How to Run Underdog Saluki 27B: 2-Bit Qwen3.8-27B Tool-Calling Guide

import os
import re
import ast
import sys
import json
import math
import copy
import enum
import glob
import time
import types
import random
import shutil
import struct
import hashlib
import tarfile
import platform
import traceback
import subprocess
import collections
import urllib.request
import urllib.error
RESULTS = {} # step -> one-line result, for the summary table
CLAIMS = [] # (step, claim, held) rows; held is True, False or None (not decided in this run)
CURRENT = ["1"]
def banner(title):
print("\n" + "=" * 78)
print(title)
print("=" * 78)
def section(name):
def wrap(fn):
def run(*a, **kw):
CURRENT[0] = name.split(".")[0]
banner(name)
t0 = time.time()
try:
out = fn(*a, **kw)
RESULTS[name] = out if isinstance(out, str) else "ok"
return out
except Exception as e:
RESULTS[name] = f"SKIPPED / FAILED -> {type(e).__name__}: {e}"
print(f"\n[!] {name} did not complete: {type(e).__name__}: {e}")
traceback.print_exc(limit=3)
return None
finally:
print(f"\n[{time.time() - t0:.1f} s]")
json.dump({"results": RESULTS, "claims": CLAIMS}, open(os.path.join(WORK, "results.json"), "w"), indent=1)
return run
return wrap
def claim(text, held):
CLAIMS.append((CURRENT[0], text, held))
return held
banner("1. Platform, pins and helpers")
SYSTEM, MACHINE = platform.system(), platform.machine()
ON_CUDA = SYSTEM == "Linux" and shutil.which("nvidia-smi") is not None
assert ON_CUDA or (SYSTEM == "Darwin" and MACHINE == "arm64"), "needs an NVIDIA GPU on Linux (Colab T4) or an Apple-silicon Mac"
WORK = os.environ.get("SALUKI_WORK") or ("/content/saluki" if os.path.isdir("/content") else os.path.abspath("saluki_work"))
for d in ("models", "llama", "bfcl", "runs"):
os.makedirs(os.path.join(WORK, d), exist_ok=True)
# Everything the notebook downloads is pinned by size and SHA-256.
LLAMA_TAG = "b11565" # llama.cpp release of 2026-10-12, commit f9a95aeb2
LLAMA_ASSET = {"Linux": ("llama-b11565-bin-ubuntu-cuda-12.8-x64.tar.gz", 171559844,
"61b8cf4e49739afe4008b06a92390dff999e706e9e7e9749c015544a9f241627"),
"Darwin": ("llama-b11565-bin-macos-arm64.tar.gz", 12105509,
"19289548468babcd5131cecccf3a9bc7c67030cc7f0a978dafc0db1ba7891068")}[SYSTEM]
MODELS = {
"Saluki": dict(repo="ConwayResearch/Underdog-Saluki-27B-1.0", rev="4f60eba09f4b6db63c72915d328d97e1d93edb8c",
file="Underdog-Saluki-27B-1.0-IQ2-mix.gguf", size=7898369152,
sha256="4a673518b11b1c4445f9b9a9d3c40356f5ba39f6a6260dcb25f3fbfd475d9efb"),
"ISTA": dict(repo="ISTA-DASLab/Qwen3.8-27B-GSQ-RCO-GGUF", rev="d562806dbafae37109975e970aae91b43e73b440",
file="Qwen3.8-27B-GSQ-RCO-IQ2_XS.gguf", size=8422841472,
sha256="f0ae5006da0ce6225935339e4e989369f94de95d2263cf969519f8420c9ae02c"),
}
# BFCL v4 data and BFCL's own checker code, at one gorilla commit.
GORILLA = ("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ShishirPatil/gorilla/6ea57973c7a6097fd7c5915698c54c17c5b1b6c8/"
"berkeley-function-call-leaderboard/bfcl_eval/")
BFCL_FILES = {
"data/BFCL_v4_simple_python.json": "82dd63ba502eb2520c6b5d1d9a5c4b590e03ff261565175561f6228a367d1991",
"data/BFCL_v4_multiple.json": "aef168155ebd74b7ac2401198b201343bc7d16d7a3d7e0d4e6d8ee82c6969b2a",
"data/BFCL_v4_irrelevance.json": "2b6ed4c2e992cdcf5f1678a701851f944bef7550ee026ed1ddb89efed5be01a6",
"data/BFCL_v4_parallel.json": "19f51a82eff42e5d62541aa500115a056eb78f437c2ba1f10415fd7c8e5dda84",
"data/BFCL_v4_parallel_multiple.json": "8863ea8433239f55c5f016154cf0830853c89f693c6ea270396a2fa121960579",
"data/possible_answer/BFCL_v4_simple_python.json": "90cd5bc653690ee8e459b5b3f3fc9458606f7f3fcbf795bb51b7dc581f8c86dc",
"data/possible_answer/BFCL_v4_multiple.json": "244e00ce9395df948bcafc7bee64e8f9c87ef70887587d83cae45b13699f3047",
"data/possible_answer/BFCL_v4_parallel.json": "8a6aa19c1adddc6a5a2f7e40f9dbf30cc7e95815e7b830c90589ab318229e0f0",
"data/possible_answer/BFCL_v4_parallel_multiple.json": "5ebf24f458c1f16300c05505d83d6f0a1b68b79be273a033febd0d4f840507e3",
"eval_checker/ast_eval/ast_checker.py": "2aae7a68461a8f76c0be3894c8901b66b56967a1989d3ab066051e3fb97f1538",
"constants/enums.py": "2182becfa2a1d071ee1db30db593b4758c6bf866aa12d2d4b8daf09175ea518a",
"constants/type_mappings.py": "1702fb67afbe2c492608e58e2b7d02e46381f50166b47f3c952f76e34c7cd3bd",
"utils.py": "3703b9bb63f83581c60b8e0b82aac74c360c9ca781e99e7d4eb28b0cce2285dd",
"model_handler/utils.py": "f78fd3edce603b333dc9a88ee2c041dc547d51f71aa449ffebc044c4b1e353f3",
