new tasks, model pricing, auto quantisation, etc...

docs/issues/42-gguf-llamacpp-node-backend.md

@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+# US-042 — GGUF/llama.cpp node backend
+
+Status: planned
+Priority: High (unlocks big MoE models on volunteer hardware — the pool's core value)
+Stage: Draft design
+
+## Context
+
+The node backend is transformers-only (`model_backend.py` →
+`AutoModelForCausalLM`). For DeepSeek-V4-Flash (158B MoE, official weights FP8
+160 GB) the only quantizations that run on consumer hardware are GGUF
+(IQ2 87 GB → Q4_K_M-XL 175 GB) — llama.cpp format. The transformers-compatible
+quants (FP8, NVFP4, GPTQ W4A16) all need datacenter GPUs. Volunteer machines —
+including our own Strix Halo boxes (128 GB and 80 GB unified memory, GPU via
+Vulkan/ROCm, no FP8 support on RDNA3.5) — run these models today only under
+llama.cpp.
+
+## Design directions to evaluate (design-it-twice)
+
+**A. llama.cpp as a per-node shard executor.** Node loads a *layer range* of a
+GGUF via llama-cpp-python; our existing hop protocol (X-Meshnet-Route,
+activations over HTTP/relay) moves hidden states between nodes. Requires
+llama.cpp partial-layer loading and activation import/export — investigate
+feasibility first; this is the riskiest unknown.
+
+**B. llama.cpp RPC mode under tracker orchestration.** llama.cpp ships a
+native RPC backend that splits one model across machines. The tracker would
+provision/route to an llama.cpp RPC cluster rather than our own hop pipeline.
+Less code, but bypasses our billing/telemetry hop instrumentation and relay
+NAT path — needs a story for both.
+
+**C. Whole-model GGUF nodes (no sharding).** A node with enough memory serves
+a full GGUF (e.g. IQ2/IQ3 on a 128 GB box); the tracker routes whole requests
+to it (single-hop route). Smallest step, no cross-node activation work, and
+already useful: Strix Halo 128 GB serves DeepSeek-V4-Flash IQ3_XXS (114 GB)
+via llama.cpp Vulkan today.
+
+Recommended sequencing: C first (small, real value), then A/B investigation.
+
+## Also in scope
+
+- Model catalog: allow GGUF entries with quant selection; feature
+  `DeepSeek-V4-Flash` IQ4_XS/UD-Q4_K_XL as a curated/featured entry once at
+  least direction C works (a featured model nobody can load is an anti-feature)
+- Hardware detection: recognize Strix Halo/unified-memory APUs and Vulkan
+  (`hardware.py` currently reports "CPU mode" on these boxes)
+- `MESHNET_DOWNLOAD_DIR`/`--download-dir` applies to GGUF files as well
+
+## Acceptance criteria (phase C)
+
+- A node with `--gguf <repo-or-path> --quant IQ3_XXS` serves
+  `/v1/chat/completions` via llama.cpp with GPU offload where available
+- Tracker treats it as a full-coverage node (single-hop routes, billing works)
+- Streamed responses work through the tracker proxy and the relay (US-036)
+- `python -m pytest` passes from repo root (llama.cpp behind an optional extra)

docs/issues/43-dashboard-model-search-cards.md

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+# US-043 — Dashboard model search and model cards
+
+Status: planned
+Priority: Medium (post-deploy polish)
+Stage: Idea
+
+## Context
+
+The dashboard shows nodes/routes/billing but nothing model-centric. Operators
+and testers should be able to search for a model and see, per model, a card
+with what the network knows about it.
+
+## Scope
+
+- **Search**: query box hitting a new tracker endpoint that proxies the HF Hub
+  search API (server-side, so the dashboard stays CSP-clean and unauthenticated
+  browsers aren't rate-limited) merged with the tracker's own model presets and
+  currently-served models.
+- **Model card** per result:
+  - name, architecture, params, layer count (reuse `model_metadata_for`,
+    which now handles nested `text_config` — US layer-detection fix)
+  - coverage on the network: which layer ranges are served, by how many nodes,
+    coverage gaps (the Coverage Map already exists on the tracker)
+  - price per 1K tokens, availability (routable now? single-hop or pipeline?)
+  - memory footprint per quantization where known (bf16 / GGUF sizes)
+  - action: "request this model" — flags demand so node operators (or
+    auto-shard assignment) know what to load next
+- Featured models section driven by the curated catalog (`CURATED_MODELS`),
+  including GGUF entries once US-042 lands.
+
+## Acceptance criteria
+
+- Searching a HF repo id or free text returns results without the browser
+  calling HF directly
+- A served model's card shows live coverage and a working "chat now" state
+- An unserved model's card shows the "request" action and estimated memory
+  per quant
+- `python -m pytest` passes from repo root

