Previously a ConnectError on /v1/models classified vLLM as failing, which would feed into the wedge auto-restart heuristic. But when no model is loaded (the normal idle state between swaps, or after a failed swap leaves the vllm_node container up with no process serving), nothing is listening on 8888 — that's by design, not a wedge.
The vLLM probe now does a two-step check:
1. GET /v1/models. ConnectError or empty list -> ok=true with note='no model currently loaded (idle)'. No auto-restart triggered (it wouldn't help anyway — restarting vllm_node kills any loaded model and doesn't load a new one).
2. If a model is loaded, POST 1-token chat completion. A 5xx here is a genuine wedge worth restarting for.
Result: deep-health correctly reports 'no model loaded' as informational rather than flagging it as a failure. Auto-restart for vLLM only fires when a model is actually loaded AND inference fails — the right semantics.
After the recent eugr/spark-vllm-docker update, vLLM became stricter about multimodal token budgets:
ValueError: Chunked MM input disabled but max_tokens_per_mm_item (2496) is
larger than max_num_batched_tokens (2048). Please increase max_num_batched_tokens.
Each image input produces 2496 tokens, but vLLM's default --max-num-batched-tokens of 2048 is just under. Same class of bug as the Qwen3.6 Mamba block-size assertion we fixed in 0.6.0:1, surfacing on different models.
Fix: bake --max-num-batched-tokens=16384 into every multimodal model entry. Now applied to:
- qwen36 (already had it for the Mamba constraint; works for multimodal too since Qwen3.6 has vision)
- gemma4 (crashed today on engine init)
- qwen3-vl (would crash with the same error if anyone tried it)
The pre-flight Test button validates argparse but the 2048<2496 check happens at runtime engine init, so it's not caught by Test — only by actually trying to load. This is exactly the kind of bug v0.7's Test catches the *syntax* of but not the *semantics*; runtime errors like this still surface only on real swap. Known limitation documented in v0.7 release notes.
deep_health.py:
- Synthetic probes per service, all payloads generated in-memory (BytesIO), never written to disk:
- Parakeet: 1s of digital silence via in-memory WAV → POST /v1/audio/transcriptions
- Magpie: short 'hi' text → POST /v1/audio/synthesize (multipart form-data, real TTS API endpoint discovered via openapi.json)
- vLLM: 1-token completion against currently-loaded model
- Background loop runs every 5 minutes (configurable). Best-effort: exceptions in the loop never kill it.
- Auto-restart on wedge-pattern errors (cudaErrorUnknown / CUFFT_INTERNAL_ERROR / 500 / Engine core init failed): docker restart of the affected container.
- Rate-limited: max 3 restarts per service per 30 min.
- Cooldown: 120 s between consecutive restarts on the same service.
- 60 s startup grace before any auto-restart can fire after the app boots.
- Probe failures + recoveries logged via record_report(source='deep-health') into the connectivity history alongside the polling-based transitions.
API:
- GET /api/deep-health: per-service last result + auto-restart counters
- POST /api/deep-health/{service}/run: manual trigger now
UI:
- Service cards show 'Deep check ok/FAILED <time> <latency>' inline, plus a ↻ button to run-now
- Auto-restart count in 30-min window surfaced on the card when > 0
- Inline error excerpt shown for failed probes
Bug fix: server.py app startup hook was placed before the FastAPI app object was constructed (would crash on import). Moved after.
validate.py:
- Builds the same args list a real swap would pass to 'vllm serve'
- SSHes into Spark 1 and runs vLLM's own argparse layer inside the running vllm_node container, WITHOUT initializing the engine
- Uses FlexibleArgumentParser (from vllm.utils.argparse_utils, with fallback to engine.arg_utils) + make_arg_parser — the exact same parser the 'vllm serve' CLI uses. Earlier attempt with bare argparse.ArgumentParser was too strict (rejected '--moe_backend' with underscore that the real CLI accepts via FlexibleArgumentParser's normalization)
- Returns structured {ok, stage, error, cmd_args, launch_cmd} so the UI can surface the exact failure cause
Endpoint: POST /api/swap/{key}/validate. Cheap (~5s), no engine init, no disruption to the currently-loaded model.
