Try wrong shardings

- Add eval with a timeout.
- Add fast synch flag

Timeout mx barrier too

.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

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"
       }
     }
   ],

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

@@ -202,9 +202,9 @@ def tensor_auto_parallel(
     segments: int = 1
 
     def _all_to_sharded(path: str, weight: mx.array):
-        if path.endswith("bias"):
-            logger.info(f"Sharding bias for {path} - all to sharded")
-            return weight.ndim - 1, segments
+        # if path.endswith("bias"):
+        #     logger.info(f"Sharding bias for {path} - all to sharded")
+        #     return weight.ndim - 1, segments
         return max(weight.ndim - 2, 0), segments
 
     all_to_sharded_linear_in_place = partial(
@@ -216,10 +216,10 @@ def tensor_auto_parallel(
     n = group.size()
 
     def _sharded_to_all(path: str, weight: mx.array):
-        if path.endswith("bias"):
-            logger.info(f"Sharding bias for {path} - sharded to all")
-            weight /= n
-            return None
+        # if path.endswith("bias"):
+        #     logger.info(f"Sharding bias for {path} - sharded to all")
+        #     weight /= n
+        #     return None
         return -1, segments
 
     sharded_to_all_linear_in_place = partial(

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

@@ -299,9 +299,8 @@ def shard_and_load(
             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
+    timeout_seconds = 60 + 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)"