}
# Underdog Bench's five kinds of tasks, 24 each; we draw our own seeded sample because its task list is not published.
KINDS = [("simple_python", "Call the one right function"), ("multiple", "Pick the right function from several"),
("irrelevance", "Know when no tool fits"), ("parallel", "Same function, several calls"),
("parallel_multiple", "Several different functions")]
N_PER_KIND, SEED, CTX, PORT = 24, 2026, 16384, 8080
# llama-server's own defaults are temperature 0.8 and top_k 40, so every request states its sampler.
GREEDY = dict(temperature=0, top_k=0, top_p=1.0, min_p=0)
def sh(cmd, **kw):
return subprocess.run(cmd, capture_output=True, text=True, **kw)
def sha256_file(path, chunk=1 << 22):
h = hashlib.sha256()
with open(path, "rb") as f:
for b in iter(lambda: f.read(chunk), b""):
h.update(b)
return h.hexdigest()
def fetch(url, dest, size=None, sha=None, quiet=False):
"""Resumable download with curl, then a size and SHA-256 check. Returns seconds spent downloading."""
t0 = time.time()
if not (os.path.exists(dest) and (size is None or os.path.getsize(dest) == size)):
for attempt in range(5):
r = sh(["curl", "-fsSL", "-C", "-", "--retry", "5", "-o", dest, url])
if r.returncode == 0 and (size is None or os.path.getsize(dest) == size):
break
time.sleep(5 * (attempt + 1))
got = os.path.getsize(dest)
assert size is None or got == size, f"{os.path.basename(dest)}: {got} bytes, expected {size}"
if sha:
assert sha256_file(dest) == sha, f"{os.path.basename(dest)}: SHA-256 mismatch"
return time.time() - t0
print(f"platform : {SYSTEM} {MACHINE}, Python {platform.python_version()}, glibc {platform.libc_ver()[1] or 'n/a'}")
if SYSTEM == "Linux":
print("os :", open("/etc/os-release").read().split('PRETTY_NAME="')[1].split('"')[0])
gpu = sh(["nvidia-smi", "--query-gpu=name,memory.total,driver_version", "--format=csv,noheader"]).stdout.strip()
print("gpu :", gpu)
# The CUDA 12.8 build of llama.cpp ships without the CUDA runtime; Colab's image has it as pip wheels.
import importlib.util
if importlib.util.find_spec("nvidia.cuda_runtime") is None or importlib.util.find_spec("nvidia.cublas") is None:
subprocess.run([sys.executable, "-m", "pip", "install", "-q", "nvidia-cuda-runtime-cu12==12.9.79",
"nvidia-cublas-cu12==12.9.2.10"], check=True)
import nvidia.cuda_runtime, nvidia.cublas
CUDA_LIBS = [os.path.join(list(m.__path__)[0], "lib") for m in (nvidia.cuda_runtime, nvidia.cublas)]
else:
chip = sh(["sysctl", "-n", "machdep.cpu.brand_string"]).stdout.strip()
mem = int(sh(["sysctl", "-n", "hw.memsize"]).stdout) / 2**30
print(f"gpu : {chip}, {mem:.0f} GB unified memory (Metal)")
CUDA_LIBS = []
HW = gpu.split(",")[0] if SYSTEM == "Linux" else chip
print(f"work dir : {WORK} ({shutil.disk_usage(WORK).free / 1e9:.0f} GB free)")

@section("2. Download llama.cpp b11565 and both 2-bit files, and check every byte against its pin")
def download_step():
global LLAMA_DIR, SERVER_BIN, SERVER_ENV
name, size, sha = LLAMA_ASSET
tar = os.path.join(WORK, "llama", name)
fetch(f"https://github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp/releases/download/{LLAMA_TAG}/{name}", tar, size, sha)
with tarfile.open(tar) as t:
t.extractall(os.path.join(WORK, "llama"), filter="data")
SERVER_BIN = glob.glob(os.path.join(WORK, "llama", "**", "llama-server"), recursive=True)[0]
LLAMA_DIR = os.path.dirname(SERVER_BIN)
for b in glob.glob(os.path.join(LLAMA_DIR, "llama-*")):
os.chmod(b, 0o755)
SERVER_ENV = dict(os.environ)
if CUDA_LIBS:
SERVER_ENV["LD_LIBRARY_PATH"] = ":".join(CUDA_LIBS + [LLAMA_DIR, SERVER_ENV.get("LD_LIBRARY_PATH", "")])
missing = [l for l in sh(["ldd", SERVER_BIN], env=SERVER_ENV).stdout.splitlines() if "not found" in l]
assert not missing, f"unresolved libraries: {missing}"
r = sh([SERVER_BIN, "--version"], env=SERVER_ENV)
ver = re.search(r"version: .*", r.stdout + r.stderr).group(0)
print(f"llama.cpp: {name} (SHA-256 checked) -> {ver}")
for rel, digest in BFCL_FILES.items():
dest = os.path.join(WORK, "bfcl", rel.replace("/", "__"))
fetch(GORILLA + rel, dest, sha=digest)
print(f"BFCL v4: {len(BFCL_FILES)} files from gorilla@6ea5797 (5 task files, 4 answer files, 5 checker sources), all SHA-256 checked")
for tag, m in MODELS.items():
path = os.path.join(WORK, "models", m["file"])
had = os.path.exists(path) and os.path.getsize(path) == m["size"]
url = f"https://huggingface.co/{m['repo']}/resolve/{m['rev']}/{m['file']}"
dl = fetch(url, path, m["size"]) # size check now, hash below
t0 = time.time()
ok = sha256_file(path) == m["sha256"]
how = "already on disk" if had else f"downloaded in {dl:.0f} s ({m['size'] / dl / 1e6:.0f} MB/s)"
print(f"{tag:7s}: {m['file']} {m['size']:,} bytes, {how}; SHA-256 {'matches' if ok else 'DOES NOT MATCH'} "
f"the Hub's LFS pin ({time.time() - t0:.0f} s to hash)")
claim(f"{m['file']} is byte-identical to the file pinned at {m['repo']}@{m['rev'][:7]}", ok)
assert ok
return f"llama.cpp {LLAMA_TAG}; Saluki 7.90 GB and ISTA IQ2_XS 8.42 GB verified by SHA-256"
download_step()

GGML_TYPES = {0: ("F32", 1, 4), 1: ("F16", 1, 2), 8: ("Q8_0", 32, 34), 10: ("Q2_K", 256, 84), 12: ("Q4_K", 256, 144),
16: ("IQ2_XXS", 256, 66), 17: ("IQ2_XS", 256, 74), 18: ("IQ3_XXS", 256, 98), 19: ("IQ1_S", 256, 50),
21: ("IQ3_S", 256, 110), 22: ("IQ2_S", 256, 82), 23: ("IQ4_XS", 256, 136), 29: ("IQ1_M", 256, 56),
30: ("BF16", 1, 2)} # name, values per block, bytes per block (ggml-common.h)
def read_gguf(path):
"""GGUF v3 header: metadata, tensor table (name, dims, type, offset) and where the tensor data starts."""