Frontend: 'Test' button on every model card, inline result below the action row (green check or red detailed error). Result stays visible until the user reloads or clicks Test again.
Catches: typos in flag names, deprecated/removed flags after a vLLM upgrade, type mismatches. Does NOT catch runtime-only failures (Mamba block-size assertion, OOM at load, kernel-compat). Ok=true is necessary-but-not-sufficient; ok=false is definitive 'don't bother running it'.
vLLM trips on launching Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4 with:
AssertionError: In Mamba cache align mode, block_size (2096) must be
<= max_num_batched_tokens (2048).
Qwen3.6 uses a Mamba-attention hybrid. The default --max-num-batched-tokens of 2048 is just under the model's required block_size of 2096. The upstream sibling recipe (qwen3.5-35b-a3b-fp8.yaml) sets it to 16384; use the same value.
Earlier qwen36 swaps in this session worked because vLLM hadn't reached the Mamba-validation code path on that prior path (different attention backend pick or auto-retry). Whatever the reason, the explicit flag avoids the dance.
Also documented in known-issues.md.
connectivity.py:
- Generalized 'spark' subject to any string; renamed 'spark' field to 'subject'
- Legacy v0.5 events with the old 'spark' field are migrated transparently on read (kind defaults to 'transition')
- New record_report(subject, ok, source, detail, latency_ms): always appends an event with kind='report'; does NOT mutate the current state (only active polling is authoritative)
- summary() returns events normalized to the new schema
Wiring:
- /api/status now calls record_state for vllm/parakeet/magpie (dedup on no-change)
- /api/services calls record_state for each service after its http check
- Result: dashboard observes service-level transitions automatically with no extra polling
Passive endpoint:
- POST /api/health-event with {service, ok, source?, error?, ms?}
- Useful for external apps (e.g. Open WebUI) to surface sub-poll-interval failures the dashboard would otherwise miss
UI:
- Connectivity dialog groups events by subject (hosts ordered first, then services)
- Per-subject summary shows transition count, down count, report count, failed-report count
- Transitions and reports render inline with distinct styling; reports show source app + error + latency
- Legacy v0.5 events render unchanged
Docs:
- README documents /api/health-event with a curl example
Package: bump to 0.6.0:0
wol.py:
- build_magic_packet(): standard 6x0xFF + 16x MAC layout
- send_local_broadcast(): direct from container (ports 9 + 7 for safety)
- send_via_peer(): preferred path; SSHes to the OTHER Spark and runs a Python one-liner there so the packet originates on the target's LAN segment (most reliable)
- MAC validation + normalization
connectivity.py:
- /data/connectivity.json persistence (thread-safe, atomic rename)
- Stores per-Spark current state + last_change timestamp + rolling 200-event log
- Records up/down transitions; computes down_seconds / up_seconds durations
- MAC cache populated lazily during hardware probes
hardware.py:
- Probe now reads MAC via /sys/class/net/<default-route-iface>/address
- After each probe, record_state() emits a transition event if state changed
- record_mac() caches the address so WoL works when the Spark next goes down
Endpoints:
- GET /api/connectivity: macs, current state, last_change, events[]
- POST /api/spark/{name}/wake: tries via-peer first, falls back to direct broadcast
UI:
- Unreachable hardware card shows the cached MAC + 'Wake (WoL)' button (only if MAC known)
- New 'Connectivity log' button opens a modal with per-Spark transition history (last 25 each), including duration of each prior up/down period
- pollHardware also pulls /api/connectivity so WoL buttons appear without an extra fetch
Package: bump 0.5.0:0; main.ts sets CONNECTIVITY_LOG=/data/connectivity.json
Hotfix (was v0.3.1):
- services.py: cache 'unreachable' per (host,user) for 25s so a dead Spark doesn't hang every /api/services call behind 6s ssh timeout
- ssh_run timeout reduced 10 -> 6s for docker_state probes
- hardware probe: shorter SSH timeout (6s), longer cache TTL for failures (25s)
- JS pollStatus retries loadModels() if state.models is empty (recovers from cold-start proxy timeout)
- Unreachable hardware card now includes troubleshooting steps (Spark Control cannot SSH into an unreachable Spark to restart it)
v0.4 NIM installer:
- nim.py module: curated SUGGESTED_NIMS list (Parakeet, Magpie, Riva) + NimManager that runs docker login nvcr.io + docker pull + docker run -d --gpus all -p PORT:PORT -v VOL:/opt/nim/.cache -e NGC_API_KEY -e ... --restart=unless-stopped + chown the volume to uid 1000 + restart. Streams all output via SSE; redacts the API key from log lines.
