torchtyc

Static array shape checking for PyTorch, powered by meta tensors.

torchtyc reads jaxtyping annotations and verifies the shapes your code actually produces, before you run it on a GPU. It is the PyTorch counterpart to jaxtyc, which does the same thing for JAX with jax.eval_shape.

# model.py
import torch
from einops import einsum
from jaxtyping import Float
from torch import Tensor, nn


class Linear(nn.Module):
    def __init__(self, in_features: int, out_features: int) -> None:
        super().__init__()
        self.W = nn.Parameter(torch.empty((out_features, in_features)))

    def forward(self, x: Float[Tensor, "... in_features"]) -> Float[Tensor, "... in_features"]:
        return einsum(x, self.W, "... in_features, out_features in_features -> ... out_features")

$ torchtyc check model.py
model.py:12:63: error[shape-mismatch]
  in the return of `Linear.forward`: annotated `in_features`, but the traced dimension is `out_features`
    Expected: (..., in_features)
    Got:      (..., out_features)
    12 | def forward(self, x: Float[Tensor, "... in_features"]) -> Float[Tensor, "... in_features"]:
  try:  Float[Tensor, "... out_features"]
  hint: this dimension is `out_features`, so the annotation likely names the wrong axis

Found 1 error(s) in 1 function(s) across 1 file(s)

Pyright and mypy cannot do this. To them Float[Tensor, "... in_features"] is just Tensor, and the dim string is an opaque literal.

How it works

torchtyc constructs each annotated function's arguments on torch.device("meta"), calls the function, and compares the shape that comes back against the annotation. Meta tensors carry shape, dtype, and stride but own no storage, so a whole model runs for the cost of a dictionary lookup per operator, with no allocation and no arithmetic.

Every dimension name is bound to a distinct prime number starting at 101. This buys two things:

Mistakes cannot hide. If d_in and d_out were both bound to 64, a transposed weight matrix would sail through. Distinct primes make the two impossible to confuse.

Products stay readable. A traced dimension that is the product of two bound primes factors back into the names that produced it, which tells you the function flattened two axes together. The primes themselves never reach the message:

# flat.py
def flatten(x: Float[Tensor, "batch seq d_model"]) -> Float[Tensor, "batch seq d_model"]:
    return x.reshape(x.shape[0], -1)

flat.py:6:55: error[rank-mismatch]
  in the return of `flatten`: expected 3 dimensions, traced 2
    Expected: (batch, seq, d_model)
    Got:      (batch, d_model*seq)
    6 | def flatten(x: Float[Tensor, "batch seq d_model"]) -> Float[Tensor, "batch seq d_model"]:
  hint: d_model*seq looks like two annotated axes flattened into one

An axis you did not name renders as ..., a single _ axis renders as _, and a raw number appears only for a size the annotation never bound.

Because it runs your function rather than reasoning about it symbolically, torchtyc also catches anything that raises on the way: a bad einsum, a matmul between incompatible operands, an nn.Module that cannot be built. The diagnostic anchors to the deepest frame inside your own file, not to a line in torch.

Install

uv add --dev torchtyc      # or: pip install torchtyc

Extras: torchtyc[lsp] for the language server, [watch] for watch mode, [einops] for einops-aware hints, [all] for everything.

torchtyc must run under the same interpreter as your project, since it imports your code. By default it finds .venv/bin/python next to your pyproject.toml. Override with --python or [tool.torchtyc] python = "...".

Commands

torchtyc check <paths>...        Shape-check files or directories
torchtyc trace <file.py::func>   Show the shapes flowing through one function
torchtyc watch <paths>...        Re-check on change
torchtyc lsp                     Language server on stdio
torchtyc lsp --tcp PORT          Language server on a TCP port
torchtyc rules                   List the diagnostic rules
torchtyc version                 Print the version

check takes --format full (default), concise, json, or github.

$ torchtyc trace model.py::Linear.forward
Linear.forward
  x       : (..., in_features)
  return -> float32[(..., out_features)]

dimension names are bound to distinct primes starting at 101

Constructing modules

To check a method, torchtyc needs an instance, and to build an instance it needs constructor arguments. It matches integer parameters of __init__ against the dimension names in the method's annotations:

def __init__(self, in_features: int, out_features: int) -> None: ...
def forward(self, x: Float[Tensor, "... in_features"]) -> ...

in_features is a dimension name, so it receives that dimension's prime. Parameters with defaults are left alone. A parameter that is neither a dimension, a known type, nor defaulted produces an unresolved-arg warning and the function is skipped rather than guessed at.