docs/issues/44-tracker-shard-source-partial-download.md

@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+# US-044 — Tracker as model-file source; nodes download only their shard
+
+Status: planned
+Priority: High (blocks multi-machine big-model serving; pairs with US-042)
+Stage: Designed (grill remaining decisions before build)
+
+## Context
+
+Common deployment: the tracker and the first node share a machine that already
+holds the model files (e.g. `/run/media/popov/DATA/llm/safetensor`). When a
+second node joins with no model selected, the tracker assigns it the uncovered
+layer range — and today that node then downloads the **entire snapshot from
+HuggingFace**, even for a 20-layer shard of a 160 GB model.
+
+What exists already (build on it, don't duplicate):
+
+- Nodes serve their shard dir as a tar at `GET /v1/shards/download` with
+  checksum verification; `download_shard` tries assignment-provided `peers`
+  before HF (`downloader.py`). But it only matches **identical layer ranges**,
+  and the HF fallback runs `snapshot_download` of the whole repo.
+- The torch path (`--model-id`) bypasses `download_shard` entirely:
+  `TorchModelShard` → `from_pretrained` downloads **and loads into RAM** the
+  full model, then executes only the assigned layers. Sharding currently saves
+  compute, not memory or bandwidth.
+
+## Design
+
+1. **Tracker `--models-dir PATH`** (env `MESHNET_MODELS_DIR`). When set, the
+   tracker indexes HF-layout snapshots under it and advertises itself as a
+   model-file source in `/v1/nodes/assign` responses.
+2. **Layer-aware file selection.** For safetensors models, read
+   `model.safetensors.index.json` and map the assigned layer range → the
+   subset of weight files containing those layers, plus the always-needed
+   files (config, tokenizer, index, embeddings/head files for head/tail
+   shards). Serve exactly that subset (tar stream, per-file checksums).
+   GGUF (US-042): single file or naive byte-range — phase 2.
+3. **Node download order**: exact-shard peer (existing) → tracker/peer file
+   subset (new) → HF `snapshot_download` with `allow_patterns` for the same
+   subset (new — stop downloading the whole repo even from HF) → full snapshot
+   (last resort).
+4. **Partial LOAD (the hard half).** Downloading a subset is wasted unless the
+   node stops instantiating the full model: build the model skeleton on the
+   `meta` device, materialize only assigned layers (+embeddings/norm/head as
+   role requires) from the local files, leave the rest on meta. Without this,
+   an 80 GB machine can never hold a shard of a 160 GB model regardless of
+   how the bytes arrive. This is the acceptance bar for the issue.
+
+## Open questions (grill before building)
+
+- Trust: joining nodes fetch weights from the tracker/peers — checksum against
+  what root of trust? (HF etag/sha vs tracker-signed manifest.)
+- Disk layout: partial snapshots must not corrupt the HF cache dir; probably
+  a meshnet-owned layout keyed by repo+revision.
+- Serving cost: a 100 GB tar stream per joining node on the tracker box —
+  rate-limit/queue? LAN-only heuristic?
+
+## Acceptance criteria
+
+- Two-machine test: machine A (tracker + node, holds full snapshot) serves
+  layers 0–k; machine B joins with no model and receives **only** the files
+  for its assigned range from A — nothing fetched from HF
+- Machine B's resident memory scales with its shard size, not model size
+- Checksums verified end-to-end; corrupted transfer falls back cleanly
+- Single-node/full-model flows unchanged
+- `python -m pytest` passes from repo root

packages/node/meshnet_node/cli.py

@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ def _run_node(cfg: dict) -> None:
             model_id=cfg.get("model_hf_repo") or None,
             shard_start=cfg.get("shard_start"),
             shard_end=cfg.get("shard_end"),
-            quantization=cfg.get("quantization", "int8").replace("bf16", "bfloat16"),
+            quantization=cfg.get("quantization", "auto").replace("bf16", "bfloat16"),
             wallet_path=Path(cfg["wallet_path"]) if cfg.get("wallet_path") else None,
             cache_dir=Path(cfg["download_dir"]) if cfg.get("download_dir") else None,
             host=cfg.get("host", "0.0.0.0"),
@@ -199,17 +199,19 @@ def _cmd_config(args) -> int:
 
 def _cmd_start(args) -> int:
     """Legacy `start` subcommand — preserves backward compatibility with existing tests."""
-    from .config import load_config, DEFAULTS
+    from .config import DEFAULTS
 