- custom_services.py: persists installed NIMs to /data/services-overrides.yaml so they appear in the services panel after install
- services.py: merges custom services into the panel
- /api/nim/catalog GET, /api/nim/install POST + GET/SSE
- /api/services/{name} DELETE for custom services
- UI: '+ Install NIM' button next to 'Always-on services'; modal lists curated images each with a 'Pick' button + a custom-image form; installation runs in a second dialog with phase + elapsed timer + collapsible log
- NGC API key field added to Configure Sparks (masked); injected as NGC_API_KEY env var into the container
Package: bump 0.4.0:0; main.ts adds SERVICES_OVERRIDES + NGC_API_KEY env vars
- Hardware probes for spark1 and spark2 now run via asyncio.gather (parallel) so the worst-case wall time is max(per-probe), not sum
- Bump per-probe SSH timeout from 8s to 12s to absorb first-call overhead (StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new on first connect + nvidia-smi cold start)
- Unreachable Spark now shows up cleanly in the UI as a single 'unreachable' card with the error message
Hardware dashboard:
- New hardware.py module: SSH probes each Spark for hostname, uptime, load+cores, RAM, disk, GPU (name, util, temp, power) + per-process GPU memory sum
- DGX Spark uses unified memory (nvidia-smi memory.total returns N/A); fall back to per-process compute memory and compute fraction against system RAM. Marks with gpu_unified_memory=true.
- 4s TTL cache in HardwareProbe to avoid hammering
- /api/hardware returns per-Spark snapshot
- UI: 'Spark hardware' section at the top with per-Spark cards (CPU load, RAM, GPU mem (unified), GPU util + temp + power, disk) — bars with warn threshold styling
- Polls every 8s
Knob context (tied to live hardware):
- Each Advanced knob now shows plain-English help text
- 'GPU memory %' shows '~N GB allocated · ~M GB left for OS/buffers' computed from actual Spark RAM
- 'Max context' shows '~N pages of text'
- Toggles show tradeoff descriptions
Explain context:
- '✨ Explain context' button on the update banner
- /api/explain-updates POST: forwards pending commits to the loaded vLLM model and streams its response back as SSE
- Renders into an expandable 'Explained by the loaded LLM' section under Pending commits
- Reasoning tokens shown italicized when the model emits them
Open WebUI integration:
- New 'Open WebUI URL' optional field in Configure Sparks
- /api/config exposes it; UI shows 'Open chat ↗' button in the top bar if set
Downloads:
- Third radio option: Spark 1 only / Spark 2 only / Both Sparks
- Backend picks SSH target based on mode
- HF repo link icon next to the input
- Helper line about NVFP4 for Blackwell
Model cards:
- Repo name is now a clickable link to its Hugging Face page
Package: bump 0.3.0:0
Bug fix:
- config.py: empty PARAKEET_CONTAINER / MAGPIE_CONTAINER env vars (from migrating to v0.2.0+ where the field is optional and saved as '') now fall back to 'parakeet-asr' / 'magpie-tts' via the 'or' idiom. Confirmed live: services classify as 'running' instead of 'unknown'.
UX:
- Replaced text 'Copy' buttons with compact icon buttons (clipboard SVG)
- Endpoint Base URL + Model ID + curl snippet are now click-to-copy themselves (the value AND a separate icon button)
- Service cards: host, base URL, and model are now three separate copyable rows
- Update banner: leading explanatory line — 'Updates to eugr/spark-vllm-docker — the upstream project that orchestrates vLLM on your Sparks. These are not firmware, OS, or model updates.' with a link to the repo.
