# Changelog
All notable changes to erllama are documented here. The format
follows [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/) and
this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org).
## [Unreleased]
## [0.2.0] - 2026-05-15
Multi-sequence batched scheduling, map-shaped completion results,
chunked prefill, per-model observability, and direct passthrough of
the llama.cpp multi-GPU / flash-attention / KV-quant params.
### Changed (breaking)
- `erllama:complete/2,3` and `erllama_model:complete/2,3` now return
`{ok, completion_result()}` instead of the legacy
`{ok, ReplyBinary, GeneratedTokens}` tuple. The map carries:
- `reply :: binary()`
- `generated :: [token_id()]`
- `context_tokens :: [token_id()]` (prompt ++ generated)
- `committed_tokens :: non_neg_integer()` (`length(context_tokens)`)
- `finish_key :: cache_key() | undefined` — token-exact key for the
full context, suitable as `parent_key` on the next turn;
`undefined` if the finish save was suppressed
- `cache_hit_kind :: exact | partial | cold`
- `finish_reason :: stop | length | cancelled`
- `stats :: stats()`
Mechanical migration:
```erlang
%% before
{ok, Reply, _Tokens} = erllama:complete(Model, Prompt).
%% after
{ok, #{reply := Reply, finish_key := FK}} =
erllama:complete(Model, Prompt).
```
- Streaming `{erllama_done, Ref, Stats}` (`infer/4`) `Stats` map
gains two additive keys: `finish_key` and `committed_tokens`. No
shape break for existing consumers (#21).
### Added
#### Multi-sequence batched scheduler (#24, #25, #26, #27)
- `erllama_nif:step/2` is the new multi-sequence batched decode
primitive. One `llama_decode` call mixes prefill and decode rows
freely (SARATHI-style co-batching), bounded by the live context's
`n_batch`. Returns `{error, batch_overflow}` cleanly so a
budget-aware scheduler can shrink and retry, and `{error,
no_logits}` when a decode row has no prefill yet on its seq.
- Per-context `per_seq[]` tracking (`last_logits_idx`, `next_pos`)
with `ERLLAMA_N_SEQ_MAX_CAP = 256`. `kv_unpack` / `kv_seq_rm`
refresh the per-seq position so subsequent `step` calls see
correct state.
- `erllama_model_backend` behaviour gains optional callbacks
`step/2`, `sampler_new/2`, `sampler_free/1`, `seq_rm/2`,
`seq_rm_last/3`, plus seq-aware `kv_pack/3` and `kv_unpack/3`.
All optional; existing backends keep compiling.
- The model gen_statem now runs a multi-tenant scheduler. With
`context_opts.n_seq_max => 1` (the default), behaviour is
bit-identical to 0.1: exactly one request runs at a time. Setting
`n_seq_max > 1` lets up to N requests prefill and decode
concurrently through one `llama_decode` per tick. State collapses
from `idle/prefilling/generating` to `idle/running`; admissions
past the seq-id capacity queue FIFO in `pending`.
- Each in-flight request owns its own sampler chain (built at
admission via `backend:sampler_new/2`, freed at finish), so
concurrent requests with different `temperature` / `seed` /
`grammar` settings never share sampler state.
- Cache save reasons (`cold`, `continued`, `finish`, `evict`,
`shutdown`) all thread through the request's `seq_id` and remain
token-exact per-sequence.
#### Chunked prefill (#28)
- `prefill_chunk_size` policy knob caps how many tokens a single
prefill row contributes to one tick. Default
`max(64, n_batch div 4)`; pass `infinity` to disable. A long
prompt is sliced across multiple ticks so it never monopolises
the batch and concurrent decoders keep making progress between
chunks. Layered on top of the `n_batch` per-tick budget.
#### `prefill_only/2` (#21)
- `erllama:prefill_only/2` and `erllama_model:prefill_only/2` decode
a prompt into KV state and fire a finish save without sampling
any output tokens. Returns a `prefill_result()` map carrying
`context_tokens`, `committed_tokens`, `finish_key`, and
`cache_hit_kind`. Useful for priming the cache before a burst of
short follow-ups, or for holding a warm session across long pauses
without consuming generation budget.
