debug: log dense vs MoE layer counts in DeepSeekShardingStrategy

This will show how many layers use shard_linear (dense) vs
shard_inplace (MoE) for kimi-k2 and similar models.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

.github/workflows/build-app.yml

@@ -1,16 +1,5 @@
 name: Build EXO macOS DMG
 
-# Release workflow:
-# 1. Create a draft GitHub Release with the tag name (e.g. v1.0.0) and write release notes in markdown
-# 2. Push the tag: git tag v1.0.0 && git push origin v1.0.0
-# 3. This workflow builds, signs, and notarizes the DMG
-# 4. Release notes are embedded in appcast.xml for Sparkle (rendered as markdown)
-# 5. DMG and appcast.xml are uploaded to S3
-# 6. The draft GitHub Release is published with the DMG attached
-#
-# For alpha releases (e.g. v1.0.0-alpha.1): draft release and notes are optional.
-# If no draft exists, a release is auto-created with generated notes.
-
 on:
   workflow_dispatch:
   push:
@@ -22,10 +11,8 @@ on:
 jobs:
   build-macos-app:
     runs-on: "macos-26"
-    permissions:
-      contents: write
     env:
-      SPARKLE_VERSION: 2.9.0-beta.1
+      SPARKLE_VERSION: 2.8.1
       SPARKLE_DOWNLOAD_PREFIX: ${{ secrets.SPARKLE_DOWNLOAD_PREFIX }}
       SPARKLE_FEED_URL: ${{ secrets.SPARKLE_FEED_URL }}
       SPARKLE_ED25519_PUBLIC: ${{ secrets.SPARKLE_ED25519_PUBLIC }}
@@ -100,52 +87,6 @@ jobs:
             exit 1
           fi
 
-      - name: Fetch and validate release notes
-        if: github.ref_type == 'tag'
-        env:
-          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-        run: |
-          # Find draft release by name using gh release list (more reliable with default token)
-          echo "Looking for draft release named '$GITHUB_REF_NAME'..."
-          DRAFT_EXISTS=$(gh release list --json name,isDraft --jq ".[] | select(.isDraft == true) | select(.name == \"$GITHUB_REF_NAME\") | .name" 2>/dev/null || echo "")
-
-          if [[ -z "$DRAFT_EXISTS" ]]; then
-            if [[ "$IS_ALPHA" == "true" ]]; then
-              echo "No draft release found for alpha tag $GITHUB_REF_NAME (optional for alphas)"
-              echo "HAS_RELEASE_NOTES=false" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-              exit 0
-            fi
-            echo "ERROR: No draft release found for tag $GITHUB_REF_NAME"
-            echo "Please create a draft release with release notes before pushing the tag."
-            exit 1
-          fi
-
-          # Fetch full release details via API to get body and ID
-          echo "Found draft release, fetching details..."
-          RELEASE_JSON=$(gh api repos/${{ github.repository }}/releases --jq ".[] | select(.draft == true) | select(.name == \"$GITHUB_REF_NAME\")" 2>/dev/null || echo "")
-
-          # Extract release notes
-          NOTES=$(echo "$RELEASE_JSON" | jq -r '.body // ""')
-          if [[ -z "$NOTES" || "$NOTES" == "null" ]]; then
-            if [[ "$IS_ALPHA" == "true" ]]; then
-              echo "Draft release has no notes (optional for alphas)"
-              echo "HAS_RELEASE_NOTES=false" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-              exit 0
-            fi
-            echo "ERROR: Draft release exists but has no release notes"
-            echo "Please add release notes to the draft release before pushing the tag."
-            exit 1
-          fi
-
-          # Save release ID for later publishing
-          RELEASE_ID=$(echo "$RELEASE_JSON" | jq -r '.id')
-          echo "DRAFT_RELEASE_ID=$RELEASE_ID" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-          echo "HAS_RELEASE_NOTES=true" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-
-          echo "Found draft release (ID: $RELEASE_ID), saving release notes..."
-          echo "$NOTES" > /tmp/release_notes.md
-          echo "RELEASE_NOTES_FILE=/tmp/release_notes.md" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-
       # ============================================================
       # Install dependencies
       # ============================================================
@@ -363,28 +304,6 @@ jobs:
             $CHANNEL_FLAG \
             .
 
-      - name: Inject release notes into appcast
-        if: github.ref_type == 'tag' && env.HAS_RELEASE_NOTES == 'true'
-        env:
-          RELEASE_VERSION: ${{ env.RELEASE_VERSION }}
-        run: |
-          # Inject markdown release notes with sparkle:format="markdown" (Sparkle 2.9+)
-          export NOTES=$(cat "$RELEASE_NOTES_FILE")
-
-          # Insert description after the enclosure tag for this version
-          awk '
-            /<enclosure[^>]*>/ && index($0, ENVIRON["RELEASE_VERSION"]) {
-              print
-              print "            <description sparkle:format=\"markdown\"><![CDATA["
-              print ENVIRON["NOTES"]
-              print "            ]]></description>"
-              next
-            }
-            { print }
-          ' output/appcast.xml > output/appcast.xml.tmp && mv output/appcast.xml.tmp output/appcast.xml
-
-          echo "Injected markdown release notes for version $RELEASE_VERSION"
-
       # ============================================================
       # Upload artifacts
       # ============================================================
@@ -417,26 +336,3 @@ jobs:
             aws s3 cp "$DMG_NAME" "s3://${SPARKLE_S3_BUCKET}/${PREFIX}EXO-latest.dmg"
             aws s3 cp appcast.xml "s3://${SPARKLE_S3_BUCKET}/${PREFIX}appcast.xml" --content-type application/xml --cache-control no-cache
           fi
-
-      - name: Publish GitHub Release
-        if: github.ref_type == 'tag'
-        env:
-          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-        run: |
-          DMG_PATH="output/EXO-${RELEASE_VERSION}.dmg"
-
-          if [[ "$HAS_RELEASE_NOTES" == "true" ]]; then
-            # Update the draft release with the tag and upload DMG
-            gh api --method PATCH "repos/${{ github.repository }}/releases/$DRAFT_RELEASE_ID" \
-              -f tag_name="$GITHUB_REF_NAME" \
-              -F draft=false
-            gh release upload "$GITHUB_REF_NAME" "$DMG_PATH" --clobber
-            echo "Published release $GITHUB_REF_NAME with DMG attached"
-          else
-            # Alpha without draft release - create one with auto-generated notes
-            gh release create "$GITHUB_REF_NAME" "$DMG_PATH" \
-              --title "$GITHUB_REF_NAME" \
-              --generate-notes \
-              --prerelease
-            echo "Created alpha release $GITHUB_REF_NAME with auto-generated notes"
-          fi

AGENTS.md

@@ -40,31 +40,6 @@ uv run ruff check
 nix fmt
 ```
 
-## Pre-Commit Checks (REQUIRED)
-
-**IMPORTANT: Always run these checks before committing code. CI will fail if these don't pass.**
-
-```bash
-# 1. Type checking - MUST pass with 0 errors
-uv run basedpyright
-
-# 2. Linting - MUST pass
-uv run ruff check
-
-# 3. Formatting - MUST be applied
-nix fmt
-
-# 4. Tests - MUST pass
-uv run pytest
-```
-
-Run all checks in sequence:
-```bash
-uv run basedpyright && uv run ruff check && nix fmt && uv run pytest
-```
-
-If `nix fmt` changes any files, stage them before committing. The CI runs `nix flake check` which verifies formatting, linting, and runs Rust tests.
-
 ## Architecture
 
 ### Node Composition
@@ -116,6 +91,51 @@ From .cursorrules:
 - Catch exceptions only where you can handle them meaningfully
 - Use `@final` and immutability wherever applicable
 
+## API Reference
+
+The API is served at `http://localhost:52415` by default. Key files:
+- `docs/api.md`: Full API documentation
+- `src/exo/master/api.py`: FastAPI implementation
+- `src/exo/shared/types/api.py`: Request/response Pydantic models
+
+### Key Endpoints
+
+```
+GET  /node_id              # Current master node ID
+GET  /state                # Full cluster state (topology, instances, downloads, etc.)
+GET  /events               # Event log for debugging
+
+POST /instance             # Create model instance
+GET  /instance/{id}        # Get instance details
+DELETE /instance/{id}      # Delete instance
+GET  /instance/previews    # Preview placements for a model
+GET  /instance/placement   # Compute placement without creating
+
+GET  /models               # List available models
+GET  /v1/models            # OpenAI-compatible model list
+
+POST /v1/chat/completions  # OpenAI-compatible chat completions (streaming/non-streaming)
+POST /bench/chat/completions # Chat completions with performance stats
+```
+
+### Useful curl Commands
+
+```bash
+# Check cluster state
+curl -s http://localhost:52415/state | python3 -m json.tool
+
+# List models
+curl -s http://localhost:52415/models | python3 -m json.tool
+
+# Preview placements for a model
+curl -s "http://localhost:52415/instance/previews?model_id=llama-3.2-1b" | python3 -m json.tool
+
+# Chat completion
+curl -X POST http://localhost:52415/v1/chat/completions \
+  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
+  -d '{"model": "llama-3.2-1b", "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]}'
+```
+
 ## Testing
 
 Tests use pytest-asyncio with `asyncio_mode = "auto"`. Tests are in `tests/` subdirectories alongside the code they test. The `EXO_TESTS=1` env var is set during tests.

app/EXO/EXO.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj

@@ -585,7 +585,7 @@
 			repositoryURL = "https://github.com/sparkle-project/Sparkle.git";
 			requirement = {
 				kind = upToNextMajorVersion;
-				minimumVersion = 2.9.0-beta.1;
+				minimumVersion = 2.8.1;
 			};
 		};
 /* End XCRemoteSwiftPackageReference section */

app/EXO/EXO.xcodeproj/project.xcworkspace/xcshareddata/swiftpm/Package.resolved

@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@
       "kind" : "remoteSourceControl",
       "location" : "https://github.com/sparkle-project/Sparkle.git",
       "state" : {
-        "revision" : "e641adb41915a8409895e2e30666aa64e487b637",
-        "version" : "2.9.0-beta.1"
+        "revision" : "5581748cef2bae787496fe6d61139aebe0a451f6",
+        "version" : "2.8.1"
       }
     }
   ],

app/EXO/EXO/ContentView.swift

@@ -56,11 +56,6 @@ struct ContentView: View {
     }
 
     private var shouldShowLocalNetworkWarning: Bool {
-        // Show warning if local network is not working and EXO is running.
-        // The checker uses a longer timeout on first launch to allow time for
-        // the permission prompt, so this correctly handles both:
-        // 1. User denied permission on first launch
-        // 2. Permission broke after restart (macOS TCC bug)
         if case .notWorking = localNetworkChecker.status {
             return controller.status != .stopped
         }

app/EXO/EXO/Services/LocalNetworkChecker.swift

@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ import os.log
 /// Checks if the app's local network permission is actually functional.
 ///
 /// macOS local network permission can appear enabled in System Preferences but not
-/// actually work after a restart. This service uses NWConnection to mDNS multicast
-/// to verify actual connectivity.
+/// actually work after a restart. This service detects this by creating a UDP
+/// connection to the mDNS multicast address (224.0.0.251:5353).
 @MainActor
 final class LocalNetworkChecker: ObservableObject {
     enum Status: Equatable {
@@ -35,43 +35,30 @@ final class LocalNetworkChecker: ObservableObject {
     }
 
     private static let logger = Logger(subsystem: "io.exo.EXO", category: "LocalNetworkChecker")
-    private static let hasCompletedInitialCheckKey = "LocalNetworkChecker.hasCompletedInitialCheck"
 
     @Published private(set) var status: Status = .unknown
+    @Published private(set) var lastConnectionState: String = "none"
 
     private var connection: NWConnection?
     private var checkTask: Task<Void, Never>?
 
-    /// Whether we've completed at least one check (stored in UserDefaults)
-    private var hasCompletedInitialCheck: Bool {
-        get { UserDefaults.standard.bool(forKey: Self.hasCompletedInitialCheckKey) }
-        set { UserDefaults.standard.set(newValue, forKey: Self.hasCompletedInitialCheckKey) }
-    }
-
     /// Checks if local network access is working.
     func check() {
         checkTask?.cancel()
         status = .checking
-
-        // Use longer timeout on first launch to allow time for permission prompt
-        let isFirstCheck = !hasCompletedInitialCheck
-        let timeout: UInt64 = isFirstCheck ? 30_000_000_000 : 3_000_000_000
+        lastConnectionState = "connecting"
 
         checkTask = Task { [weak self] in
             guard let self else { return }
-
-            Self.logger.info("Checking local network connectivity (first check: \(isFirstCheck))")
-            let result = await self.checkConnectivity(timeout: timeout)
+            let result = await self.performCheck()
             self.status = result
-            self.hasCompletedInitialCheck = true
-
             Self.logger.info("Local network check complete: \(result.displayText)")
         }
     }
 
-    /// Checks connectivity using NWConnection to mDNS multicast.
-    /// The connection attempt triggers the permission prompt if not yet shown.
