## Description In some scenarios, the Triton written kernels are more performant than CK or other handwritten kernels, so we implement a framework that enables onnxruntime to use these Triton written kernels. Here we use `softmax` op as an example to show how to integrate a Triton written kernel into onnxruntime CUDA/ROCm EP. ### Write and compile Triton kernel We have implemented a softmax kernel using Triton at `onnxruntime/core/providers/rocm/math/softmax_triton.py` ```python @triton.jit def softmax_kernel( output_ptr, input_ptr, input_row_stride, output_row_stride, n_cols, BLOCK_SIZE: tl.constexpr ): # softmax implementations ... ... ``` This is a very simple implementation. The `n_cols` parameter should be smaller than `BLOCK_SIZE`. And `BLOCK_SIZE` MUST be determined at compile time. In order to support different input shapes, we compile multiple kernels with different `BLOCK_SIZE`s. Each kernel with different `BLOCK_SIZE` generates different `num_warps` and shared memory usage, we call them `metadata`, and these metadata are needed when launching kernels in onnxruntime. We develop a script `tools/ci_build/compile_triton.py` to compile kernel and generate metadata for kernel launching. To generate metadata for softmax, we need to add description info and implement a `get_function_table` function in `softmax_triton.py`: ```python # kernel dtype and BLOCK_SIZE to generate. dtypes = ['fp32', 'fp16'] blocks = [1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16384] name_pattern = 'softmax_{}_{}' sig_pattern = '*{},*{},i32,i32,i32' group_pattern = 'softmax_{}' """ SHOULD implement a function that returns a metadata list with format: function_table = [ { 'name': xx, 'group': yy, 'func': func, 'sig': sig, 'kwargs': kwargs } ] The kwargs is a dict of {string: int} which is used for kernel constants. For example, BLOCK_SIZE of softmax. """ def get_function_table(): ... ``` When compiling onnxruntime with `--use_triton_kernel` flag, this softmax kernel will be compiled and combined into `libonnxruntime_providers_rocm.so` for ROCm or `libonnxruntime_providers_cuda.so` for CUDA. ### onnxruntime C++ code modification To use the Triton kernels in onnxruntime, we need to implement a C++ op that calls these Triton kernels. Similar with CK, we implement a function that returns all possible Triton kernels, and the `TunableOp` will select the best one. ```cpp template auto GetSoftmaxTritonOps() { std::vector>>> ret; auto group_name = GetSoftmaxTritonGroupName(); // here use group_name to get all kernel with same group_name // for example, 'softmax_fp16' represents a group of kernels with different BLOCK_SIZE for float16 softmax auto *kernel_list = GetOrtTritonKernelByGroup(group_name); if (kernel_list == nullptr) { return ret; } for (auto i : *kernel_list) { // check params match ... } return ret; } ``` ### Test Using kernel_explorer, we can test this softmax kernel like: ```bash export KERNEL_EXPLORER_BUILD_DIR= python onnxruntime/python/tools/kernel_explorer/kernels/softmax_test.py ``` and the result shows that `TunableOp` selects `softmax_fp16_2048` which is a Triton written kernel and better than others. ```text SoftmaxTunable float16 batch_count=1 softmax_elements=2048 is_log_softmax=0 4.27 us, 1.92 GB/s softmax_fp16_2048 float16 batch_count=1 softmax_elements=2048 is_log_softmax=0 4.48 us, 1.83 GB/s ... ```