#### Per-model observability (#22)
- New public ETS table `erllama_model_obs`, owned by
`erllama_inflight`, written by each model gen_statem on every
state transition and read lock-free from any process (including
remote nodes via `erpc`).
- Four new accessors on `erllama`:
- `phase/1`: `idle | prefilling | generating` for one model id.
- `pending_len/1`: gen_statem pending FIFO depth (calls queued
behind whatever is currently running).
- `last_cache_hit/1`: `#{kind, prefix_len}` of the most recent
admission, or `undefined` if the model has never admitted.
- `queue_depth/1`: per-model variant of the existing global
`queue_depth/0`; counts admitted streaming `infer/4` rows.
- `model_info/1` map gains `phase`, `pending_len`, and
`last_cache_hit` keys. Additive: existing keys preserved.
#### llama.cpp option passthrough (#23)
- `erllama_nif:load_model/2` now reads three additional keys from
`model_opts`:
- `split_mode :: none | layer | row`: multi-GPU split policy.
- `main_gpu :: non_neg_integer()`: GPU index when `split_mode = none`.
- `tensor_split :: [float()]`: per-device proportions (up to 16
entries; shorter lists zero-fill).
- `erllama_nif:new_context/2` reads three more from `context_opts`:
- `flash_attn :: boolean() | auto`: enable, disable, or defer to
llama.cpp.
- `type_k`, `type_v :: f16 | f32 | bf16 | q4_0 | q5_0 | q5_1 | q8_0`:
KV cache element type for keys and values.
- Bad atoms raise `badarg` before the load runs.
### Fixed
- `warm_restore_primer` passed `1` instead of the current cell count
to the prefill primer, so warm restores that ran the primer at a
non-zero offset wrote KV at the wrong position. The primer now
takes the live cell count from the per-seq tracker.
- The cold prefill path could fire the cold save inside the
remainder prefill rather than between the trim prefix and the
remainder, leading to a save row that did not match the
trim-aligned boundary. The cold save now fires at the
cursor-emptied transition between the trim and the remainder.
### Internal
- New types exported from `erllama_model`: `completion_result/0`,
`prefill_result/0`.
- `erllama_model_t` now owns the `tensor_split` buffer; the vendored
llama.cpp aliases the pointer rather than copying it, so its
storage must outlive the model.
- `erllama_model_stub` derives per-seq tokens from
`phash2({decode_step_stub, SeqId, Sampler})` so a scheduler bug
that swaps samplers between seqs becomes observable in tests.
## [0.1.2] - 2026-05-12
Cluster-routing primitives, speculative-decoding verifier, a
cold-path correctness fix, and C-safety CI tooling. All additions
are backwards-compatible; existing API call sites unchanged.
### Added
#### Cluster routing and load-balancing (#13)
- `erllama:queue_depth/0` returns O(1) inflight count via an
atomics counter parked in persistent_term, readable cross-node
via `erpc`. Used by the upcoming `erllama_cluster` load
balancer (least_loaded, power_of_two strategies).
- `erllama:list_cached_prefixes/2` returns the longest cached
prefix length of a token list for a given model on this node,
across all cache tiers. Used by the cluster cache-affinity
router.
- `erllama_nif:vram_info/0` walks every loaded ggml backend and
sums free + total memory across non-CPU devices; returns
`{error, no_gpu}` on a CPU-only build. Used by the cluster
scheduler for bin-packing model placement.
- `erllama:list_models/0` map gains `model_id`, `quant_tag`,
`loaded_at_monotonic`, and `vram_estimate_b` keys. Existing
keys (`id`, `pid`, `status`, etc.) are unchanged.
#### Speculative decoding (#13)
- `erllama:draft_tokens/3` synchronously generates up to `Max`
next-token ids for a prefix. Times out at 30 s with a clean
cancel + drain so the caller's mailbox stays clean. Empty
prefix is rejected as `{error, empty_prefix}`.
