debug-cuda-crash

Tutorial: Debugging CUDA Crashes with API Logging

This tutorial shows you how to debug CUDA crashes and errors in FlashInfer using the @flashinfer_api logging decorator.

Goal

When your code crashes with CUDA errors (illegal memory access, out-of-bounds, NaN/Inf), use API logging to:

• Capture input tensors BEFORE the crash occurs
• Understand what data caused the problem
• Track tensor shapes, dtypes, and values through your pipeline
• Detect numerical issues (NaN, Inf, wrong shapes)

Why Use API Logging?

Problem: CUDA errors often crash the program, leaving no debugging information.

Solution: FlashInfer's @flashinfer_api decorator logs inputs BEFORE execution, so you can see what caused the crash even after the program terminates.

Step 1: Enable API Logging

Basic Logging (Function Names Only)

export FLASHINFER_LOGLEVEL=1        # Log function names
export FLASHINFER_LOGDEST=stdout    # Log to console

python my_script.py

Output:

[2025-12-18 10:30:45] FlashInfer API Call: batch_decode_with_padded_kv_cache

Detailed Logging (Inputs/Outputs with Metadata)

export FLASHINFER_LOGLEVEL=3        # Log inputs/outputs with metadata
export FLASHINFER_LOGDEST=debug.log # Save to file

python my_script.py

Output in debug.log:

================================================================================
[2025-12-18 10:30:45] FlashInfer API Logging - System Information
================================================================================
FlashInfer version: 0.6.0
CUDA toolkit version: 12.1
GPU 0: NVIDIA H100 PCIe
  Compute capability: 9.0 (SM90)
PyTorch version: 2.1.0
================================================================================

================================================================================
[2025-12-18 10:30:46] FlashInfer API Call: batch_decode_with_padded_kv_cache
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Positional input arguments:
  arg[0]:
    Tensor(
      shape=(32, 8, 128)
      dtype=torch.bfloat16
      device=cuda:0
      requires_grad=False
      is_contiguous=True
    )
Keyword input arguments:
  kv_cache=
    Tensor(
      shape=(1024, 2, 8, 128)
      dtype=torch.bfloat16
      device=cuda:0
      requires_grad=False
      is_contiguous=True
    )

Full Logging (With Tensor Statistics)

export FLASHINFER_LOGLEVEL=5        # Log with min/max/mean/nan/inf
export FLASHINFER_LOGDEST=debug.log

python my_script.py

Additional output:

  Tensor(
    shape=(32, 8, 128)
    dtype=torch.bfloat16
    device=cuda:0
    requires_grad=False
    is_contiguous=True
    min=-3.125000
    max=4.250000
    mean=0.015625
    nan_count=0
    inf_count=0
  )

Step 2: Reproduce the Crash

Example: Shape Mismatch

Your code crashes with:

RuntimeError: CUDA error: an illegal memory access was encountered

Enable logging and run again:

export FLASHINFER_LOGLEVEL=3
export FLASHINFER_LOGDEST=crash_log.txt

python my_script.py

The log shows inputs before the crash:

[2025-12-18 10:32:15] FlashInfer API Call: batch_decode_with_padded_kv_cache
Positional input arguments:
  arg[0]:
    Tensor(
      shape=(32, 8, 128)      # Query tensor
      ...
    )
Keyword input arguments:
  kv_cache=
    Tensor(
      shape=(1024, 2, 8, 64)  # ❌ Wrong! Should be (..., 128) not (..., 64)
      ...
    )

Found the bug: head_dim mismatch (64 vs 128)

Step 3: Common CUDA Errors and How to Debug

Error 1: Illegal Memory Access

Error Message:

RuntimeError: CUDA error: an illegal memory access was encountered

Enable logging:

export FLASHINFER_LOGLEVEL=3
python my_script.py

What to check in logs:

• ✅ Tensor shapes match expected dimensions
• ✅ All tensors are on CUDA (not CPU)
• ✅ Tensor strides are reasonable
• ✅ is_contiguous=True (if required)

Common causes:

• Wrong tensor dimensions
• CPU tensor passed to GPU kernel
• Incorrect stride patterns

Error 2: NaN or Inf Values

Error Message:

RuntimeError: Function ... returned nan or inf

Enable statistics logging:

export FLASHINFER_LOGLEVEL=5        # Level 5 shows nan_count, inf_count
python my_script.py

What to check in logs:

Tensor(
  ...
  min=-1234567.000000     # ❌ Suspiciously large
  max=9876543.000000      # ❌ Suspiciously large
  mean=nan                # ❌ NaN detected
  nan_count=128           # ❌ 128 NaN values!
  inf_count=0
)

Common causes:

• Division by zero in previous operation
• Numerical overflow/underflow
• Uninitialized memory

Error 3: Out of Memory

Error Message:

RuntimeError: CUDA out of memory

Enable logging:

export FLASHINFER_LOGLEVEL=3
python my_script.py

What to check in logs:

• ✅ Tensor shapes (are they unexpectedly large?)
• ✅ Batch size
• ✅ Sequence length

Example:

Tensor(
  shape=(1024, 8192, 128, 128)  # ❌ Way too large! Should be (1024, 128, 128)?
  ...
)