-    private func checkConnectivity(timeout: UInt64) async -> Status {
+    private func performCheck() async -> Status {
+        Self.logger.info("Checking local network access via UDP multicast")
+
         connection?.cancel()
         connection = nil
 
@@ -97,7 +84,22 @@ final class LocalNetworkChecker: ObservableObject {
                 continuation.resume(returning: status)
             }
 
-            conn.stateUpdateHandler = { state in
+            conn.stateUpdateHandler = { [weak self] state in
+                let stateStr: String
+                switch state {
+                case .setup: stateStr = "setup"
+                case .preparing: stateStr = "preparing"
+                case .ready: stateStr = "ready"
+                case .waiting(let e): stateStr = "waiting(\(e))"
+                case .failed(let e): stateStr = "failed(\(e))"
+                case .cancelled: stateStr = "cancelled"
+                @unknown default: stateStr = "unknown"
+                }
+
+                Task { @MainActor in
+                    self?.lastConnectionState = stateStr
+                }
+
                 switch state {
                 case .ready:
                     resumeOnce(.working)
@@ -106,7 +108,6 @@ final class LocalNetworkChecker: ObservableObject {
                     if errorStr.contains("54") || errorStr.contains("ECONNRESET") {
                         resumeOnce(.notWorking(reason: "Connection blocked"))
                     }
-                // Otherwise keep waiting - might be showing permission prompt
                 case .failed(let error):
                     let errorStr = "\(error)"
                     if errorStr.contains("65") || errorStr.contains("EHOSTUNREACH")
@@ -126,7 +127,7 @@ final class LocalNetworkChecker: ObservableObject {
             conn.start(queue: .main)
 
             Task {
-                try? await Task.sleep(nanoseconds: timeout)
+                try? await Task.sleep(nanoseconds: 3_000_000_000)
                 let state = conn.state
                 switch state {
                 case .ready:

bench/exo_bench.py

@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import argparse
-import contextlib
 import http.client
 import json
 import os
@@ -27,7 +26,7 @@ class ExoHttpError(RuntimeError):
 
 
 class ExoClient:
-    def __init__(self, host: str, port: int, timeout_s: float = 600.0):
+    def __init__(self, host: str, port: int, timeout_s: float = 2400.0):
         self.host = host
         self.port = port
         self.timeout_s = timeout_s
@@ -105,46 +104,22 @@ def runner_ready(runner: dict[str, Any]) -> bool:
     return "RunnerReady" in runner
 
 
-def runner_failed(runner: dict[str, Any]) -> bool:
-    return "RunnerFailed" in runner
-
-
-def get_runner_failed_message(runner: dict[str, Any]) -> str | None:
-    if "RunnerFailed" in runner:
-        return runner["RunnerFailed"].get("errorMessage")
-    return None
-
-
 def wait_for_instance_ready(
     client: ExoClient, instance_id: str, timeout: float = 24000.0
 ) -> None:
     start_time = time.time()
-    instance_existed = False
     while time.time() - start_time < timeout:
         state = client.request_json("GET", "/state")
         instances = state.get("instances", {})
 
         if instance_id not in instances:
-            if instance_existed:
-                # Instance was deleted after being created - likely due to runner failure
-                raise RuntimeError(
-                    f"Instance {instance_id} was deleted (runner may have failed)"
-                )
             time.sleep(0.1)
             continue
 
-        instance_existed = True
         instance = instances[instance_id]
         runner_ids = runner_ids_from_instance(instance)
         runners = state.get("runners", {})
 
-        # Check for failed runners first
-        for rid in runner_ids:
-            runner = runners.get(rid, {})
-            if runner_failed(runner):
-                error_msg = get_runner_failed_message(runner) or "Unknown error"
-                raise RuntimeError(f"Runner {rid} failed: {error_msg}")
-
         if all(runner_ready(runners.get(rid, {})) for rid in runner_ids):
             return
 
@@ -266,9 +241,6 @@ class PromptSizer:
             ids = tokenizer.apply_chat_template(
                 messages, tokenize=True, add_generation_prompt=True
             )
-            # Fix for transformers 5.x
-            if hasattr(ids, "input_ids"):
-                ids = ids.input_ids
             return int(len(ids))
 
         return count_fn
@@ -324,12 +296,6 @@ def main() -> int:
         default=4,
         help="Only consider placements using <= this many nodes.",
     )
-    ap.add_argument(
-        "--min-nodes",
-        type=int,
-        default=1,
-        help="Only consider placements using >= this many nodes.",
-    )
     ap.add_argument(
         "--instance-meta", choices=["ring", "jaccl", "both"], default="both"
     )
@@ -351,7 +317,7 @@ def main() -> int:
         help="Warmup runs per placement (uses first pp/tg).",
     )
     ap.add_argument(
-        "--timeout", type=float, default=600.0, help="HTTP timeout (seconds)."
+        "--timeout", type=float, default=2400.0, help="HTTP timeout (seconds)."
     )
     ap.add_argument(
         "--json-out",
@@ -430,7 +396,7 @@ def main() -> int:
         ):
             continue
 
-        if args.min_nodes <= n <= args.max_nodes:
+        if 0 < n <= args.max_nodes:
             selected.append(p)
 
     if not selected:
@@ -472,13 +438,7 @@ def main() -> int:
         )
 
         client.request_json("POST", "/instance", body={"instance": instance})
-        try:
-            wait_for_instance_ready(client, instance_id)
-        except (RuntimeError, TimeoutError) as e:
-            logger.error(f"Failed to initialize placement: {e}")
-            with contextlib.suppress(ExoHttpError):
-                client.request_json("DELETE", f"/instance/{instance_id}")
-            continue
+        wait_for_instance_ready(client, instance_id)
 
         time.sleep(1)
 

dashboard/src/lib/components/ChatForm.svelte

@@ -60,39 +60,12 @@
 		return models;
 	});
 
-	// Track previous model IDs to detect newly added models (plain variable to avoid reactive loop)
-	let previousModelIds: Set<string> = new Set();
-
-	// Auto-select the first available model if none is selected, if current selection is stale, or if a new model is added
+	// Auto-select the first available model if none is selected
 	$effect(() => {
 		const models = availableModels();
-		const currentModelIds = new Set(models.map(m => m.id));
-
-		if (models.length > 0) {
-			// Find newly added models (in current but not in previous)
-			const newModels = models.filter(m => !previousModelIds.has(m.id));
-
-			// If no model selected, select the first available
-			if (!currentModel) {
-				setSelectedChatModel(models[0].id);
-			}
-			// If current model is stale (no longer has a running instance), reset to first available
-			else if (!models.some(m => m.id === currentModel)) {
-				setSelectedChatModel(models[0].id);
-			}
-			// If a new model was just added, select it
-			else if (newModels.length > 0 && previousModelIds.size > 0) {
-				setSelectedChatModel(newModels[0].id);
-			}
-		} else {
-			// No instances running - clear the selected model
-			if (currentModel) {
-				setSelectedChatModel('');
-			}
+		if (models.length > 0 && !currentModel) {
+			setSelectedChatModel(models[0].id);
 		}
-
-		// Update previous model IDs for next comparison
-		previousModelIds = currentModelIds;
 	});
 
 	function getInstanceModelId(instanceWrapped: unknown): string {

dashboard/src/lib/stores/app.svelte.ts

@@ -69,8 +69,6 @@ export interface Instance {
 		runnerToShard?: Record<string, unknown>;
 		nodeToRunner?: Record<string, string>;
 	};
-	draftModel?: string;
-	numDraftTokens?: number;
 }
 
 interface RawNodeProfile {

dashboard/src/routes/+page.svelte

@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ const sidebarVisible = $derived(chatSidebarVisible());
 	let mounted = $state(false);
 
 	// Instance launch state
-	let models = $state<Array<{id: string, hugging_face_id?: string, name?: string, storage_size_megabytes?: number}>>([]);
+	let models = $state<Array<{id: string, name?: string, storage_size_megabytes?: number}>>([]);
 	let selectedSharding = $state<'Pipeline' | 'Tensor'>('Pipeline');
 	type InstanceMeta = 'MlxRing' | 'MlxIbv' | 'MlxJaccl';
 	
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ const sidebarVisible = $derived(chatSidebarVisible());
 		instanceType: InstanceMeta;
 		minNodes: number;
 	}
-
+	
 	function saveLaunchDefaults(): void {
 		const defaults: LaunchDefaults = {
 			modelId: selectedPreviewModelId(),
@@ -88,16 +88,16 @@ const sidebarVisible = $derived(chatSidebarVisible());
 	function applyLaunchDefaults(availableModels: Array<{id: string}>, maxNodes: number): void {
 		const defaults = loadLaunchDefaults();
 		if (!defaults) return;
-
+		
 		// Apply sharding and instance type unconditionally
 		selectedSharding = defaults.sharding;
 		selectedInstanceType = defaults.instanceType;
-
+		
 		// Apply minNodes if valid (between 1 and maxNodes)
 		if (defaults.minNodes && defaults.minNodes >= 1 && defaults.minNodes <= maxNodes) {
 			selectedMinNodes = defaults.minNodes;
 		}
-
+		
 		// Only apply model if it exists in the available models
 		if (defaults.modelId && availableModels.some(m => m.id === defaults.modelId)) {
 			selectPreviewModel(defaults.modelId);
@@ -109,19 +109,11 @@ const sidebarVisible = $derived(chatSidebarVisible());
 	let minNodesInitialized = $state(false);
 	let launchingModelId = $state<string | null>(null);
 let instanceDownloadExpandedNodes = $state<Set<string>>(new Set());
-
-	// Draft model edit modal state
-	let editingDraftInstanceId = $state<string | null>(null);
-	let editDraftModel = $state<string | null>(null);
-	let editNumDraftTokens = $state<number>(4);
-	let isDraftEditDropdownOpen = $state(false);
-	let draftEditDropdownSearch = $state('');
-	let isSavingDraftModel = $state(false);
-
+	
 	// Custom dropdown state
 	let isModelDropdownOpen = $state(false);
 	let modelDropdownSearch = $state('');
-
+	
 	// Slider dragging state
 	let isDraggingSlider = $state(false);
 	let sliderTrackElement: HTMLDivElement | null = $state(null);
@@ -370,36 +362,49 @@ function toggleInstanceDownloadDetails(nodeId: string): void {
 
 	async function launchInstance(modelId: string, specificPreview?: PlacementPreview | null) {
 		if (!modelId || launchingModelId) return;
-
+		
 		launchingModelId = modelId;
-
+		
 		try {
 			// Use the specific preview if provided, otherwise fall back to filtered preview
 			const preview = specificPreview ?? filteredPreview();
-
-			let response: Response;
-
-			// Use /place_instance endpoint - it handles placement and creation in one step
-			const placePayload = {
-				model_id: modelId,
-				sharding: preview?.sharding ?? selectedSharding,
-				instance_meta: preview?.instance_meta ?? selectedInstanceType,
-				min_nodes: selectedMinNodes,
-			};
-
-			response = await fetch('/place_instance', {
+			
+			let instanceData: unknown;
+			
+			if (preview?.instance) {
+				// Use the instance from the preview
+				instanceData = preview.instance;
+			} else {
+				// Fallback: GET placement from API
+				const placementResponse = await fetch(
+					`/instance/placement?model_id=${encodeURIComponent(modelId)}&sharding=${selectedSharding}&instance_meta=${selectedInstanceType}&min_nodes=${selectedMinNodes}`
+				);
+				
+				if (!placementResponse.ok) {
+					const errorText = await placementResponse.text();
+					console.error('Failed to get placement:', errorText);
+					return;
+				}
+				
+				instanceData = await placementResponse.json();
+			}
+			
+			// POST the instance to create it
+			const response = await fetch('/instance', {
 				method: 'POST',
 				headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
-				body: JSON.stringify(placePayload)
+				body: JSON.stringify({ instance: instanceData })
 			});
-
+			
 			if (!response.ok) {
 				const errorText = await response.text();
 				console.error('Failed to launch instance:', errorText);
 			} else {
-				// Always auto-select the newly launched model so the user chats to what they just launched
-				setSelectedChatModel(modelId);
-
+				// Auto-select the launched model only if no model is currently selected
+				if (!selectedChatModel()) {
+					setSelectedChatModel(modelId);
+				}
+				
 				// Scroll to the bottom of instances container to show the new instance
 				// Use multiple attempts to ensure DOM has updated with the new instance
 				const scrollToBottom = () => {
@@ -758,10 +763,6 @@ function toggleInstanceDownloadDetails(nodeId: string): void {
 	async function deleteInstance(instanceId: string) {
 		if (!confirm(`Delete instance ${instanceId.slice(0, 8)}...?`)) return;
 		
-		// Get the model ID of the instance being deleted before we delete it
-		const deletedInstanceModelId = getInstanceModelId(instanceData[instanceId]);
-		const wasSelected = selectedChatModel() === deletedInstanceModelId;
-		
 		try {
 			const response = await fetch(`/instance/${instanceId}`, {
 				method: 'DELETE',
@@ -770,76 +771,12 @@ function toggleInstanceDownloadDetails(nodeId: string): void {
 			
 			if (!response.ok) {
 				console.error('Failed to delete instance:', response.status);
-			} else if (wasSelected) {
-				// If we deleted the currently selected model, switch to another available model
-				// Find another instance that isn't the one we just deleted
-				const remainingInstances = Object.entries(instanceData).filter(([id]) => id !== instanceId);
-				if (remainingInstances.length > 0) {
-					// Select the last instance (most recently added, since objects preserve insertion order)
-					const [, lastInstance] = remainingInstances[remainingInstances.length - 1];
-					const newModelId = getInstanceModelId(lastInstance);
-					if (newModelId && newModelId !== 'Unknown' && newModelId !== 'Unknown Model') {
-						setSelectedChatModel(newModelId);
-					} else {
-						// Clear selection if no valid model found
-						setSelectedChatModel('');
-					}
-				} else {
-					// No more instances, clear the selection
-					setSelectedChatModel('');
-				}
 			}
 		} catch (error) {
 			console.error('Error deleting instance:', error);
 		}
 	}
 
-	// Open draft model edit modal for an instance
-	function openDraftModelEdit(instanceId: string, currentDraftModel: string | null, currentNumTokens: number | null) {
-		editingDraftInstanceId = instanceId;
-		editDraftModel = currentDraftModel;
-		editNumDraftTokens = currentNumTokens ?? 4;
-		isDraftEditDropdownOpen = false;
-		draftEditDropdownSearch = '';
-	}
-
-	// Close draft model edit modal
-	function closeDraftModelEdit() {
-		editingDraftInstanceId = null;
-		editDraftModel = null;
-		editNumDraftTokens = 4;
-		isDraftEditDropdownOpen = false;
-		draftEditDropdownSearch = '';
-	}
-
-	// Save draft model settings for an instance
-	async function saveDraftModel() {
-		if (!editingDraftInstanceId || isSavingDraftModel) return;
-
-		isSavingDraftModel = true;
-		try {
-			const response = await fetch(`/instance/${editingDraftInstanceId}/draft_model`, {
-				method: 'PUT',
-				headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
-				body: JSON.stringify({
-					draft_model: editDraftModel,
-					num_draft_tokens: editNumDraftTokens,
-				})
-			});
-
-			if (!response.ok) {
-				const errorText = await response.text();
-				console.error('Failed to set draft model:', errorText);
-			} else {
-				closeDraftModelEdit();
-			}
-		} catch (error) {
-			console.error('Error setting draft model:', error);
-		} finally {
-			isSavingDraftModel = false;
-		}
-	}
-
 	// Helper to unwrap tagged unions like { MlxRingInstance: {...} }
 	function getTagged(obj: unknown): [string | null, unknown] {
 		if (!obj || typeof obj !== 'object') return [null, null];
@@ -859,34 +796,30 @@ function toggleInstanceDownloadDetails(nodeId: string): void {
 	}
 
 	// Get instance details: type (MLX Ring/IBV), sharding (Pipeline/Tensor), and node names
-	function getInstanceInfo(instanceWrapped: unknown): {
-		instanceType: string;
-		sharding: string;
+	function getInstanceInfo(instanceWrapped: unknown): { 
+		instanceType: string; 
+		sharding: string; 
 		nodeNames: string[];
 		nodeIds: string[];