- `erllama:verify/4` runs `PrefixTokens ++ Candidates` through
the model in one forward pass and returns the longest accepted
prefix length plus the verifier's own next token. Acceptance
walks `Argmax[P + i - 1] == c_i` and stops at the first
mismatch. End-of-generation tokens map to the atom `eos`.
Snapshot + restore protocol leaves the caller's pre-call
context view unchanged. Allowed only from the model
gen_statem's idle state; non-idle callers receive
`{error, busy}`.
- Token-id streaming: `erllama_model:stream_emit` now also sends
`{erllama_token_id, Ref, Id}` on every produced token, in
addition to the existing `{erllama_token, Ref, Bin}`.
Empty-text tokens (special tokens, BPE merges with no visible
bytes) still produce an id message. Existing consumers ignore
the new tag.
#### Backend behaviour
- Optional callbacks `extra_metadata/1` (vram-related model
metadata) and `verify/4` (speculative verifier) on
`erllama_model_backend`. Backends that omit either get a
graceful `{error, not_supported}` fallback (#13).
- Optional callback `seq_clear/1` on `erllama_model_backend`.
Llama backend implements it as `llama_state_seq_rm(0, 0, -1)`.
Called by the model layer at the top of `enter_prefilling`;
see the Fixed section below (#16).
#### NIFs (#13)
- `nif_model_size/1`, `nif_model_n_layer/1`,
`nif_forward_with_argmax/2`, `nif_vram_info/0`. Previously
unreachable from Erlang.
### Fixed
- Cold-path prefill KV-state leak: `erllama_model:enter_prefilling`
did not reset the llama_context's KV cache before the new
prefill. `llama_batch_get_one` auto-positions at `n_past`, so a
second cold request on the same model wrote its prompt KV at
`[previous_n_past..]` instead of `[0..]`, producing different
output for the same prompt + seed across calls. The new
`seq_clear/1` callback wipes seq 0 before the cold prefill.
Warm restores via `kv_unpack` were already correct (#16).
### Changed
- Vendored `c_src/llama.cpp/` bumped from `b9093` to `b9119`
(16 files, mostly Metal/CUDA tweaks plus a new
`ggml-cuda/allreduce` kernel pair). Public `llama.h` API used
by the NIF is unchanged (#15).
- `erllama_inflight:register/2` and `unregister/1` switched to
`ets:insert_new` / `ets:take` so the new atomics counter sees
only true admissions and true removals; double-register or
double-unregister become observable no-ops (#13).
### Internal
- New CI jobs: `sanitizers` (ASan+UBSan against
`tinyllamas/stories260K.gguf` under `LD_PRELOAD`'d libasan),
`clang-tidy` (NIF sources only), and `scan-build`
(Clang Static Analyzer with `--status-bugs`) (#14).
- New `c_src/CMakeLists.txt` options:
`ENABLE_ASAN`, `ENABLE_TSAN`, `ENABLE_UBSAN`, `ENABLE_CLANG_TIDY`,
scoped to the `erllama_nif` target; default OFF.
- `.clang-tidy` config at repo root. Vendored llama.cpp is not
linted.
### ROADMAP
- Pipeline parallelism deferred; blocked on upstream llama.cpp
adding layer-range execution to `llama_decode`. The cluster
degrades gracefully via `function_exported`.
- Verify context isolation: the current snapshot/restore protocol
does not preserve the caller's pre-call `decode_ready` flag;
callers are assumed to issue `decode_one` imminently. A v2
extension to cover `decode_ready` is documented for the next
contributor.
## [0.1.1] - 2026-05-12
NIF safety and SIGSEGV hardening. No public API additions; new
error tuples surface paths that previously crashed the BEAM or
raised `badarg` across a dirty scheduler.
### Fixed
- Adapter use-after-free / double-free when `free_model/1` ran
while adapter wrappers still referenced the model. The model
resource now tracks `active_adapters` alongside `active_contexts`
and defers `llama_model_free` until both reach zero (#10).