Backend:
- overrides.py: read/write /data/models-overrides.yaml (knobs + custom entries)
- apply_knobs_to_args(): strip matching flags from bundled vllm_args and append knob values, so knob changes properly override bundled defaults
- extract_knobs_from_args(): seed UI knob values from bundled args so the Advanced dialog has correct starting state
- models.py: load_catalog merges overrides on top of bundled yaml
- GET /api/models returns effective_knobs per model
- PUT /api/models/{key}/knobs persists knob changes
- POST /api/models adds a custom catalog entry
- DELETE /api/models/{key} removes a custom entry (bundled models cannot be deleted)
- swap_manager.reload_catalog() called after each mutation so swaps see latest
Frontend:
- New 'Advanced' button on every card opens a modal dialog: max-model-len input, gpu-memory-utilization slider, three optimization checkboxes (fastsafetensors, prefix caching, FP8 KV cache). Save persists; Cancel discards. Custom models also have a Delete button.
- After a successful download, automatically open the 'Add to catalog' dialog pre-filled with the repo, with the same knob defaults — user just enters key, display name, and clicks Save.
- Custom catalog entries are tagged with a blue 'custom' pill on the card.
Package: bump 0.2.3:0; main.ts sets MODELS_OVERRIDES=/data/models-overrides.yaml so overrides persist on the StartOS volume.
Backend:
- updates.py: get_update_status() runs git fetch + git rev-list --left-right --count HEAD...origin/main to learn ahead/behind/dirty, plus git log for pending commits
- UpdateManager class with asyncio.Lock; one update at a time
- POST /api/updates/apply triggers "git pull --ff-only && ./build-and-copy.sh -c" over SSH with streamed log + phase detection (Pulling / Building the vLLM container / Copying to peer Sparks)
- GET /api/updates returns {ok, behind, ahead, dirty, current, log[], branch}
Frontend:
- Persistent banner near footer: hidden when up-to-date, blue when N commits behind, warn (orange) when local dirty changes block update
- 'Show details' expands a list of pending commits
- 'Apply update' triggers the long-running build with phase + elapsed timer + collapsible logs
- Confirmation dialog explains the 5–40 min duration
Package: bump 0.2.2:0
Dashboard:
- New 'Always-on services' section with cards for Parakeet and Magpie
- Each card: host:port, model loaded, status pill (Healthy/Unhealthy/Starting/Not configured)
- Start, Restart, Stop buttons. Buttons disabled when not applicable for current state
- Restart counter shown when > 1 (would have surfaced the old magpie crash loop)
Backend:
- New /api/services GET: docker container state + http health for each support service
- New POST /api/services/{name}/{action} for start | stop | restart
- services.py module: docker_state, run_action via SSH
- config.py: PARAKEET_HOST/USER/CONTAINER and MAGPIE_* env vars, default to spark2_*
- health.py: use per-service hosts (no longer hard-wired to spark2_host)
Package:
- sparkConfig.yaml.ts: add 6 new optional fields
- configureSparks action: optional 'Parakeet host', 'Parakeet container', 'Magpie host', 'Magpie container' fields; descriptions explain they default to Spark 2 when blank
- Handler normalizes nulls to empty strings before merge
- main.ts: pass new env vars to container
- bump to 0.2.0:0
- showPublicKey now uses result.group: install command and raw key are each their own one-click copy box; description is brief
- /api/endpoints returns stable shape { vllm, parakeet, magpie } with base_url + model + ready, for other LAN services to consume without hardcoding Spark IPs
- health.py: parakeet/magpie now also expose base_url
- README: documented /api/endpoints shape
- configureSparks.ts: generic placeholders (e.g. 192.168.1.10), no Alice-specific IPs; descriptions explain the role of each node instead of naming his hardware
- showPublicKey.ts: reads sparkConfig.yaml; emits a ready-to-paste one-liner (KEY='...' followed by 'ssh user@host "echo $KEY >> authorized_keys"' for each configured Spark). Falls back to generic instructions if Configure Sparks hasn't been run yet.
- /api/status now includes vllm.base_url for the OpenAI endpoint
- New endpoint panel in UI: base URL + model ID rows with copy buttons + collapsible curl example
- Bump version to 0.1.0:1
- models.yaml: add 'description' field for all 5 models (generic, anyone-can-use)
- ModelDef gains optional description: str | None field
- UI: render description below meta tags; mute the repo line further
- escapeHtml() for safety in case descriptions/names contain HTML chars
- Update runbook: how to add a new model with description
Grant