 		nodeCount: number;
-		draftModel: string | null;
-		numDraftTokens: number | null;
 	} {
 		const [instanceTag, instance] = getTagged(instanceWrapped);
 		if (!instance || typeof instance !== 'object') {
-			return { instanceType: 'Unknown', sharding: 'Unknown', nodeNames: [], nodeIds: [], nodeCount: 0, draftModel: null, numDraftTokens: null };
+			return { instanceType: 'Unknown', sharding: 'Unknown', nodeNames: [], nodeIds: [], nodeCount: 0 };
 		}
-
+		
 		// Instance type from tag
 		let instanceType = 'Unknown';
 		if (instanceTag === 'MlxRingInstance') instanceType = 'MLX Ring';
 		else if (instanceTag === 'MlxIbvInstance' || instanceTag === 'MlxJacclInstance') instanceType = 'MLX RDMA';
-
-		const inst = instance as {
-			shardAssignments?: {
-				nodeToRunner?: Record<string, string>;
+		
+		const inst = instance as { 
+			shardAssignments?: { 
+				nodeToRunner?: Record<string, string>; 
 				runnerToShard?: Record<string, unknown>;
-			};
-			draftModel?: string;
-			numDraftTokens?: number;
+			} 
 		};
-
+		
 		// Sharding strategy from first shard
 		let sharding = 'Unknown';
 		const runnerToShard = inst.shardAssignments?.runnerToShard || {};
@@ -897,7 +830,7 @@ function toggleInstanceDownloadDetails(nodeId: string): void {
 			else if (shardTag === 'TensorShardMetadata') sharding = 'Tensor';
 			else if (shardTag === 'PrefillDecodeShardMetadata') sharding = 'Prefill/Decode';
 		}
-
+		
 		// Node names from topology
 		const nodeToRunner = inst.shardAssignments?.nodeToRunner || {};
 		const nodeIds = Object.keys(nodeToRunner);
@@ -905,12 +838,8 @@ function toggleInstanceDownloadDetails(nodeId: string): void {
 			const node = data?.nodes?.[nodeId];
 			return node?.friendly_name || nodeId.slice(0, 8);
 		});
-
-		// Draft model for speculative decoding
-		const draftModel = inst.draftModel ?? null;
-		const numDraftTokens = inst.numDraftTokens ?? null;
-
-		return { instanceType, sharding, nodeNames, nodeIds, nodeCount: nodeIds.length, draftModel, numDraftTokens };
+		
+		return { instanceType, sharding, nodeNames, nodeIds, nodeCount: nodeIds.length };
 	}
 
 	function formatLastUpdate(): string {
@@ -1386,31 +1315,16 @@ function toggleInstanceDownloadDetails(nodeId: string): void {
 												<div class="w-1.5 h-1.5 {isDownloading ? 'bg-blue-400 animate-pulse' : isFailed ? 'bg-red-400' : isLoading ? 'bg-yellow-400 animate-pulse' : isReady ? 'bg-green-400' : 'bg-teal-400'} rounded-full shadow-[0_0_6px_currentColor]"></div>
 												<span class="text-exo-light-gray font-mono text-sm tracking-wider">{id.slice(0, 8).toUpperCase()}</span>
 											</div>
-											<div class="flex items-center gap-2">
-												<!-- Draft Model Button -->
-												<button
-													onclick={() => openDraftModelEdit(id, instanceInfo.draftModel, instanceInfo.numDraftTokens)}
-													class="p-1.5 font-mono border transition-all duration-200 cursor-pointer {instanceInfo.draftModel ? 'border-cyan-500/50 text-cyan-400 hover:bg-cyan-500/20 hover:border-cyan-500' : 'border-exo-medium-gray/50 text-white/40 hover:text-cyan-400 hover:border-cyan-500/50'}"
-													title={instanceInfo.draftModel ? `Draft: ${instanceInfo.draftModel.split('/').pop()} (${instanceInfo.numDraftTokens}t)` : 'Configure speculative decoding'}
-												>
-													<svg class="w-4 h-4" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round">
-														<path d="M13 2L3 14h9l-1 8 10-12h-9l1-8z"/>
-													</svg>
-												</button>
-												<button
-													onclick={() => deleteInstance(id)}
-													class="text-xs px-2 py-1 font-mono tracking-wider uppercase border border-red-500/30 text-red-400 hover:bg-red-500/20 hover:text-red-400 hover:border-red-500/50 transition-all duration-200 cursor-pointer"
-												>
-													DELETE
-												</button>
-											</div>
+											<button 
+												onclick={() => deleteInstance(id)}
+												class="text-xs px-2 py-1 font-mono tracking-wider uppercase border border-red-500/30 text-red-400 hover:bg-red-500/20 hover:text-red-400 hover:border-red-500/50 transition-all duration-200 cursor-pointer"
+											>
+												DELETE
+											</button>
 											</div>
 											<div class="pl-2">
 												<div class="text-exo-yellow text-xs font-mono tracking-wide truncate">{getInstanceModelId(instance)}</div>
 												<div class="text-white/60 text-xs font-mono">Strategy: <span class="text-white/80">{instanceInfo.sharding} ({instanceInfo.instanceType})</span></div>
-												{#if instanceInfo.draftModel}
-													<div class="text-white/60 text-xs font-mono">Draft: <span class="text-cyan-400">{instanceInfo.draftModel.split('/').pop()}</span>{#if instanceInfo.numDraftTokens}<span class="text-white/40"> ({instanceInfo.numDraftTokens}t)</span>{/if}</div>
-												{/if}
 												{#if instanceModelId && instanceModelId !== 'Unknown' && instanceModelId !== 'Unknown Model'}
 													<a
 														class="inline-flex items-center gap-1 text-[11px] text-white/60 hover:text-exo-yellow transition-colors mt-1"
@@ -1745,7 +1659,7 @@ function toggleInstanceDownloadDetails(nodeId: string): void {
 								</div>
 							</div>
 						</div>
-
+						
 						<!-- Selected Model Preview -->
 						<div class="space-y-3">
 							{#if models.length === 0}
@@ -1904,31 +1818,16 @@ function toggleInstanceDownloadDetails(nodeId: string): void {
 													<div class="w-1.5 h-1.5 {isDownloading ? 'bg-blue-400 animate-pulse' : isFailed ? 'bg-red-400' : isLoading ? 'bg-yellow-400 animate-pulse' : isReady ? 'bg-green-400' : 'bg-teal-400'} rounded-full shadow-[0_0_6px_currentColor]"></div>
 													<span class="text-exo-light-gray font-mono text-sm tracking-wider">{id.slice(0, 8).toUpperCase()}</span>
 												</div>
-												<div class="flex items-center gap-2">
-													<!-- Draft Model Button -->
-													<button
-														onclick={() => openDraftModelEdit(id, instanceInfo.draftModel, instanceInfo.numDraftTokens)}
-														class="p-1.5 font-mono border transition-all duration-200 cursor-pointer {instanceInfo.draftModel ? 'border-cyan-500/50 text-cyan-400 hover:bg-cyan-500/20 hover:border-cyan-500' : 'border-exo-medium-gray/50 text-white/40 hover:text-cyan-400 hover:border-cyan-500/50'}"
-														title={instanceInfo.draftModel ? `Draft: ${instanceInfo.draftModel.split('/').pop()} (${instanceInfo.numDraftTokens}t)` : 'Configure speculative decoding'}
-													>
-														<svg class="w-4 h-4" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round">
-															<path d="M13 2L3 14h9l-1 8 10-12h-9l1-8z"/>
-														</svg>
-													</button>
-													<button
-														onclick={() => deleteInstance(id)}
-														class="text-xs px-2 py-1 font-mono tracking-wider uppercase border border-red-500/30 text-red-400 hover:bg-red-500/20 hover:text-red-400 hover:border-red-500/50 transition-all duration-200 cursor-pointer"
-													>
-														DELETE
-													</button>
-												</div>
+												<button 
+													onclick={() => deleteInstance(id)}
+													class="text-xs px-2 py-1 font-mono tracking-wider uppercase border border-red-500/30 text-red-400 hover:bg-red-500/20 hover:text-red-400 hover:border-red-500/50 transition-all duration-200 cursor-pointer"
+												>
+													DELETE
+												</button>
 												</div>
 												<div class="pl-2">
 													<div class="text-exo-yellow text-xs font-mono tracking-wide truncate">{getInstanceModelId(instance)}</div>
 													<div class="text-white/60 text-xs font-mono">Strategy: <span class="text-white/80">{instanceInfo.sharding} ({instanceInfo.instanceType})</span></div>
-													{#if instanceInfo.draftModel}
-														<div class="text-white/60 text-xs font-mono">Draft: <span class="text-cyan-400">{instanceInfo.draftModel.split('/').pop()}</span>{#if instanceInfo.numDraftTokens}<span class="text-white/40"> ({instanceInfo.numDraftTokens}t)</span>{/if}</div>
-													{/if}
 														{#if instanceModelId && instanceModelId !== 'Unknown' && instanceModelId !== 'Unknown Model'}
 															<a
 																class="inline-flex items-center gap-1 text-[11px] text-white/60 hover:text-exo-yellow transition-colors mt-1"
@@ -2059,120 +1958,4 @@ function toggleInstanceDownloadDetails(nodeId: string): void {
 		{/if}
 	</main>
 
-	<!-- Draft Model Edit Modal -->
-	{#if editingDraftInstanceId}
-		<!-- svelte-ignore a11y_no_static_element_interactions -->
-		<div
-			class="fixed inset-0 z-50 flex items-center justify-center bg-black/70 backdrop-blur-sm"
-			onclick={closeDraftModelEdit}
-			onkeydown={(e) => e.key === 'Escape' && closeDraftModelEdit()}
-		>
-			<!-- svelte-ignore a11y_click_events_have_key_events -->
-			<div
-				class="bg-exo-dark-gray border border-exo-medium-gray/50 rounded-lg shadow-2xl p-6 w-full max-w-md mx-4"
-				onclick={(e) => e.stopPropagation()}
-			>
-				<div class="flex items-center justify-between mb-4">
-					<h3 class="text-lg font-mono text-exo-yellow tracking-wide">Speculative Decoding</h3>
-					<button
-						onclick={closeDraftModelEdit}
-						class="text-white/60 hover:text-white transition-colors cursor-pointer"
-						aria-label="Close"
-					>
-						<svg class="w-5 h-5" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2">
-							<path stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" d="M6 18L18 6M6 6l12 12" />
-						</svg>
-					</button>
-				</div>
-
-				<p class="text-white/60 text-sm font-mono mb-4">
-					Configure a draft model for faster generation. The draft model proposes tokens that the main model verifies.
-				</p>
-
-				<!-- Draft Model Dropdown -->
-				<div class="mb-4">
-					<div class="text-xs text-white/70 font-mono mb-2">Draft Model:</div>
-					<div class="relative">
-						<button
-							onclick={() => { isDraftEditDropdownOpen = !isDraftEditDropdownOpen; draftEditDropdownSearch = ''; }}
-							class="w-full px-3 py-2 text-left text-sm font-mono border rounded transition-all duration-200 cursor-pointer flex items-center justify-between gap-2 {editDraftModel ? 'bg-transparent text-cyan-400 border-cyan-500/50' : 'bg-transparent text-white/50 border-exo-medium-gray/50 hover:border-cyan-500/50'}"
-						>
-							<span class="truncate">{editDraftModel ? editDraftModel.split('/').pop() : 'None'}</span>
-							<svg class="w-4 h-4 flex-shrink-0 transition-transform {isDraftEditDropdownOpen ? 'rotate-180' : ''}" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" viewBox="0 0 24 24">
-								<path stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" stroke-width="2" d="M19 9l-7 7-7-7" />
-							</svg>
-						</button>
-						{#if isDraftEditDropdownOpen}
-							<div class="absolute top-full left-0 right-0 mt-1 bg-exo-dark-gray border border-exo-medium-gray/50 rounded shadow-lg z-50 max-h-48 overflow-hidden flex flex-col">
-								<div class="p-2 border-b border-exo-medium-gray/30">
-									<input
-										type="text"
-										bind:value={draftEditDropdownSearch}
-										placeholder="Search models..."
-										class="w-full px-2 py-1.5 text-sm font-mono bg-transparent border border-exo-medium-gray/50 rounded text-white/90 placeholder:text-white/30 focus:outline-none focus:border-cyan-500/50"
-									/>
-								</div>
-								<div class="overflow-y-auto max-h-36">
-									<!-- None option -->
-									<button
-										onclick={() => { editDraftModel = null; isDraftEditDropdownOpen = false; }}
-										class="w-full px-3 py-2 text-left text-sm font-mono tracking-wide transition-colors duration-100 flex items-center gap-2 {editDraftModel === null ? 'bg-transparent text-cyan-400 cursor-pointer' : 'text-white/80 hover:text-cyan-400 cursor-pointer'}"
-									>
-										<span>None (Disable)</span>
-									</button>
-									{#each models.filter(m => (m.name ?? m.id).toLowerCase().includes(draftEditDropdownSearch.toLowerCase())) as model}
-										{@const sizeGB = (model.storage_size_megabytes ?? 0) / 1024}
-										{@const modelHfId = model.hugging_face_id ?? model.id}
-										<button
-											onclick={() => { editDraftModel = modelHfId; isDraftEditDropdownOpen = false; }}
-											class="w-full px-3 py-2 text-left text-sm font-mono tracking-wide transition-colors duration-100 flex items-center justify-between gap-2 {editDraftModel === modelHfId ? 'bg-transparent text-cyan-400 cursor-pointer' : 'text-white/80 hover:text-cyan-400 cursor-pointer'}"
-										>
-											<span class="truncate">{model.name || model.id}</span>
-											<span class="flex-shrink-0 text-xs text-white/50">
-												{sizeGB >= 1 ? sizeGB.toFixed(0) : sizeGB.toFixed(1)}GB
-											</span>
-										</button>
-									{:else}
-										<div class="px-3 py-2 text-xs text-white/50 font-mono">No models found</div>
-									{/each}
-								</div>
-							</div>
-						{/if}
-					</div>
-				</div>
-
-				<!-- Draft Tokens -->
-				{#if editDraftModel}
-					<div class="mb-6">
-						<div class="text-xs text-white/70 font-mono mb-2">Draft Tokens per Iteration:</div>
-						<div class="flex items-center gap-2">
-							{#each [2, 3, 4, 5, 6] as n}
-								<button
-									onclick={() => editNumDraftTokens = n}
-									class="w-8 h-8 text-sm font-mono rounded transition-all {editNumDraftTokens === n ? 'bg-cyan-500/20 text-cyan-400 border border-cyan-500/50' : 'text-white/50 hover:text-white/80 border border-exo-medium-gray/50 hover:border-white/30'} cursor-pointer"
-								>{n}</button>
-							{/each}
-						</div>
-					</div>
-				{/if}
-
-				<!-- Action Buttons -->
-				<div class="flex items-center justify-end gap-3">
-					<button
-						onclick={closeDraftModelEdit}
-						class="px-4 py-2 text-sm font-mono text-white/70 hover:text-white transition-colors cursor-pointer"
-					>
-						Cancel
-					</button>
-					<button
-						onclick={saveDraftModel}
-						disabled={isSavingDraftModel}
-						class="px-4 py-2 text-sm font-mono border border-cyan-500/50 text-cyan-400 hover:bg-cyan-500/20 hover:border-cyan-500 transition-all disabled:opacity-50 disabled:cursor-not-allowed cursor-pointer"
-					>
-						{isSavingDraftModel ? 'Saving...' : 'Save'}
-					</button>
-				</div>
-			</div>
-		</div>
-	{/if}
 </div>

justfile

@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-export NIX_CONFIG := "extra-experimental-features = nix-command flakes"
-
 fmt:
     nix fmt
 

pyproject.toml

@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ dependencies = [
     "tiktoken>=0.12.0", # required for kimi k2 tokenizer
     "hypercorn>=0.18.0",
     "openai-harmony>=0.0.8",
-    "httpx>=0.28.1",
 ]
 
 [project.scripts]
@@ -126,6 +125,3 @@ env = [
   "EXO_TESTS=1"
 ]
 addopts = "-m 'not slow'"
-filterwarnings = [
-    "ignore:builtin type Swig:DeprecationWarning",
-]

src/exo/main.py

@@ -205,14 +205,6 @@ def main():
     logger.info("Starting EXO")
     logger.info(f"EXO_LIBP2P_NAMESPACE: {os.getenv('EXO_LIBP2P_NAMESPACE')}")
 
-    # Set FAST_SYNCH override env var for runner subprocesses
-    if args.fast_synch is True:
-        os.environ["EXO_FAST_SYNCH"] = "on"
-        logger.info("FAST_SYNCH forced ON")
-    elif args.fast_synch is False:
-        os.environ["EXO_FAST_SYNCH"] = "off"
-        logger.info("FAST_SYNCH forced OFF")
-
     node = anyio.run(Node.create, args)
     anyio.run(node.run)
     logger.info("EXO Shutdown complete")
@@ -226,7 +218,6 @@ class Args(CamelCaseModel):
     api_port: PositiveInt = 52415
     tb_only: bool = False
     no_worker: bool = False
-    fast_synch: bool | None = None  # None = auto, True = force on, False = force off
 
     @classmethod
     def parse(cls) -> Self:
@@ -268,20 +259,6 @@ class Args(CamelCaseModel):
             "--no-worker",
             action="store_true",
         )
-        fast_synch_group = parser.add_mutually_exclusive_group()
-        fast_synch_group.add_argument(
-            "--fast-synch",
-            action="store_true",
-            dest="fast_synch",
-            default=None,
-            help="Force MLX FAST_SYNCH on (for JACCL backend)",
-        )
-        fast_synch_group.add_argument(
-            "--no-fast-synch",
-            action="store_false",
-            dest="fast_synch",
-            help="Force MLX FAST_SYNCH off",
-        )
 
         args = parser.parse_args()