- Race in `set_adapters/2` where a concurrent `adapter_free` could
null the underlying pointer between the per-adapter mutex
release and the `llama_set_adapters_lora` call. Locks are now
held across the llama call in pointer-sorted order to defeat
AB-BA between concurrent callers (#10).
- Per-message memory leak in `apply_chat_template` when the
message list was malformed or allocation failed mid-build. The
helper now releases its own role/content allocations on every
error path (#10).
- `prefill/2` and `embed/2` walked past the KV slab when the
prompt size reached `n_ctx`, and produced undefined behaviour
when it exceeded `n_batch`. Both now bounds-check against the
live context before touching state, returning
`{error, context_overflow}` or `{error, batch_overflow}` (#11).
- `apply_chat_template/2` raised `badarg` across the dirty
scheduler when `content` was a list-of-maps (Anthropic-style
content blocks) instead of a binary. Returns
`{error, invalid_content}` (#11).
- `load_model/2` surfaced a generic `{error, load_failed}` for
malformed GGUF files. Now returns `{error, malformed_gguf}` on
a best-effort basis when the captured llama log line contains
`GGML_ASSERT`. Best-effort only: `llama_log_set` is process
global and concurrent loads can mis-attribute classification.
A `GGML_ASSERT` that hits `abort()` still terminates the BEAM
process; subprocess isolation would be required for a complete
fix and is intentionally out of scope (#11).
### Added
- New error atoms returned by the NIF: `context_overflow`,
`batch_overflow`, `invalid_content`, `malformed_gguf`. Callers
matching `{error, _}` are unaffected; callers that care about
the specific reason should match the new atoms.
## [0.1.0] - 2026-05-11
Initial public release.
### Added
#### Public API
- Native Erlang/OTP wrapper around llama.cpp via a single
dirty-scheduler NIF (`erllama_nif`) covering model load, context
construction, tokenisation, prefill, single-token decode, and
KV pack/unpack.
- Models are identified by `binary()` on the public API.
`erllama:load_model/2`, `complete/2,3`, `unload/1`, `status/1`,
`evict/1`, `shutdown/1` take `binary() | pid()`. Internal
registration uses `{via, erllama_registry, BinaryId}` so user-
supplied ids cannot exhaust the atom table.
- `erllama:list_models/0` returning `[model_info()]` and
`erllama:model_info/1` keyed on a model id.
- Public `erllama:tokenize/2` and `erllama:detokenize/2` keyed on a
model id. The low-level `erllama_nif:tokenize/3` and
`erllama_nif:detokenize/2` remain available.
- `erllama:unload_model/1` as an alias for `erllama:unload/1`
matching the OpenAI/Ollama-style naming downstream HTTP servers
use.
- `erllama:infer/4` streaming inference. Returns `{ok, Ref}`;
tokens are delivered to the caller as `{erllama_token, Ref, _}`,
`{erllama_done, Ref, Stats}`, `{erllama_error, Ref, Reason}`.
- `erllama:cancel/1`. Idempotent and fire-and-forget; observed
between tokens.
- `erllama:apply_chat_template/2`. Renders a normalised chat
request (`messages`, `system`, `tools`) through the model's
GGUF chat template and tokenises. Backed by
`llama_chat_apply_template`.
- `erllama:embed/2`. Per-sequence pooled embedding via
`llama_get_embeddings_seq` with last-token fallback.
#### Sampling
- Sampler parameters: `complete/3` and `infer/4` honour
`temperature`, `top_k`, `top_p`, `min_p`, `repetition_penalty`,
`seed`, and `grammar` via one combined chain builder
(`erllama_nif:configure_sampler/2`). Chain order:
`grammar -> repetition_penalty -> top_k -> top_p -> min_p ->
(temperature > 0 ? temp -> dist(seed) : greedy)`. `set_grammar/2`
retained as a backwards-compatible alias.