Modules are built inside torch.device("meta"), and the initialisers in torch.nn.init are neutralised for the duration, since initial values cannot affect a shape.

Annotated attributes

Python does not check variable annotations at runtime, and neither does jaxtyping, which only reads function signatures. Since torchtyc has a constructed instance in hand anyway, it checks them too:

# attr.py
class Linear(nn.Module):
    def __init__(self, d_in: int, d_out: int) -> None:
        super().__init__()
        self.W: Float[nn.Parameter, "d_out d_in"] = nn.Parameter(torch.empty((d_in, d_out)))

attr.py:9:17: error[attribute-mismatch]
  `self.W`: annotated `d_out`, but the traced dimension is `d_in`
    Expected: (d_out, d_in)
    Got:      (d_in, d_out)
    9 | self.W: Float[nn.Parameter, "d_out d_in"] = nn.Parameter(torch.empty((d_in, d_out)))
  try:  Float[nn.Parameter, "d_in d_out"]
  hint: this dimension is `d_in`, so the annotation likely names the wrong axis

Suppressing

y = x.reshape(-1)  # torchtyc: ignore
y = x.reshape(-1)  # torchtyc: ignore[rank-mismatch]

A scoped ignore that never matches is itself reported, so suppressions do not rot.

Configuration

[tool.torchtyc]
python = ".venv/bin/python"   # interpreter that imports your code
severity = "warning"          # drop anything below this level
ignore = ["unused-dim"]
exclude = [".venv", "build", "experiments"]
variadic-rank = 2             # how many axes `...` stands for
einops = true
timeout = 60.0
extra-paths = ["stubs"]       # prepended to the worker's PYTHONPATH

Editors

Any LSP client works. Neovim, without a plugin:

vim.lsp.config.torchtyc = {
  cmd = { "torchtyc", "lsp" },
  filetypes = { "python" },
  root_markers = { "pyproject.toml", ".git" },
}
vim.lsp.enable("torchtyc")

The server publishes lint diagnostics immediately on every change, and traces after the buffer has been quiet for 0.7s, on open, and on save. It never imports your code on a keystroke.

Hover over a function to see the traced shapes. Inlay hints show the traced return next to each signature, and a code lens above it reports the traced return or the error count. Code actions offer to silence a rule or to adopt the shape that was actually traced.

CI

- run: uv run torchtyc check src/ --format github

--format github emits workflow commands, so each finding becomes an inline annotation on the pull request diff. check exits 1 when there are errors, and 2 when torchtyc itself could not do the job: the worker failed, or the paths matched no python file.

Rules

Limits

torchtyc imports your module, so module-level side effects run. Keep training loops behind if __name__ == "__main__":.

Classes and functions nested inside other classes, or written under a module-level if or try, are checked like any other. One inside a function body is not: after import there is no name to reach it by, so it reports local-definition rather than passing silently. A if TYPE_CHECKING: block is skipped without a diagnostic, because nothing in it exists at runtime.

It runs one concrete trace, not a proof. A function whose control flow depends on tensor values rather than shapes takes whichever branch the primes send it down. ... stands for a fixed number of axes, two by default, so code that behaves differently at other ranks needs variadic-rank or a second annotated wrapper. Every bare ... in one signature also stands for the same axes, which is narrower than jaxtyping: a loss taking two "... d" arguments traces with one batch shape, because that is what the annotation almost always means.

A dimension is a prime, and a prime does not divide. Code that splits an axis

• head_dim = d_model // n_heads, then view(b, s, n_heads, head_dim) - gets a quotient that does not multiply back, so correct multi-head attention is reported as a trace-error. A default on the divided parameter does not help, because a name the annotations use is bound to its prime whatever it defaults to. Silence the line with # torchtyc: ignore[trace-error] until dimensions carry a divisible factor.

Runtime checking with jaxtyping and beartype remains worth having. torchtyc tells you the shapes are consistent for the sizes it chose; beartype tells you they were right for the batch you actually ran.

Licence

MIT.