f = open(path, "rb")
u = lambda fmt: struct.unpack("<" + fmt, f.read(struct.calcsize(fmt)))[0]
s = lambda: f.read(u("Q")).decode("utf-8", "replace")
scalar = {0: "B", 1: "b", 2: "H", 3: "h", 4: "I", 5: "i", 6: "f", 7: "?", 10: "Q", 11: "q", 12: "d"}
def val(t):
if t == 8:
return s()
if t == 9:
et, n = u("I"), u("Q")
return [val(et) for _ in range(n)]
return u(scalar[t])
assert f.read(4) == b"GGUF"
version, n_tensors, n_kv = u("I"), u("Q"), u("Q")
kv = {}
for _ in range(n_kv):
k = s()
kv[k] = val(u("I"))
tensors = []
for _ in range(n_tensors):
name = s()
dims = [u("Q") for _ in range(u("I"))]
ttype, off = u("I"), u("Q")
n = math.prod(dims)
_, per, nbytes = GGML_TYPES[ttype]
tensors.append(dict(name=name, dims=dims, type=GGML_TYPES[ttype][0], n=n, bytes=n // per * nbytes, off=off))
align = kv.get("general.alignment", 32)
data_start = (f.tell() + align - 1) // align * align
return kv, tensors, data_start
def tensor_class(name):
if not name.startswith("blk."):
return name.split(".")[0] # token_embd, output, output_norm
kind = name.split(".")[2]
if kind in ("attn_q", "attn_k", "attn_v", "attn_output"):
return "full-attention " + kind[5:]
if kind in ("attn_qkv", "attn_gate", "ssm_out", "ssm_conv1d"):
return "linear-attention " + kind
if kind in ("ssm_alpha", "ssm_beta"):
return "linear-attention gates (alpha, beta)"
if kind in ("ffn_gate", "ffn_up", "ffn_down"):
return kind
return "norms and small vectors"
@section("3. What Saluki changes: a tensor-by-tensor diff of the two GGUF headers")
def header_diff():
global HDR
HDR = {tag: read_gguf(os.path.join(WORK, "models", m["file"])) for tag, m in MODELS.items()}
(kv_s, t_s, start_s), (kv_i, t_i, start_i) = HDR["Saluki"], HDR["ISTA"]
assert [t["name"] for t in t_s] == [t["name"] for t in t_i] and [t["dims"] for t in t_s] == [t["dims"] for t in t_i]
n_params = sum(t["n"] for t in t_s)
print(f"both files: {len(t_s)} tensors with the same names and shapes, {n_params:,} weights, "
f"architecture '{kv_s['general.architecture']}', {kv_s['qwen35.block_count']} blocks")
for tag, (kv, ts, start) in HDR.items():
data = sum(t["bytes"] for t in ts)
size = MODELS[tag]["size"]
print(f" {tag:7s}: header {start:,} B + tensor data {data:,} B = {start + data:,} B "
f"({'equals' if start + data == size else 'DIFFERS FROM'} the file size); {8 * data / n_params:.3f} bits per weight")
claim(f"{tag}: header plus tensor bytes computed from the type table equals the file size exactly", start + data == size)
rows = collections.OrderedDict()
moves = collections.Counter()
up = down = 0
for a, b in zip(t_i, t_s):
r = rows.setdefault(tensor_class(a["name"]), dict(k=0, n=0, bi=0, bs=0))
r["k"] += 1; r["n"] += a["n"]; r["bi"] += a["bytes"]; r["bs"] += b["bytes"]
if a["type"] != b["type"]:
moves[(a["type"], b["type"])] += 1
up += b["bytes"] > a["bytes"]; down += b["bytes"] < a["bytes"]
print(f"\n{'tensor class':34s} {'count':>5s} {'weights':>9s} {'ISTA bpw':>9s} {'Saluki bpw':>10s} {'change MB':>10s}")
for c, r in sorted(rows.items(), key=lambda kv: -kv[1]["n"]):
if r["n"] < 1e6:
continue
print(f"{c:34s} {r['k']:5d} {r['n'] / 1e9:8.3f}B {8 * r['bi'] / r['n']:9.3f} {8 * r['bs'] / r['n']:10.3f} {(r['bs'] - r['bi']) / 1e6:+10.1f}")
changed = sum(moves.values())
print(f"\n{changed} of {len(t_s)} tensors change type: " + ", ".join(f"{n} {a}->{b}" for (a, b), n in moves.most_common()))
print(f" {down} get fewer bytes, {up} get more")
claim("every tensor whose type changes gets fewer bits; none gets more", up == 0 and down == changed)
untouched = [c for c, r in rows.items() if r["bi"] == r["bs"] and r["n"] >= 1e6]
print(f" classes with no change at all: {', '.join(sorted(untouched))}")
proj = lambda c: c.startswith(("full-attention", "linear-attention")) and "gates" not in c
claim("every attention and DeltaNet projection matrix keeps its type (only the small alpha/beta gates change)",
all(a["type"] == b["type"] for a, b in zip(t_i, t_s) if proj(tensor_class(a["name"]))))
keys = sorted(k for k in set(kv_s) | set(kv_i) if kv_s.get(k) != kv_i.get(k) and not k.startswith("tokenizer.ggml.t"))
print(f"\nmetadata keys that differ: {keys}")
print(f"Saluki's header still reads: general.name = {kv_s['general.name']!r}, quantized_by = {kv_s['general.quantized_by']!r}")
print(f"sampling stored in both headers: temp {kv_s['general.sampling.temp']}, top_k {kv_s['general.sampling.top_k']}, "
f"top_p {kv_s['general.sampling.top_p']:.2f} (these are Qwen's thinking-mode settings; step 5 shows what the server does with them)")
saved = (MODELS["ISTA"]["size"] - MODELS["Saluki"]["size"]) / 1e6
return f"{changed} of {len(t_s)} tensor types changed, all downgrades; {saved:.0f} MB smaller"
header_diff()

@section("4. Byte-level provenance: are the unchanged tensors ISTA's own bytes?")
