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axolotl/docs/attention.qmd
NanoCode012 fcc4cfdb63 feat: add sageattention (#2823) [skip ci]
* feat: add sageattention

* feat: call path on pre model load

* fix: patch to use register to correct var

* fix: add strict check import at start

* chore: fix comments

* chore: refactor

* feat: add capability check

* fix: missed underscore

* fix: let sageattention use FA backend in transformers

* feat: update sage attention for attention mask and position ids

* feat: allow sample packing but add warning without packing

* fix: loss hitting 0 with packing and attention mask note

* feat: downcast embeds if sage attention too

* feat: add config validation

* feat: add attention docs

* chore: docs
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---
title: Attention
description: Supported attention modules in Axolotl
---
## SDP Attention
This is the default built-in attention in PyTorch.
```yaml
sdp_attention: true
```
For more details: [PyTorch docs](https://docs.pytorch.org/docs/stable/generated/torch.nn.functional.scaled_dot_product_attention.html)
## Flash Attention 2
Uses efficient kernels to compute attention.
```yaml
flash_attention: true
```
For more details: [Flash Attention](https://github.com/Dao-AILab/flash-attention/)
### Nvidia
Requirements: Ampere, Ada, or Hopper GPUs
Note: For Turing GPUs or lower, please use other attention methods.
```bash
pip install flash-attn --no-build-isolation
```
::: {.callout-tip}
If you get `undefined symbol` while training, ensure you installed PyTorch prior to Axolotl. Alternatively, try reinstall or downgrade a version.
:::
#### Flash Attention 3
Requirements: Hopper only and CUDA 12.8 (recommended)
```bash
git clone https://github.com/Dao-AILab/flash-attention.git
cd flash-attention/hopper
python setup.py install
```
### AMD
Requirements: ROCm 6.0 and above.
See [Flash Attention AMD docs](https://github.com/Dao-AILab/flash-attention/tree/main?tab=readme-ov-file#amd-rocm-support).
## Flex Attention
A flexible PyTorch API for attention used in combination with `torch.compile`.
```yaml
flex_attention: true
# recommended
torch_compile: true
```
::: {.callout-note}
We recommend using latest stable version of PyTorch for best performance.
:::
For more details: [PyTorch docs](https://pytorch.org/blog/flexattention/)
## SageAttention
Attention kernels with QK Int8 and PV FP16 accumulator.
```yaml
sage_attention: true
```
Requirements: Ampere, Ada, or Hopper GPUs
```bash
pip install sageattention==2.2.0 --no-build-isolation
```
::: {.callout-warning}
Only LoRA/QLoRA recommended at the moment. We found loss drop to 0 for full finetuning. See [GitHub Issue](https://github.com/thu-ml/SageAttention/issues/198).
:::
For more details: [Sage Attention](https://github.com/thu-ml/SageAttention)
::: {.callout-note}
We do not support SageAttention 3 at the moment. If you are interested on adding this or improving SageAttention implementation, please make an Issue.
:::
## xFormers
```yaml
xformers_attention: true
```
::: {.callout-tip}
We recommend using with Turing GPUs or below (such as on Colab).
:::
For more details: [xFormers](https://github.com/facebookresearch/xformers)
## Shifted Sparse Attention
::: {.callout-warning}
We plan to deprecate this! If you use this feature, we recommend switching to methods above.
:::
Requirements: LLaMA model architecture
```yaml
flash_attention: true
s2_attention: true
```
::: {.callout-tip}
No sample packing support!
:::