         return cls(**vars(args))  # pyright: ignore[reportAny] - We are intentionally validating here, we can't do it statically

src/exo/master/api.py

@@ -1,19 +1,24 @@
 import time
 from collections.abc import AsyncGenerator
-from http import HTTPStatus
 from typing import cast
 
 import anyio
-from anyio import BrokenResourceError, create_task_group
+from anyio import create_task_group
 from anyio.abc import TaskGroup
-from fastapi import FastAPI, HTTPException, Request
+from fastapi import FastAPI, HTTPException
 from fastapi.middleware.cors import CORSMiddleware
-from fastapi.responses import JSONResponse, StreamingResponse
+from fastapi.responses import StreamingResponse
 from fastapi.staticfiles import StaticFiles
 from hypercorn.asyncio import serve  # pyright: ignore[reportUnknownVariableType]
 from hypercorn.config import Config
 from hypercorn.typing import ASGIFramework
 from loguru import logger
+from openai_harmony import (  # pyright: ignore[reportMissingTypeStubs]
+    HarmonyEncodingName,
+    Role,
+    StreamableParser,
+    load_harmony_encoding,
+)
 
 from exo.master.placement import place_instance as get_instance_placements
 from exo.shared.apply import apply
@@ -30,8 +35,6 @@ from exo.shared.types.api import (
     CreateInstanceParams,
     CreateInstanceResponse,
     DeleteInstanceResponse,
-    ErrorInfo,
-    ErrorResponse,
     FinishReason,
     GenerationStats,
     ModelList,
@@ -39,8 +42,6 @@ from exo.shared.types.api import (
     PlaceInstanceParams,
     PlacementPreview,
     PlacementPreviewResponse,
-    SetDraftModelParams,
-    SetDraftModelResponse,
     StreamingChoiceResponse,
 )
 from exo.shared.types.chunks import TokenChunk
@@ -51,16 +52,10 @@ from exo.shared.types.commands import (
     DeleteInstance,
     ForwarderCommand,
     PlaceInstance,
-    SetInstanceDraftModel,
     TaskFinished,
 )
 from exo.shared.types.common import CommandId, NodeId, SessionId
-from exo.shared.types.events import (
-    ChunkGenerated,
-    Event,
-    ForwarderEvent,
-    IndexedEvent,
-)
+from exo.shared.types.events import ChunkGenerated, Event, ForwarderEvent, IndexedEvent
 from exo.shared.types.memory import Memory
 from exo.shared.types.models import ModelId, ModelMetadata
 from exo.shared.types.state import State
@@ -72,6 +67,8 @@ from exo.utils.channels import Receiver, Sender, channel
 from exo.utils.dashboard_path import find_dashboard
 from exo.utils.event_buffer import OrderedBuffer
 
+encoding = load_harmony_encoding(HarmonyEncodingName.HARMONY_GPT_OSS)
+
 
 def chunk_to_response(
     chunk: TokenChunk, command_id: CommandId
@@ -126,7 +123,6 @@ class API:
         self.paused_ev: anyio.Event = anyio.Event()
 
         self.app = FastAPI()
-        self._setup_exception_handlers()
         self._setup_cors()
         self._setup_routes()
 
@@ -157,20 +153,6 @@ class API:
         self.paused_ev.set()
         self.paused_ev = anyio.Event()
 
-    def _setup_exception_handlers(self) -> None:
-        @self.app.exception_handler(HTTPException)
-        async def http_exception_handler(  # pyright: ignore[reportUnusedFunction]
-            _: Request, exc: HTTPException
-        ) -> JSONResponse:
-            err = ErrorResponse(
-                error=ErrorInfo(
-                    message=exc.detail,
-                    type=HTTPStatus(exc.status_code).phrase,
-                    code=exc.status_code,
-                )
-            )
-            return JSONResponse(err.model_dump(), status_code=exc.status_code)
-
     def _setup_cors(self) -> None:
         self.app.add_middleware(
             CORSMiddleware,
@@ -188,7 +170,6 @@ class API:
         self.app.get("/instance/previews")(self.get_placement_previews)
         self.app.get("/instance/{instance_id}")(self.get_instance)
         self.app.delete("/instance/{instance_id}")(self.delete_instance)
-        self.app.put("/instance/{instance_id}/draft_model")(self.set_draft_model)
         self.app.get("/models")(self.get_models)
         self.app.get("/v1/models")(self.get_models)
         self.app.post("/v1/chat/completions", response_model=None)(
@@ -204,8 +185,6 @@ class API:
             sharding=payload.sharding,
             instance_meta=payload.instance_meta,
             min_nodes=payload.min_nodes,
-            draft_model=payload.draft_model,
-            num_draft_tokens=payload.num_draft_tokens,
         )
         await self._send(command)
 
@@ -402,26 +381,35 @@ class API:
             instance_id=instance_id,
         )
 
-    async def set_draft_model(
-        self, instance_id: InstanceId, payload: SetDraftModelParams
-    ) -> SetDraftModelResponse:
-        if instance_id not in self.state.instances:
-            raise HTTPException(status_code=404, detail="Instance not found")
+    async def _process_gpt_oss(self, token_chunks: Receiver[TokenChunk]):
+        stream = StreamableParser(encoding, role=Role.ASSISTANT)
+        thinking = False
 
-        command = SetInstanceDraftModel(
-            instance_id=instance_id,
-            draft_model=payload.draft_model,
-            num_draft_tokens=payload.num_draft_tokens,
-        )
-        await self._send(command)
-        return SetDraftModelResponse(
-            message="Command received.",
-            command_id=command.command_id,
-            instance_id=instance_id,
-        )
+        async for chunk in token_chunks:
+            stream.process(chunk.token_id)
+
+            delta = stream.last_content_delta
+            ch = stream.current_channel
+
+            if ch == "analysis" and not thinking:
+                thinking = True
+                yield chunk.model_copy(update={"text": "<think>"})
+
+            if ch != "analysis" and thinking:
+                thinking = False
+                yield chunk.model_copy(update={"text": "</think>"})
+
+            if delta:
+                yield chunk.model_copy(update={"text": delta})
+
+            if chunk.finish_reason is not None:
+                if thinking:
+                    yield chunk.model_copy(update={"text": "</think>"})
+                yield chunk
+                break
 
     async def _chat_chunk_stream(
-        self, command_id: CommandId
+        self, command_id: CommandId, parse_gpt_oss: bool
     ) -> AsyncGenerator[TokenChunk, None]:
         """Yield `TokenChunk`s for a given command until completion."""
 
@@ -429,10 +417,16 @@ class API:
             self._chat_completion_queues[command_id], recv = channel[TokenChunk]()
 
             with recv as token_chunks:
-                async for chunk in token_chunks:
-                    yield chunk
-                    if chunk.finish_reason is not None:
-                        break
+                if parse_gpt_oss:
+                    async for chunk in self._process_gpt_oss(token_chunks):
+                        yield chunk
+                        if chunk.finish_reason is not None:
+                            break
+                else:
+                    async for chunk in token_chunks:
+                        yield chunk
+                        if chunk.finish_reason is not None:
+                            break
 
         except anyio.get_cancelled_exc_class():
             # TODO: TaskCancelled
@@ -448,23 +442,11 @@ class API:
             del self._chat_completion_queues[command_id]
 
     async def _generate_chat_stream(
-        self, command_id: CommandId
+        self, command_id: CommandId, parse_gpt_oss: bool
     ) -> AsyncGenerator[str, None]:
         """Generate chat completion stream as JSON strings."""
 
-        async for chunk in self._chat_chunk_stream(command_id):
-            if chunk.finish_reason == "error":
-                error_response = ErrorResponse(
-                    error=ErrorInfo(
-                        message=chunk.error_message or "Internal server error",
-                        type="InternalServerError",
-                        code=500,
-                    )
-                )
-                yield f"data: {error_response.model_dump_json()}\n\n"
-                yield "data: [DONE]\n\n"
-                return
-
+        async for chunk in self._chat_chunk_stream(command_id, parse_gpt_oss):
             chunk_response: ChatCompletionResponse = chunk_to_response(
                 chunk, command_id
             )
@@ -476,7 +458,7 @@ class API:
                 yield "data: [DONE]\n\n"
 
     async def _collect_chat_completion(
-        self, command_id: CommandId
+        self, command_id: CommandId, parse_gpt_oss: bool
     ) -> ChatCompletionResponse:
         """Collect all token chunks for a chat completion and return a single response."""
 
@@ -484,13 +466,7 @@ class API:
         model: str | None = None
         finish_reason: FinishReason | None = None
 
-        async for chunk in self._chat_chunk_stream(command_id):
-            if chunk.finish_reason == "error":
-                raise HTTPException(
-                    status_code=500,
-                    detail=chunk.error_message or "Internal server error",
-                )
-
+        async for chunk in self._chat_chunk_stream(command_id, parse_gpt_oss):
             if model is None:
                 model = chunk.model
 
@@ -519,7 +495,7 @@ class API:
         )
 
     async def _collect_chat_completion_with_stats(
-        self, command_id: CommandId
+        self, command_id: CommandId, parse_gpt_oss: bool
     ) -> BenchChatCompletionResponse:
         text_parts: list[str] = []
         model: str | None = None
@@ -527,13 +503,7 @@ class API:
 
         stats: GenerationStats | None = None
 
-        async for chunk in self._chat_chunk_stream(command_id):
-            if chunk.finish_reason == "error":
-                raise HTTPException(
-                    status_code=500,
-                    detail=chunk.error_message or "Internal server error",
-                )
-
+        async for chunk in self._chat_chunk_stream(command_id, parse_gpt_oss):
             if model is None:
                 model = chunk.model
 
@@ -574,6 +544,8 @@ class API:
         """Handle chat completions, supporting both streaming and non-streaming responses."""
         model_meta = await resolve_model_meta(payload.model)
         payload.model = model_meta.model_id
+        parse_gpt_oss = "gpt-oss" in model_meta.model_id.lower()
+        logger.info(f"{parse_gpt_oss=}")
 
         if not any(
             instance.shard_assignments.model_id == payload.model
@@ -590,16 +562,17 @@ class API:
         await self._send(command)
         if payload.stream:
             return StreamingResponse(
-                self._generate_chat_stream(command.command_id),
+                self._generate_chat_stream(command.command_id, parse_gpt_oss),
                 media_type="text/event-stream",
             )
 
-        return await self._collect_chat_completion(command.command_id)
+        return await self._collect_chat_completion(command.command_id, parse_gpt_oss)
 
     async def bench_chat_completions(
         self, payload: BenchChatCompletionTaskParams
     ) -> BenchChatCompletionResponse:
         model_meta = await resolve_model_meta(payload.model)
+        parse_gpt_oss = "gpt-oss" in model_meta.model_id.lower()
         payload.model = model_meta.model_id
 
         if not any(
@@ -616,7 +589,10 @@ class API:
         command = ChatCompletion(request_params=payload)
         await self._send(command)
 
-        response = await self._collect_chat_completion_with_stats(command.command_id)
+        response = await self._collect_chat_completion_with_stats(
+            command.command_id,
+            parse_gpt_oss,
+        )
         return response
 
     def _calculate_total_available_memory(self) -> Memory:
@@ -678,14 +654,14 @@ class API:
                 for idx, event in self.event_buffer.drain_indexed():
                     self._event_log.append(event)
                     self.state = apply(self.state, IndexedEvent(event=event, idx=idx))
-                    if isinstance(event, ChunkGenerated):
+                    if (
+                        isinstance(event, ChunkGenerated)
+                        and event.command_id in self._chat_completion_queues
+                    ):
                         assert isinstance(event.chunk, TokenChunk)
-                        queue = self._chat_completion_queues.get(event.command_id)
-                        if queue is not None:
-                            try:
-                                await queue.send(event.chunk)
-                            except BrokenResourceError:
-                                self._chat_completion_queues.pop(event.command_id, None)
+                        await self._chat_completion_queues[event.command_id].send(
+                            event.chunk
+                        )
 
     async def _pause_on_new_election(self):
         with self.election_receiver as ems:

src/exo/master/main.py

@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ from exo.shared.types.commands import (
     ForwarderCommand,
     PlaceInstance,
     RequestEventLog,
-    SetInstanceDraftModel,
     TaskFinished,
     TestCommand,
 )
@@ -28,7 +27,6 @@ from exo.shared.types.events import (
     ForwarderEvent,
     IndexedEvent,
     InstanceDeleted,
-    InstanceDraftModelUpdated,
     NodeTimedOut,
     TaskCreated,
     TaskDeleted,
@@ -175,14 +173,6 @@ class Master:
                                 self.state.instances, placement
                             )
                             generated_events.extend(transition_events)
-                        case SetInstanceDraftModel():
-                            generated_events.append(
-                                InstanceDraftModelUpdated(
-                                    instance_id=command.instance_id,
-                                    draft_model=command.draft_model,
-                                    num_draft_tokens=command.num_draft_tokens,
-                                )
-                            )
                         case TaskFinished():
                             generated_events.append(
                                 TaskDeleted(

src/exo/master/placement.py

@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ from collections.abc import Mapping
 from copy import deepcopy
 from typing import Sequence
 
+from loguru import logger
+
 from exo.master.placement_utils import (
     filter_cycles_by_memory,
     get_mlx_ibv_devices_matrix,
@@ -53,6 +55,7 @@ def place_instance(
 ) -> dict[InstanceId, Instance]:
     all_nodes = list(topology.list_nodes())
 
+    logger.info("finding cycles:")
     cycles = topology.get_cycles()
     singleton_cycles = [[node] for node in all_nodes]
     candidate_cycles = list(
@@ -125,6 +128,10 @@ def place_instance(
     target_instances = dict(deepcopy(current_instances))
 
     if len(selected_cycle) == 1:
+        logger.warning(
+            "You have likely selected ibv for a single node instance; falling back to MlxRing"
+        )
+
         command.instance_meta = InstanceMeta.MlxRing
 
     # TODO: Single node instances
@@ -144,8 +151,6 @@ def place_instance(
                 shard_assignments=shard_assignments,
                 ibv_devices=mlx_ibv_devices,
                 jaccl_coordinators=mlx_jaccl_coordinators,
-                draft_model=command.draft_model,
-                num_draft_tokens=command.num_draft_tokens,
             )
         case InstanceMeta.MlxRing:
             ephemeral_port = random_ephemeral_port()
@@ -159,8 +164,6 @@ def place_instance(
                 shard_assignments=shard_assignments,
                 hosts_by_node=hosts_by_node,
                 ephemeral_port=ephemeral_port,
-                draft_model=command.draft_model,
-                num_draft_tokens=command.num_draft_tokens,
             )
 
     return target_instances

src/exo/master/tests/test_api_error_handling.py

@@ -1,107 +0,0 @@
-# pyright: reportUnusedFunction=false, reportAny=false
-from typing import Any, get_args
-
-from fastapi import FastAPI, HTTPException
-from fastapi.testclient import TestClient
-
-from exo.shared.types.api import ErrorInfo, ErrorResponse, FinishReason
-from exo.shared.types.chunks import TokenChunk
-from exo.worker.tests.constants import MODEL_A_ID
-
-
-def test_http_exception_handler_formats_openai_style() -> None:
-    """Test that HTTPException is converted to OpenAI-style error format."""