     # Build a transient config from flags (don't write to disk)
     cfg = dict(DEFAULTS)
+    if args.tracker:
         cfg["tracker_url"] = args.tracker
     cfg["port"] = args.port if args.port is not None else _first_available_port(args.host)
-    if args.model_id is None and "/" in args.model:
-        cfg["model_hf_repo"] = args.model
-        cfg["model_name"] = args.model.split("/")[-1]
+    model = args.model or cfg.get("model_hf_repo") or cfg.get("model_name") or "stub-model"
+    if args.model_id is None and "/" in model:
+        cfg["model_hf_repo"] = model
+        cfg["model_name"] = model.split("/")[-1]
     else:
-        cfg["model_name"] = args.model
+        cfg["model_name"] = model
     cfg["quantization"] = args.quantization
     cfg["host"] = args.host
     if args.model_id:
@@ -307,13 +309,13 @@ def main() -> None:
 
     # start subcommand (legacy / backward-compat)
     start_cmd = subparsers.add_parser("start", help="Start node (legacy flags)")
-    start_cmd.add_argument("--tracker", default="http://localhost:8080")
+    start_cmd.add_argument("--tracker")
     start_cmd.add_argument("--port", type=int)
-    start_cmd.add_argument("--model", default="stub-model")
+    start_cmd.add_argument("--model")
     start_cmd.add_argument("--model-id", help="HuggingFace repo ID")
     start_cmd.add_argument("--shard-start", type=int)
     start_cmd.add_argument("--shard-end", type=int)
-    start_cmd.add_argument("--quantization", choices=["bfloat16", "int8", "nf4", "bf16"], default="int8")
+    start_cmd.add_argument("--quantization", choices=["auto", "bfloat16", "int8", "nf4", "bf16"], default="auto")
     start_cmd.add_argument("--host", default="0.0.0.0")
     start_cmd.add_argument("--advertise-host")
     start_cmd.add_argument("--tracker-mode", action="store_true")

packages/node/meshnet_node/config.py

@@ -14,13 +14,16 @@ _DEFAULT_CONFIG_FILE = _DEFAULT_CONFIG_DIR / "config.json"
 _DEFAULT_DOWNLOAD_DIR = Path(
     os.environ.get("MESHNET_DOWNLOAD_DIR", str(Path.home() / ".meshnet" / "models"))
 )
-_DEFAULT_TRACKER_URL = "http://localhost:8080"
+_DEFAULT_TRACKER_URL = os.environ.get("MESHNET_TRACKER_URL", "http://localhost:8080")
 _DEFAULT_WALLET_PATH = str(Path.home() / ".config" / "meshnet" / "wallet.json")
-_DEFAULT_QUANTIZATION = "nf4"
+_DEFAULT_QUANTIZATION = "auto"
+_DEFAULT_MODEL = os.environ.get("MESHNET_MODEL_ID") or os.environ.get("MESHNET_MODEL", "")
+_DEFAULT_MODEL_HF_REPO = _DEFAULT_MODEL if "/" in _DEFAULT_MODEL else ""
+_DEFAULT_MODEL_NAME = _DEFAULT_MODEL.split("/")[-1] if "/" in _DEFAULT_MODEL else _DEFAULT_MODEL
 
 DEFAULTS = {
-    "model_hf_repo": "",
-    "model_name": "",
+    "model_hf_repo": _DEFAULT_MODEL_HF_REPO,
+    "model_name": _DEFAULT_MODEL_NAME,
     "quantization": _DEFAULT_QUANTIZATION,
     "download_dir": str(_DEFAULT_DOWNLOAD_DIR),
     "tracker_url": _DEFAULT_TRACKER_URL,

packages/node/meshnet_node/model_backend.py

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ from dataclasses import dataclass
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any, Literal
 
