mcpbeat

Nemo Mbridge Perf Sequence Packing

nvidia/nemo-mbridge-perf-sequence-packing

Validate and use packed sequences and long-context training in Megatron-Bridge, distinguishing offline packed SFT for LLMs from in-batch packing for VLMs, and applying the right CP constraints.

7k tokens
context cost
the whole folder, loaded on every use
6
files
instructions only
0
copies elsewhere
how many repositories repackaged it
2778
stars on the repo
on the repository, not the skill itself

Install

one command, takes just this skill from the repository
npx skills add https://github.com/NVIDIA/skills --skill nemo-mbridge-perf-sequence-packing

What comes with it

19 724 bytes besides the instruction
BENCHMARK.md
card.yaml
evals/evals.json
skill-card.md
skill.oms.sig

The instruction itself

5 sections, as written by the author

Sequence Packing Skill

For stable background and recommendation level, see:

  • @docs/training/packed-sequences.md
  • @skills/nemo-mbridge-perf-sequence-packing/card.yaml

Enablement

Offline packed SFT for LLM finetuning:

from megatron.bridge.data.datasets.packed_sequence import PackedSequenceSpecs

cfg.train.micro_batch_size = 1
cfg.dataset.seq_length = 4096
cfg.model.seq_length = 4096
cfg.dataset.dataset_kwargs = {"pad_to_max_length": True}
cfg.dataset.enable_offline_packing = True
cfg.dataset.offline_packing_specs = PackedSequenceSpecs(
    packed_sequence_size=4096,
    pad_seq_to_mult=1,
)

If CP is enabled:

cfg.model.context_parallel_size = 2
cfg.model.calculate_per_token_loss = True
cfg.ddp.average_in_collective = False
cfg.dataset.offline_packing_specs.pad_seq_to_mult = cfg.model.context_parallel_size * 2

# Offline packing is not finalized by ConfigContainer. If sequence_parallel is
# also enabled, align offline samples to both constraints explicitly:
# import math
# cfg.dataset.offline_packing_specs.pad_seq_to_mult = math.lcm(2 * CP, CP * TP)
# ConfigContainer computes this CP/SP LCM automatically for in-batch packing only.

If CUDA graphs are enabled for this packed path:

cfg.dataset.offline_packing_specs.pad_cu_seqlens = True
cfg.dataset.dataset_kwargs["pad_to_max_length"] = True

Note: pad_cu_seqlens = True also requires a metadata JSON file alongside

the packed dataset (asserted in src/megatron/bridge/data/datasets/sft.py).

Custom packed datasets that omit the metadata file will hit an assertion at

dataset initialization.

In-batch packing for VLM finetuning:

cfg.dataset.enable_in_batch_packing = True
cfg.train.micro_batch_size = 2

Long-context baseline:

cfg.model.seq_length = 16384
cfg.dataset.seq_length = 16384
cfg.model.context_parallel_size = 2

Code Anchors

LLM packed SFT config surface:

dataset_kwargs = {}
offline_packing_specs = None
if enable_offline_packing:
    dataset_kwargs["pad_to_max_length"] = True
    offline_packing_specs = PackedSequenceSpecs(packed_sequence_size=seq_length, pad_seq_to_mult=pad_seq_to_mult)

return _text_hf_dataset_config(
    source=HFDatasetSourceConfig(dataset_name="squad"),
    preprocessing=PromptCompletionSFTPreprocessingConfig(separator=" "),
    seq_length=seq_length,
    enable_offline_packing=enable_offline_packing,
    offline_packing_specs=offline_packing_specs,
    dataset_kwargs=dataset_kwargs,
    val_proportion=0.1,
    num_workers=1,
)

