SNN Dialect for MLIR

An out-of-tree MLIR dialect for Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs), compatible with the NIR (Neuromorphic Intermediate Representation) standard.

The dialect provides type-polymorphic operations that work with both f32 (float) and quantized (i8/i32) types, enabling a single IR to target both simulation and hardware-optimized deployments. A reference CPU lowering (SNNToLinalg) converts SNN ops to standard linalg/arith operations that any MLIR-based backend can consume.

A companion Python package (snn-mlir, available on PyPI) reads any NIR file and emits SNN dialect MLIR text, ready to feed into the snn-opt lowering toolchain. (The C runtime files used in the examples are generated separately by examples/_codegen.py, which is not part of the installable package.)

---

Quick start

git clone <this-repo> snn-mlir
cd snn-mlir
uv sync                          # install Python env (requires uv)
uv run python examples/snn_oxford/run.py --quantize

This produces examples/snn_oxford/build/:

network.mlir   ← SNN dialect IR (feed to snn-opt; weights baked in as constant globals)
snn_data.h     ← layer-size constants
main.c         ← memref descriptor structs + timestep loop
input.h        ← pre-baked input data (copied from examples/snn_oxford/)

To lower all the way to an executable (requires snn-opt and LLVM built — see Building the dialect):

export MLIR_DIR=/path/to/llvm-project/build/lib/cmake/mlir
bash pipelines/lower_cpu_linux.sh examples/snn_oxford/build/network.mlir
# → examples/snn_oxford/build/network.ll

clang examples/snn_oxford/build/network.ll \
      examples/snn_oxford/build/main.c \
      -o examples/snn_oxford/build/sim

./examples/snn_oxford/build/sim

---

How it works

┌─────────────┐   snn_mlir.export()    ┌─────────────────┐
│  .nir file  │ ─────────────────────► │  network.mlir   │  SNN dialect IR
└─────────────┘                        └─────────────────┘
                                                │
       _codegen.export()                        │  snn-opt + mlir-opt
              │                                 ▼
              ▼                        ┌─────────────────┐
   ┌────────────────────┐              │  network.ll     │  LLVM IR
   │  snn_data.h / .c   │              └─────────────────┘
   │  main.c            │                       │
   │  input.h (copied)  │                       │  clang
   └────────────────────┘                       ▼
              │                        ┌─────────────────┐
              └──────────────────────► │   executable    │
                        link           └─────────────────┘

snn_mlir.export() converts the NIR graph to SNN dialect MLIR text. _codegen.export() (in examples/_codegen.py) generates the C runtime files: weight arrays, memref descriptor typedefs, and a main.c timestep loop. pipelines/lower_cpu_linux.sh chains snn-opt → mlir-opt → mlir-translate to produce LLVM IR. A standard C compiler links everything into a self-contained binary.

---

Python package (snn-mlir)

Installation

# With uv (recommended — handles Python version and virtualenv)
uv sync

# Or with pip, from source
pip install .

# Or, as a back-up, the Python frontend only from PyPI
pip install snn-mlir

Requires Python ≥ 3.10. Note that pip install snn-mlir provides only the NIR-to-MLIR frontend; lowering the emitted MLIR additionally requires the snn-opt toolchain (see the build instructions below).

API

import snn_mlir

# Convert a NIR file to SNN dialect MLIR text
mlir_text = snn_mlir.to_mlir("network.nir")                 # float32
mlir_text = snn_mlir.to_mlir("network.nir", quantize=True)  # int8 + Q12

# Write directly to a file
snn_mlir.export("network.nir", "build/network.mlir", quantize=True)

to_mlir returns a string containing the complete MLIR module, ready to pipe into snn-opt.

