neuron-tai/.scratch/distributed-gguf-runtime/issues/020-run-the-controlled-whole-model-gguf-baseline.md

DGR-020: Run the controlled whole-model GGUF baseline

• Status / triage: specification only; ready-for-human; passes: false
• Execution mode: HITL
• Milestone: M0
• Dependencies: DGR-019
• Blocks (derived): DGR-054
• Labels: area:performance, type:benchmark, priority:p0, gate:hitl, ready-for-human
• Evidence class: real-hardware
• Hardware: required
• Model: generic
• Upstream: no

Objective / description

Fresh Ralph session: read .scratch/distributed-gguf-runtime/RALPH-CONTEXT.md, source issue .scratch/distributed-gguf-runtime/issues/020-run-the-controlled-whole-model-gguf-baseline.md, and evidence READMEs for dependencies (DGR-019) before changing code. Inspect live source/tests rather than trusting legacy pass states. Objective: Execute the locked safetensors and whole-model llama.cpp lanes before distributed implementation results can influence the decision.

Acceptance criteria

• Run the exact DGR-019 safetensors and whole-model llama.cpp benchmark lanes with locked prompts, lengths, sampling, concurrency, hardware, and artifact/runtime identities.
• Record raw machine-readable correctness, TTFT, prefill/decode, throughput, latency, memory, artifact-size, failure, and quality-drift metrics without ingesting distributed implementation results.
• Separate quantization/model-fit effects from runtime/kernel effects and preserve failed or unavailable lanes honestly.
• Publish a threshold-based go, optimize baseline, or stop decision without changing the locked contract.
• Applicable shared quality gates in prd.json pass, and the evidence handoff records exact commands/results, changed files, limitations, and dependency handoff.

Shared quality gates

• Targeted deterministic tests pass; Python changes also pass python -m compileall packages tests.
• git diff --check passes.
• Default tests are model-download-free, API-credit-free, and GPU-free.
• Evidence README records exact changed files, commands/results, limitations, and dependency handoff; no fabricated evidence or inherited completion credit.
• Native changes pass focused out-of-tree CMake build and CTest; patch changes verify clean apply/check/reverse against the exact llama.cpp pin.
• Runs are opt-in and record exact artifact/split hashes, runtime/upstream pin, backend/driver, hardware, network, commands, and raw metrics. Model artifacts use configured mounted-drive storage and never /home.
• Preserve existing Transformers behavior and backend-agnostic Tracker routing/load balancing/billing/relay semantics unless an explicit versioned contract says otherwise. One scoped story commit is expected during execution, but this specification-materialization change is not committed.

Evidence handoff

Write and verify .scratch/distributed-gguf-runtime/evidence/DGR-020/README.md. Until every criterion and applicable gate has real evidence, this story remains passes: false. Legacy evidence is provenance only, not completion credit.