Error 4: Wrong Dtype

Error Message:

RuntimeError: expected scalar type BFloat16 but found Float16

Enable logging:

export FLASHINFER_LOGLEVEL=3
python my_script.py

What to check in logs:

Tensor(
  dtype=torch.float16     # ❌ Should be torch.bfloat16
  ...
)

Step 4: Multi-Process Debugging

When running with multiple GPUs/processes, use %i pattern:

export FLASHINFER_LOGLEVEL=3
export FLASHINFER_LOGDEST=debug_rank_%i.txt    # %i = process ID

torchrun --nproc_per_node=4 my_script.py

This creates separate logs:

• debug_rank_12345.txt (process 12345)
• debug_rank_12346.txt (process 12346)
• debug_rank_12347.txt (process 12347)
• debug_rank_12348.txt (process 12348)

Now you can debug each rank independently.

Step 5: Advanced Debugging with compute-sanitizer

For harder bugs, combine API logging with CUDA tools:

Use compute-sanitizer (Memory Checker)

export FLASHINFER_LOGLEVEL=3
export FLASHINFER_LOGDEST=debug.log

compute-sanitizer --tool memcheck python my_script.py

Output shows exact memory errors:

========= COMPUTE-SANITIZER
========= Invalid __global__ write of size 4 bytes
=========     at 0x1234 in ScaleKernel<float>
=========     by thread (256,0,0) in block (10,0,0)
=========     Address 0x7f1234567890 is out of bounds

Check debug.log to see what inputs caused this kernel to fail.

Use cuda-gdb (Debugger)

export FLASHINFER_LOGLEVEL=3
export FLASHINFER_LOGDEST=debug.log

cuda-gdb --args python my_script.py

In gdb:

(cuda-gdb) run
(cuda-gdb) where     # Show stack trace when it crashes

Check debug.log for the inputs that led to the crash.

Step 6: Kernel-Level Debugging with printf()

You can use printf() inside CUDA kernels for debugging:

Basic Usage

__global__ void MyKernel(const float* input, float* output, int n) {
  int idx = blockIdx.x * blockDim.x + threadIdx.x;

  // Print from one thread to avoid spam
  if (threadIdx.x == 0 && blockIdx.x == 0) {
    printf("n=%d, input[0]=%f\n", n, input[0]);
  }

  if (idx < n) {
    output[idx] = input[idx] * 2.0f;
  }
}

Important: Flush printf buffer after kernel:

my_kernel(input, output)
torch.cuda.synchronize()  # ← Flushes printf output

⚠️ Warp-Specialized Kernels: Choosing the Right Print Thread

Problem: threadIdx.x == 0 doesn't work for all warps (warp starting at thread 32 won't have thread 0).

Solution: Choose one representative thread per specialization group.

__global__ void WarpSpecializedKernel(...) {
  // Define your group's representative thread
  // e.g., first thread of each warp: threadIdx.x % 32 == 0
  // e.g., first thread of each 4-warp group: threadIdx.x % 128 == 0

  if (is_group_representative) {
    printf("Group %d processing\n", group_id);
  }
}

Common mistake ❌:

// ❌ Only warp 0 will print!
if (threadIdx.x == 0) {
  printf("Warp %d processing\n", threadIdx.x / 32);
}

Quick Reference

Kernel Type	Print Condition	Notes
Simple kernel	threadIdx.x == 0	One thread per block
Warp-specialized	One thread per group	Depends on kernel design

Other Kernel Debugging Tools

// Assert for invariants
assert(value >= 0.0f && "Value must be non-negative");

// Compile-time checks
static_assert(BLOCK_SIZE % 32 == 0, "BLOCK_SIZE must be multiple of warp size");

Environment Variables Reference

Variable	Values	Description
FLASHINFER_LOGLEVEL	0	No logging (default)
	1	Function names only
	3	Inputs/outputs with metadata
	5	+ Tensor statistics (min/max/mean/nan/inf)
FLASHINFER_LOGDEST	stdout	Log to console (default)
	stderr	Log to stderr
	<path>	Log to file
	log_%i.txt	Multi-process: %i = process ID

Best Practices

1. Always Start with Level 3

export FLASHINFER_LOGLEVEL=3

Level 3 provides tensor metadata (shape, dtype, device) without overwhelming output.

2. Use Level 5 for Numerical Issues

export FLASHINFER_LOGLEVEL=5

Only use level 5 when debugging NaN/Inf problems (adds statistics).

3. Log to File for Crashes

export FLASHINFER_LOGDEST=crash_log.txt

Console output may be lost when program crashes. File logs persist.

4. Compare Before/After

Enable logging and compare:

• Last successful API call (inputs logged, outputs logged) ✅
• First failed API call (inputs logged, no outputs) ❌ ← This is where it crashed!

5. Disable Logging in Production

unset FLASHINFER_LOGLEVEL   # or export FLASHINFER_LOGLEVEL=0

Logging has zero overhead when disabled (decorator returns original function).

Troubleshooting

No Logs Appearing

Problem: Set FLASHINFER_LOGLEVEL=3 but no logs

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