For finer control, the same pipeline is exposed one stage at a time. This lets you inspect or quantize the parsed NodeInfo layers — or feed them to your own code generation — before emitting MLIR (to_mlir is exactly these three composed):

layers = snn_mlir.parse_graph("network.nir")   # ordered list[NodeInfo]
snn_mlir.quantize_layers(layers)               # in-place; call at most once
mlir_text = snn_mlir.mlir_from_layers(layers, quantize=True)

See docs/python/api.md for the full reference.

Generating C runtime files

The examples/_codegen.py module (not part of the pip-installable package) generates the C side:

import sys
sys.path.insert(0, "examples/")
import _codegen

_codegen.export(
    "network.nir",
    "build/",                # output directory
    quantize=True,
    n_steps=100,
    index_bits=64,           # 32 for embedded targets
    input_file="input.h",    # pre-baked input data
)
# Writes: build/snn_data.h, build/main.c

Extending: NODE_PARSERS

NODE_PARSERS is the single registry mapping NIR node types to handler functions. All other per-node behavior — quantization, MLIR emission, classification traits — lives on the NodeInfo subclass itself, so adding a new NIR node type requires three steps:

1. Create a NodeInfo subclass:

from snn_mlir.nodes import NodeInfo
from dataclasses import dataclass

@dataclass
class MyNodeInfo(NodeInfo):
    name: str
    size: int

    # Classification traits are read-only properties on NodeInfo; override
    # the ones that apply (they default to False on the base class).
    @property
    def is_neuron(self) -> bool:
        return True

    # Override quantize() if the node has quantizable parameters (no-op by
    # default). Called once per layer before MLIR emission in quantized mode.
    def quantize(self) -> None:
        ...

    def emit_mlir(self, input_var, is_last, quantize):
        # Return (list_of_mlir_lines, output_var_name)
        ...

2. Write a parser function:

import nir
def parse_mynode(node: nir.MyNode, name: str) -> MyNodeInfo:
    return MyNodeInfo(name=name, size=node.output_shape[0])

3. Register it:

from snn_mlir.nodes import NODE_PARSERS
NODE_PARSERS[nir.MyNode] = parse_mynode

---

Ops

Op	States	Output	Summary
snn.linear	—	f32/i32	Matrix-vector synapse layer (weights @ input → output)
snn.rescale	—	i32	Per-edge requantization shift to align quantization scales
snn.cubalif	current, voltage	f32/i8	Current-based leaky integrate-and-fire: two-state dynamics with threshold and voltage reset
snn.cubali	current, voltage	f32/i32	Current-based leaky integrator: two-state dynamics, continuous voltage output (no threshold)
snn.lif	voltage	f32/i8	Leaky integrate-and-fire: single-state dynamics with threshold and voltage reset
snn.li	voltage	f32/i32	Leaky integrator: single-state dynamics, continuous voltage output (no threshold)

All ops are memref-based and carry explicit type information, making them directly inspectable and transformable by standard MLIR passes.

Spike-output ops (snn.cubalif, snn.lif) emit binary activations (f32 0/1 or i8 0/1). Voltage-output ops (snn.cubali, snn.li) emit continuous membrane potential and are used as the final layer in regression or readout networks.

snn.rescale is inserted automatically between snn.linear and neuron ops in quantized mode to align the two quantization scales. It has no NIR equivalent — the Python export layer inserts it.

---

NIR node mapping

Each SNN op covers a family of NIR nodes. Integrate-and-fire variants (nir.CubaIF, nir.IF) map to the same op as their leaky counterparts with decay set to 1.0 (quantized: decay_int = 1 << d_scale), which disables the exponential leak.