def provenance():
import numpy as np
(_, t_s, start_s), (_, t_i, start_i) = HDR["Saluki"], HDR["ISTA"]
ms = np.memmap(os.path.join(WORK, "models", MODELS["Saluki"]["file"]), dtype=np.uint8, mode="r")
mi = np.memmap(os.path.join(WORK, "models", MODELS["ISTA"]["file"]), dtype=np.uint8, mode="r")
q = dict(k=0, same=0, eq_bytes=0, bytes=0)
f32 = collections.defaultdict(lambda: [0, 0, []]) # kind -> [identical, differ, relative L2 changes]
for a, b in zip(t_i, t_s):
if a["type"] != b["type"]:
continue
x = mi[start_i + a["off"]: start_i + a["off"] + a["bytes"]]
y = ms[start_s + b["off"]: start_s + b["off"] + b["bytes"]]
if a["type"] == "F32":
kind = re.sub(r"blk\.\d+\.", "", a["name"])
u, v = x.view(np.float32).astype(np.float64), y.view(np.float32).astype(np.float64)
same = bool(np.array_equal(u, v))
f32[kind][0 if same else 1] += 1
if not same:
f32[kind][2].append(np.linalg.norm(u - v) / np.linalg.norm(u))
else:
eq = int(np.count_nonzero(x == y))
q["k"] += 1; q["same"] += eq == a["bytes"]; q["eq_bytes"] += eq; q["bytes"] += a["bytes"]
print(f"quantised matrices that keep their type: {q['same']} of {q['k']} byte-identical, but "
f"{100 * q['eq_bytes'] / q['bytes']:.1f}% of their {q['bytes'] / 1e9:.2f} GB of bytes are equal")
print(f"\nunquantised F32 vectors (never re-encoded, so any change means the weights changed):")
print(f" {'kind':28s} {'identical':>9s} {'changed':>8s} median relative change")
for kind, (same, diff, rel) in sorted(f32.items(), key=lambda kv: -kv[1][1]):
med = f"{sorted(rel)[len(rel) // 2]:.1e}" if rel else "-"
print(f" {kind:28s} {same:9d} {diff:8d} {med}")
changed = sum(v[1] for v in f32.values())
total = sum(v[0] + v[1] for v in f32.values())
claim("Saluki's unchanged-type tensors are byte-for-byte ISTA's (a pure type re-mix)", q["same"] == q["k"] and changed == 0)
claim("Saluki's F32 norm and gate vectors differ from ISTA's, so its weights were changed, not only re-encoded", changed > 0)
return (f"{q['same']}/{q['k']} same-type matrices byte-identical, {100 * q['eq_bytes'] / q['bytes']:.1f}% of their bytes equal; "
f"{changed}/{total} F32 vectors changed")
provenance()

SERVER = {}
def start_server(tag):
"""One llama-server per model, one slot, all layers on the GPU, debug log kept for unparsed replies."""
stop_server()
log_path = os.path.join(WORK, "runs", f"server_{tag}.log")
cmd = [SERVER_BIN, "-m", os.path.join(WORK, "models", MODELS[tag]["file"]), "--host", "127.0.0.1", "--port", str(PORT),
"-c", str(CTX), "-np", "1", "-ngl", "99", "-fa", "on", "--jinja", "--reasoning-format", "deepseek", "-lv", "5"]
t0 = time.time()
proc = subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdout=open(log_path, "w"), stderr=subprocess.STDOUT, env=SERVER_ENV)
while True:
try:
if urllib.request.urlopen(f"http://127.0.0.1:{PORT}/health", timeout=5).status == 200:
break
except urllib.error.HTTPError as e:
assert e.code == 503, e
except urllib.error.URLError:
pass
assert proc.poll() is None, f"llama-server exited; see {log_path}"
assert time.time() - t0 < 900, "server did not become healthy in 15 minutes"
time.sleep(2)
SERVER.update(tag=tag, proc=proc, log=log_path, load_s=time.time() - t0)
return SERVER["load_s"]
def stop_server():
if SERVER.get("proc") and SERVER["proc"].poll() is None:
SERVER["proc"].terminate()
SERVER["proc"].wait(timeout=60)
SERVER.clear()
def api(path, body=None, timeout=1800):
req = urllib.request.Request(f"http://127.0.0.1:{PORT}{path}", None if body is None else json.dumps(body).encode(),
{"Content-Type": "application/json"})
with urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=timeout) as r:
return json.loads(r.read())
def memory_report():
"""Buffer sizes from the server's load log, plus what the GPU reports."""