- Grammar-constrained sampling: pass `grammar => GBNF` in the
`complete/3` Opts or `infer/4` Params; the per-model sampler
chain is rebuilt as grammar then greedy for the duration of
the request and reset on completion or cancellation.
#### LoRA adapters
- `erllama:load_adapter/2`, `unload_adapter/2`,
`set_adapter_scale/3`, `list_adapters/1`. Per-adapter sha256 +
scale fold into the cache via
`erllama_cache_key:effective_fingerprint/2`, so rows produced
with adapter A never collide with rows from adapter B.
Snapshot-at-admission semantics keep in-flight requests on
their original fingerprint even if an adapter mutation arrives
mid-generation.
#### Concurrency model
- Concurrent request queue: a second `complete/3` or `infer/4`
arriving while one is in flight is queued FIFO instead of
getting `{error, busy}`. The reply `{ok, Ref}` is sent as soon
as the call is admitted; streaming events follow once the
queue head advances to the request.
- Decode loop schedules each step via
`gen_statem:cast(self(), decode_step)` instead of `next_event`
so cancel, evict, status, and queued requests interleave
fairly between tokens.
- Seq-aware NIFs (infrastructure for 0.2 multi-seq batching):
`nif_kv_pack/4` accepts an explicit `seq_id`; new
`erllama_sampler_t` resource owning a standalone
`llama_sampler*`; `nif_sampler_new/2`, `nif_sampler_free/1`.
Cache rows stay seq-id-free: `seq_id` is a save/load call
argument, never row metadata.
#### Internals
- `erllama_registry` module: ETS-backed `via` callback for binary
model ids.
- `erllama_inflight` module: `Ref -> ModelPid` table so
`cancel/1` routes to the right gen_statem.
- `erllama_model_backend` optional callbacks:
`apply_chat_template/2`, `embed/2`, `set_grammar/2`,
`configure_sampler/2`, `clear_sampler/1`, `load_adapter/2`,
`unload_adapter/2`, `apply_adapters/2`. Backends that omit them
surface `{error, not_supported}` from the public API.
#### Cache subsystem
- Token-exact KV cache with three independently-supervised tiers:
RAM (ETS slabs), `ram_file` (`/dev/shm`), and disk (plain read
I/O).
- Sole-writer arbitration through `erllama_cache_meta_srv`; reads
on the hot path go to ETS directly. `lookup_exact/1` is a
single atomic `ets:lookup` (no two-call race) and the meta
server cancels waiter timers when an early reply lands so the
mailbox doesn't bloat under load.
- The disk tier reads files via plain `file:read_file/1` into a
fresh BEAM heap binary; mmap is deliberately not used. The
process already mmaps multi-GB GGUF weights, and a region
binary that outlived its closing NIF call would have exposed
the BEAM to SIGBUS from any external truncation.
- Crash-safe save publish protocol: reserve, write_tmp, check,
`link(2)`, mark_published; two-stage TTL cleanup with orphan
adoption.
- Five save reasons (`cold`, `continued`, `finish`, `evict`,
`shutdown`) with async/sync semantics matching their use.
- `saves_dropped` counter: bumps whenever a back-pressured writer
pool refuses a save the model wanted to fire.
- Multi-turn warmth via explicit `parent_key` resume and
stateless longest-prefix walk for OpenAI/Anthropic-shaped
clients.
- `erllama_scheduler` memory-pressure poller with pluggable
sources (`memsup`, `nvidia-smi`, custom callback). Off by
default. Sweep timer is cancelled on `terminate/2` so a
supervisor restart never leaves a zombie firing into a fresh
server.
- `erllama_cache_writer` dirty-IO writer pool with a leak-proof
reservation semaphore. `pin_and_load/2` wraps load + unpack in
`try/after` so the holder is always checked in.
- Persisted hit counters (u32 in disk header) so popular prefixes
survive an LRU walk after restart.
- End-to-end metrics: hits/misses/saves/evictions plus per-path
latency totals (`pack_total_ns`, `load_total_ns`,
`longest_prefix_ns`, `longest_prefix_probes`).