NIR node	SNN op	Notes
nir.Linear	snn.linear	No bias
nir.Affine	snn.linear	Bias added as second operand
nir.CubaLIF	snn.cubalif	cur_decay, vol_decay < 1
nir.CubaIF	snn.cubalif	cur_decay = vol_decay = 1.0 (no leak)
nir.CubaLI	snn.cubali	cur_decay, vol_decay < 1
nir.CubaI	snn.cubali	cur_decay = vol_decay = 1.0 (no leak)
nir.LIF	snn.lif	decay < 1
nir.IF	snn.lif	decay = 1.0 (no leak)
nir.LI	snn.li	decay < 1
nir.I	snn.li	decay = 1.0 (no leak)
(internal)	snn.rescale	Inserted between snn.linear and neuron ops during quantized export; no NIR equivalent

---

Examples

Both examples follow the same pattern: run run.py to generate the build artefacts, then compile and run.

examples/snn_oxford/

A two-layer CubaLIF network trained on the Oxford dataset using LAVA-DL:

Linear(200→256) → CubaLIF(256) → Linear(256→200) → CubaLIF(200)

# Generate MLIR + C files
uv run python examples/snn_oxford/run.py              # float32
uv run python examples/snn_oxford/run.py --quantize   # int8 weights, Q12 state
uv run python examples/snn_oxford/run.py --n-steps 50 # fewer timesteps

examples/snntorch/

A network exported from SNNTorch:

uv run python examples/snntorch/run.py
uv run python examples/snntorch/run.py --quantize

Generated files explained

After running either example you will find a build/ directory with:

File	Description
network.mlir	SNN dialect IR — the MLIR representation of the network, with weights baked in as memref.global constants. Feed this to snn-opt and the lowering pipeline.
snn_data.h	C header: #define constants for layer sizes. Include in main.c.
main.c	C harness: MLIR memref descriptor typedefs, neuron state arrays, a timestep loop that calls _mlir_ciface_snn_forward_step, and CSV output.
input.h	Pre-baked input data (copied from the example directory). Provides L0_input[N_STEPS][INPUT_SIZE].

main.c is independent of the MLIR toolchain — it is standard C and can be compiled with any C11 compiler once network.ll (or a .o from it) is available.

---

Full pipeline (CPU, x86-64)

After generating the build artefacts with run.py, lower to LLVM IR and compile:

# 1. Set MLIR_DIR to your LLVM build
export MLIR_DIR=/path/to/llvm-project/build/lib/cmake/mlir

# 2. Lower network.mlir → network.ll (LLVM IR)
bash pipelines/lower_cpu_linux.sh examples/snn_oxford/build/network.mlir

# 3. Compile everything to an executable
clang examples/snn_oxford/build/network.ll \
      examples/snn_oxford/build/main.c \
      -o examples/snn_oxford/build/sim

# 4. Run — outputs CSV rows (one per timestep)
./examples/snn_oxford/build/sim

The pipeline script chains snn-opt --convert-snn-to-linalg | mlir-opt <passes> | mlir-translate --mlir-to-llvmir. See pipelines/lower_cpu_linux.sh for the full pass sequence.

---

Repository structure

include/SNN/                   Dialect headers and TableGen definitions
  SNNDialect.td / .h           Dialect declaration
  SNNOps.td / .h               Op definitions (ODS format)
  SNNInterfaces.td / .h        Op interfaces (SynapseOpInterface, NeuronOpInterface)
  Conversion/
    SNNToLinalg.h              Public header for the CPU lowering pass

lib/Dialect/SNN/               Dialect implementation (auto-generated + custom)
lib/Conversion/SNNToLinalg/    CPU lowering: snn.* → linalg/arith

tools/snn-opt/                 Standalone opt tool (dialect + CPU lowering)

pipelines/
  lower_cpu_linux.sh           Lower SNN dialect → LLVM IR on x86-64 Linux

test/Dialect/SNN/              Roundtrip and lowering tests (llvm-lit)

python/snn_mlir/               pip-installable Python package
  _api.py                      Public API: to_mlir(), export(), parse_graph(), quantize_layers(), mlir_from_layers()
  _graph.py                    NIR graph walker and quantizer
  _emit.py                     MLIR text emitter
  nodes/                       One module per NIR node type; NODE_PARSERS registry

