kernelforge 0.2.1

Optimized Kernels for ML

KernelForge - Optimized Kernels for ML

I really only care about writing optimized kernel code, so this project will be completed as I find additional time... XD

I'm reviving this project to finish an old project using random Fourier features for kernel ML.

Installation

Quick Start (Recommended)

For most users, install from PyPI:

pip install kernelforge

This installs pre-compiled wheels with optimized BLAS libraries:

• Linux: OpenBLAS
• macOS: Apple Accelerate framework

Requirements: Python 3.10+

Development Installation

Linux

# Create virtual environment with uv
uv venv
source .venv/bin/activate

# Install in editable mode with test dependencies
make install-linux

# Or manually:
CMAKE_ARGS="-DKF_USE_NATIVE=ON" uv pip install -e .[test] --verbose

macOS

macOS requires Homebrew LLVM for OpenMP support:

# Install dependencies
brew install llvm libomp

# Create virtual environment
uv venv
source .venv/bin/activate

# Install in editable mode
make install-macos

# Or manually:
CMAKE_ARGS="-DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=/opt/homebrew/opt/llvm/bin/clang -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=/opt/homebrew/opt/llvm/bin/clang++ -DKF_USE_NATIVE=ON" uv pip install -e .[test] --verbose

Note: The -DKF_USE_NATIVE=ON flag enables -march=native/-mcpu=native optimizations for maximum performance on your specific CPU.

Advanced: Custom BLAS/LAPACK Libraries

Intel MKL (Linux)

# Install Intel oneAPI Base Toolkit
sudo apt install intel-basekit

# Set up environment
source /opt/intel/oneapi/setvars.sh

# Install (MKL will be auto-detected by CMake)
uv pip install -e .[test] --verbose

# Optional: Use Intel compilers
CC=icx CXX=icpx uv pip install -e .[test] --verbose

Note: In practice, GCC/G++ with OpenBLAS performs similarly to (or better than) Intel compilers with MKL. On macOS, LLVM with Accelerate framework is highly optimized for Apple Silicon.

Timings

I've rewritten a few of the kernels from the original QML code completely in C++. There are performance gains in most cases. These are primarily due to better use of BLAS routines for calculating, for example, Gramian sub-matrices with chunked DGEMM/DSYRK calls, etc. In the gradient and Hessian matrices there are also some algorithmic improvement and pre-computed terms. Memory usage might be a bit higher, but this could be optimized with more fine-graind chunking if needed. More is coming as I find the time ...

Some speedups vs the original QML code are shown below:

Benchmark	QML [s]	Kernelforge [s]
Upper triangle Gaussian kernel (16K x 16K)	1.82	0.64
1K FCHL19 descriptors (1K)	?	0.43
1K FCHL19 descriptors+jacobian (1K)	?	0.62
FCHL19 Local Gaussian scalar kernel (10K x 10K)	76.81	18.15
FCHL19 Local Gaussian gradient kernel (1K x 2700K)	32.54	1.52
FCHL19 Local Gaussian Hessian kernel (5400K x 5400K)	29.68	2.05

TODO list

The goal is to remove pain-points of existing QML libraries

• Removal of Fortran dependencies
  • No Fortran-ordered arrays
  • No Fortran compilers needed
• Simplified build system
  • No cooked F2PY/Meson build system, just CMake and Pybind11
• Improved use of BLAS routines, with built-in chunking to avoid memory explosions
• Better use of pre-computed terms for single-point inference/MD kernels
• Low overhead with Pybind11 shims and better aligned memory?
• Simplified entrypoints that are compatible with RDKit, ASE, Scikit-learn, etc.
  • A few high-level functions that do the most common tasks efficiently and correctly
• Efficient FCHL19 out-of-the-box
  • Fast training with random Fourier features
  • With derivatives

Priority list for the next months:

• Finish the inverse-distance kernel and its Jacobian

• Make Pybind11 interface

  • Finalize the C++ interface

• Finish the Gaussian kernel

• Notebook with rMD17 example

• Finish the Jacobian and Hessian kernels

• Notebook with rMD17 forces example

• FCHL19 support:

  • Add FCHL19 descriptors
  • Add FCHL19 kernels (local/elemental)
  • Add FCHL19 descriptor with derivatives
  • Add FCHL19 kernel Jacobian
  • Add FCHL19 kernel Hessian (GDML-style)
  • Improve FCHL19 kernel Jacobian performance (its poor)

• Finish the random Fourier features kernel and its Jacobian

  • Parallel random basis sampler
  • RFF kernel for global descriptors
  • SVD and QR solvers for rectangular matrices
  • RFF kernel for local descriptors (FCHL19)
  • RFF kernels with Cholesky solver and chunked DSYRK kernel updates
  • RFF kernels with RFP format with chunked DSFRK kernel updates
  • RFF kernel Jacobian for global descriptors
  • RFF kernel Jacobian for local descriptors (FCHL19)

• Notebook with rMD17 random Fourier features examples

• Science:

  • Benchmark full kernel vs RFF on rMD17 and QM7b and QM9
  • Both FCHL19 and inverse-distance matrix

Todos:

• Houskeeping:
  • Pybind11 bindings and CMake build system
  • Setup CI with GitHub Actions
  • Rewrite existing kernels to C++ (no Fortran)
  • Setup GHA to build PyPI wheels
  • Test Linux build matrices
  • Test MacOS build matrices
  • Test Windows build matrices No.
  • Add build for all Python version >=3.10
  • Plan structure for saving models for inference as .npz files
• Ensure correct linking with optimized BLAS/LAPACK libraries:
  • OpenBLAS (Linux) <- also used in wheels
  • MKL (Linux)
  • Accelerate (MacOS)
• Add global kernels:
  • Gaussian kernel
  • Jacobian/gradient kernel
  • Optimized kernel for single inference (for MD)
  • Hessian kernel
  • GDML-like kernel
  • Full GPR kernel
  • All kernels in RFP format
• Add local kernels:
  • Gaussian kernel
  • Jacobian/gradient kernel
  • Optimized Jacobian kernel for single inference
  • Hessian kernel (GDML-style)
  • Full GPR kernel
  • Optimized GPR kernel with pre-computed terms for single inference/MD
• Add random Fourier features kernel code:
  • Fourier-basis sampler in C++ with OpenMP parallelization
  • RFF kernel
  • RFF gradient kernel
  • RFF chunked DSYRK kernel
  • Optimized RFF gradient kernel for single inference/MD
  • The same as above, just for Hadamard features when I find the time?
• GDML and sGDML kernels:
  • Inverse-distance matrix descriptor
  • Packed Jacobian for inverse-distance matrix
  • GDML kernel (brute-force implemented)
  • sGDML kernel (brute-force implemented)
  • Full GPR kernel
  • Optimized GPR kernel with pre-computed terms for single inference/MD
• FCHL18 support:
  • Complete rewrite of FCHL18 analytical scalar kernel in C++
  • Stretch goal 1: Add new analytical FCHL18 kernel Jacobian
  • Stretch goal 2: Add new analytical FCHL18 kernel Hessian (+GPR/GDML-style)
  • Stretch goal 3: Attempt to optimize hyperparameters and cut-off functions
• Add standard solvers:
  • Cholesky in-place solver
    • L2-reg kwarg
    • Toggle destructive vs non-destructive
  • RFP format in-place Cholesky solver
  • QR and/or SVD for non-square matrices
• Add moleular descriptors with derivatives:
  • Coulomb matrix + misc variants without derivatives
  • FCHL19 + derivatives
  • GDML-like inverse-distance matrix + derivatives

Stretch goals:

• Plan RDKit interface
• Plan Scikit-learn interface
• Plan ASE interface