-Quantization = Literal["bfloat16", "int8", "nf4"]
+Quantization = Literal["auto", "bfloat16", "int8", "nf4"]
 
 
 class ModelBackendError(RuntimeError):
@@ -31,14 +31,14 @@ class TensorPayload:
 
 
 def validate_quantization(value: str) -> Quantization:
-    if value not in {"bfloat16", "int8", "nf4"}:
-        raise ValueError("quantization must be one of: bfloat16, int8, nf4")
+    if value not in {"auto", "bfloat16", "int8", "nf4"}:
+        raise ValueError("quantization must be one of: auto, bfloat16, int8, nf4")
     return value  # type: ignore[return-value]
 
 
 def build_quantization_config(quantization: Quantization) -> Any | None:
     """Return a transformers BitsAndBytesConfig for quantized weights."""
-    if quantization == "bfloat16":
+    if quantization in {"auto", "bfloat16"}:
         return None
     try:
         import torch
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ class TorchModelShard:
         model_id: str,
         shard_start: int,
         shard_end: int,
-        quantization: Quantization = "bfloat16",
+        quantization: Quantization = "auto",
         cache_dir: Path | None = None,
     ) -> None:
         if shard_start < 0 or shard_end < 0 or shard_start > shard_end:
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ class TorchModelShard:
 
         try:
             import torch
-            from transformers import AutoModelForCausalLM, AutoTokenizer
+            from transformers import AutoConfig, AutoModelForCausalLM, AutoTokenizer
         except ModuleNotFoundError as exc:
             raise MissingModelDependencyError(
                 "real model backend requires torch, transformers, safetensors, accelerate, and bitsandbytes"
@@ -85,17 +85,27 @@ class TorchModelShard:
 
         self.torch = torch
         self.device = torch.device("cuda" if torch.cuda.is_available() else "cpu")
-        quant_config = build_quantization_config(quantization)
+        quant_config, dtype, uses_quantized_weights = _model_load_plan(
+            AutoConfig,
+            model_id,
+            quantization,
+            torch,
+            cache_dir,
+        )
         try:
+            load_kwargs = {
+                "device_map": "auto" if uses_quantized_weights else None,
+                "dtype": dtype,
+                "low_cpu_mem_usage": True,
+                "cache_dir": str(cache_dir) if cache_dir is not None else None,
+            }
+            if quant_config is not None:
+                load_kwargs["quantization_config"] = quant_config
             self.model = AutoModelForCausalLM.from_pretrained(
                 model_id,
-                quantization_config=quant_config,
-                device_map="auto" if quant_config is not None else None,
-                dtype=torch.bfloat16,
-                low_cpu_mem_usage=True,
-                cache_dir=str(cache_dir) if cache_dir is not None else None,
+                **load_kwargs,
             )
-            if quant_config is None:
+            if not uses_quantized_weights:
                 self.model.to(self.device)
         except Exception as exc:
             if _looks_like_oom(exc):
@@ -340,12 +350,71 @@ def load_torch_shard(
     model_id: str,
     shard_start: int,
     shard_end: int,
-    quantization: Quantization = "bfloat16",
+    quantization: Quantization = "auto",
     cache_dir: Path | None = None,
 ) -> TorchModelShard:
     return TorchModelShard(model_id, shard_start, shard_end, quantization, cache_dir)
 
 
+def _model_load_plan(
+    auto_config: Any,
+    model_id: str,
+    quantization: Quantization,
+    torch: Any,
+    cache_dir: Path | None = None,
+) -> tuple[Any | None, Any, bool]:
+    """Return (explicit quant config, dtype, uses quantized weights)."""
+    if quantization != "auto":
+        quant_config = build_quantization_config(quantization)
+        return quant_config, torch.bfloat16, quant_config is not None
+
+    cfg = auto_config.from_pretrained(
+        model_id,
+        cache_dir=str(cache_dir) if cache_dir is not None else None,
+    )
+    if _native_quantization_config(cfg) is not None:
+        return None, _native_torch_dtype(cfg, torch), True
+    return None, _native_torch_dtype(cfg, torch), False
+
+
+def _config_candidates(cfg: Any) -> list[Any]:
+    candidates = [cfg]
+    get_text_config = getattr(cfg, "get_text_config", None)
+    if callable(get_text_config):
+        try:
+            candidates.append(get_text_config())
+        except Exception:
+            pass
+    text_config = getattr(cfg, "text_config", None)
+    if text_config is not None:
+        candidates.append(text_config)
+    return candidates
+
+
+def _native_quantization_config(cfg: Any) -> Any | None:
+    for candidate in _config_candidates(cfg):
+        quant_config = getattr(candidate, "quantization_config", None)
+        if quant_config:
+            return quant_config
+    return None
+
+
+def _native_torch_dtype(cfg: Any, torch: Any) -> Any:
+    for candidate in _config_candidates(cfg):
+        for attr in ("dtype", "torch_dtype"):
+            dtype = getattr(candidate, attr, None)
+            if dtype is None:
+                continue
+            if isinstance(dtype, str):
+                dtype_name = dtype.removeprefix("torch.")
+                dtype_value = getattr(torch, dtype_name, None)
+                if dtype_value is not None:
+                    return dtype_value
+            else:
+                return dtype
+    return torch.bfloat16
+
+
 def _model_layers(model: Any) -> Any:
     if hasattr(model, "model") and hasattr(model.model, "layers"):
         return model.model.layers