python/tests/                  Python unit tests (pytest)

examples/
  _codegen.py                  C runtime file generator (snn_data.h/c + main.c)
  snn_oxford/                  LAVA-DL CubaLIF example (network.nir + run.py)
  snntorch/                    SNNTorch example (network.nir + run.py)

scripts/
  build_snn_dialect.sh         One-time build of snn-opt

---

Development setup

Prerequisites

• CMake ≥ 3.20, Ninja (sudo apt-get install ninja-build)
• C++17 compiler (GCC ≥ 9 or Clang ≥ 10)
• LLVM/MLIR ≥ 22.1 built with MLIR enabled (see below)
• uv for Python 3.10+

Install the Python environment

uv sync                        # creates .venv and installs all dev dependencies
uv run pre-commit install      # install git hooks (ruff lint + format on every commit)

Building LLVM/MLIR

If you do not have an MLIR installation, build it from source:

git clone https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project.git
cd llvm-project
cmake -G Ninja -S llvm -B build \
  -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
  -DLLVM_ENABLE_PROJECTS=mlir \
  -DLLVM_TARGETS_TO_BUILD=host \
  -DLLVM_INSTALL_UTILS=ON \
  -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$HOME/mlir-install
cmake --build build --target install

Building the dialect

bash scripts/build_snn_dialect.sh
# Produces build/bin/snn-opt

Or manually:

cmake -G Ninja -B build \
  -DMLIR_DIR=$HOME/mlir-install/lib/cmake/mlir \
  -DLLVM_EXTERNAL_LIT=$HOME/mlir-install/bin/llvm-lit
cmake --build build --target snn-opt

Running the tests

# Python unit tests
uv run pytest

# MLIR lit tests (requires snn-opt built — runs FileCheck on all test/Dialect/SNN/*.mlir)
ninja -C build check-snn

---

Using the dialect in your own project

Add this repo as a subdirectory (or git submodule) and consume the CMake targets:

add_subdirectory(third_party/snn-mlir)

target_include_directories(MyPass PRIVATE
  ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/third_party/snn-mlir/include
  ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/third_party/snn-mlir/include
)

target_link_libraries(MyPass
  MLIRSNN          # dialect library
  MLIRSNNToLinalg  # CPU lowering pass (optional)
)

In your pass source:

#include "SNN/SNNOps.h"
#include "SNN/SNNInterfaces.h"           // SynapseOpInterface / NeuronOpInterface
#include "SNN/Conversion/SNNToLinalg.h"  // if using the CPU lowering

---

Implementing a new lowering pass

lib/Conversion/SNNToLinalg/SNNToLinalg.cpp is the reference implementation. To target a new backend:

1. Create the pass files:

include/SNN/Conversion/SNNToMyBackend.h
lib/Conversion/SNNToMyBackend/SNNToMyBackend.cpp
lib/Conversion/SNNToMyBackend/CMakeLists.txt

2. Declare your pass in the header:

#include "mlir/Pass/Pass.h"
#include <memory>

namespace snn {
  std::unique_ptr<mlir::Pass> createConvertSNNToMyBackendPass();
  void registerConvertSNNToMyBackendPass();
} // namespace snn

3. Implement a rewrite pattern per op:

#include "SNN/SNNOps.h"

struct LowerLinear : public OpRewritePattern<snn::LinearOp> {
  using OpRewritePattern::OpRewritePattern;

  LogicalResult matchAndRewrite(snn::LinearOp op,
                                PatternRewriter &rewriter) const override {
    // Replace op with your backend calls
    rewriter.eraseOp(op);
    return success();
  }
};

4. Wire up the pass:

struct ConvertSNNToMyBackendPass
    : public PassWrapper<ConvertSNNToMyBackendPass, OperationPass<ModuleOp>> {

  StringRef getArgument() const override { return "convert-snn-to-mybackend"; }

  void runOnOperation() override {
    RewritePatternSet patterns(&getContext());
    patterns.add<LowerLinear, LowerRescale, LowerCubaLIF>(&getContext());