text = open(SERVER["log"]).read()
out = {}
for label, what in (("weights", "model"), ("KV cache", "KV"), ("recurrent state", "RS"), ("compute", "compute")):
last = {} # llama.cpp sizes every buffer in a dry run first; keep the final value per device
for dev, mib in re.findall(rf"(\S+) +{what} buffer size = +([\d.]+) MiB", text):
last[dev] = float(mib)
out[label] = sum(last.values())
if ON_CUDA:
out["GPU in use (nvidia-smi)"] = float(sh(["nvidia-smi", "--query-gpu=memory.used", "--format=csv,noheader,nounits"]).stdout.split()[0])
return out
@section("5. A hybrid model on one GPU: start the server, read its memory, and look at the prompt it builds")
def architecture_and_server():
kv = HDR["Saluki"][0]
L, every = kv["qwen35.block_count"], kv["qwen35.full_attention_interval"]
full = [i for i in range(L) if (i + 1) % every == 0]
heads_kv, dk = kv["qwen35.attention.head_count_kv"], kv["qwen35.attention.key_length"]
kv_tok = len(full) * heads_kv * dk * 2 * 2 # K and V, f16
conv = (kv["qwen35.ssm.conv_kernel"] - 1) * (kv["qwen35.ssm.inner_size"] + 2 * kv["qwen35.ssm.group_count"] * kv["qwen35.ssm.state_size"])
state = kv["qwen35.ssm.state_size"] * kv["qwen35.ssm.inner_size"]
rs = (L - len(full)) * (conv + state) * 4
print(f"{L} blocks: {L - len(full)} Gated DeltaNet (linear attention) and {len(full)} full-attention layers (3, 7, ..., {full[-1]})")
print(f"KV cache: {kv_tok // 1024} KiB per token for the {len(full)} attention layers; a model with attention in all "
f"{L} layers would need {L * heads_kv * dk * 4 // 1024} KiB")
print(f"recurrent state: {rs / 2**20:.1f} MiB per sequence, fixed, whatever the context length")
print(f"expected at -c {CTX}: KV {kv_tok * CTX / 2**20:.0f} MiB + state {rs / 2**20:.0f} MiB")
load_s = start_server("Saluki")
mem = memory_report()
print(f"\nllama-server up in {load_s:.0f} s (-c {CTX}, -np 1, -ngl 99, -fa on); buffers from its log:")
for k, v in mem.items():
print(f" {k:24s} {v:8.0f} MiB")
claim(f"the server's KV buffer at -c {CTX} matches 64 KiB per token within 2%",
abs(mem["KV cache"] - kv_tok * CTX / 2**20) <= 0.02 * kv_tok * CTX / 2**20)
SERVER_MEM["Saluki"] = mem
props = api("/props")
p = props["default_generation_settings"]["params"]
g = {k: kv[f"general.sampling.{k}"] for k in ("temp", "top_k", "top_p", "min_p")}
from_file = abs(p["temperature"] - g["temp"]) < 1e-6 and p["top_k"] == g["top_k"] and abs(p["top_p"] - g["top_p"]) < 1e-6
print(f"\nserver defaults: temperature {p['temperature']:.2f}, top_k {p['top_k']}, top_p {p['top_p']:.2f}, min_p {p['min_p']:.2f}"
f" -> {'taken from the GGUF header' if from_file else 'llama.cpp built-ins, not the header'}; the card suggests 0.6 for thinking,"
f" so every request below states its own sampler")
claim("llama-server takes its default sampler from the GGUF's general.sampling keys", from_file)
caps = props.get("chat_template_caps", {})
print("template supports: " + ", ".join(k.replace("supports_", "") for k, v in caps.items() if v))
msgs = [{"role": "user", "content": "What is the weather in Oslo?"}]
tool = [{"type": "function", "function": {"name": "get_weather", "description": "Current weather for a city",
"parameters": {"type": "object", "properties": {"city": {"type": "string"}}, "required": ["city"]}}}]
for label, kw in (("thinking off", {"enable_thinking": False}), ("thinking on, effort low", {"reasoning_effort": "low"}),
("thinking on, default", {})):
prompt = api("/apply-template", {"messages": msgs, "tools": tool, "chat_template_kwargs": kw})["prompt"]
n = len(api("/tokenize", {"content": prompt, "add_special": False})["tokens"])
print(f" {label:24s}: {n:3d} prompt tokens, ends {prompt[-28:]!r}")
return f"KV {kv_tok // 1024} KiB/token, state {rs / 2**20:.0f} MiB; server buffers {sum(mem[k] for k in ('weights', 'KV cache', 'recurrent state', 'compute')) / 1024:.1f} GiB"
SERVER_MEM = {}
architecture_and_server()

SPEED = {}
def speed_probe(tag):
"""Prefill and decode rates from the server's own timings: two prompt lengths, 128 forced output tokens."""
rng = random.Random(SEED)
words = "def class return import yield lambda tensor gradient matrix kernel cache token buffer layer".split()
rows = []
for target in (256, 1024):
text = " ".join(rng.choice(words) for _ in range(target))
ids = api("/tokenize", {"content": text, "add_special": False})["tokens"][:target]
r = api("/completion", {"prompt": ids, "n_predict": 128, "ignore_eos": True, "cache_prompt": False, **GREEDY})
t = r["timings"]
rows.append((t["prompt_n"], t["prompt_per_second"], t["predicted_n"], t["predicted_per_second"]))
print(f" {tag:7s} prompt {t['prompt_n']:5d} tok at {t['prompt_per_second']:7.1f} tok/s | "
f"decode {t['predicted_n']} tok at {t['predicted_per_second']:5.2f} tok/s")
SPEED[tag] = rows
return rows
@section("6. Prefill and decode speed, measured by the server")
def speed_step():
print(f"hardware: {HW}")
rows = speed_probe("Saluki")
return f"Saluki on {HW}: prefill {rows[1][1]:.0f} tok/s at {rows[1][0]} tokens, decode {rows[1][3]:.1f} tok/s"
speed_step()

def load_bfcl_checker():
"""BFCL's own checker functions, executed from the pinned source with their package imports replaced."""
