inference-optimization skill

---
name: inference-optimization
description: Optimizing AI inference - quantization, speculative decoding, KV cache, batching, caching strategies. Use when reducing latency, lowering costs, or scaling AI serving.
---

# Inference Optimization Skill

Making AI inference faster and cheaper.

## Performance Metrics

```python
@dataclass
class InferenceMetrics:
    ttft: float   # Time to First Token (seconds)
    tpot: float   # Time Per Output Token
    throughput: float  # Tokens/second
    latency: float     # Total time
```

## Model Optimization

### Quantization

```python
# 8-bit
model = AutoModelForCausalLM.from_pretrained(
    model_name,
    load_in_8bit=True,
    device_map="auto"
)

# 4-bit
model = AutoModelForCausalLM.from_pretrained(
    model_name,
    load_in_4bit=True,
    bnb_4bit_compute_dtype=torch.bfloat16
)

# GPTQ (better 4-bit)
from auto_gptq import AutoGPTQForCausalLM
model = AutoGPTQForCausalLM.from_quantized(
    "TheBloke/Llama-2-7B-GPTQ"
)

# AWQ (best for inference)
from awq import AutoAWQForCausalLM
model = AutoAWQForCausalLM.from_quantized(
    "TheBloke/Llama-2-7B-AWQ",
    fuse_layers=True
)
```

### Speculative Decoding

```python
def speculative_decode(target, draft, prompt, k=4):
    """Small model drafts, large model verifies."""
    input_ids = tokenize(prompt)

    while not complete(input_ids):
        # Draft k tokens
        draft_ids = draft.generate(input_ids, max_new_tokens=k)

        # Verify with target (single forward!)
        logits = target(draft_ids).logits

        # Accept matching
        accepted = verify_and_accept(draft_ids, logits)
        input_ids = torch.cat([input_ids, accepted], dim=-1)

    return decode(input_ids)
```

## Service Optimization

### KV Cache (vLLM)
```python
from vllm import LLM

llm = LLM(
    model="meta-llama/Llama-2-7b-hf",
    gpu_memory_utilization=0.9,
    max_model_len=4096,
    enable_prefix_caching=True  # Reuse common prefixes
)
```

### Batching
```python
# Continuous batching (vLLM, TGI)
# Dynamic add/remove requests

# Dynamic batching
class DynamicBatcher:
    def __init__(self, max_batch=8, max_wait_ms=100):
        self.queue = []
        self.max_batch = max_batch
        self.max_wait = max_wait_ms

    async def add(self, request):
        future = asyncio.Future()
        self.queue.append((request, future))

        if len(self.queue) >= self.max_batch:
            await self.process_batch()

        return await future
```

## Caching

### Exact Cache
```python
class PromptCache:
    def get_or_generate(self, prompt, model):
        key = hash(prompt)

        cached = self.redis.get(key)
        if cached:
            return json.loads(cached)

        response = model.generate(prompt)
        self.redis.setex(key, 3600, json.dumps(response))
        return response
```

### Semantic Cache
```python
class SemanticCache:
    def get_or_generate(self, prompt, model, threshold=0.95):
        emb = self.embed(prompt)

        for cached, cached_emb in self.embeddings.items():
            if cosine_similarity(emb, cached_emb) > threshold:
                return self.responses[cached]

        response = model.generate(prompt)
        self.embeddings[prompt] = emb
        self.responses[prompt] = response
        return response
```

## Best Practices

1. Start with quantization (easy win)
2. Use vLLM/TGI for serving
3. Enable prefix caching
4. Add semantic caching for common queries
5. Monitor TTFT and throughput