Indexer

Reference implementation and checkpoint configuration deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash @ 2cba9e4 · parameter count checked against the checkpoint’s tensor headers · text model only · How to read

40 layers › 2 groups of 6 layers › Source layer, pairs pooled › Compressed sparse attention › Indexer

Split heads, rotate, round

×

no parametersapply_rotary_emb(q[..., -rd:], freqs_cis); fp4_act_quant(q, …) · 551–552

Split into 32 heads, rotate each head’s last 64 features by position, round to 4-bit floats.

[B, T, 4096]  →  [B, 32, T, 128][B,\,T,\,4096]\;\to\;[B,\,32,\,T,\,128]
in
qiq^{i} [B batch, 1 positions, 4096 index heads × index width]
out
QIQ^{I} [B batch, 32 index heads, 1 positions, 128 index width]

The reference keeps positions before heads, [B, T, 32, 128] (model.py 550); the atlas writes the head axis first.

Codemodel.py 369–406, 488–580
model.py 488–580
class Indexer(torch.nn.Module):
    """Keeps the `index_topk` best compressed positions per query.

    A small side attention: fp4 query heads against one shared key per compressed position, scores
    rectified then combined by `weights_proj`. With a candidate source this is the second of two
    levels; `select_candidate_blocks` is the first.
    """

    def __init__(self, args: ModelArgs, layer_id: int):
        super().__init__()
        # the index keys are derived from the compressor's latent, so only a layer that compresses
        # its own KV can produce them; every other indexer reads them from that layer's cache
        self.owns_k = layer_id in args.kv_source_layers
        self.compress_ratio = args.compress_ratios[layer_id]
        self.is_candidate_source = layer_id == args.candidate_source_layer
        self.uses_candidates = 0 <= args.candidate_source_layer < layer_id
        self.candidate_topk_blocks = args.candidate_topk_blocks
        self.candidate_block_size = args.candidate_block_size
        self.dim = args.dim
        self.n_heads = args.index_n_heads
        self.n_local_heads = args.index_n_heads // world_size
        self.index_head_dim = args.index_head_dim
        self.rope_head_dim = args.rope_head_dim
        self.index_topk = args.index_topk
        self.q_lora_rank = args.q_lora_rank
        self.softmax_scale = self.index_head_dim**-0.5
        self.wq_b = ColumnParallelLinear(self.q_lora_rank, self.n_heads * self.index_head_dim)
        self.weights_proj = ColumnParallelLinear(self.dim, self.n_heads, dtype=torch.bfloat16)
        self.freqs_cis: torch.Tensor | None = None
        if self.owns_k:
            self.wk = Linear(args.head_dim, self.index_head_dim, dtype=torch.bfloat16)
            self.k_norm = RMSNorm(self.index_head_dim, args.norm_eps)
            self.k_cache: torch.Tensor
            self.register_buffer(
                "k_cache",
                torch.zeros(args.max_batch_size, args.max_seq_len // self.compress_ratio, args.index_head_dim),
                persistent=False,
            )

    def forward(self, x: torch.Tensor, qr: torch.Tensor, latent: torch.Tensor, start_pos: int, offset: int):
        """`latent` is this layer's RoPE-free compressed latent, None when this layer does not
        compress or when its current group is still incomplete. An index-key owner turns it into
        index keys here, which has to happen before Attention overwrites that same storage with
        the RoPE'd, quantized values."""
        assert self.freqs_cis is not None
        bsz, seqlen, _ = x.size()
        ratio, rd, end_pos = self.compress_ratio, self.rope_head_dim, start_pos + seqlen