packages/node/meshnet_node/startup.py

@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ def _max_assignable_layers(memory_mb: int, total_layers: int | None) -> int:
 def _shard_budget_line(memory_mb: int, memory_source: str, total_layers: int | None, quantization: str) -> str:
     memory_gb = memory_mb / 1024
     gb_str = f"{memory_gb:.1f} GB"
+    budget_quantization = "bfloat16" if quantization == "auto" else quantization
     if total_layers is None or total_layers <= 0:
         return f"Memory budget: {gb_str} {memory_source}; shard budget: unknown model layer count"
     max_layers = _max_assignable_layers(memory_mb, total_layers)
@@ -61,7 +62,7 @@ def _shard_budget_line(memory_mb: int, memory_source: str, total_layers: int | N
     remaining_str = f"; {remaining_gb:.1f} GB remaining after full load" if remaining_gb > 1 else ""
     return (
         f"Memory budget: {gb_str} {memory_source}; "
-        f"Shard budget: up to {max_layers}/{total_layers} layers at {quantization}"
+        f"Shard budget: up to {max_layers}/{total_layers} layers at {budget_quantization}"
         f"{remaining_str}"
     )
 
@@ -306,7 +307,7 @@ def run_startup(
     model_id: str | None = None,
     shard_start: int | None = None,
     shard_end: int | None = None,
-    quantization: str = "bfloat16",
+    quantization: str = "auto",
     wallet_path: Path | None = None,
     cache_dir: Path | None = None,
     host: str = "127.0.0.1",

packages/tracker/meshnet_tracker/model_presets.json

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
       "recommended": true,
       "deployment_status": "recommended",
       "hf_aliases": [],
-      "hf_verified_match_note": "Pending human curation (issue 23) — no HF inference-marketplace listing has been confirmed as a comparable params/quantization match for this preset yet. Leave empty until a human signs off; an empty hf_aliases list keeps this model on the static default price.",
+      "hf_verified_match_note": "Pending human curation (issue 23) \u2014 no HF inference-marketplace listing has been confirmed as a comparable params/quantization match for this preset yet. Leave empty until a human signs off; an empty hf_aliases list keeps this model on the static default price.",
       "required_model_bytes": 638876385280,
       "download_size_bytes": 638876385280,
       "native_quantization": "int4",
@@ -38,6 +38,41 @@
           "KTransformers"
         ]
       }
+    },
+    "qwen3.6-35b-a3b": {
+      "layers_start": 0,
+      "layers_end": 39,
+      "hf_repo": "unsloth/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B",
+      "aliases": [
+        "qwen3.6-35b-a3b",
+        "Qwen3.6-35B-A3B",
+        "unsloth/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B",
+        "Qwen/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B"
+      ],
+      "recommended": true,
+      "deployment_status": "recommended",
+      "price_per_1k_tokens": 0.00044,
+      "hf_aliases": [
+        "qwen/qwen3.6-35b-a3b"
+      ],
+      "hf_verified_match_note": "Verified 2026-07-06: unsloth/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is a bf16 mirror of Qwen/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B; deepinfra and featherless-ai serve the official weights on the HF inference marketplace, so their rates are a fair comparable. Static price 0.00044 = 80% of deepinfra's blended $0.55/1M ($0.15 in / $0.95 out); the nightly refresher keeps it tracking.",
+      "required_model_bytes": 71903776776,
+      "download_size_bytes": 71903776776,
+      "native_quantization": "bfloat16",
+      "canonical_audit_dtype": "bfloat16",
+      "canonical_audit_quantization": "bfloat16",
+      "bytes_per_layer": {
+        "bfloat16": 1797594419
+      },
+      "metadata": {
+        "architecture": "Mixture-of-Experts (MoE, hybrid linear attention)",
+        "total_parameters": "35B",
+        "activated_parameters": "3B",
+        "num_layers": 40,
+        "context_length": 262144,
+        "native_quantization": "bfloat16",
+        "download_size_gb": 72
+      }
     }
   }
 }