    ConversionTarget target(getContext());
    target.addIllegalDialect<snn::SNNDialect>();
    target.addLegalDialect</* your dialects */>();

    if (failed(applyPartialConversion(getOperation(), target, std::move(patterns))))
      signalPassFailure();
  }
};

5. Register in CMake using add_mlir_conversion_library() — see lib/Conversion/SNNToLinalg/CMakeLists.txt as a template.

Matching ops uniformly with the op interfaces

To lower "any synapse layer" or "any spiking neuron" without a switch over the concrete op types, use the two op interfaces the dialect declares natively:

• SynapseOpInterface on snn.linear — activation/weights/accumulator/bias operands plus the getK() / getN() shape of accumulator = weights @ input.
• NeuronOpInterface on snn.cubalif / snn.lif / snn.li / snn.cubali — operands, fixed-point parameters, and two capability predicates (hasCurrentStage() / producesSpike()) that collapse the four neuron kinds into one uniform reader.

Include SNN/SNNInterfaces.h, link MLIRSNN, and match with OpInterfaceRewritePattern<snn::NeuronOpInterface> (or SynapseOpInterface) instead of the concrete op. See Implementing a new lowering pass for a worked example and the full method reference.

---

Limitations

The current implementation covers feedforward, fully-connected SNN topologies. The following are known constraints:

1-D activations only. All ops (snn.linear, snn.cubalif, snn.lif, etc.) require 1-D activation vectors — memref<Nxf32> or memref<Nxi32>. Neuron populations are treated as flat arrays, not spatial maps. The verifiers enforce this explicitly, so feeding a 2-D feature map will produce a clear error rather than silent miscompilation.

No convolutional ops. NIR nodes such as nir.Conv2d, nir.AvgPool2d, and nir.SumPool2d operate on [channels, height, width] feature maps and have no equivalent SNN op yet. Supporting them requires new ops (e.g. snn.conv2d). The neuron dynamics ops are already rank-agnostic at the lowering level — extending them to N-D is straightforward once the convolutional synapse op exists.

Linear-chain graphs only. The Python graph walker (_graph.parse_graph) follows a single path from input to output. Branching, residual connections, and recurrent edges are not supported.

Batch size 1. There is no batched-inference mode. Each call to the compiled function processes one input sample. Batching would require 2-D activation memrefs, which is blocked by the 1-D constraint above.

Uniform neuron parameters per layer. All neurons in a layer share the same decay constants and threshold. Per-neuron parameter arrays are not yet supported.

---

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please follow these guidelines:

• Run uv run pre-commit install once after cloning — hooks enforce ruff lint and formatting on every commit
• Run uv run pytest before opening a PR — all Python unit tests must pass
• Keep ops type-polymorphic (float and quantized must work through the same op)
• New ops must have an assemblyFormat for human-readable .mlir output
• Add a roundtrip test in test/Dialect/SNN/ for any new op
• New NIR node types belong in python/snn_mlir/nodes/ with a matching entry in NODE_PARSERS; put quantization in the class's quantize() method
• Follow MLIR naming conventions: add_mlir_dialect_library, add_mlir_conversion_library, MLIR prefix on CMake targets

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Citation

A companion paper describing snn-mlir is published on arXiv. If you use snn-mlir in your research, please cite the white paper directly:

@misc{gener2026snnmlirmlirdialectcompiling,
      title={SNN-MLIR: An MLIR Dialect for Compiling Neuromorphic SNNs from NIR to Bare-Metal C}, 
      author={Alejandro García Gener and Alvaro Rollón de Pinedo},
      year={2026},
      eprint={2606.09213},
      archivePrefix={arXiv},
      primaryClass={cs.PL},
      url={https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.09213}, 
}

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License

Apache License 2.0 — see LICENSE.