        # latent is None while a group is still filling up, so there is nothing to publish yet
        if self.owns_k and latent is not None:
            # a latent stands for the first token of its group, so group j takes position j * ratio
            freqs = (
                self.freqs_cis[: seqlen - seqlen % ratio : ratio]
                if start_pos == 0
                else self.freqs_cis[start_pos + 1 - ratio].unsqueeze(0)
            )
            k = self.k_norm(self.wk(latent))
            apply_rotary_emb(k[..., -rd:], freqs)
            fp4_act_quant(k, fp4_block_size, True)
            self.k_cache[:bsz, start_pos // ratio : start_pos // ratio + k.size(1)] = k
            shared_attn.index_k = self.k_cache

        q = self.wq_b(qr).unflatten(-1, (self.n_local_heads, self.index_head_dim))
        apply_rotary_emb(q[..., -rd:], self.freqs_cis[start_pos:end_pos])
        fp4_act_quant(q, fp4_block_size, True)

        index_k = shared_attn.index_k[:bsz, : end_pos // ratio]
        weights = self.weights_proj(x) * (self.softmax_scale * self.n_heads**-0.5)
        index_score = torch.einsum("bshd,btd->bsht", q, index_k)
        index_score = (index_score.relu_() * weights.unsqueeze(-1)).sum(dim=2)
        if world_size > 1:
            dist.all_reduce(index_score)

        # how many compressed positions each query can see: a block becomes visible once the query
        # has passed its last token. One query per decode step, so there it is just a number.
        if start_pos == 0:
            compress_lens = (torch.arange(1, seqlen + 1, device=x.device) // ratio).unsqueeze(-1)
            index_score.masked_fill_(torch.arange(seqlen // ratio, device=x.device) >= compress_lens, -torch.inf)
        else:
            compress_lens = end_pos // ratio

        if self.is_candidate_source:
            shared_attn.candidates = select_candidate_blocks(
                index_score, compress_lens, self.candidate_topk_blocks, self.candidate_block_size
            )
        elif self.uses_candidates:
            # level two: score with our own weights, but only inside the source's candidate blocks
            index_score = index_score.masked_fill(~shared_attn.candidates, -torch.inf)

        # top-k by score, re-sorted into position order; unreachable -> -1, rest shifted by offset
        topk = min(self.index_topk, end_pos // ratio)
        idxs = index_score.topk(topk, dim=-1, sorted=False).indices.sort(dim=-1).values
        return torch.where(idxs < compress_lens, idxs + offset, -1).int()
model.py 369–406
def precompute_freqs_cis(dim, seqlen, original_seq_len, base, factor, beta_fast, beta_slow) -> torch.Tensor:
    """Rotary frequencies as complex exponentials, one row per position.

    With original_seq_len > 0 this applies YaRN: dimensions whose wavelength already fits inside the
    training context keep their frequency, those far beyond it are divided by `factor`, and the
    `beta_fast`..`beta_slow` band in between is faded across with a linear ramp.
    """
    freqs = 1.0 / (base ** (torch.arange(0, dim, 2, dtype=torch.float32) / dim))
    if original_seq_len > 0:
        # the dim whose wavelength completes `rotations` turns over the training context
        def corrected_dim(rotations):
            return dim * math.log(original_seq_len / (rotations * 2 * math.pi)) / (2 * math.log(base))

        low = max(math.floor(corrected_dim(beta_fast)), 0)
        high = min(math.ceil(corrected_dim(beta_slow)), dim - 1)
        ramp = ((torch.arange(dim // 2, dtype=torch.float32) - low) / max(high - low, 1e-3)).clamp(0, 1)
        smooth = 1 - ramp
        freqs = freqs / factor * (1 - smooth) + freqs * smooth

    freqs = torch.outer(torch.arange(seqlen), freqs)
    return torch.polar(torch.ones_like(freqs), freqs)


def apply_rotary_emb(x: torch.Tensor, freqs_cis: torch.Tensor, inverse: bool = False) -> torch.Tensor:
    """Rotate `x` in place, taking adjacent element pairs as complex numbers. Accepts [b, s, d] and
    [b, s, h, d]; `inverse` conjugates the rotation, which is how the attention output gets the
    query's rotation removed again so the cache can stay in one shared rotated form."""
    y = x
    x = torch.view_as_complex(x.float().unflatten(-1, (-1, 2)))
    if inverse:
        freqs_cis = freqs_cis.conj()
    if x.ndim == 3:
        freqs_cis = freqs_cis.view(1, x.size(1), x.size(-1))
    else:
        freqs_cis = freqs_cis.view(1, x.size(1), 1, x.size(-1))
    x = torch.view_as_real(x * freqs_cis).flatten(-2)
    y.copy_(x)
    return y
Sources2