-    from exo.master.api import API
-
-    app = FastAPI()
-
-    # Setup exception handler
-    api = object.__new__(API)
-    api.app = app
-    api._setup_exception_handlers()  # pyright: ignore[reportPrivateUsage]
-
-    # Add test routes that raise HTTPException
-    @app.get("/test-error")
-    async def _test_error() -> None:
-        raise HTTPException(status_code=500, detail="Test error message")
-
-    @app.get("/test-not-found")
-    async def _test_not_found() -> None:
-        raise HTTPException(status_code=404, detail="Resource not found")
-
-    client = TestClient(app)
-
-    # Test 500 error
-    response = client.get("/test-error")
-    assert response.status_code == 500
-    data: dict[str, Any] = response.json()
-    assert "error" in data
-    assert data["error"]["message"] == "Test error message"
-    assert data["error"]["type"] == "Internal Server Error"
-    assert data["error"]["code"] == 500
-
-    # Test 404 error
-    response = client.get("/test-not-found")
-    assert response.status_code == 404
-    data = response.json()
-    assert "error" in data
-    assert data["error"]["message"] == "Resource not found"
-    assert data["error"]["type"] == "Not Found"
-    assert data["error"]["code"] == 404
-
-
-def test_finish_reason_includes_error() -> None:
-    valid_reasons = get_args(FinishReason)
-    assert "error" in valid_reasons
-
-
-def test_token_chunk_with_error_fields() -> None:
-    chunk = TokenChunk(
-        idx=0,
-        model=MODEL_A_ID,
-        text="",
-        token_id=0,
-        finish_reason="error",
-        error_message="Something went wrong",
-    )
-
-    assert chunk.finish_reason == "error"
-    assert chunk.error_message == "Something went wrong"
-
-
-def test_token_chunk_without_error() -> None:
-    chunk = TokenChunk(
-        idx=1,
-        model=MODEL_A_ID,
-        text="Hello",
-        token_id=42,
-        finish_reason=None,
-    )
-
-    assert chunk.finish_reason is None
-    assert chunk.error_message is None
-
-
-def test_error_response_construction() -> None:
-    error_response = ErrorResponse(
-        error=ErrorInfo(
-            message="Generation failed",
-            type="InternalServerError",
-            code=500,
-        )
-    )
-
-    assert error_response.error.message == "Generation failed"
-    assert error_response.error.code == 500
-
-
-def test_normal_finish_reasons_still_work() -> None:
-    for reason in ["stop", "length", "tool_calls", "content_filter", "function_call"]:
-        chunk = TokenChunk(
-            idx=0,
-            model=MODEL_A_ID,
-            text="done",
-            token_id=100,
-            finish_reason=reason,  # type: ignore[arg-type]
-        )
-        assert chunk.finish_reason == reason

src/exo/shared/apply.py

@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ from exo.shared.types.events import (
     IndexedEvent,
     InstanceCreated,
     InstanceDeleted,
-    InstanceDraftModelUpdated,
     NodeCreated,
     NodeDownloadProgress,
     NodeMemoryMeasured,
@@ -48,8 +47,6 @@ def event_apply(event: Event, state: State) -> State:
             return apply_instance_created(event, state)
         case InstanceDeleted():
             return apply_instance_deleted(event, state)
-        case InstanceDraftModelUpdated():
-            return apply_instance_draft_model_updated(event, state)
         case NodeCreated():
             return apply_topology_node_created(event, state)
         case NodeTimedOut():
@@ -172,25 +169,6 @@ def apply_instance_deleted(event: InstanceDeleted, state: State) -> State:
     return state.model_copy(update={"instances": new_instances})
 
 
-def apply_instance_draft_model_updated(
-    event: InstanceDraftModelUpdated, state: State
-) -> State:
-    if event.instance_id not in state.instances:
-        return state
-    instance = state.instances[event.instance_id]
-    updated_instance = instance.model_copy(
-        update={
-            "draft_model": event.draft_model,
-            "num_draft_tokens": event.num_draft_tokens,
-        }
-    )
-    new_instances: Mapping[InstanceId, Instance] = {
-        **state.instances,
-        event.instance_id: updated_instance,
-    }
-    return state.model_copy(update={"instances": new_instances})
-
-
 def apply_runner_status_updated(event: RunnerStatusUpdated, state: State) -> State:
     new_runners: Mapping[RunnerId, RunnerStatus] = {
         **state.runners,

src/exo/shared/logging.py

@@ -29,11 +29,6 @@ class _InterceptHandler(logging.Handler):
 
 def logger_setup(log_file: Path | None, verbosity: int = 0):
     """Set up logging for this process - formatting, file handles, verbosity and output"""
-
-    logging.getLogger("exo_pyo3_bindings").setLevel(logging.WARNING)
-    logging.getLogger("httpx").setLevel(logging.WARNING)
-    logging.getLogger("httpcore").setLevel(logging.WARNING)
-
     logger.remove()
 
     # replace all stdlib loggers with _InterceptHandlers that log to loguru

src/exo/shared/models/model_cards.py

@@ -425,15 +425,15 @@ MODEL_CARDS: dict[str, ModelCard] = {
             supports_tensor=True,
         ),
     ),
-    "gpt-oss-20b-MXFP4-Q8": ModelCard(
-        short_id="gpt-oss-20b-MXFP4-Q8",
-        model_id=ModelId("mlx-community/gpt-oss-20b-MXFP4-Q8"),
-        name="GPT-OSS 20B (MXFP4-Q8, MLX)",
-        description="""OpenAI's GPT-OSS 20B is a medium-sized MoE model for lower-latency and local or specialized use cases; this variant is a 4-bit MLX conversion for Apple Silicon.""",
+    "gpt-oss-20b-4bit": ModelCard(
+        short_id="gpt-oss-20b-4bit",
+        model_id=ModelId("mlx-community/gpt-oss-20b-MXFP4-Q4"),
+        name="GPT-OSS 20B (MXFP4-Q4, MLX)",
+        description="""OpenAI's GPT-OSS 20B is a medium-sized MoE model for lower-latency and local or specialized use cases; this MLX variant uses MXFP4 4-bit quantization.""",
         tags=[],
         metadata=ModelMetadata(
-            model_id=ModelId("mlx-community/gpt-oss-20b-MXFP4-Q8"),
-            pretty_name="GPT-OSS 20B (MXFP4-Q8, MLX)",
+            model_id=ModelId("mlx-community/gpt-oss-20b-MXFP4-Q4"),
+            pretty_name="GPT-OSS 20B (MXFP4-Q4, MLX)",
             storage_size=Memory.from_kb(11_744_051),
             n_layers=24,
             hidden_size=2880,

src/exo/shared/types/api.py

@@ -11,21 +11,10 @@ from exo.shared.types.worker.instances import Instance, InstanceId, InstanceMeta
 from exo.shared.types.worker.shards import Sharding
 
 FinishReason = Literal[
-    "stop", "length", "tool_calls", "content_filter", "function_call", "error"
+    "stop", "length", "tool_calls", "content_filter", "function_call"
 ]
 
 
-class ErrorInfo(BaseModel):
-    message: str
-    type: str
-    param: str | None = None
-    code: int
-
-
-class ErrorResponse(BaseModel):
-    error: ErrorInfo
-
-
 class ModelListModel(BaseModel):
     id: str
     object: str = "model"
@@ -161,8 +150,6 @@ class ChatCompletionTaskParams(BaseModel):
     tool_choice: str | dict[str, Any] | None = None
     parallel_tool_calls: bool | None = None
     user: str | None = None
-    # Speculative decoding: tokens to draft per iteration (if instance has draft model)
-    num_draft_tokens: int = 3
 
 
 class BenchChatCompletionTaskParams(ChatCompletionTaskParams):
@@ -174,8 +161,6 @@ class PlaceInstanceParams(BaseModel):
     sharding: Sharding = Sharding.Pipeline
     instance_meta: InstanceMeta = InstanceMeta.MlxRing
     min_nodes: int = 1
-    draft_model: ModelId | None = None  # For speculative decoding
-    num_draft_tokens: int = 4  # Tokens to draft per iteration
 
     @field_validator("sharding", "instance_meta", mode="plain")
     @classmethod
@@ -217,14 +202,3 @@ class DeleteInstanceResponse(BaseModel):
     message: str
     command_id: CommandId
     instance_id: InstanceId
-
-
-class SetDraftModelParams(BaseModel):
-    draft_model: ModelId | None = None  # None to disable speculative decoding
-    num_draft_tokens: int = 4
-
-
-class SetDraftModelResponse(BaseModel):
-    message: str
-    command_id: CommandId
-    instance_id: InstanceId

src/exo/shared/types/chunks.py

@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ class TokenChunk(BaseChunk):
     token_id: int
     finish_reason: FinishReason | None = None
     stats: GenerationStats | None = None
-    error_message: str | None = None
 
 
 class ImageChunk(BaseChunk):

src/exo/shared/types/commands.py

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ from pydantic import Field
 
 from exo.shared.types.api import ChatCompletionTaskParams
 from exo.shared.types.common import CommandId, NodeId
-from exo.shared.types.models import ModelId, ModelMetadata
+from exo.shared.types.models import ModelMetadata
 from exo.shared.types.worker.instances import Instance, InstanceId, InstanceMeta
 from exo.shared.types.worker.shards import Sharding
 from exo.utils.pydantic_ext import CamelCaseModel, TaggedModel
@@ -25,8 +25,6 @@ class PlaceInstance(BaseCommand):
     sharding: Sharding
     instance_meta: InstanceMeta
     min_nodes: int
-    draft_model: ModelId | None = None  # For speculative decoding
-    num_draft_tokens: int = 4  # Tokens to draft per iteration
 
 
 class CreateInstance(BaseCommand):
@@ -37,14 +35,6 @@ class DeleteInstance(BaseCommand):
     instance_id: InstanceId
 
 
-class SetInstanceDraftModel(BaseCommand):
-    """Set or update the draft model for an existing instance."""
-
-    instance_id: InstanceId
-    draft_model: ModelId | None  # None to disable speculative decoding
-    num_draft_tokens: int = 4
-
-
 class TaskFinished(BaseCommand):
     finished_command_id: CommandId
 
@@ -60,7 +50,6 @@ Command = (
     | PlaceInstance
     | CreateInstance
     | DeleteInstance
-    | SetInstanceDraftModel
     | TaskFinished
 )
 

src/exo/shared/types/events.py

@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ from pydantic import Field
 from exo.shared.topology import Connection, NodePerformanceProfile
 from exo.shared.types.chunks import GenerationChunk
 from exo.shared.types.common import CommandId, Id, NodeId, SessionId
-from exo.shared.types.models import ModelId
 from exo.shared.types.profiling import MemoryPerformanceProfile
 from exo.shared.types.tasks import Task, TaskId, TaskStatus
 from exo.shared.types.worker.downloads import DownloadProgress
@@ -68,14 +67,6 @@ class InstanceDeleted(BaseEvent):
     instance_id: InstanceId
 
 
-class InstanceDraftModelUpdated(BaseEvent):
-    """Draft model updated on an existing instance."""
-
-    instance_id: InstanceId
-    draft_model: ModelId | None
-    num_draft_tokens: int
-
-
 class RunnerStatusUpdated(BaseEvent):
     runner_id: RunnerId
     runner_status: RunnerStatus
@@ -132,7 +123,6 @@ Event = (
     | TaskAcknowledged
     | InstanceCreated
     | InstanceDeleted
-    | InstanceDraftModelUpdated
     | RunnerStatusUpdated
     | RunnerDeleted
     | NodeCreated

src/exo/shared/types/tasks.py

@@ -36,12 +36,6 @@ class DownloadModel(BaseTask):  # emitted by Worker
     shard_metadata: ShardMetadata
 
 
-class DownloadDraftModel(BaseTask):  # emitted by Worker
-    """Download a draft model for speculative decoding (rank 0 only)."""
-
-    model_id: str  # HuggingFace model ID
-
-
 class LoadModel(BaseTask):  # emitted by Worker
     pass
 
@@ -66,21 +60,12 @@ class Shutdown(BaseTask):  # emitted by Worker
     runner_id: RunnerId
 
 
-class SetDraftModel(BaseTask):  # emitted by Worker
-    """Load or clear a draft model on an already-running instance."""