src = lambda rel: open(os.path.join(WORK, "bfcl", rel.replace("/", "__"))).read()
def run(rel, ns, only=None):
tree = ast.parse(src(rel))
body = [n for n in tree.body if not isinstance(n, (ast.Import, ast.ImportFrom))]
if only:
body = [n for n in body if getattr(n, "name", None) in only]
exec(compile(ast.Module(body=body, type_ignores=[]), rel, "exec"), ns)
return ns
enums = run("constants/enums.py", {"Enum": enum.Enum})
tmap = run("constants/type_mappings.py", {})
model_cfg = collections.defaultdict(lambda: types.SimpleNamespace(underscore_to_dot=True)) # OpenAI-style FC model
chk = run("eval_checker/ast_eval/ast_checker.py", {"re": re, "Language": enums["Language"], "MODEL_CONFIG_MAPPING": model_cfg,
"JAVA_TYPE_CONVERSION": tmap["JAVA_TYPE_CONVERSION"], "JS_TYPE_CONVERSION": tmap["JS_TYPE_CONVERSION"],
"java_type_converter": None, "js_type_converter": None})
utl = run("utils.py", {}, {"is_function_calling_format_output", "is_empty_output"})
conv = run("model_handler/utils.py", {"copy": copy, "re": re, "json": json, "ModelStyle": enums["ModelStyle"],
"GORILLA_TO_OPENAPI": tmap["GORILLA_TO_OPENAPI"]}, {"_cast_to_openai_type", "convert_to_tool"})
return types.SimpleNamespace(
ast_checker=lambda funcs, out, gt, cat: chk["ast_checker"](funcs, out, gt, enums["Language"].PYTHON, cat, "fc-model"),
is_empty=utl["is_empty_output"],
to_tools=lambda funcs: conv["convert_to_tool"](funcs, tmap["GORILLA_TO_OPENAPI"], enums["ModelStyle"].OPENAI_COMPLETIONS))
def load_tasks():
tasks = []
for kind, label in KINDS:
rows = [json.loads(l) for l in open(os.path.join(WORK, "bfcl", f"data__BFCL_v4_{kind}.json")) if l.strip()]
gt = {}
if kind != "irrelevance":
for l in open(os.path.join(WORK, "bfcl", f"data__possible_answer__BFCL_v4_{kind}.json")):
if l.strip():
d = json.loads(l); gt[d["id"]] = d["ground_truth"]
for r in sorted(random.Random(f"{SEED}-{kind}").sample(rows, N_PER_KIND), key=lambda r: int(r["id"].rsplit("_", 1)[1])):
tasks.append(dict(id=r["id"], kind=kind, messages=r["question"][0], functions=r["function"], gt=gt.get(r["id"])))
return tasks
TOOL_BLOCK = re.compile(r"<tool_call>(.*?)(?:</tool_call>|$)", re.S)
FUNC_XML = re.compile(r"<function=([^>\s]+)\s*>(.*?)(?:</function>|$)", re.S)
PARAM_XML = re.compile(r"<parameter=([^>\s]+)\s*>\n?(.*?)\n?</parameter>", re.S)
def lenient_calls(raw, functions):
"""Forgiving reading of the model's raw text: any <function=...> block, closed or not, inside or outside <tool_call>.
Values are typed with the function's own schema (BFCL types). Not part of BFCL; used only for the 'lenient' column."""
raw = raw.split("</think>")[-1] # with thinking on, the reasoning precedes </think>
types_ = {re.sub(r"\.", "_", f["name"]): {k: v.get("type", "string") for k, v in f["parameters"]["properties"].items()}
for f in functions} # tool names were sent with dots turned into underscores
calls = []
for fname, body in FUNC_XML.findall(raw):
fname = fname.strip().strip('"')
args = {}
for p, v in PARAM_XML.findall(body):
t = types_.get(re.sub(r"\.", "_", fname), {}).get(p, "string")
v = v.strip() if t != "string" else v
try:
args[p] = (int(v) if t == "integer" else float(v) if t in ("float", "number") else
v.lower() == "true" if t == "boolean" and v.lower() in ("true", "false") else
json.loads(v) if t in ("array", "tuple", "dict", "object") else v)
except ValueError:
try:
args[p] = ast.literal_eval(v)
except Exception:
args[p] = v
calls.append({fname: args})
return calls
def score(task, calls):
"""BFCL's rule: irrelevance passes with no call; the other kinds go through BFCL's ast_checker."""
if task["kind"] == "irrelevance":
return CHECK.is_empty(calls), "made a call" if calls else None
if not calls:
return False, "no call"
try:
r = CHECK.ast_checker(task["functions"], calls, task["gt"], task["kind"])
except Exception as e: # malformed arguments the checker cannot walk
return False, f"checker_error:{type(e).__name__}"
return bool(r["valid"]), r.get("error_type")
def run_task(task, think=False, max_tokens=512):
body = {"messages": task["messages"], "tools": CHECK.to_tools(task["functions"]), "max_tokens": max_tokens,
"cache_prompt": False, "verbose": True, **GREEDY,
"chat_template_kwargs": {"reasoning_effort": "low"} if think else {"enable_thinking": False}}
log_pos = os.path.getsize(SERVER["log"])
t0 = time.time()
rec = dict(id=task["id"], kind=task["kind"], think=think)
try:
r = api("/v1/chat/completions", body)
msg = r["choices"][0]["message"]
rec.update(status=200, finish=r["choices"][0]["finish_reason"], raw=r["__verbose"]["content"],
prompt_n=r["timings"]["prompt_n"], out_n=r["timings"]["predicted_n"],
reasoning_chars=len(msg.get("reasoning_content") or ""))
rec["calls"] = [{tc["function"]["name"]: json.loads(tc["function"]["arguments"])} for tc in msg.get("tool_calls") or []]
except urllib.error.HTTPError as e: # stock llama.cpp answers 500 when its parser cannot read the reply
time.sleep(0.5)
with open(SERVER["log"], errors="replace") as f:
f.seek(log_pos)
new = f.read()
m = re.findall(r"=== BEGIN ===\n(.*?)\n=== END ===", new, re.S)
rec.update(status=e.code, finish="parse error", raw=m[-1] if m else "", calls=None, prompt_n=None, out_n=None)
rec["seconds"] = time.time() - t0
rec["strict"], rec["strict_why"] = score(task, rec["calls"]) if rec["calls"] is not None else (False, "unparsed (HTTP 500)")
if rec["strict"]:
rec["lenient"] = True
else:
rec["lenient"], _ = score(task, lenient_calls(rec["raw"], task["functions"]))
return rec
def bench(tag, tasks):
out, t0 = [], time.time()
for i, task in enumerate(tasks):
out.append(run_task(task))
if (i + 1) % 30 == 0:
print(f" {tag}: {i + 1}/{len(tasks)} done, {time.time() - t0:.0f} s")
json.dump(out, open(os.path.join(WORK, "runs", f"bfcl_{tag}.json"), "w"), indent=1)
return out
def ci(k, n, alpha=0.05):
"""Clopper-Pearson interval by bisection on the binomial tail."""
