Kernels API Reference

Main Functions

get_kernel

kernels.get_kernel

< >

( repo_id: str revision: str | None = None version: int | None = None backend: str | None = None user_agent: str | dict | None = None trust_remote_code: bool | list[str] = False ) → ModuleType

Parameters

  • repo_id (str) — The Hub repository containing the kernel.
  • revision (str, optional) — The specific revision (branch, tag, or commit) to download. Cannot be used together with version.
  • version (int, optional) — The kernel version to download. Cannot be used together with revision. Either version or revision must be specified.
  • backend (str, optional) — The backend to load the kernel for. Can only be cpu or the backend that Torch is compiled for. The backend will be detected automatically if not provided.
  • user_agent (Union[str, dict], optional) — The user_agent info to pass to snapshot_download() for internal telemetry.
  • trust_remote_code (bool | list[str], optional, defaults to False) — Whether to allow loading kernels from untrusted organisations. When False, only kernels from trusted organisations are allowed. When True, all repositories are allowed. A list of strings will be used to verify signing identities in a future release; for now it emits a warning and falls back to the default trust check.

Returns

ModuleType

The imported kernel module.

Load a kernel from the kernel hub.

This function downloads a kernel to the local Hugging Face Hub cache directory (if it was not downloaded before) and then loads the kernel.

Example:

import torch
from kernels import get_kernel

activation = get_kernel("kernels-community/relu", version=1)
x = torch.randn(10, 20, device="cuda")
out = torch.empty_like(x)
result = activation.relu(out, x)

get_local_kernel

kernels.get_local_kernel

< >

( repo_path: Path backend: str | None = None ) → ModuleType

Parameters

  • repo_path (Path) — The local path to the kernel repository.
  • backend (str, optional) — The backend to load the kernel for. Can only be cpu or the backend that Torch is compiled for. The backend will be detected automatically if not provided.

Returns

ModuleType

The imported kernel module.

Import a kernel from a local kernel repository path.

has_kernel

kernels.has_kernel

< >

( repo_id: str revision: str | None = None version: int | None = None backend: str | None = None ) → bool

Parameters

  • repo_id (str) — The Hub repository containing the kernel.
  • revision (str, optional) — The specific revision (branch, tag, or commit) to download. Cannot be used together with version.
  • version (int, optional) — The kernel version to download. Cannot be used together with revision. Either version or revision must be specified.
  • backend (str, optional) — The backend to load the kernel for. Can only be cpu or the backend that Torch is compiled for. The backend will be detected automatically if not provided.

Returns

bool

True if a kernel is available for the current environment.

Check whether a kernel build exists for the current environment (Torch version and compute framework).

get_kernel_variants

kernels.get_kernel_variants

< >

( repo_id: str revision: str | None = None version: int | None = None backend: str | None = None ) → list[Decision]

Parameters

  • repo_id (str) — The Hub repository containing the kernel.
  • revision (str, optional) — The specific revision (branch, tag, or commit) to inspect. Cannot be used together with version.
  • version (int, optional) — The kernel version to inspect. Cannot be used together with revision. Either version or revision must be specified.
  • backend (str, optional) — The backend to resolve variants for. Can only be cpu or the backend that Torch is compiled for. The backend will be detected automatically if not provided.

Returns

list[Decision]

One VariantAccepted or VariantRejected per build variant in the repository, compatible variants first.

Resolve all build variants of a kernel against the current environment.

The decisions are sorted with compatible variants first, the most preferred variant leading.

get_loaded_kernels

kernels.get_loaded_kernels

< >

( ) → list[LoadedKernel]

Returns

list[LoadedKernel]

One LoadedKernel per distinct kernel variant path loaded in this process.

Return a snapshot of every kernel that has been loaded into the current process.

The returned list is a new list; mutating it does not affect the registry.

Example:

from kernels import get_kernel, get_loaded_kernels

get_kernel("kernels-community/activation", version=1)
for loaded in get_loaded_kernels():
    print(loaded.metadata.name, loaded.repo_info)

Loading locked kernels

load_kernel

kernels.load_kernel

< >

( repo_id: str lockfile: pathlib.Path | None backend: str | None = None revision: str | None = None ) → ModuleType

Parameters

  • repo_id (str) — The Hub repository containing the kernel.
  • lockfile (Path, optional) — Path to the lockfile. If not provided, the lockfile will be loaded from the caller’s package metadata.
  • backend (str, optional) — The backend to load the kernel for. Can only be cpu or the backend that Torch is compiled for. The backend will be detected automatically if not provided.
  • revision (str, optional) — The specific revision (branch, tag, or commit) to download. Cannot be used together with version.

Returns

ModuleType

The imported kernel module.

Get a pre-downloaded, locked kernel.

If lockfile is not specified, the lockfile will be loaded from the caller’s package metadata.

get_locked_kernel

kernels.get_locked_kernel

< >

( repo_id: str local_files_only: bool = False ) → ModuleType

Parameters

  • repo_id (str) — The Hub repository containing the kernel.
  • local_files_only (bool, optional, defaults to False) — Whether to only use local files and not download from the Hub.

Returns

ModuleType

The imported kernel module.

Get a kernel using a lock file.

Classes

LoadedKernel

class kernels.LoadedKernel

< >

( metadata: Metadata module: module repo_info: kernels.utils.RepoInfo | None )

This dataclass provides information about a loaded kernel:

The metadata includes the following properties that describe a kernel:

RepoInfo

class kernels.RepoInfo

< >

( repo_id: str revision: str )

This dataclass stores the origin of the kernel.

The following fields are available:

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