Bridge validation:

enable_in_batch_packing = getattr(self.dataset, "enable_in_batch_packing", False)
enable_offline_packing = getattr(self.dataset, "enable_offline_packing", False)
offline_packing_specs = getattr(self.dataset, "offline_packing_specs", None)

if enable_offline_packing and enable_in_batch_packing:
    raise ValueError("enable_offline_packing and enable_in_batch_packing are mutually exclusive.")
if enable_offline_packing and offline_packing_specs is None:
    raise ValueError("offline_packing_specs must be set when enable_offline_packing=True.")
...
if enable_in_batch_packing:
    ...
    cp_multiple = 2 * cp_size if cp_size > 1 else 1
    sp_multiple = cp_size * tp_size if has_sp and tp_size > 1 else 1
    self.dataset.in_batch_packing_pad_to_multiple_of = math.lcm(cp_multiple, sp_multiple)
if self.model.context_parallel_size > 1:
    assert self.model.seq_length % (self.model.context_parallel_size * 2) == 0, ...
    if isinstance(self.dataset, FinetuningDatasetConfig):
        assert self.model.calculate_per_token_loss, ...
        assert not self.ddp.average_in_collective, ...
...
if enable_offline_packing and self.train.micro_batch_size > 1:
    raise ValueError(...)
...
if enable_in_batch_packing and self.train.micro_batch_size == 1:
    raise ValueError(...)

Collate-time in-batch runtime used by VLM providers:

def prepare_padded_or_packed_sequence_batch(
    batch,
    *,
    sequence_length,
    ...
    enable_in_batch_packing=False,
    in_batch_packing_pad_to_multiple_of=1,
    ...
):
    ...
    if enable_in_batch_packing:
        pack_right_padded_sequence_batch_to_mcore_thd(
            batch,
            sequence_length=sequence_length,
            pad_to_multiple_of=in_batch_packing_pad_to_multiple_of,
            ...
        )
        return

Packed THD runtime constraint:

if batch.get("cu_seqlens_q") is not None:
    cu_seqlens = batch.get("cu_seqlens_q_padded")
    if cu_seqlens is None:
        cu_seqlens = batch["cu_seqlens_q"]
    if cu_seqlens.dim() > 1 and cu_seqlens.size(0) != 1:
        raise ValueError("Packed THD batches expect micro-batch size 1 for context-parallel slicing (THD layout)")
    return cu_seqlens.squeeze()

cu_seqlens = batch["cu_seqlens"]
if cu_seqlens.dim() > 1 and cu_seqlens.size(0) != 1:
    raise ValueError("Packed THD batches expect micro-batch size 1 for context-parallel slicing (THD layout)")

Pitfalls

  • Offline packed SFT and VLM in-batch packing are different features with opposite micro-batch rules.
  • When CP is enabled, packed sequence lengths must respect 2 * context_parallel_size divisibility.
  • For finetuning with CP, calculate_per_token_loss=True and ddp.average_in_collective=False are required.
  • pad_cu_seqlens=True also requires pad_to_max_length=True.
  • Packing support is model-family-specific. Qwen3-Next, GLM-4.5, and Qwen3.5-VL contain explicit opt-outs in different paths.
  • MTP finetuning is documented as incompatible with packed sequences.
  • Synthetic padding rows, including negative indices remapped through samples_mapping, must retain an all-zero loss mask.

Verification

Use the checked-in unit coverage:

uv run python -m pytest tests/unit_tests/training/utils/test_packed_seq_utils.py -v && \
uv run python -m pytest tests/unit_tests/training/test_config.py -k "packed_sequence or enable_in_batch_packing or offline_and_in_batch_packing_are_mutually_exclusive or context_parallel_seq_length_divisibility or context_parallel_finetuning_validations" -v && \
uv run python -m pytest tests/unit_tests/data/packing/test_in_batch.py -v && \
uv run python -m pytest tests/unit_tests/training/test_vlm_step.py -k "deferred_in_batch_packing or packed_metadata" -v && \
uv run python -m pytest tests/unit_tests/data/datasets/test_packed_parquet.py -k "negative_index_zeroes_loss_mask" -v && \
uv run python -m pytest tests/unit_tests/data/datasets/test_sft.py -k "mapped_padding_rows_do_not_contribute_to_loss" -v

Success criteria:

  • all selected tests pass
  • offline and in-batch configuration validation remains mutually exclusive
  • packed metadata reaches the training step in MCore THD form
  • mapped padding rows do not contribute to loss

How to use it

Copy the folder

Take nvidia/nemo-mbridge-perf-sequence-packing from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.

Check the name does not clash

The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.