BigMoeOnEdge/docs/README.md
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feat(moe): cache-aware expert substitution (--expert-substitute, experimental) and --ppl (#171)
Experimental, off by default. Before a decode routing is committed, every
expert already in the LRU cache gets its score raised by L times the
token's score range and the top-k is taken again, so a near-tie goes to
the expert already in RAM (Skliar et al., arXiv:2412.00099). The same
number of experts runs; fewer are read from flash. Scores are read from
the tensor the graph itself sorted, exact for any gating function.

Desktop, Qwen3.6-35B Q4_K_M at L=0.15: 258 to 119 MiB of flash per
token, 2.37 to 3.84 tok/s, perplexity +1 to 4 %, tinyMMLU 88 to 84/100,
HumanEval-50 42 = 42. The on-device A/B is still owed, hence experimental.

Also: --ppl / --ppl-step / --ppl-list / --ppl-choices (teacher-forced
perplexity, one token per decode so cache-dependent policies are priced
where they act), scripts/tinymmlu-bench.py, scripts/humaneval-bench.py,
gates G8d/G8e, app switch "Prefer cached experts" under Experimental,
docs/cache-aware-substitution.md.
2026-08-29 10:13:47 +02:00

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Documentation

Start with architecture.md for the layer map, or moe-streaming.md for the idea the project is built on.

Understanding the design

Doc What it answers
architecture.md How the layers fit together, and why llama.cpp is not forked.
moe-streaming.md Why streaming experts from flash makes a >RAM model run at all.
seam.md The exact contract with llama.cpp's public API, and how to upgrade the submodule.
limitations.md What this does not do, what it cannot do, and the prior art it builds on.
roadmap.md Themes worth exploring next.

Using and extending it

Doc What it answers
adding-a-model.md How to support a new MoE architecture (a recipe row plus a gate).
telemetry.md The BMOE_* line protocol and CSV schema — the integration contract.
session.md Session lifecycle, KV prefix reuse, cancellation.
cache-sizing.md --cache-mb auto, the cache ceiling, and dense warm-up.
prefetch.md --prefetch K: the design and why it cannot change output (with the lossy knobs off).
expert-dropping.md --drop-cold-experts F: spending quality only where it buys a flash read, and why a cache-dependent setting's output is not reproducible.
row-gathered-tables.md --row-stream: serving a dense table the graph only gathers rows from out of flash, and how the engine decides which tables those are without naming one.
cache-aware-substitution.md --expert-substitute L: re-ranking a routing toward the experts already in the cache, the paper it comes from, and why a wide scoring batch cannot price it.
mtp.md --mtp: drafting with the model's own MTP head and verifying a whole group per decode — lossless by construction, and why a wider decode can lose in the streamed regime.
ngram.md --ngram: drafting from text that repeats, with no head and no draft decode — and why a source that abstains costs exactly an unspeculated step.
expert-prediction.md --predict-log: how much of a routing can be known a layer early, measured against the predictor --prefetch already bets on — and why a good score still would not mean a faster decode.
route-ahead.md --route-ahead N: committing the routing to the N-layers-early prediction, so a prefetch of it can never miss — and what that costs in quality (experimental, lossy).
android-memory.md What reclaims the engine's memory on a phone, which levers exist (almost none), and why the cache hit rate is what the kernel judges you by.
pressure.md Cache policy under memory pressure: why an unaffordable budget starts a reclaim war, why the adaptive governor was retired, and what the fixed --cache-mb / --dense-weights levers do.

Measurements

Doc What it answers
benchmarks.md Measured results per model on Android, with device-pressure numbers.
benchmarks-gpt-oss.md gpt-oss-120b: a 58 GB model at 5.2× device RAM, and what it costs.
benchmark-method.md How to measure this engine on any machine: what each knob does, when to move it, and the rules that keep a matrix honest.
community-benchmarks.md Results on hardware we do not own, the one-command protocol (scripts/bench-report.sh), and how to submit a row.
warmup-analysis.md Why first tokens are slow, and the two regimes behind it.
bench-data/ Raw per-run CSVs and session notes. A dated archive — see its README.

Every benchmark figure in these docs is measured on the hardware named beside it. If you re-measure, update benchmark-method.md and the affected table together.