Direct evidence

The indexer scores every compressed position for every query with few small heads against one shared key, masks what the query may not see, and keeps the best 512; the candidate source also publishes its candidate blocks, and later indexers score inside them.

indexer · deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash / inference/model.py
Pinned revision 2cba9e42aa02 ↗ · lines 488–580

Read code excerpt
class Indexer(torch.nn.Module):
    """Keeps the `index_topk` best compressed positions per query.

    A small side attention: fp4 query heads against one shared key per compressed position, scores
    rectified then combined by `weights_proj`. With a candidate source this is the second of two
    levels; `select_candidate_blocks` is the first.
    """

    def __init__(self, args: ModelArgs, layer_id: int):
        super().__init__()
        # the index keys are derived from the compressor's latent, so only a layer that compresses
        # its own KV can produce them; every other indexer reads them from that layer's cache
        self.owns_k = layer_id in args.kv_source_layers
        self.compress_ratio = args.compress_ratios[layer_id]
        self.is_candidate_source = layer_id == args.candidate_source_layer
        self.uses_candidates = 0 <= args.candidate_source_layer < layer_id
        self.candidate_topk_blocks = args.candidate_topk_blocks
        self.candidate_block_size = args.candidate_block_size
        self.dim = args.dim
        self.n_heads = args.index_n_heads
        self.n_local_heads = args.index_n_heads // world_size
        self.index_head_dim = args.index_head_dim
        self.rope_head_dim = args.rope_head_dim
        self.index_topk = args.index_topk
        self.q_lora_rank = args.q_lora_rank
        self.softmax_scale = self.index_head_dim**-0.5
        self.wq_b = ColumnParallelLinear(self.q_lora_rank, self.n_heads * self.index_head_dim)
        self.weights_proj = ColumnParallelLinear(self.dim, self.n_heads, dtype=torch.bfloat16)
        self.freqs_cis: torch.Tensor | None = None
        if self.owns_k:
            self.wk = Linear(args.head_dim, self.index_head_dim, dtype=torch.bfloat16)
            self.k_norm = RMSNorm(self.index_head_dim, args.norm_eps)
            self.k_cache: torch.Tensor
            self.register_buffer(
                "k_cache",
                torch.zeros(args.max_batch_size, args.max_seq_len // self.compress_ratio, args.index_head_dim),
                persistent=False,
            )

    def forward(self, x: torch.Tensor, qr: torch.Tensor, latent: torch.Tensor, start_pos: int, offset: int):
        """`latent` is this layer's RoPE-free compressed latent, None when this layer does not
        compress or when its current group is still incomplete. An index-key owner turns it into
        index keys here, which has to happen before Attention overwrites that same storage with
        the RoPE'd, quantized values."""
        assert self.freqs_cis is not None
        bsz, seqlen, _ = x.size()
        ratio, rd, end_pos = self.compress_ratio, self.rope_head_dim, start_pos + seqlen

        # latent is None while a group is still filling up, so there is nothing to publish yet
        if self.owns_k and latent is not None:
            # a latent stands for the first token of its group, so group j takes position j * ratio
            freqs = (
                self.freqs_cis[: seqlen - seqlen % ratio : ratio]
                if start_pos == 0
                else self.freqs_cis[start_pos + 1 - ratio].unsqueeze(0)
            )
            k = self.k_norm(self.wk(latent))
            apply_rotary_emb(k[..., -rd:], freqs)
            fp4_act_quant(k, fp4_block_size, True)
            self.k_cache[:bsz, start_pos // ratio : start_pos // ratio + k.size(1)] = k
            shared_attn.index_k = self.k_cache

        q = self.wq_b(qr).unflatten(-1, (self.n_local_heads, self.index_head_dim))
        apply_rotary_emb(q[..., -rd:], self.freqs_cis[start_pos:end_pos])
        fp4_act_quant(q, fp4_block_size, True)

        index_k = shared_attn.index_k[:bsz, : end_pos // ratio]
        weights = self.weights_proj(x) * (self.softmax_scale * self.n_heads**-0.5)
        index_score = torch.einsum("bshd,btd->bsht", q, index_k)
        index_score = (index_score.relu_() * weights.unsqueeze(-1)).sum(dim=2)
        if world_size > 1:
            dist.all_reduce(index_score)

