Glossary

The words the RAPTOR family uses across raptor, eagle and hawk, in plain language. Each site keeps its own glossary for its own terms and points here for the shared ones.

kernel

One compiled function that runs once per sample, on a GPU or on the CPU. raptor describes it in a small dict so that one package can build it and another can run it.

sample

One independent item in a batch, for example one orbit or one oscillator. A kernel runs once per sample, and each sample usually has its own data column.

manifest

The file (manifest.json) that lists a deployment’s plugins in order. Each entry names an artifact and its sidecar.

artifact

The compiled kernel itself, stored as a .ptx, .cubin or .fatbin file.

PTX

NVIDIA’s architecture-portable GPU assembly format. The driver compiles it to real machine code when it is loaded, so one .ptx file runs on any supported GPU generation.

sidecar

The small JSON file that sits next to an artifact and says how to call it: the entry point, the argument list, and which kind of kernel it is.

arg_spec

The sidecar’s ordered list of [role, name] pairs. A loader binds arguments in exactly this order. See the role vocabulary.

role

What kind of argument a name is, such as nsamples, per_sample or mutable.

pattern

Which shape a kernel has. A pure kernel writes its results in place; a vector kernel accumulates one output value.

producer

The code that compiles a kernel and writes the artifact and sidecar. hawk is a producer.

loader

The code that reads a manifest and sidecar back and hands you something you can call. eagle is a loader.

sink

Where a kernel’s result goes: the mutable slots of a pure kernel, or the single accumulated value of a vector kernel.

consolidation

The one-time upload of a read-only lookup table before a run starts, as opposed to per-launch arguments that travel with every call.

schema version

Which rules a manifest or sidecar follows (schema_version, currently 1 or 2). It describes the JSON shape. See Compatibility policy.

aether_abi

A separate tag for the binary struct layout, so it can change without the JSON shape changing. See The aether_abi tag is separate.

execution axis

Schema v2’s declaration of which execution structures may run a kernel body (exec_targets) and how it touches other samples’ data (exec_access). See The v2 execution axis (aether-abi/2) and eagle’s Python plan/exec API.

plan

A kernel body bound to an execution structure and, optionally, a split of its samples into partitions, ready to run. Splitting a sample-local body into partitions never changes any sample’s answer. In eagle, eagle.plan makes one and eagle.deploy returns one; see The v2 execution axis (aether-abi/2) and eagle’s Python plan/exec API.

exec

Short for execution structure: how a plan’s body runs, such as one GPU kernel, a team of host threads, a set of MPI ranks or a group of devices. A schema v2 manifest lists the ones a body allows (exec_targets); eagle names them in eagle.exec.

capability

A feature a consumer may or may not support, named in the schema so a missing one is a clear refusal, never a silent fallback.

backend

Something that executes whole programs, described by raptor’s Backend and Executable protocols.

launcher

Something that launches one kernel and marshals its arguments, described by raptor’s KernelLauncher and Marshal protocols.

marshal

To convert an array into exactly the layout a compiled call expects.

provider

Something that supplies kernels, described by raptor’s ManifestProvider protocol: a compiled kernel with a schema-versioned manifest.

protocol

A typing.Protocol: an implementation satisfies it by shape, without inheriting from anything in raptor.

DLPack

The standard for sharing an array’s memory between frameworks without copying. It is the contract the family’s array crossings rely on. See Interoperability.

certification row

One named, executable claim about a crossing between two frameworks, such as “numpy to torch keeps the same pointer”. Every owning repository’s tests register against the rows. See Interoperability and Contributing a certification row.

certification matrix

The table of all certification rows, showing which crossings are certified today.