# Liger Kernel Perf > Optimizes the performance of existing Liger Kernel Triton kernels. Profiles kernels, diagnoses bottlenecks (memory-bound vs compute-bound), generates multiple optimization variants with benchmarking, and applies the best variant while maintaining correctness. Supports GPU architecture-specific optimization (Ampere, Hopper, Blackwell). Use when a user asks to optimize, speed up, tune, profile, or reduce memory of an existing Liger kernel. Use when this capability is needed. - Skill: `tomevault-io/liger-kernel-perf` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add tomevault-io/liger-kernel-perf` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/tomevault-io/liger-kernel-perf/raw - Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS) - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Coding & Dev Tools - Author: tomevault-io (https://skillmd.com/u/tomevault-io) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/tomevault-io/liger-kernel-perf --- # Liger Kernel Perf Optimizes existing Liger Kernel Triton kernels through a 3-stage pipeline: Profile, Optimize, Finalize. Supports interactive mode (human checkpoints between stages) and autonomous mode (runs end-to-end). NVIDIA GPUs only. ## Mode Detection - **Interactive mode** (default): Human checkpoints between each stage - **Autonomous mode**: User says "just optimize it", "run without asking me", "optimize autonomously" → all stages run end-to-end, user sees only the final report ## Input Parsing Extract from the user's request: | Field | Description | Default | |-------|-------------|---------| | `target_kernel` | Which kernel to optimize (e.g., "rms_norm", "cross_entropy") | **Required** | | `optimization_goal` | speed / memory / balanced | balanced | | `scope` | Specific pass (forward/backward), input regime, or general | general | | `target_gpu` | Ampere / Hopper / Blackwell / auto-detect | auto-detect | | `autonomy` | interactive / autonomous | interactive | | `max_variants` | Max optimization variants to try | 8 | | `target_metric` | Optional concrete target (e.g., "forward under 0.3ms at hidden_size=4096") | none | ## Pre-Flight Validation Before starting the pipeline, validate: 1. Kernel file exists: `src/liger_kernel/ops/{kernel}.py` 2. Benchmark script exists: `benchmark/scripts/benchmark_{kernel}.py` 3. Test file exists: `test/transformers/test_{kernel}.py` 4. GPU is available and CUDA works 5. Project is installed in dev mode (`pip install -e ".[dev]"`) If any validation fails, report clearly and stop. ## Pipeline ### Stage 1: Profile Follow the **Profiler** workflow in [profiler.md](profiler.md). If the host runtime supports parallel subagents, this stage may be delegated to one; otherwise execute the workflow directly. This stage: 1. Creates the workspace directory `optimization/{kernel}/` 2. Copies the original kernel as a snapshot 3. Runs baseline benchmarks using the existing benchmark script 4. Detects GPU architecture (or uses user-specified target) 5. Optionally runs NCU profiling (if `ncu` is available) 6. Analyzes the kernel code (tier classification, patterns, optimization opportunities) 7. Classifies the bottleneck: memory-bound vs compute-bound 8. Produces an optimization profile with a recommended strategy order 9. Saves profile to `optimization/{kernel}/profile.md` **Human checkpoint (interactive mode):** Present the optimization profile with bottleneck diagnosis and proposed strategy order. Confirm before proceeding. ### Stage 2: Optimize Follow the **Optimizer** workflow in [optimizer.md](optimizer.md). This stage runs an autonomous optimization loop: 1. Read the optimization profile and original kernel 2. **Always try parameter tuning first** (BLOCK_SIZE, num_warps, num_stages manual sweep -- NOT @triton.autotune) 3. Then apply diagnosis-driven techniques from [optimization-strategies.md](optimization-strategies.md) 4. For each variant: a. Generate the variant code → `optimization/{kernel}/{kernel}_vN.py` b. Write the variant lab notebook → `optimization/{kernel}/{kernel}_vN_notes.md` c. Run quick smoke test (single shape, float32, forward+backward) → discard on failure d. Run the **full existing benchmark script** → `optimization/{kernel}/benchmarks/vN_results.csv` e. Check guardrails (no catastrophic regressions) f. Update the variant notes with actual results 5. Read all prior variant notes before generating the next variant 6. **Stop when:** budget exhausted, 2 consecutive variants with <1% improvement, or target metric met 7. Produce a comparison table of ALL variants **Human checkpoint (interactive mode):** Present the comparison table across all variants. User approves the winner (or skill picks best if autonomous). ### Stage 3: Finalize Follow the **Finalizer** workflow in [finalizer.md](finalizer.md). This stage: 1. Applies the winning variant in-place to `src/liger_kernel/ops/{kernel}.py` 2. Runs the full test suite: `python -m pytest test/transformers/test_{kernel}.py -xvs` (hard gate) 3. Runs checkstyle: `make checkstyle` (auto-fix with `ruff check . --fix && ruff format .`) 4. Generates 3-way comparison plots (original liger vs optimized liger vs huggingface baseline) using `benchmarks_visualizer.py` 5. Generates the final optimization report → `optimization/{kernel}/report.md` 6. Creates a PR with only the kernel code changes (no plots or optimization workspace files) 7. Presents the before/after summary with plots **Human checkpoint (interactive mode):** Present the final report with before/after numbers, comparison plots, and test results. ## Guardrails These apply to EVERY variant, regardless of mode: | Guardrail | Threshold | Action | |-----------|-----------|--------| | Non-target metric regression | >5% worse | Reject variant | | Cross-pass regression | >10% on one pass to marginally improve other | Reject variant | | Smoke test failure | Any correctness failure | Discard variant immediately | | Full test suite failure | Any | Do NOT apply winner, report failure, stop | | Checkstyle failure | Any | Auto-fix with ruff, retry once | ## Reference Files - [profiler.md](profiler.md) -- Profiler Agent specification - [optimizer.md](optimizer.md) -- Optimizer Agent specification - [finalizer.md](finalizer.md) -- Finalizer Agent specification - [optimization-strategies.md](optimization-strategies.md) -- Catalog of optimization techniques - [templates/optimization-profile.md](templates/optimization-profile.md) -- Profiling output format (cross-stage contract) - [templates/variant-notes.md](templates/variant-notes.md) -- Per-variant lab notebook format --- > Source: [linkedin/Liger-Kernel](https://github.com/linkedin/Liger-Kernel) — distributed by [TomeVault](https://tomevault.io).