        # how many compressed positions each query can see: a block becomes visible once the query
        # has passed its last token. One query per decode step, so there it is just a number.
        if start_pos == 0:
            compress_lens = (torch.arange(1, seqlen + 1, device=x.device) // ratio).unsqueeze(-1)
            index_score.masked_fill_(torch.arange(seqlen // ratio, device=x.device) >= compress_lens, -torch.inf)
        else:
            compress_lens = end_pos // ratio

        if self.is_candidate_source:
            shared_attn.candidates = select_candidate_blocks(
                index_score, compress_lens, self.candidate_topk_blocks, self.candidate_block_size
            )
        elif self.uses_candidates:
            # level two: score with our own weights, but only inside the source's candidate blocks
            index_score = index_score.masked_fill(~shared_attn.candidates, -torch.inf)

        # top-k by score, re-sorted into position order; unreachable -> -1, rest shifted by offset
        topk = min(self.index_topk, end_pos // ratio)
        idxs = index_score.topk(topk, dim=-1, sorted=False).indices.sort(dim=-1).values
        return torch.where(idxs < compress_lens, idxs + offset, -1).int()

Direct evidence

Rotary frequencies with the YaRN scaling above the original context, and the rotation of adjacent feature pairs, with an inverse.

rope · deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash / inference/model.py
Pinned revision 2cba9e42aa02 ↗ · lines 369–406

Read code excerpt
def precompute_freqs_cis(dim, seqlen, original_seq_len, base, factor, beta_fast, beta_slow) -> torch.Tensor:
    """Rotary frequencies as complex exponentials, one row per position.

    With original_seq_len > 0 this applies YaRN: dimensions whose wavelength already fits inside the
    training context keep their frequency, those far beyond it are divided by `factor`, and the
    `beta_fast`..`beta_slow` band in between is faded across with a linear ramp.
    """
    freqs = 1.0 / (base ** (torch.arange(0, dim, 2, dtype=torch.float32) / dim))
    if original_seq_len > 0:
        # the dim whose wavelength completes `rotations` turns over the training context
        def corrected_dim(rotations):
            return dim * math.log(original_seq_len / (rotations * 2 * math.pi)) / (2 * math.log(base))

        low = max(math.floor(corrected_dim(beta_fast)), 0)
        high = min(math.ceil(corrected_dim(beta_slow)), dim - 1)
        ramp = ((torch.arange(dim // 2, dtype=torch.float32) - low) / max(high - low, 1e-3)).clamp(0, 1)
        smooth = 1 - ramp
        freqs = freqs / factor * (1 - smooth) + freqs * smooth

    freqs = torch.outer(torch.arange(seqlen), freqs)
    return torch.polar(torch.ones_like(freqs), freqs)


def apply_rotary_emb(x: torch.Tensor, freqs_cis: torch.Tensor, inverse: bool = False) -> torch.Tensor:
    """Rotate `x` in place, taking adjacent element pairs as complex numbers. Accepts [b, s, d] and
    [b, s, h, d]; `inverse` conjugates the rotation, which is how the attention output gets the
    query's rotation removed again so the cache can stay in one shared rotated form."""
    y = x
    x = torch.view_as_complex(x.float().unflatten(-1, (-1, 2)))
    if inverse:
        freqs_cis = freqs_cis.conj()
    if x.ndim == 3:
        freqs_cis = freqs_cis.view(1, x.size(1), x.size(-1))
    else:
        freqs_cis = freqs_cis.view(1, x.size(1), 1, x.size(-1))
    x = torch.view_as_real(x * freqs_cis).flatten(-2)
    y.copy_(x)
    return y