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Challenge

Build a Speculative Decoding Draft Model Memory Balancer

Calculate VRAM footprint tradeoffs between target and draft open-weight models for speculative decoding deployments. Use hosted Claude to recommend draft model sizes that prevent KV-cache eviction.

EngineeringHosted by Vera
Challenge brief

What you are building

The core problem, expected build, and operating context for this challenge.

Calculate VRAM footprint tradeoffs between target and draft open-weight models for speculative decoding deployments. Use hosted Claude to recommend draft model sizes that prevent KV-cache eviction.

Inference Infrastructure Engineer

Extract parameter sizes and context limits for proposed target and draft open-weight model pairings.

Calculate combined VRAM allocation required for dual-model weights and shared KV-cache spaces.

Invoke hosted Claude API to evaluate the theoretical speedup versus memory pressure tradeoffs.

Compile an infrastructure sizing brief recommending draft model acceptance thresholds and batch limits.

Web dashboard with interactive concurrency sliders and markdown capacity brief exporter.

Normalized architectural specs for open models (e.g. Llama-3-70B, Qwen-2.5) loaded from local JSON fixtures. Starter examples below are synthetic. They are not downloaded records.

vLLM open-model serving Uses vLLM speculative decoding memory mechanics and dual-model loading constraints.

anthropic, pydantic-ai, pandas, fastapi, pydantic. Provides nuanced technical explanation of memory fragmentation and token latency trade-offs. Hosted Claude API for capacity analysis; profiles open-weight models only.

Submit runnable source, pinned dependencies, setup commands, a working interface, example outputs, and a recorded end-to-end demo. Include tests and an action log.

Calculates combined static weights footprint for target and draft pairs.

Identifies when draft model size exceeds safe KV-cache margins for a given target batch size.

Highlights latency tradeoffs when context window scales.

Exports structured JSON configuration suitable for vLLM speculative decoding launchers.

```json [ { "input": { "target_model": "llama-70b", "draft_model": "llama-8b", "target_vram_gb": 140, "draft_vram_gb": 16, "total_gpu_vram_gb": 160, "target_concurrency": 8 }, "expected_output": { "vram_available_for_kv_gb": 4, "status": "INSUFFICIENT_MEMORY", "recommendation": "REDUCE_CONCURRENCY", "claude_explanation": "Combined weights use 156GB, leaving only 4GB for KV-cache." } }, { "input": { "target_model": "llama-70b", "draft_model": "llama-1b", "target_vram_gb": 140, "draft_vram_gb": 2, "total_gpu_vram_gb": 160, "target_concurrency": 8 }, "expected_output": { "vram_available_for_kv_gb": 18, "status": "SAFE", "recommendation": "PROCEED", "claude_explanation": "Combined weights use 142GB, leaving 18GB for KV-cache." } } ] ```

Applies strictly to open-weight models. Does not infer or simulate proprietary Claude infrastructure. Use mock external writes. Require human review before any real deployment.

Rules

Participation guide

Applies strictly to open-weight models. Does not infer or simulate proprietary Claude infrastructure. Use mock external writes and human review.

Delivery guide

How work is evaluated

Evaluation

Calculates combined static weights footprint for target and draft pairs. Identifies when draft model size exceeds safe KV-cache margins for a given target batch size. Highlights latency tradeoffs when context window scales. Exports structured JSON configuration suitable for vLLM speculative decoding launchers.

Submission format

Runnable source, pinned dependencies, setup commands, working interface, example outputs, recorded demo, tests, and action logs.

Datasets

Challenge datasets

Public datasets, plus the private datasets you have access to.

Evaluation rubric

How submissions are scored

These dimensions define what the evaluator checks and which criteria separate a passable run from a strong one.

Dimensions
4 scoring checks
Binary
1 pass or fail dimensions
Ordinal
3 scaled dimensions
Dimension 1

Complete workflow

Extract parameter sizes and context limits for proposed target and draft open-weight model pairings. Calculate combined VRAM allocation required for dual-model weights and shared KV-cache spaces. Invoke hosted Claude API to evaluate the theoretical speedup versus memory pressure tradeoffs. Compile an infrastructure sizing brief recommending draft model acceptance thresholds and batch limits.

Score scale
012
Score 0

Missing or incorrect.

Score 1

Partly complete, with documented gaps.

Score 2

Complete, with reproducible evidence.

Dimension 2

Correctness and evidence

Calculates combined static weights footprint for target and draft pairs. Identifies when draft model size exceeds safe KV-cache margins for a given target batch size. Highlights latency tradeoffs when context window scales. Exports structured JSON configuration suitable for vLLM speculative decoding launchers.

Score scale
012
Score 0

Missing or incorrect.

Score 1

Partly complete, with documented gaps.

Score 2

Complete, with reproducible evidence.

Dimension 3

Review interface

Web dashboard with interactive concurrency sliders and markdown capacity brief exporter.

Score scale
012
Score 0

Missing or incorrect.

Score 1

Partly complete, with documented gaps.

Score 2

Complete, with reproducible evidence.

Dimension 4

Safe execution

Applies strictly to open-weight models. Does not infer or simulate proprietary Claude infrastructure.

Binary check

This dimension contributes its full weight only when the submission satisfies the requirement. Partial credit is not awarded.

Learning goals

What you should walk away with

  • Extract parameter sizes and context limits for proposed target and draft open-weight model pairings.

  • Calculate combined VRAM allocation required for dual-model weights and shared KV-cache spaces.

  • Invoke hosted Claude API to evaluate the theoretical speedup versus memory pressure tradeoffs.

  • Compile an infrastructure sizing brief recommending draft model acceptance thresholds and batch limits.

Resources and assets

Reference links and supporting material

Dataset notes

Normalized architectural specs for open models (e.g. Llama-3-70B, Qwen-2.5) loaded from local JSON fixtures. Supplied starter examples are synthetic, not source extracts.

Challenge setup

Configuration summary for this challenge.

Challenge input

Input details are not configured.

Anthropic Claude

LLM for code generation & more

Evaluated output

No output checks are configured.

Evaluation checks
  • Extract parameter sizes and context limits for proposed target and draft open-weight model pairings. Calcul...
  • Calculates combined static weights footprint for target and draft pairs. Identifies when draft model size e...
  • Web dashboard with interactive concurrency sliders and markdown capacity brief exporter.
Configured evaluation evidence
  • 2 public reference cases
Configured runtime
  • 1 configured tool

Summary shows the first task, up to three tools, and up to three evidence items. Open the technical recipe to view all configured items.

View technical recipe

Configured tools

Action Space
  • Anthropic Claude · Optional

Evaluation contract

  • Complete workflow · Weight 40
  • Correctness and evidence · Weight 30
  • Review interface · Weight 20
  • Safe execution · Weight 10

Reference cases

  • 2 public reference cases

Workflow tasks

No workflow tasks are configured.

Recipe freeze marker

No recipe freeze time is recorded.

Frequently Asked Questions about Build a Speculative Decoding Draft Model Memory Balancer