packages/tracker/meshnet_tracker/server.py

@@ -46,6 +46,24 @@ from .gossip import NodeGossip
 from .raft import RaftNode
 
 
+def _preset_price_keys(name: str, preset: dict) -> set[str]:
+    """All model strings a client may bill under for one preset.
+
+    ``BillingLedger.price_for`` is keyed by the raw ``model`` string in the
+    request, so the preset price must be registered under the preset name,
+    its ``hf_repo``, and every alias — otherwise ``unsloth/Qwen…`` style
+    requests silently fall back to the default rate.
+    """
+    keys = {name}
+    hf_repo = preset.get("hf_repo")
+    if isinstance(hf_repo, str) and hf_repo:
+        keys.add(hf_repo)
+    for alias in preset.get("aliases") or []:
+        if isinstance(alias, str) and alias:
+            keys.add(alias)
+    return keys
+
+
 def derive_relay_url_from_public_tracker_url(url: str | None) -> str | None:
     """Return wss://host/ws when url is a public HTTPS tracker origin."""
     if not url:
@@ -4065,9 +4083,10 @@ class TrackerServer:
                 db_path = DEFAULT_BILLING_DB_PATH
             if db_path:
                 preset_prices = {
-                    name: float(preset["price_per_1k_tokens"])
+                    key: float(preset["price_per_1k_tokens"])
                     for name, preset in self._model_presets.items()
                     if isinstance(preset, dict) and "price_per_1k_tokens" in preset
+                    for key in _preset_price_keys(name, preset)
                 }
                 billing = BillingLedger(db_path=db_path, prices=preset_prices)
         self._billing: BillingLedger | None = billing
@@ -4332,7 +4351,8 @@ class TrackerServer:
                     continue
                 if result is None:
                     continue
-                billing.set_price(name, result["new_price_per_1k"])
+                for key in _preset_price_keys(name, preset):
+                    billing.set_price(key, result["new_price_per_1k"])
                 preset["hf_last_price_per_1k"] = result["new_price_per_1k"]
                 preset["hf_last_updated"] = time.strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ", time.gmtime())
                 if self._hf_pricing_log is not None:

tests/test_hf_pricing.py

@@ -148,3 +148,41 @@ def test_hf_pricing_log_persists_and_is_queryable(tmp_path):
     # Reopening against the same db path recovers the log (billing.py pattern).
     reopened = HfPricingLog(db_path=db_path)
     assert len(reopened.history()) == 1
+
+
+def test_preset_price_keys_cover_name_repo_and_aliases():
+    from meshnet_tracker.server import _preset_price_keys
+
+    preset = {
+        "hf_repo": "unsloth/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B",
+        "aliases": ["qwen3.6-35b-a3b", "Qwen/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B"],
+    }
+    keys = _preset_price_keys("qwen3.6-35b-a3b", preset)
+    assert keys == {
+        "qwen3.6-35b-a3b",
+        "unsloth/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B",
+        "Qwen/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B",
+    }
+    assert _preset_price_keys("bare", {}) == {"bare"}
+
+
+def test_qwen_preset_prices_apply_to_all_aliases(tmp_path):
+    """Requests naming the repo id (what nodes register) bill at the preset price."""
+    from meshnet_tracker.server import TrackerServer
+
+    import pytest
+
+    tracker = TrackerServer(billing_db=str(tmp_path / "billing.sqlite"))
+    try:
+        billing = tracker._billing
+        assert billing is not None
+        for key in (
+            "qwen3.6-35b-a3b",
+            "unsloth/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B",
+            "Qwen/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B",
+        ):
+            assert billing.price_for(key) == pytest.approx(0.00044), key
+        # Unknown models keep the default rate
+        assert billing.price_for("some/other-model") == pytest.approx(0.02)
+    finally:
+        pass

tests/test_mining_cli.py

@@ -388,6 +388,48 @@ def test_legacy_start_treats_repo_model_as_model_id(monkeypatch):
     assert captured["model_id"] == "Qwen/Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct"
 