def cdf(x, p):
return sum(math.comb(n, i) * p ** i * (1 - p) ** (n - i) for i in range(x + 1))
def solve(f, target, rising):
lo, hi = 0.0, 1.0
for _ in range(60):
mid = (lo + hi) / 2
lo, hi = (mid, hi) if (f(mid) < target) == rising else (lo, mid)
return (lo + hi) / 2
lo = 0.0 if k == 0 else solve(lambda p: 1 - cdf(k - 1, p), alpha / 2, True)
hi = 1.0 if k == n else solve(lambda p: cdf(k, p), alpha / 2, False)
return lo, hi
def kind_table(tag, recs):
print(f"\n{tag}: {'kind':38s} {'strict':>8s} {'lenient':>8s} replies: structured / plain text / unparsed (500) / cut off")
for kind, label in KINDS:
rs = [r for r in recs if r["kind"] == kind]
st = collections.Counter("unparsed" if r["status"] != 200 else "cut off" if r["finish"] == "length"
else "structured" if r["calls"] else "plain text" for r in rs)
print(f" {label:44s} {sum(r['strict'] for r in rs):3d}/{len(rs):<4d} {sum(r['lenient'] for r in rs):3d}/{len(rs):<4d}"
f" {st['structured']:3d} / {st['plain text']:3d} / {st['unparsed']:3d} / {st['cut off']:3d}")
k, n = sum(r["strict"] for r in recs), len(recs)
lo, hi = ci(k, n)
print(f" {'total':44s} {k:3d}/{n:<4d} {sum(r['lenient'] for r in recs):3d}/{n:<4d} strict 95% CI {100 * lo:.0f}-{100 * hi:.0f}%")
@section("7. Tool calling on 120 BFCL v4 tasks, thinking off: Saluki")
def bench_saluki():
global CHECK, TASKS, RUNS
CHECK = load_bfcl_checker()
TASKS = load_tasks()
print(f"sample: {N_PER_KIND} tasks per kind, drawn with seed {SEED}, {len(TASKS)} in all; scored with BFCL's ast_checker "
f"(gorilla@6ea5797); greedy, thinking off, max_tokens 512")
print(f"first ids per kind: " + ", ".join(t["id"] for t in TASKS[::N_PER_KIND]))
RUNS = {"Saluki": bench("Saluki", TASKS)}
kind_table("Saluki", RUNS["Saluki"])
sec = [r["seconds"] for r in RUNS["Saluki"]]
print(f"\nmedian {sorted(sec)[len(sec) // 2]:.1f} s per task on {HW}; median output {sorted(r['out_n'] or 0 for r in RUNS['Saluki'])[len(sec) // 2]} tokens")
again = [run_task(t) for t in TASKS[:: len(TASKS) // 5][:5]]
same = sum(a["calls"] == b["calls"] and a["raw"] == b["raw"] for a, b in zip(again, RUNS["Saluki"][:: len(TASKS) // 5][:5]))
print(f"greedy re-run of 5 tasks: {same} of 5 identical raw replies")
claim("greedy decoding with the prompt cache off gives the same reply on a re-run (5 tasks)", same == 5)
s = sum(r["strict"] for r in RUNS["Saluki"])
return f"Saluki {s}/{len(TASKS)} strict, {sum(r['lenient'] for r in RUNS['Saluki'])}/{len(TASKS)} lenient"
bench_saluki()

@section("8. Does thinking help? Six multi-call tasks with reasoning on, effort low")
def thinking_step():
pick = [t for t in TASKS if t["kind"] in ("parallel", "parallel_multiple")]
pick = random.Random(SEED).sample(pick, min(6, len(pick)))
off = {r["id"]: r for r in RUNS["Saluki"]}
rows = []
for t in pick:
r = run_task(t, think=True, max_tokens=2048)
o = off[t["id"]]
rows.append((t["id"], o, r))
print(f" {t['id']:22s} off: {'pass' if o['strict'] else 'fail'} {o['out_n'] or 0:4d} tok {o['seconds']:5.1f} s | "
f"on: {'pass' if r['strict'] else 'fail'} {r['out_n'] or 0:4d} tok {r['seconds']:6.1f} s ({r['finish']})")
p_off, p_on = sum(o["strict"] for _, o, _ in rows), sum(r["strict"] for _, _, r in rows)
tok = sum(r["out_n"] or 0 for *_, r in rows) / max(1, sum(o["out_n"] or 0 for _, o, _ in rows))
sec = sum(r["seconds"] for *_, r in rows) / sum(o["seconds"] for _, o, _ in rows)
print(f"\nthinking off {p_off}/{len(rows)}, thinking on {p_on}/{len(rows)}; thinking used {tok:.1f}x the output tokens and {sec:.1f}x the time")
return f"thinking on (effort low): {p_on}/{len(rows)} vs {p_off}/{len(rows)} off, {tok:.1f}x tokens, {sec:.1f}x time"
thinking_step()

@section("9. The parent file: ISTA's IQ2_XS through the same server, the same sample and the same checker")
def bench_ista():
load_s = start_server("ISTA")
mem = memory_report()
SERVER_MEM["ISTA"] = mem
print(f"llama-server up in {load_s:.0f} s; " + ", ".join(f"{k} {v:.0f} MiB" for k, v in mem.items()))
print(f"weights: ISTA {mem['weights']:.0f} MiB vs Saluki {SERVER_MEM['Saluki']['weights']:.0f} MiB")
speed_probe("ISTA")
s, i = SPEED["Saluki"][1], SPEED["ISTA"][1]
print(f"decode at {s[0]} prompt tokens: Saluki {s[3]:.2f} vs ISTA {i[3]:.2f} tok/s; prefill {s[1]:.0f} vs {i[1]:.0f} tok/s")
RUNS["ISTA"] = bench("ISTA", TASKS)
kind_table("ISTA", RUNS["ISTA"])
stop_server()
k = sum(r["strict"] for r in RUNS["ISTA"])
return f"ISTA IQ2_XS {k}/{len(TASKS)} strict, {sum(r['lenient'] for r in RUNS['ISTA'])}/{len(TASKS)} lenient"
bench_ista()

def mcnemar(a, b):
"""Exact two-sided McNemar test on paired pass/fail lists."""