-
-    model_id: str | None  # HuggingFace model ID, or None to clear
-    num_draft_tokens: int = 4
-
-
 Task = (
     CreateRunner
     | DownloadModel
-    | DownloadDraftModel
     | ConnectToGroup
     | LoadModel
     | StartWarmup
     | ChatCompletion
     | Shutdown
-    | SetDraftModel
 )

src/exo/shared/types/worker/instances.py

@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ from enum import Enum
 from pydantic import model_validator
 
 from exo.shared.types.common import Host, Id, NodeId
-from exo.shared.types.models import ModelId
 from exo.shared.types.worker.runners import RunnerId, ShardAssignments, ShardMetadata
 from exo.utils.pydantic_ext import CamelCaseModel, TaggedModel
 
@@ -20,8 +19,6 @@ class InstanceMeta(str, Enum):
 class BaseInstance(TaggedModel):
     instance_id: InstanceId
     shard_assignments: ShardAssignments
-    draft_model: ModelId | None = None  # For speculative decoding (rank 0 only)
-    num_draft_tokens: int = 4  # Tokens to draft per iteration (when draft_model is set)
 
     def shard(self, runner_id: RunnerId) -> ShardMetadata | None:
         return self.shard_assignments.runner_to_shard.get(runner_id, None)

src/exo/worker/download/download_utils.py

@@ -245,15 +245,12 @@ def create_http_session(
         sock_read_timeout = 1800
         sock_connect_timeout = 60
 
-    ssl_context = ssl.create_default_context(
-        cafile=os.getenv("SSL_CERT_FILE") or certifi.where()
-    )
+    ssl_context = ssl.create_default_context(cafile=certifi.where())
     connector = aiohttp.TCPConnector(ssl=ssl_context)
 
     return aiohttp.ClientSession(
         auto_decompress=auto_decompress,
         connector=connector,
-        proxy=os.getenv("HTTPS_PROXY") or os.getenv("HTTP_PROXY") or None,
         timeout=aiohttp.ClientTimeout(
             total=total_timeout,
             connect=connect_timeout,

src/exo/worker/engines/mlx/auto_parallel.py

@@ -228,15 +228,10 @@ def tensor_auto_parallel(
         group=group,
     )
 
-    if hasattr(model, "shard"):
-        try:
-            model.shard(group)  # type: ignore
-            return model
-        except (AttributeError, TypeError, NameError):
-            pass
+    logger.info(f"tensor_auto_parallel: model type = {type(model).__name__}")
 
     if isinstance(model, (LlamaModel, Ministral3Model)):
-        logger.warning("shouldn't be hit - upstream sharding exists")
+        logger.info("Using LlamaShardingStrategy")
         tensor_parallel_sharding_strategy = LlamaShardingStrategy(
             group,
             all_to_sharded_linear,
@@ -245,7 +240,7 @@ def tensor_auto_parallel(
             sharded_to_all_linear_in_place,
         )
     elif isinstance(model, (DeepseekV3Model, DeepseekV32Model)):
-        logger.warning("shouldn't be hit - upstream sharding exists")
+        logger.info("Using DeepSeekShardingStrategy")
         tensor_parallel_sharding_strategy = DeepSeekShardingStrategy(
             group,
             all_to_sharded_linear,
@@ -254,6 +249,7 @@ def tensor_auto_parallel(
             sharded_to_all_linear_in_place,
         )
     elif isinstance(model, MiniMaxModel):
+        logger.info("Using MiniMaxShardingStrategy")
         tensor_parallel_sharding_strategy = MiniMaxShardingStrategy(
             group,
             all_to_sharded_linear,
@@ -262,6 +258,7 @@ def tensor_auto_parallel(
             sharded_to_all_linear_in_place,
         )
     elif isinstance(model, (Qwen3MoeModel, Glm4MoeModel, Qwen3NextModel)):
+        logger.info("Using QwenShardingStrategy")
         tensor_parallel_sharding_strategy = QwenShardingStrategy(
             group,
             all_to_sharded_linear,
@@ -270,6 +267,7 @@ def tensor_auto_parallel(
             sharded_to_all_linear_in_place,
         )
     elif isinstance(model, GptOssModel):
+        logger.info("Using GptOssShardingStrategy for tensor parallelism")
         tensor_parallel_sharding_strategy = GptOssShardingStrategy(
             group,
             all_to_sharded_linear,
@@ -352,6 +350,8 @@ def _set_layers(model: nn.Module, layers: list[_LayerCallable]) -> None:
 class DeepSeekShardingStrategy(TensorParallelShardingStrategy):
     def shard_model(self, model: nn.Module) -> nn.Module:
         model = cast(DeepseekV3Model, model)
+        dense_count = 0
+        moe_count = 0
         for layer in model.layers:
             # Shard the self attention
             if layer.self_attn.q_lora_rank is None:
@@ -370,6 +370,7 @@ class DeepSeekShardingStrategy(TensorParallelShardingStrategy):
 
             # Shard the MLP
             if isinstance(layer.mlp, (DeepseekV3MLP, DeepseekV32MLP)):
+                dense_count += 1
                 layer.mlp.gate_proj = self.all_to_sharded_linear(layer.mlp.gate_proj)
                 layer.mlp.down_proj = self.sharded_to_all_linear(layer.mlp.down_proj)
                 layer.mlp.up_proj = self.all_to_sharded_linear(layer.mlp.up_proj)
@@ -377,6 +378,7 @@ class DeepSeekShardingStrategy(TensorParallelShardingStrategy):
             # Shard the MoE. Shard in place since the MoE should be responsible
             # for aggregating the results.
             else:
+                moe_count += 1
                 self.all_to_sharded_linear_in_place(layer.mlp.shared_experts.gate_proj)
                 self.sharded_to_all_linear_in_place(layer.mlp.shared_experts.down_proj)
                 self.all_to_sharded_linear_in_place(layer.mlp.shared_experts.up_proj)
@@ -386,6 +388,7 @@ class DeepSeekShardingStrategy(TensorParallelShardingStrategy):
                 layer.mlp = ShardedDeepseekV3MoE(layer.mlp)  # type: ignore
                 layer.mlp.sharding_group = self.group
 
+        logger.info(f"DeepSeekShardingStrategy: {dense_count} dense layers (shard_linear), {moe_count} MoE layers (shard_inplace)")
         return model
 
 
@@ -481,7 +484,6 @@ class ShardedQwenMoE(CustomMlxLayer):
 class GptOssShardingStrategy(TensorParallelShardingStrategy):
     def shard_model(self, model: nn.Module) -> nn.Module:
         model = cast(GptOssMoeModel, model)
-
         for layer in model.layers:
             layer.self_attn.q_proj = self.all_to_sharded_linear(layer.self_attn.q_proj)
             layer.self_attn.k_proj = self.all_to_sharded_linear(layer.self_attn.k_proj)

src/exo/worker/engines/mlx/generator/generate.py

@@ -48,8 +48,6 @@ def maybe_quantize_kv_cache(
 def warmup_inference(
     model: Model,
     tokenizer: TokenizerWrapper,
-    draft_model: Model | None = None,
-    num_draft_tokens: int = 4,
 ) -> int:
     content = "Prompt to warm up the inference engine. Repeat this."
 
@@ -68,30 +66,25 @@ def warmup_inference(
 
     tokens_generated = 0
 
+    cache = make_kv_cache(
+        model=model,
+    )
+
     # Use a default sampler for warmup
     sampler = make_sampler(temp=0.7)
 
-    generate_kwargs: dict[str, object] = {
-        "model": model,
-        "tokenizer": tokenizer,
-        "prompt": warmup_prompt,
-        "max_tokens": 50,
-        "sampler": sampler,
-        "prefill_step_size": 2048,
-        "kv_group_size": KV_GROUP_SIZE,
-        "kv_bits": KV_BITS,
-    }
-
-    # Warm up with draft model if provided (speculative decoding path)
-    if draft_model is not None:
-        logger.info("Warming up with speculative decoding (draft model)")
-        generate_kwargs["draft_model"] = draft_model
-        generate_kwargs["num_draft_tokens"] = num_draft_tokens
-    else:
-        generate_kwargs["prompt_cache"] = make_kv_cache(model=model)
-
     logger.info("Generating warmup tokens")
-    for _r in stream_generate(**generate_kwargs):  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+    for _r in stream_generate(
+        model=model,
+        tokenizer=tokenizer,
+        prompt=warmup_prompt,
+        max_tokens=50,
+        sampler=sampler,
+        prompt_cache=cache,
+        prefill_step_size=2048,
+        kv_group_size=KV_GROUP_SIZE,
+        kv_bits=KV_BITS,
+    ):
         logger.info("Generated warmup token: " + str(_r.text))
         tokens_generated += 1
 
@@ -126,8 +119,6 @@ def mlx_generate(
     model: Model,
     tokenizer: TokenizerWrapper,
     task: ChatCompletionTaskParams,
-    draft_model: Model | None = None,
-    num_draft_tokens: int = 4,
 ) -> Generator[GenerationResponse]:
     # Ensure that generation stats only contains peak memory for this generation
     mx.reset_peak_memory()
@@ -144,6 +135,8 @@ def mlx_generate(
         chat_task_data=task,
     )
 
+    caches = make_kv_cache(model=model)
+
     logits_processors: list[Callable[[mx.array, mx.array], mx.array]] = []
     if is_bench:
         # Only sample length eos tokens
@@ -156,31 +149,19 @@ def mlx_generate(
     )
 
     max_tokens = task.max_tokens or MAX_TOKENS
-
-    # Build kwargs for stream_generate, conditionally adding draft model params
-    generate_kwargs: dict[str, object] = {
-        "model": model,
-        "tokenizer": tokenizer,
-        "prompt": prompt,
-        "max_tokens": max_tokens,
-        "sampler": sampler,
-        "logits_processors": logits_processors,
-        "prefill_step_size": 2048,
-        "kv_group_size": KV_GROUP_SIZE,
-        "kv_bits": KV_BITS,
-    }
-
-    # Add speculative decoding parameters if draft model is provided
-    # Note: When using draft_model, we let mlx_lm create its own trimmable cache
-    # as speculative decoding requires cache trimming capabilities
-    if draft_model is not None:
-        generate_kwargs["draft_model"] = draft_model
-        generate_kwargs["num_draft_tokens"] = num_draft_tokens
-    else:
-        # Only use custom cache for non-speculative generation
-        generate_kwargs["prompt_cache"] = make_kv_cache(model=model)
-
-    for out in stream_generate(**generate_kwargs):  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+    for out in stream_generate(
+        model=model,
+        tokenizer=tokenizer,
+        prompt=prompt,
+        max_tokens=max_tokens,
+        sampler=sampler,
+        logits_processors=logits_processors,
+        prompt_cache=caches,
+        # TODO: Dynamically change prefill step size to be the maximum possible without timing out.
+        prefill_step_size=2048,
+        kv_group_size=KV_GROUP_SIZE,
+        kv_bits=KV_BITS,
+    ):
         logger.info(out.text)
 
         stats: GenerationStats | None = None

src/exo/worker/engines/mlx/utils_mlx.py

@@ -2,9 +2,7 @@ import json
 import os
 import resource
 import sys
-import threading
 import time
-from collections.abc import Callable
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any, cast
 
@@ -22,7 +20,6 @@ except ImportError:
 
 from mlx_lm.models.cache import KVCache, QuantizedKVCache, RotatingKVCache
 from mlx_lm.models.deepseek_v3 import DeepseekV3Model
-from mlx_lm.models.gpt_oss import Model as GptOssModel
 from mlx_lm.tokenizer_utils import TokenizerWrapper
 
 from exo.worker.engines.mlx.constants import (
@@ -84,45 +81,6 @@ def get_weights_size(model_shard_meta: ShardMetadata) -> Memory:
     )
 
 
-class ModelLoadingTimeoutError(Exception):
-    pass
-
-
-TimeoutCallback = Callable[[], None]
-
-
-def eval_with_timeout(
-    mlx_item: Any,  # pyright: ignore[reportAny]
-    timeout_seconds: float = 60.0,
-    on_timeout: TimeoutCallback | None = None,
-) -> None:
-    """Evaluate MLX item with a hard timeout.
-
-    If on_timeout callback is provided, it will be called before terminating
-    the process. This allows the runner to send a failure event before exit.
-    """
-    completed = threading.Event()
-
-    def watchdog() -> None:
-        if not completed.wait(timeout=timeout_seconds):
-            logger.error(
-                f"mlx_item evaluation timed out after {timeout_seconds:.0f}s. "
-                "This may indicate an issue with FAST_SYNCH and tensor parallel sharding. "
-                "Terminating process."
-            )
-            if on_timeout is not None:
-                on_timeout()
-            os._exit(1)
-
-    watchdog_thread = threading.Thread(target=watchdog, daemon=True)
-    watchdog_thread.start()
-
-    try:
-        mx.eval(mlx_item)  # pyright: ignore[reportAny]
-    finally:
-        completed.set()
-
-
 def mx_barrier(group: Group | None = None):
     mx.eval(
         mx.distributed.all_sum(
@@ -204,7 +162,9 @@ def mlx_distributed_init(
                 os.environ["MLX_IBV_DEVICES"] = coordination_file
                 os.environ["MLX_RANK"] = str(rank)
                 os.environ["MLX_JACCL_COORDINATOR"] = jaccl_coordinator
+                logger.info(f"rank {rank} BEFORE mx.distributed.init(backend='jaccl')")
                 group = mx.distributed.init(backend="jaccl", strict=True)
+                logger.info(f"rank {rank} AFTER mx.distributed.init - group created")
 
         logger.info(f"Rank {rank} mlx distributed initialization complete")
 
@@ -229,9 +189,7 @@ def initialize_mlx(
 
 
 def load_mlx_items(
-    bound_instance: BoundInstance,
-    group: Group | None,
-    on_timeout: TimeoutCallback | None = None,
+    bound_instance: BoundInstance, group: Group | None
 ) -> tuple[Model, TokenizerWrapper]:
     if group is None:
         logger.info(f"Single device used for {bound_instance.instance}")
@@ -243,12 +201,12 @@ def load_mlx_items(
         tokenizer = get_tokenizer(model_path, bound_instance.bound_shard)
 
     else:
-        logger.info("Starting distributed init")
+        logger.info("Starting distributed shard_and_load")
         start_time = time.perf_counter()
-        model, tokenizer = shard_and_load(
-            bound_instance.bound_shard, group=group, on_timeout=on_timeout
-        )
+        logger.info(f"BEFORE shard_and_load for model {bound_instance.bound_shard.model_meta.model_id}")
+        model, tokenizer = shard_and_load(bound_instance.bound_shard, group=group)
         end_time = time.perf_counter()
+        logger.info(f"AFTER shard_and_load completed")
         logger.info(
             f"Time taken to shard and load model: {(end_time - start_time):.2f}s"
         )
@@ -258,35 +216,15 @@ def load_mlx_items(
     return cast(Model, model), tokenizer
 
 
-def load_draft_model(model_id: str) -> nn.Module:
-    """Load a draft model for speculative decoding (rank 0 only).
-
-    Draft models are small models (typically 0.5B-2B parameters) used to
-    generate candidate tokens quickly, which are then verified by the main
-    model in a single forward pass.
-
-    Assumes the model has already been downloaded by the worker.
-
-    Args:
-        model_id: HuggingFace model ID for the draft model
-
-    Returns:
-        The loaded draft model
-    """
-    model_path = build_model_path(model_id)
-    draft_model, _ = load_model(model_path, strict=True)
-    logger.info(f"Loaded draft model from {model_path}")
-    return draft_model
-
-
 def shard_and_load(
     shard_metadata: ShardMetadata,
     group: Group,
-    on_timeout: TimeoutCallback | None = None,
 ) -> tuple[nn.Module, TokenizerWrapper]:
     model_path = build_model_path(shard_metadata.model_meta.model_id)
-
+    logger.info(f"shard_and_load: model_path={model_path}")
+    logger.info("BEFORE load_model (lazy=True)")
     model, _ = load_model(model_path, lazy=True, strict=False)
+    logger.info("AFTER load_model")
     logger.debug(model)
     if hasattr(model, "model") and isinstance(model.model, DeepseekV3Model):  # type: ignore
         pass
@@ -319,17 +257,7 @@ def shard_and_load(
             logger.info(f"loading model from {model_path} with pipeline parallelism")
             model = pipeline_auto_parallel(model, group, shard_metadata)
 
-    # Estimate timeout based on model size
-    base_timeout = float(os.environ.get("EXO_MODEL_LOAD_TIMEOUT", "60"))
-    model_size_gb = get_weights_size(shard_metadata).in_bytes / (1024**3)
-    timeout_seconds = base_timeout + model_size_gb / 5
-    logger.info(
-        f"Evaluating model parameters with timeout of {timeout_seconds:.0f}s "
-        f"(model size: {model_size_gb:.1f}GB)"
-    )
-    eval_with_timeout(model.parameters(), timeout_seconds, on_timeout)
-
-    # TODO: Do we need this?