 
+def test_legacy_start_falls_back_to_env_tracker_and_model(monkeypatch):
+    """`meshnet-node start` uses env defaults when tracker/model flags are omitted."""
+    import importlib
+
+    from meshnet_node import config as config_mod
+    from meshnet_node.cli import main
+
+    monkeypatch.setenv("MESHNET_TRACKER_URL", "http://env-tracker:8081")
+    monkeypatch.setenv("MESHNET_MODEL", "Qwen/Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct")
+    importlib.reload(config_mod)
+
+    captured = {}
+
+    def fake_run_startup(*args, **kwargs):
+        captured.update(kwargs)
+        class _FakeNode:
+            chat_completion_count = 0
+            def stop(self): pass
+        return _FakeNode()
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(sys, "argv", [
+        "meshnet-node", "start",
+        "--port", "0",
+    ])
+
+    try:
+        with patch("meshnet_node.startup.run_startup", side_effect=fake_run_startup):
+            with patch("time.sleep", side_effect=KeyboardInterrupt):
+                try:
+                    main()
+                except SystemExit as exc:
+                    assert exc.code == 0
+    finally:
+        monkeypatch.delenv("MESHNET_TRACKER_URL", raising=False)
+        monkeypatch.delenv("MESHNET_MODEL", raising=False)
+        importlib.reload(config_mod)
+
+    assert captured["tracker_url"] == "http://env-tracker:8081"
+    assert captured["model"] == "Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct"
+    assert captured["model_id"] == "Qwen/Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct"
+
+
 def test_legacy_start_without_port_uses_next_available_port(monkeypatch):
     """Omitting --port skips an occupied default port before startup loads the model."""
     from meshnet_node.cli import main

tests/test_node_startup.py

@@ -1449,3 +1449,67 @@ def test_cli_loads_local_env_before_config_defaults(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
 
     assert config_mod.DEFAULTS["download_dir"] == "/run/media/popov/DATA/llm/safetensor/models"
     assert os.environ["HF_TOKEN"] == "hf_test_token"
+
+
+def test_default_quantization_is_auto(monkeypatch):
+    import importlib
+
+    from meshnet_node import config as config_mod
+    from meshnet_node.model_backend import validate_quantization
+
+    monkeypatch.delenv("MESHNET_DOWNLOAD_DIR", raising=False)
+    importlib.reload(config_mod)
+
+    assert config_mod.DEFAULTS["quantization"] == "auto"
+    assert validate_quantization("auto") == "auto"
+
+
+def test_auto_quantization_uses_native_model_dtype_for_unquantized_config():
+    from meshnet_node.model_backend import _model_load_plan
+
+    class AutoConfigStub:
+        @staticmethod
+        def from_pretrained(model_id, cache_dir=None):
+            assert model_id == "repo/model"
+            assert cache_dir is None
+            return types.SimpleNamespace(
+                text_config=types.SimpleNamespace(dtype="torch.bfloat16"),
+            )
+
+    torch_stub = types.SimpleNamespace(bfloat16="bf16", float16="fp16")
+
+    quant_config, dtype, uses_quantized_weights = _model_load_plan(
+        AutoConfigStub,
+        "repo/model",
+        "auto",
+        torch_stub,
+    )
+
+    assert quant_config is None
+    assert dtype == "bf16"
+    assert uses_quantized_weights is False
+
+
+def test_auto_quantization_preserves_native_quantized_config():
+    from meshnet_node.model_backend import _model_load_plan
+
+    class AutoConfigStub:
+        @staticmethod
+        def from_pretrained(model_id, cache_dir=None):
+            return types.SimpleNamespace(
+                quantization_config={"quant_method": "gptq"},
+                torch_dtype="float16",
+            )
+
+    torch_stub = types.SimpleNamespace(bfloat16="bf16", float16="fp16")
+
+    quant_config, dtype, uses_quantized_weights = _model_load_plan(
+        AutoConfigStub,
+        "repo/model",
+        "auto",
+        torch_stub,
+    )
+
+    assert quant_config is None
+    assert dtype == "fp16"
+    assert uses_quantized_weights is True