#### NIF safety
- Per-resource `pthread_mutex` and two-resource lifetime pattern
for safe concurrent `free_*/1` plus dirty NIF ops.
- `extern "C" noexcept` shim catching every llama.cpp C++
exception at the boundary; `decode_one` defensive guard
against `GGML_ASSERT` aborts.
- `llama_backend_init` is deferred to the first `nif_load_model`
via `pthread_once`, so cache-only and unit-test workloads do
not pay the `ggml_backend_load_all` cost at NIF load.
- `nif_tokenize` and `nif_detokenize` honour `release_pending`,
so a model returned by `free_model/1` as `{ok, deferred}`
cannot be reused via tokenize.
- `nif_detokenize` fails closed on `n_vocab <= 0` (matches
`nif_prefill`).
- `make_errno_atom` maps FreeBSD's `EINTEGRITY` to `eintegrity`.
#### Tooling
- `FindErlang.cmake` (adopted from erlang-rocksdb) detects
`ERTS_INCLUDE_DIR` via the standard CMake find-module
contract.
- Bench harness (`bench/run.sh`) with cold-vs-warm matrix and a
4-agent shared-prefix scenario. TinyLlama and LLaMA-3 8B
presets.
### CI
- `actions/checkout` and `actions/cache` bumped to `@v5`
(Node.js 24).
- `xref`, `dialyzer`, `erlfmt`, `elvis` promoted to gate jobs;
`build`, `eunit`, `proper`, `ct`, `freebsd` depend on them.
- macOS matrix is `macos-14, macos-15`.
- FreeBSD matrix added: `release: ['14.2', '14.4']`. Inside the
VM: refresh `pcre2` so git can run, install `git`, set
`git config --global --add safe.directory '*'` so llama.cpp's
build-info `git rev-parse` succeeds.
- `erllama_nif_tests:load_model_rejects_non_existent_path_test` is
now a generator with a 60 s timeout to absorb the lazy Metal
init on macOS.
### Tests
- 211 EUnit + PropEr property tests + 7 stub Common Test cases.
Real-model Common Test suite gated on `LLAMA_TEST_MODEL`
(14 cases including seed determinism, grammar+sampler,
apply_chat_template, embeddings, KV pack/unpack round-trip).
- New stub-backed coverage: sampler params (`erllama_sampler_tests`),
LoRA adapters + cache identity (`erllama_lora_tests`), FIFO
queueing of concurrent infers (`erllama_streaming_tests`).
- Multi-platform CI: Ubuntu 24.04 amd64, Ubuntu 24.04 arm64,
macOS 14 + 15 (Apple Silicon), FreeBSD 14.2 + 14.4. OTP 28
across the matrix.
### Documentation
- README rewritten as a friendly entry point with snippets.
- User guides: loading, caching, configuration, building, examples.
- Internal design notes: cache design, publish protocol, NIF safety.
- ex_doc-friendly module documentation throughout.
- `ROADMAP.md`: what 0.1 doesn't do yet (multi-seq concurrent
decoding, speculative decoding, vision, audio, ONNX/safetensors,
stop-sequences, telemetry hooks, multi-GPU pressure, KV
compression, cluster).
- README closes with a teaser for the upcoming `erllama_cluster`
application: a separate OTP project that coordinates a fleet of
erllama nodes (request distribution, cross-node speculative
decoding, pipeline parallelism over QUIC).
### Acknowledgements
Same idea as [antirez/ds4](https://github.com/antirez/ds4).
[Unreleased]: https://github.com/erllama/erllama/compare/v0.2.0...HEAD
[0.2.0]: https://github.com/erllama/erllama/compare/v0.1.2...v0.2.0
[0.1.2]: https://github.com/erllama/erllama/compare/v0.1.1...v0.1.2
[0.1.1]: https://github.com/erllama/erllama/compare/v0.1.0...v0.1.1
[0.1.0]: https://github.com/erllama/erllama/releases/tag/v0.1.0