+    mx.eval(model.parameters())
     mx.eval(model)
 
     logger.debug("SHARDED")
@@ -441,8 +369,6 @@ def apply_chat_template(
         tools=chat_task_data.tools,
     )
 
-    logger.info(prompt)
-
     return prompt
 
 
@@ -474,11 +400,6 @@ def make_kv_cache(
 ) -> list[KVCache | RotatingKVCache | QuantizedKVCache]:
     assert hasattr(model, "layers")
 
-    # TODO: Do this for all models
-    if hasattr(model, "make_cache") and isinstance(model, GptOssModel):
-        logger.info("Using MLX LM's make cache")
-        return model.make_cache()  # type: ignore
-
     if max_kv_size is None:
         if KV_CACHE_BITS is None:
             logger.info("Using default KV cache")

src/exo/worker/main.py

@@ -29,9 +29,7 @@ from exo.shared.types.profiling import MemoryPerformanceProfile, NodePerformance
 from exo.shared.types.state import State
 from exo.shared.types.tasks import (
     CreateRunner,
-    DownloadDraftModel,
     DownloadModel,
-    SetDraftModel,
     Shutdown,
     Task,
     TaskStatus,
@@ -50,7 +48,6 @@ from exo.utils.event_buffer import OrderedBuffer
 from exo.worker.download.download_utils import (
     map_repo_download_progress_to_download_progress_data,
 )
-from exo.worker.download.impl_shard_downloader import build_full_shard
 from exo.worker.download.shard_downloader import RepoDownloadProgress, ShardDownloader
 from exo.worker.plan import plan
 from exo.worker.runner.runner_supervisor import RunnerSupervisor
@@ -205,10 +202,42 @@ class Worker:
                         )
                     )
                 case DownloadModel(shard_metadata=shard):
-                    await self._handle_download(shard, task)
-                case DownloadDraftModel(model_id=model_id):
-                    shard = await build_full_shard(model_id)
-                    await self._handle_download(shard, task)
+                    if shard.model_meta.model_id not in self.download_status:
+                        progress = DownloadPending(
+                            shard_metadata=shard, node_id=self.node_id
+                        )
+                        self.download_status[shard.model_meta.model_id] = progress
+                        await self.event_sender.send(
+                            NodeDownloadProgress(download_progress=progress)
+                        )
+                    initial_progress = (
+                        await self.shard_downloader.get_shard_download_status_for_shard(
+                            shard
+                        )
+                    )
+                    if initial_progress.status == "complete":
+                        progress = DownloadCompleted(
+                            shard_metadata=shard,
+                            node_id=self.node_id,
+                            total_bytes=initial_progress.total_bytes,
+                        )
+                        self.download_status[shard.model_meta.model_id] = progress
+                        await self.event_sender.send(
+                            NodeDownloadProgress(download_progress=progress)
+                        )
+                        await self.event_sender.send(
+                            TaskStatusUpdated(
+                                task_id=task.task_id,
+                                task_status=TaskStatus.Complete,
+                            )
+                        )
+                    else:
+                        await self.event_sender.send(
+                            TaskStatusUpdated(
+                                task_id=task.task_id, task_status=TaskStatus.Running
+                            )
+                        )
+                        self._handle_shard_download_process(task, initial_progress)
                 case Shutdown(runner_id=runner_id):
                     try:
                         with fail_after(3):
@@ -219,25 +248,6 @@ class Worker:
                                 task_id=task.task_id, task_status=TaskStatus.TimedOut
                             )
                         )
-                case SetDraftModel(
-                    model_id=draft_model_id, num_draft_tokens=num_tokens
-                ):
-                    runner = self.runners[self._task_to_runner_id(task)]
-                    await runner.start_task(task)
-                    # Update bound_instance to reflect new/cleared draft model
-                    updated_instance = runner.bound_instance.instance.model_copy(
-                        update={
-                            "draft_model": (
-                                ModelId(draft_model_id)
-                                if draft_model_id is not None
-                                else None
-                            ),
-                            "num_draft_tokens": num_tokens,
-                        }
-                    )
-                    runner.bound_instance = runner.bound_instance.model_copy(
-                        update={"instance": updated_instance}
-                    )
                 case task:
                     await self.runners[self._task_to_runner_id(task)].start_task(task)
 
@@ -330,46 +340,6 @@ class Worker:
         self._tg.start_soon(runner.run)
         return runner
 
-    async def _handle_download(self, shard: ShardMetadata, task: Task) -> None:
-        """Handle model download - shared logic for main and draft models."""
-        model_id = shard.model_meta.model_id
-
-        if model_id not in self.download_status:
-            progress = DownloadPending(shard_metadata=shard, node_id=self.node_id)
-            self.download_status[model_id] = progress
-            await self.event_sender.send(
-                NodeDownloadProgress(download_progress=progress)
-            )
-
-        initial_progress = (
-            await self.shard_downloader.get_shard_download_status_for_shard(shard)
-        )
-
-        if initial_progress.status == "complete":
-            progress = DownloadCompleted(
-                shard_metadata=shard,
-                node_id=self.node_id,
-                total_bytes=initial_progress.total_bytes,
-            )
-            self.download_status[model_id] = progress
-            await self.event_sender.send(
-                NodeDownloadProgress(download_progress=progress)
-            )
-            await self.event_sender.send(
-                TaskStatusUpdated(task_id=task.task_id, task_status=TaskStatus.Complete)
-            )
-        else:
-            await self.event_sender.send(
-                TaskStatusUpdated(task_id=task.task_id, task_status=TaskStatus.Running)
-            )
-            download_task = DownloadModel(
-                instance_id=task.instance_id,
-                shard_metadata=shard,
-                task_id=task.task_id,
-                task_status=task.task_status,
-            )
-            self._handle_shard_download_process(download_task, initial_progress)
-
     def _handle_shard_download_process(
         self,
         task: DownloadModel,

src/exo/worker/plan.py

@@ -8,10 +8,8 @@ from exo.shared.types.tasks import (
     ChatCompletion,
     ConnectToGroup,
     CreateRunner,
-    DownloadDraftModel,
     DownloadModel,
     LoadModel,
-    SetDraftModel,
     Shutdown,
     StartWarmup,
     Task,
@@ -40,16 +38,6 @@ from exo.shared.types.worker.runners import (
 from exo.worker.runner.runner_supervisor import RunnerSupervisor
 
 
-def _is_download_in_progress_or_complete(
-    model_id: ModelId,
-    download_status: Mapping[ModelId, DownloadProgress],
-) -> bool:
-    """Check if model download is in progress or complete."""
-    return model_id in download_status and isinstance(
-        download_status[model_id], (DownloadOngoing, DownloadCompleted)
-    )
-
-
 def plan(
     node_id: NodeId,
     # Runners is expected to be FRESH and so should not come from state
@@ -67,11 +55,9 @@ def plan(
         _kill_runner(runners, all_runners, instances)
         or _create_runner(node_id, runners, instances)
         or _model_needs_download(runners, download_status)
-        or _draft_model_needs_download(runners, download_status, instances)
         or _init_distributed_backend(runners, all_runners)
-        or _load_model(runners, all_runners, global_download_status, download_status)
+        or _load_model(runners, all_runners, global_download_status)
         or _ready_to_warmup(runners, all_runners)
-        or _set_draft_model(runners, instances, download_status)
         or _pending_tasks(runners, tasks, all_runners)
     )
 
@@ -129,9 +115,12 @@ def _model_needs_download(
 ) -> DownloadModel | None:
     for runner in runners.values():
         model_id = runner.bound_instance.bound_shard.model_meta.model_id
-        if isinstance(
-            runner.status, RunnerIdle
-        ) and not _is_download_in_progress_or_complete(model_id, download_status):
+        if isinstance(runner.status, RunnerIdle) and (
+            model_id not in download_status
+            or not isinstance(
+                download_status[model_id], (DownloadOngoing, DownloadCompleted)
+            )
+        ):
             # We don't invalidate download_status randomly in case a file gets deleted on disk
             return DownloadModel(
                 instance_id=runner.bound_instance.instance.instance_id,
@@ -139,43 +128,6 @@ def _model_needs_download(
             )
 
 
-def _draft_model_needs_download(
-    runners: Mapping[RunnerId, RunnerSupervisor],
-    download_status: Mapping[ModelId, DownloadProgress],
-    instances: Mapping[InstanceId, Instance],
-) -> DownloadDraftModel | None:
-    """Check if draft model needs download for rank 0 runner.
-
-    Triggers download when:
-    - RunnerIdle with draft model (initial setup)
-    - RunnerReady with new draft model (updated via API)
-    """
-    rank_0_runner = next(
-        (r for r in runners.values() if r.bound_instance.bound_shard.device_rank == 0),
-        None,
-    )
-    if rank_0_runner is None:
-        return None
-    if not isinstance(rank_0_runner.status, (RunnerIdle, RunnerReady)):
-        return None
-
-    # Use current instance state (may have been updated via API)
-    instance_id = rank_0_runner.bound_instance.instance.instance_id
-    current_instance = instances.get(instance_id)
-    if current_instance is None:
-        return None
-
-    draft_model_id = current_instance.draft_model
-    if draft_model_id is None:
-        return None
-    if _is_download_in_progress_or_complete(draft_model_id, download_status):
-        return None
-    return DownloadDraftModel(
-        instance_id=instance_id,
-        model_id=str(draft_model_id),
-    )
-
-
 def _init_distributed_backend(
     runners: Mapping[RunnerId, RunnerSupervisor],
     all_runners: Mapping[RunnerId, RunnerStatus],
@@ -230,12 +182,10 @@ def _load_model(
     runners: Mapping[RunnerId, RunnerSupervisor],
     all_runners: Mapping[RunnerId, RunnerStatus],
     global_download_status: Mapping[NodeId, Sequence[DownloadProgress]],
-    download_status: Mapping[ModelId, DownloadProgress],
 ) -> LoadModel | None:
     for runner in runners.values():
         instance = runner.bound_instance.instance
         shard_assignments = instance.shard_assignments
-        shard = runner.bound_instance.bound_shard
 
         all_local_downloads_complete = all(
             nid in global_download_status
@@ -249,14 +199,6 @@ def _load_model(
         if not all_local_downloads_complete:
             continue
 
-        # Rank 0 with draft model must wait for draft download before loading
-        if shard.device_rank == 0:
-            draft_model_id = instance.draft_model
-            if draft_model_id is not None and not isinstance(
-                download_status.get(draft_model_id), DownloadCompleted
-            ):
-                continue
-
         is_single_node_instance = len(instance.shard_assignments.runner_to_shard) == 1
         if is_single_node_instance and isinstance(runner.status, RunnerIdle):
             return LoadModel(instance_id=instance.instance_id)
@@ -316,53 +258,6 @@ def _ready_to_warmup(
     return None
 
 
-def _set_draft_model(
-    runners: Mapping[RunnerId, RunnerSupervisor],
-    instances: Mapping[InstanceId, Instance],
-    download_status: Mapping[ModelId, DownloadProgress],
-) -> SetDraftModel | None:
-    """Check if rank 0 runner needs to load or clear a draft model."""
-    rank_0_runner = next(
-        (r for r in runners.values() if r.bound_instance.bound_shard.device_rank == 0),
-        None,
-    )
-    if rank_0_runner is None:
-        return None
-    if not isinstance(rank_0_runner.status, RunnerReady):
-        return None
-
-    instance_id = rank_0_runner.bound_instance.instance.instance_id
-    current_instance = instances.get(instance_id)
-    if current_instance is None:
-        return None
-
-    # Compare runner's bound draft model vs current instance draft model
-    runner_draft_model = rank_0_runner.bound_instance.instance.draft_model
-    current_draft_model = current_instance.draft_model
-
-    if runner_draft_model == current_draft_model:
-        return None
-
-    # Draft model changed - need to update
-    if current_draft_model is None:
-        # Clear draft model
-        return SetDraftModel(
-            instance_id=instance_id,
-            model_id=None,
-            num_draft_tokens=4,
-        )
-
-    # Wait for draft model to be downloaded
-    if not isinstance(download_status.get(current_draft_model), DownloadCompleted):
-        return None
-
-    return SetDraftModel(
-        instance_id=instance_id,
-        model_id=str(current_draft_model),
-        num_draft_tokens=current_instance.num_draft_tokens,
-    )
-
-
 def _pending_tasks(
     runners: Mapping[RunnerId, RunnerSupervisor],
     tasks: Mapping[TaskId, Task],

src/exo/worker/runner/bootstrap.py

@@ -17,23 +17,15 @@ def entrypoint(
     task_receiver: MpReceiver[Task],
     _logger: "loguru.Logger",
 ) -> None:
-    fast_synch_override = os.environ.get("EXO_FAST_SYNCH")
-    if fast_synch_override == "on" or (
-        fast_synch_override != "off"
-        and (
-            isinstance(bound_instance.instance, MlxJacclInstance)
-            and len(bound_instance.instance.ibv_devices) >= 2
-        )
+    if (
+        isinstance(bound_instance.instance, MlxJacclInstance)
+        and len(bound_instance.instance.ibv_devices) >= 2
     ):
         os.environ["MLX_METAL_FAST_SYNCH"] = "1"
-    else:
-        os.environ["MLX_METAL_FAST_SYNCH"] = "0"
 
     global logger
     logger = _logger
 
-    logger.info(f"Fast synch flag: {os.environ['MLX_METAL_FAST_SYNCH']}")
-
     # Import main after setting global logger - this lets us just import logger from this module
     try:
         from exo.worker.runner.runner import main

src/exo/worker/runner/runner.py

@@ -1,21 +1,9 @@
 import time
-from collections.abc import Generator
-from contextlib import contextmanager
-from functools import cache
-from typing import cast
 
 import mlx.core as mx
-from mlx_lm.models.gpt_oss import Model as GptOssModel
-from openai_harmony import (  # pyright: ignore[reportMissingTypeStubs]
-    HarmonyEncodingName,
-    Role,
-    StreamableParser,
-    load_harmony_encoding,
-)
 
 from exo.shared.types.api import ChatCompletionMessageText
 from exo.shared.types.chunks import TokenChunk
-from exo.shared.types.common import CommandId
 from exo.shared.types.events import (
     ChunkGenerated,
     Event,
@@ -23,12 +11,10 @@ from exo.shared.types.events import (
     TaskAcknowledged,
     TaskStatusUpdated,
 )
-from exo.shared.types.models import ModelId
 from exo.shared.types.tasks import (
     ChatCompletion,
     ConnectToGroup,
     LoadModel,
-    SetDraftModel,
     Shutdown,
     StartWarmup,
     Task,
@@ -53,44 +39,15 @@ from exo.shared.types.worker.runners import (
     RunnerWarmingUp,
 )
 from exo.utils.channels import MpReceiver, MpSender
-from exo.worker.engines.mlx import Model
 from exo.worker.engines.mlx.generator.generate import mlx_generate, warmup_inference
 from exo.worker.engines.mlx.utils_mlx import (
     initialize_mlx,
-    load_draft_model,
     load_mlx_items,
     mlx_force_oom,
 )
 from exo.worker.runner.bootstrap import logger
 
 
-@contextmanager
-def send_error_chunk_on_exception(
-    event_sender: MpSender[Event],
-    command_id: CommandId,
-    model_id: ModelId,
-    device_rank: int,
-):
-    try:
-        yield
-    except Exception as e:
-        logger.error(e)
-        if device_rank == 0:
-            event_sender.send(
-                ChunkGenerated(
-                    command_id=command_id,
-                    chunk=TokenChunk(
-                        idx=0,
-                        model=model_id,
-                        text="",
-                        token_id=0,
-                        finish_reason="error",
-                        error_message=str(e),
-                    ),
-                )
-            )
-
-
 def main(
     bound_instance: BoundInstance,
     event_sender: MpSender[Event],
@@ -112,7 +69,6 @@ def main(
     model = None
     tokenizer = None
     group = None
-    draft_model: Model | None = None  # Loaded during warmup if instance has draft_model
 
     current_status: RunnerStatus = RunnerIdle()
     logger.info("runner created")
@@ -153,30 +109,7 @@ def main(
                         )
                     )
 
-                    def on_model_load_timeout() -> None:
-                        event_sender.send(
-                            RunnerStatusUpdated(
-                                runner_id=runner_id,
-                                runner_status=RunnerFailed(
-                                    error_message="Model loading timed out"
-                                ),
-                            )
-                        )
-                        time.sleep(0.5)
-
-                    model, tokenizer = load_mlx_items(
-                        bound_instance, group, on_timeout=on_model_load_timeout
-                    )
-
-                    # Load draft model for speculative decoding (rank 0 only)
-                    if (
-                        instance.draft_model is not None
-                        and shard_metadata.device_rank == 0
-                    ):
-                        logger.info(f"Loading draft model: {instance.draft_model}")
-                        draft_model = cast(
-                            Model, load_draft_model(str(instance.draft_model))
-                        )
+                    model, tokenizer = load_mlx_items(bound_instance, group)
 
                     current_status = RunnerLoaded()
                     logger.info("runner loaded")
@@ -193,10 +126,9 @@ def main(
 
                     logger.info(f"warming up inference for instance: {instance}")
                     toks = warmup_inference(
-                        model=cast(Model, model),
+                        model=model,
                         tokenizer=tokenizer,
-                        draft_model=draft_model,
-                        num_draft_tokens=instance.num_draft_tokens,
+                        # kv_prefix_cache=kv_prefix_cache,  # supply for warmup-time prefix caching
                     )
                     logger.info(f"warmed up by generating {toks} tokens")
                     logger.info(
@@ -207,6 +139,8 @@ def main(
                 case ChatCompletion(task_params=task_params, command_id=command_id) if (
                     isinstance(current_status, RunnerReady)
                 ):
+                    assert model
+                    assert tokenizer
                     logger.info(f"received chat request: {str(task)[:500]}")
                     current_status = RunnerRunning()
                     logger.info("runner running")
@@ -215,96 +149,36 @@ def main(
                             runner_id=runner_id, runner_status=current_status
                         )
                     )
-                    with send_error_chunk_on_exception(
-                        event_sender,
-                        command_id,
-                        shard_metadata.model_meta.model_id,
-                        shard_metadata.device_rank,
+                    assert task_params.messages[0].content is not None
+                    _check_for_debug_prompts(task_params.messages[0].content)
+
+                    # Generate responses using the actual MLX generation
+                    for response in mlx_generate(
+                        model=model,
+                        tokenizer=tokenizer,
+                        task=task_params,
                     ):
-                        assert model
-                        assert tokenizer
-                        assert task_params.messages[0].content is not None
-                        _check_for_debug_prompts(task_params.messages[0].content)
-
-                        # Generate responses (draft_model loaded at warmup if configured)
-                        mlx_generator = mlx_generate(
-                            model=cast(Model, model),
-                            tokenizer=tokenizer,
-                            task=task_params,
-                            draft_model=draft_model,
-                            num_draft_tokens=instance.num_draft_tokens,
-                        )
-
-                        # GPT-OSS specific parsing to match other model formats.
