---
title: "clika_runtime"
sidebar_label: "Overview"
description: "The clika_runtime module, introspected from the installed wheel."
---

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clika-runtime: the Python package of the ClikaRT on-device inference runtime.

Importing this package loads the runtime library shipped in-package (under
``clika_runtime/lib/``). The Modelverse model library ships in the same
package as :mod:`clika_runtime.modelverse` (``import clika_runtime.modelverse
as mv``); importing it loads the runtime first and resolves it from here.

The top level publishes :class:`Tensor`, :class:`Size`, :class:`Device`,
:class:`Stream`, the dtype objects (``float32``,
``bfloat16``, ...), the tensor factories (``tensor``, ``zeros``,
``randn``, ...), every operator of :mod:`clika_runtime.ops` as a
free function (``clika_runtime.matmul(a, b)``), the placement and
execution scopes (``device``, ``stream``, ``synchronous``, ``tracing``,
``eager``, ``meta_init``), ``eval`` / ``async_eval`` / ``synchronize``,
``save`` / ``load`` / ``load_with_metadata``, ``compile`` / ``trace``, the device functions, and the
exception classes. Modes are strings (``approximate="tanh"``); the typed
enumerations stay under ``clika_runtime._core.ops``. Models are built with
:mod:`clika_runtime.nn`; :mod:`clika_runtime.torch` (imported on first use,
never as a side effect) exchanges tensors and modules with PyTorch.

Execution is asynchronous by default: an operator returns at once and its
work rides the calling thread's current lane on the input's device. A
value settles when it is read (``numpy()``, ``item()``, ``tolist()``,
``print``), when ``eval(*trees)`` or ``synchronize()`` is called, or inside
a ``synchronous()`` region where every operator completes before it
returns. ``tracing()`` records operations instead of running them until
``eval`` materializes them; ``eager()`` restores the default inside a
tracing region. Reading the value of a traced or storage-free tensor raises
:class:`ClikaRTError`.

Every process that runs an operator or a model needs the license credential
CLIKA issued for the project: ``CLIKA_RT_LICENSE`` in the environment (the
``CLIKA1-...`` text, or the path of a file holding it), set before this
package is imported, else the per-user file the ``clikart-license-init``
console script writes once. Without one the first call raises
:class:`ClikaRTError` with the code name ``LICENSE_FAILED``; every error
carries a stable ``code_name`` beside its message, and the code name is the
thing to branch on (:mod:`clika_runtime.errors`).

A model from a model hub loads through :mod:`clika_runtime.modelverse`:
``mv.AutoModelForCausalLM.from_pretrained(repo_id)`` downloads the snapshot
into the hub cache and loads it, ``mv.snapshot_download(repo_id)`` downloads
without loading, and a local directory is a source everywhere a repository
id is. A model written here from the operators starts from
:mod:`clika_runtime.nn` (``nn.Module``, ``nn.Linear``, ``nn.KVCache``) and
the fused attention operator; the documentation's examples walk one end
to end.

| Name | Kind |
| --- | --- |
| [`ClikaRTError`](./ClikaRTError.md) | class |
| [`CompiledFunction`](./CompiledFunction.md) | class |
| [`CompiledModule`](./CompiledModule.md) | class |
| [`Device`](./Device.md) | class |
| [`DeviceProperties`](./DeviceProperties.md) | class |
| [`InternalError`](./InternalError.md) | class |
| [`InvalidArgumentError`](./InvalidArgumentError.md) | class |
| [`NotFoundError`](./NotFoundError.md) | class |
| [`OutOfMemoryError`](./OutOfMemoryError.md) | class |
| [`QTensor`](./QTensor.md) | class |
| [`Size`](./Size.md) | class |
| [`Stream`](./Stream.md) | class |
| [`Tensor`](./Tensor.md) | class |
| [`TensorSpec`](./TensorSpec.md) | class |
| [`TracedGraph`](./TracedGraph.md) | class |
| [`UnavailableError`](./UnavailableError.md) | class |
| [`UnsupportedError`](./UnsupportedError.md) | class |
| [`dtype`](./dtype.md) | class |
| [`finfo`](./finfo.md) | class |
| [`iinfo`](./iinfo.md) | class |
| [functions](./functions.md) | module functions |