return support status
  Attention-->>Attention: Reject unsupported non-MLA configuration
Loading

Suggested reviewers: juney-nvidia, bowenfu

Merge Risk: 🟡 Moderate · up to 680fa

The new safeguard has no public-path regression test, so an inverted or removed rejection predicate could reintroduce silent incorrect paged-context attention without test detection. Add coverage before merging.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name Status Explanation Resolution
Docstring Coverage ⚠️ Warning Docstring coverage is 54.55% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 11 functions across 3 files. Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.
✅ Passed checks (4 passed)
Check name Status Explanation
Title check ✅ Passed The title clearly and concisely describes the main change: rejecting paged-context attention when no fused kernel is available.
Description check ✅ Passed The description clearly explains the problem, root cause, solution, diagnostic API, documentation updates, and relevant GPU test coverage. It also includes the required checklist and marks the review …
Linked Issues check ✅ Passed Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check ✅ Passed Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
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Actionable comments posted: 1

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Inline comments:
In `@cpp/tensorrt_llm/thop/attentionOp.cpp`:
- Line 1145: Add public-path regression coverage for thop.attention that
exercises get_attention_op with use_paged_context_fmha=True on SM100: use
matched BF16 Q/KV/output tensors, 32-token blocks, non-MLA paged KV, and the
existing unsupported head-size fixture to assert the fused-context rejection;
also add the supported head-size fixture and verify public attention
initialization succeeds.

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📒 Files selected for processing (4)
  • cpp/tensorrt_llm/nanobind/thop/bindings.cpp
  • cpp/tensorrt_llm/thop/attentionOp.cpp
  • tensorrt_llm/_torch/attention/ATTENTION_DEVELOPER_GUIDE.md
  • tests/unittest/_torch/attention/test_context_fmha_kernel_presence.py

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Comment thread cpp/tensorrt_llm/thop/attentionOp.cpp
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PR_Github #74118 [ run ] completed with state SUCCESS. Commit: 1ba5432
/LLM/main/L0_MergeRequest_PR pipeline #60955 completed with status: 'FAILURE'

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brnguyen2 force-pushed the prep/fmha-upstream-20260916 branch from 1ba5432 to 6d6e986 Compare September 17, 2026 16:01
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PR_Github #74150 [ run ] completed with state SUCCESS. Commit: 6d6e986
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PR_Github #74220 [ run ] completed with state SUCCESS. Commit: 6d6e986
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PR_Github #74231 [ run ] completed with state FAILURE. Commit: 6d6e986
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TrtllmAttentionMetadata enables use_paged_context_fmha whenever chunked
prefill, KV block reuse or speculative draft tokens are configured. All
three require the context phase to attend to KV that is already in the
cache, and only the fused context FMHA kernel can do that.

AttentionOp::initialize() ends with

    mEnableContextFMHA = mIsGenerationMLA || mFmhaDispatcher->isSupported();

so a configuration with no compiled kernel silently clears the flag and
the context phase runs the unfused path. That path builds K and V from
the current chunk alone: the cached prefix is dropped from attention and
then overwritten by the chunk's write-back. Every request with a
non-zero cached length returns a plausible wrong answer with no error
and no warning that reaches the caller.

A kernel can be missing either because the kernel set has none for that
combination, or because the build's --cuda_architectures does not name
the SM of the device it is running on -- cuda_configuration.cmake stamps
-DEXCLUDE_SM_<arch> for every omitted architecture, which compiles the
matching block of the trtllm-gen cubin table out. Both cases reach the
same silent fallback.

Refuse instead. get_attention_op now rejects a non-MLA paged-context
configuration whose initialization produced no context FMHA kernel. The
check runs after initialize(), because only the initialized op reflects
the exact Q/KV/output precision, mask type and page size, and outside
initialize() itself, which is noexcept. The error names both causes and
the available remedies.

Also add thop.fused_context_fmha_kernel_exists(head_size, kv_cache_dtype,
tokens_per_block, output_dtype) to query what the running build contains
for a dense causal paged-context probe. Output dtype is an explicit
argument because the runtime chooses it independently of the KV cache
dtype. The probe fixes the mask, layout and head ratio, so it is a
diagnostic; the op-level refusal is the authoritative check.

Signed-off-by: Brian Nguyen <brnguyen@nvidia.com>
…asserting

fused_context_fmha_kernel_exists let a non-power-of-2 tokensPerBlock reach the
kernel lookup, which asserts (numTokensPerPage must be 0 or a power of 2) and
threw a RuntimeError instead of reporting that no kernel exists. Reject
non-power-of-2 page sizes in the early guard so the probe returns false, as
test_lookup_is_page_size_sensitive expects.

Signed-off-by: Brian Nguyen <brnguyen@nvidia.com>
@brnguyen2
brnguyen2 force-pushed the prep/fmha-upstream-20260916 branch from 6d6e986 to 680fa17 Compare September 18, 2026 15:43
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PR_Github #74432 [ run ] triggered by Bot. Commit: 680fa17 Link to invocation

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PR_Github #74432 [ run ] completed with state SUCCESS. Commit: 680fa17
/LLM/main/L0_MergeRequest_PR pipeline #61239 completed with status: 'FAILURE'

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PR_Github #74631 [ run ] completed with state SUCCESS. Commit: 680fa17
/LLM/main/L0_MergeRequest_PR pipeline #61417 completed with status: 'UNSTABLE'

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PR_Github #74639 [ run ] triggered by Bot. Commit: 680fa17 Link to invocation

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PR_Github #74639 [ run ] completed with state SUCCESS. Commit: 680fa17
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PR_Github #74660 [ run ] completed with state SUCCESS. Commit: 680fa17
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