-                        if isinstance(model, GptOssModel):
-                            mlx_generator = parse_gpt_oss(mlx_generator)
-
-                        # TODO: Add tool call parser here
-
-                        for response in mlx_generator:
-                            match response:
-                                case GenerationResponse():
-                                    if shard_metadata.device_rank == 0:
-                                        event_sender.send(
-                                            ChunkGenerated(
-                                                command_id=command_id,
-                                                chunk=TokenChunk(
-                                                    idx=response.token,
-                                                    model=shard_metadata.model_meta.model_id,
-                                                    text=response.text,
-                                                    token_id=response.token,
-                                                    finish_reason=response.finish_reason,
-                                                    stats=response.stats,
-                                                ),
-                                            )
+                        match response:
+                            case GenerationResponse():
+                                if shard_metadata.device_rank == 0:
+                                    event_sender.send(
+                                        ChunkGenerated(
+                                            command_id=command_id,
+                                            chunk=TokenChunk(
+                                                idx=response.token,
+                                                model=shard_metadata.model_meta.model_id,
+                                                text=response.text,
+                                                token_id=response.token,
+                                                finish_reason=response.finish_reason,
+                                                stats=response.stats,
+                                            ),
                                         )
+                                    )
+                                # case TokenizedResponse():
+                                # TODO: something here ig
 
                     current_status = RunnerReady()
                     logger.info("runner ready")
-                case SetDraftModel(
-                    model_id=draft_model_id, num_draft_tokens=num_tokens
-                ) if isinstance(current_status, RunnerReady):
-                    current_status = RunnerWarmingUp()
-                    logger.info("runner warming up (setting draft model)")
-                    event_sender.send(
-                        RunnerStatusUpdated(
-                            runner_id=runner_id, runner_status=current_status
-                        )
-                    )
-                    assert model is not None
-                    assert tokenizer is not None
-
-                    if draft_model_id is None:
-                        # Clear draft model
-                        logger.info("Clearing draft model")
-                        draft_model = None
-                        instance = instance.model_copy(
-                            update={
-                                "draft_model": None,
-                                "num_draft_tokens": 4,
-                            }
-                        )
-                    else:
-                        # Load new draft model
-                        logger.info(f"Loading draft model: {draft_model_id}")
-                        draft_model = cast(Model, load_draft_model(draft_model_id))
-                        instance = instance.model_copy(
-                            update={
-                                "draft_model": ModelId(draft_model_id),
-                                "num_draft_tokens": num_tokens,
-                            }
-                        )
-                        # Warm up with speculative decoding
-                        logger.info("Warming up with new draft model")
-                        warmup_inference(
-                            model=cast(Model, model),
-                            tokenizer=tokenizer,
-                            draft_model=draft_model,
-                            num_draft_tokens=num_tokens,
-                        )
-                        logger.info("Draft model loaded and warmed up")
-
-                    current_status = RunnerReady()
                 case Shutdown():
                     current_status = RunnerShuttingDown()
                     logger.info("runner shutting down")
@@ -325,7 +199,7 @@ def main(
                 RunnerStatusUpdated(runner_id=runner_id, runner_status=current_status)
             )
             if isinstance(current_status, RunnerShutdown):
-                del model, tokenizer, group, draft_model
+                del model, tokenizer, group
                 mx.clear_cache()
                 import gc
 
@@ -333,43 +207,6 @@ def main(
                 break
 
 
-@cache
-def get_gpt_oss_encoding():
-    encoding = load_harmony_encoding(HarmonyEncodingName.HARMONY_GPT_OSS)
-    return encoding
-
-
-def parse_gpt_oss(
-    responses: Generator[GenerationResponse],
-) -> Generator[GenerationResponse]:
-    encoding = get_gpt_oss_encoding()
-    stream = StreamableParser(encoding, role=Role.ASSISTANT)
-    thinking = False
-
-    for response in responses:
-        stream.process(response.token)
-
-        delta = stream.last_content_delta
-        ch = stream.current_channel
-
-        if ch == "analysis" and not thinking:
-            thinking = True
-            yield response.model_copy(update={"text": "<think>"})
-
-        if ch != "analysis" and thinking:
-            thinking = False
-            yield response.model_copy(update={"text": "</think>"})
-
-        if delta:
-            yield response.model_copy(update={"text": delta})
-
-        if response.finish_reason is not None:
-            if thinking:
-                yield response.model_copy(update={"text": "</think>"})
-            yield response
-            break
-
-
 EXO_RUNNER_MUST_FAIL = "EXO RUNNER MUST FAIL"
 EXO_RUNNER_MUST_OOM = "EXO RUNNER MUST OOM"
 EXO_RUNNER_MUST_TIMEOUT = "EXO RUNNER MUST TIMEOUT"

src/exo/worker/tests/unittests/test_runner/test_error_handling.py

@@ -1,50 +0,0 @@
-# pyright: reportAny=false
-from unittest.mock import MagicMock
-
-from exo.shared.types.chunks import TokenChunk
-from exo.shared.types.common import CommandId
-from exo.shared.types.events import ChunkGenerated
-from exo.worker.runner.runner import send_error_chunk_on_exception
-from exo.worker.tests.constants import MODEL_A_ID
-
-
-def test_send_error_chunk_on_exception_no_error() -> None:
-    event_sender = MagicMock()
-    command_id = CommandId()
-
-    with send_error_chunk_on_exception(
-        event_sender, command_id, MODEL_A_ID, device_rank=0
-    ):
-        _ = 1 + 1
-
-    event_sender.send.assert_not_called()
-
-
-def test_send_error_chunk_on_exception_catches_error() -> None:
-    event_sender = MagicMock()
-    command_id = CommandId()
-
-    with send_error_chunk_on_exception(
-        event_sender, command_id, MODEL_A_ID, device_rank=0
-    ):
-        raise ValueError("test error")
-
-    event_sender.send.assert_called_once()
-    call_args = event_sender.send.call_args[0][0]
-    assert isinstance(call_args, ChunkGenerated)
-    assert call_args.command_id == command_id
-    assert isinstance(call_args.chunk, TokenChunk)
-    assert call_args.chunk.finish_reason == "error"
-    assert call_args.chunk.error_message == "test error"
-
-
-def test_send_error_chunk_on_exception_skips_non_rank_zero() -> None:
-    event_sender = MagicMock()
-    command_id = CommandId()
-
-    with send_error_chunk_on_exception(
-        event_sender, command_id, MODEL_A_ID, device_rank=1
-    ):
-        raise ValueError("test error")
-
-    event_sender.send.assert_not_called()

src/exo/worker/tests/unittests/test_runner/test_event_ordering.py

@@ -121,21 +121,6 @@ def patch_out_mlx(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch):
     monkeypatch.setattr(mlx_runner, "mlx_generate", fake_generate)
 
 
-# Use a fake event_sender to remove test flakiness.
-class EventCollector:
-    def __init__(self) -> None:
-        self.events: list[Event] = []
-
-    def send(self, event: Event) -> None:
-        self.events.append(event)
-
-    def close(self) -> None:
-        pass
-
-    def join(self) -> None:
-        pass
-
-
 def _run(tasks: Iterable[Task]):
     bound_instance = get_bound_mlx_ring_instance(
         instance_id=INSTANCE_1_ID,
@@ -145,20 +130,22 @@ def _run(tasks: Iterable[Task]):
     )
 
     task_sender, task_receiver = mp_channel[Task]()
-    event_sender = EventCollector()
+    event_sender, event_receiver = mp_channel[Event]()
 
-    with task_sender:
+    with task_sender, event_receiver:
         for t in tasks:
             task_sender.send(t)
 
         # worst monkeypatch known to man
         # this is some c++ nonsense
+        event_sender.close = nothin
+        event_sender.join = nothin
         task_receiver.close = nothin
         task_receiver.join = nothin
 
-        mlx_runner.main(bound_instance, event_sender, task_receiver)  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+        mlx_runner.main(bound_instance, event_sender, task_receiver)
 
-        return event_sender.events
+        return event_receiver.collect()
 
 
 def test_events_processed_in_correct_order(patch_out_mlx: pytest.MonkeyPatch):

src/exo/worker/utils/net_profile.py

@@ -1,64 +1,62 @@
-import anyio
-import httpx
-from anyio import create_task_group
+import http.client
+import time
+
+from anyio import create_task_group, to_thread
 from loguru import logger
 
 from exo.shared.topology import Topology
 from exo.shared.types.common import NodeId
 
-REACHABILITY_ATTEMPTS = 3
+BAD_STATUSLINE_ATTEMPTS = 3
 
 
 async def check_reachability(
     target_ip: str,
     expected_node_id: NodeId,
+    self_node_id: NodeId,
     out: dict[NodeId, set[str]],
-    client: httpx.AsyncClient,
 ) -> None:
     """Check if a node is reachable at the given IP and verify its identity."""
-    if ":" in target_ip:
-        # TODO: use real IpAddress types
-        target_ip = f"[{target_ip}]"
-    url = f"http://{target_ip}:52415/node_id"
 
-    remote_node_id = None
-    last_error = None
-
-    for _ in range(REACHABILITY_ATTEMPTS):
+    # TODO: use an async http client
+    def _fetch_remote_node_id(*, attempt: int = 1) -> NodeId | None:
+        connection = http.client.HTTPConnection(target_ip, 52415, timeout=3)
         try:
-            r = await client.get(url)
-            if r.status_code != 200:
-                await anyio.sleep(1)
-                continue
+            connection.request("GET", "/node_id")
+            response = connection.getresponse()
+            if response.status != 200:
+                return None
 
-            body = r.text.strip().strip('"')
-            if not body:
-                await anyio.sleep(1)
-                continue
+            body = response.read().decode("utf-8").strip()
 
-            remote_node_id = NodeId(body)
-            break
+            # Strip quotes if present (JSON string response)
+            if body.startswith('"') and body.endswith('"') and len(body) >= 2:
+                body = body[1:-1]
 
-        # expected failure cases
-        except (
-            httpx.TimeoutException,
-            httpx.NetworkError,
-        ):
-            await anyio.sleep(1)
-
-        # other failures should be logged on last attempt
-        except httpx.HTTPError as e:
-            last_error = e
-            await anyio.sleep(1)
-
-    if last_error is not None:
-        logger.warning(
-            f"connect error {type(last_error).__name__} from {target_ip} after {REACHABILITY_ATTEMPTS} attempts; treating as down"
-        )
+            return NodeId(body) or None
+        except OSError:
+            return None
+        except http.client.BadStatusLine:
+            if attempt >= BAD_STATUSLINE_ATTEMPTS:
+                logger.warning(
+                    f"BadStatusLine from {target_ip}, after {attempt} attempts, assuming connection to {expected_node_id} has dropped"
+                )
+                return None
+            time.sleep(1)
+            return _fetch_remote_node_id(attempt=attempt + 1)
+        except http.client.HTTPException as e:
+            logger.warning(f"HTTPException from {target_ip}: {type(e).__name__}: {e}")
+            return None
+        finally:
+            connection.close()
 
+    remote_node_id = await to_thread.run_sync(_fetch_remote_node_id)
     if remote_node_id is None:
         return
 
+    if remote_node_id == self_node_id:
+        return
+
     if remote_node_id != expected_node_id:
         logger.warning(
             f"Discovered node with unexpected node_id; "
@@ -76,33 +74,18 @@ async def check_reachable(
     topology: Topology, self_node_id: NodeId
 ) -> dict[NodeId, set[str]]:
     """Check which nodes are reachable and return their IPs."""
-
     reachable: dict[NodeId, set[str]] = {}
-
-    # these are intentionally httpx's defaults so we can tune them later
-    timeout = httpx.Timeout(timeout=5.0)
-    limits = httpx.Limits(
-        max_connections=100,
-        max_keepalive_connections=20,
-        keepalive_expiry=5,
-    )
-
-    async with (
-        httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=timeout, limits=limits) as client,
-        create_task_group() as tg,
-    ):
+    async with create_task_group() as tg:
         for node in topology.list_nodes():
             if not node.node_profile:
                 continue
-            if node.node_id == self_node_id:
-                continue
             for iface in node.node_profile.network_interfaces:
                 tg.start_soon(
                     check_reachability,
                     iface.ip_address,
                     node.node_id,
+                    self_node_id,
                     reachable,
-                    client,
                 )
 
     return reachable