b10 = sum(x and not y for x, y in zip(a, b))
b01 = sum(y and not x for x, y in zip(a, b))
n, k = b10 + b01, min(b10, b01)
p = min(1.0, 2 * sum(math.comb(n, i) for i in range(k + 1)) / 2 ** n) if n else 1.0
return b10, b01, p
@section("10. Head to head: the same 120 tasks, paired, next to the vendor's numbers")
def head_to_head():
S, I = RUNS["Saluki"], RUNS["ISTA"]
assert [r["id"] for r in S] == [r["id"] for r in I]
vendor = {"simple_python": 24, "multiple": 23, "irrelevance": 18, "parallel": 12, "parallel_multiple": 11}
print(f"{'kind':38s} {'Saluki':>7s} {'ISTA':>6s} | {'lenient':>7s} {'':>5s} | vendor's Saluki (of 24)")
for kind, label in KINDS:
s = [r for r in S if r["kind"] == kind]; i = [r for r in I if r["kind"] == kind]
print(f"{label:38s} {sum(r['strict'] for r in s):7d} {sum(r['strict'] for r in i):6d} | "
f"{sum(r['lenient'] for r in s):7d} {sum(r['lenient'] for r in i):5d} | {vendor[kind]:3d}")
out = {}
for mode in ("strict", "lenient"):
a, b = [r[mode] for r in S], [r[mode] for r in I]
b10, b01, p = mcnemar(a, b)
out[mode] = (sum(a), sum(b), b10, b01, p)
print(f"{mode:8s}: Saluki {sum(a)}/120, ISTA {sum(b)}/120; Saluki-only passes {b10}, ISTA-only {b01}, exact McNemar p = {p:.3f}")
print("vendor's Underdog Bench (different 120 tasks, unpublished): Saluki 88, ISTA IQ2_XS 76, full Qwen3.8-27B 84")
sa, ia, b10, b01, p = out["strict"]
claim("Saluki passes more of our 120 tasks than its parent (strict scoring)", sa > ia)
claim("the difference is significant at 5% (exact McNemar)", p < 0.05)
pick_s = sum(r["strict"] for r in S if r["kind"] in ("simple_python", "multiple"))
pick_i = sum(r["strict"] for r in I if r["kind"] in ("simple_python", "multiple"))
claim("Saluki is at least as good as its parent at picking the right single function (first two kinds)", pick_s >= pick_i)
return f"strict: Saluki {sa}/120 vs ISTA {ia}/120 (McNemar p = {p:.2f}); lenient: {out['lenient'][0]} vs {out['lenient'][1]}"
head_to_head()

@section("11. Where the failures come from")
def failures():
for tag in ("Saluki", "ISTA"):
recs = RUNS[tag]
why = collections.Counter((r["strict_why"] or "?").split(":")[-1] for r in recs if not r["strict"])
print(f"{tag}: {sum(not r['strict'] for r in recs)} failures -> " + ", ".join(f"{k} {v}" for k, v in why.most_common()))
rescued = [r for r in recs if r["lenient"] and not r["strict"]]
print(f" lenient reading rescues {len(rescued)}: " + ", ".join(r["id"] for r in rescued[:8]))
ex = next((r for r in RUNS["Saluki"] if not r["strict"] and r["kind"] != "irrelevance"), None)
if ex:
task = next(t for t in TASKS if t["id"] == ex["id"])
print(f"\nexample, {ex['id']} ({ex['strict_why']}):")
print(" expected:", json.dumps(task["gt"])[:300])
print(" model :", (json.dumps(ex["calls"]) if ex["calls"] is not None else ex["raw"])[:300])
irr = [r for r in RUNS["Saluki"] if r["kind"] == "irrelevance" and not r["strict"]]
if irr:
print(f"\nirrelevance: Saluki made a call on {len(irr)} of {N_PER_KIND} prompts that no tool fits, e.g. {irr[0]['id']}: "
f"{json.dumps(irr[0]['calls'])[:160]}")
un = sum(r["status"] != 200 for tag in RUNS for r in RUNS[tag])
return f"{un} replies across both models were unparseable by the stock server"
failures()

banner("SUMMARY")
for name, res in RESULTS.items():
print(f" {name:<100s} {res}")
print("\nClaims decided in this run:")
for step, text, held in CLAIMS:
print(f" [{'held' if held else 'DID NOT HOLD' if held is False else 'undecided'}] step {step}: {text}")
failed = [k for k, v in RESULTS.items() if str(v).startswith("SKIPPED")]
print(f"\n{sum(h is True for *_, h in CLAIMS)} of {len(CLAIMS)} claims held; steps failed or skipped: {failed or 'none'}")
print(f"run on: {HW}; llama.cpp {LLAMA_TAG}; Python {platform.python_version()}")
print("not tested here: the full-size Qwen3.8-27B; Underdog Bench's own 120 tasks and the 100-task parallel set (unpublished); "
"SWE-bench, WebWalkerQA, IFEval and AIME; the vision add-on; Mia and Ternary Bonsai 2; thinking at the default effort.")