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[Refactor][Config] Remove weight NZ environment variable - #14710

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[Refactor][Config] Remove weight NZ environment variable#14710
kk-ss1999 wants to merge 1 commit into
vllm-project:mainfrom
kk-ss1999:codex/remove-env-weight-nz

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@kk-ss1999

@kk-ss1999 kk-ss1999 commented Aug 21, 2026

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What this PR does / why we need it?

Removes the legacy VLLM_ASCEND_ENABLE_NZ environment variable after its behavior was migrated to additional_config.weight_nz_mode. Runtime code, deployment examples, test configurations, and documentation are migrated to the config field where applicable.

This is one independently reviewable part of the seven-variable split of #14637.

Does this PR introduce any user-facing change?

Yes. VLLM_ASCEND_ENABLE_NZ is no longer read. Users must configure the behavior with --additional-config '{"weight_nz_mode":1}'.

How was this patch tested?

  • ruff check and ruff format --check on changed Python files

  • Python byte-compilation of changed Python files

  • YAML parsing of changed YAML files

  • JSON parsing of concrete additional-config payloads

  • Scan confirming no active references to VLLM_ASCEND_ENABLE_NZ remain outside migration documentation and the ignored-variable unit test

  • NPU end-to-end tests were not run in this Windows environment

  • vLLM version: v0.27.1

  • vLLM main: vllm-project/vllm@58d3918

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Summary of Changes

Hello, I'm Gemini Code Assist1! I'm currently reviewing this pull request and will post my feedback shortly. In the meantime, here's a summary to help you and other reviewers quickly get up to speed!

This pull request completes the migration of the VLLM_ASCEND_ENABLE_NZ environment variable to the additional_config.weight_nz_mode configuration field. This change standardizes configuration management for Ascend-based deployments, ensuring that users move away from legacy environment variables in favor of structured configuration payloads. The update impacts runtime logic, test suites, and documentation, providing a cleaner and more consistent interface for configuring weight NZ modes.

Highlights

  • Environment Variable Removal: Removed the legacy VLLM_ASCEND_ENABLE_NZ environment variable, completing its migration to the additional_config.weight_nz_mode configuration field.
  • Configuration Migration: Updated runtime code, deployment documentation, and test configurations to use the additional_config parameter for setting weight NZ mode.
  • Documentation Updates: Updated user guides to clarify that VLLM_ASCEND_ENABLE_NZ is no longer supported and provided instructions for the new configuration approach.
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Use additional_config.weight_nz_mode as the only configuration source and migrate runtime consumers, deployment examples, tests, and documentation.

Signed-off-by: kk_1999 <97623903+kk-ss1999@users.noreply.github.com>
@kk-ss1999
kk-ss1999 force-pushed the codex/remove-env-weight-nz branch from 10a45c2 to 405023a Compare August 21, 2026 03:58

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Code Review

Suggested PR Title:

[Ops][Misc] Remove legacy VLLM_ASCEND_ENABLE_NZ environment variable and migrate to weight_nz_mode

Suggested PR Summary:

### What this PR does / why we need it?
This PR removes the legacy `VLLM_ASCEND_ENABLE_NZ` environment variable and fully transitions to using `weight_nz_mode` within `additional_config` for configuring the weight NZ mode on Ascend NPU. It updates documentation, examples, end-to-end tests, and unit tests to reflect this change.

Feedback: In `tests/e2e/weekly/single_node/models/test_qwen3_30b_acc.py`, the removal of `VLLM_ASCEND_ENABLE_NZ="2"` was not migrated to `weight_nz_mode: 2` in the server arguments, which may cause accuracy degradation or test failures.

### Does this PR introduce _any_ user-facing change?
Yes, the legacy `VLLM_ASCEND_ENABLE_NZ` environment variable is no longer supported. Users must now use `additional_config.weight_nz_mode` (with values `0` to disable NZ, `1` to enable NZ only for quantized weights, and `2` to enable NZ for BF16/FP16 weights when supported).

### How was this patch tested?
The changes were tested by updating existing unit tests and various end-to-end test configurations.

"HCCL_BUFFSIZE": "1024",
"OMP_NUM_THREADS": "1",
"PYTORCH_NPU_ALLOC_CONF": "expandable_segments:True",
"VLLM_ASCEND_ENABLE_NZ": "2",

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high

The environment variable VLLM_ASCEND_ENABLE_NZ was set to "2" in this test, but it has been removed without migrating the configuration to --additional-config '{"weight_nz_mode": 2}' in server_args. This will cause the test to run with the default weight_nz_mode of 1, which might lead to accuracy degradation or test failures for the Qwen3-30B-A3B-W8A8 model. Please ensure "weight_nz_mode": 2 is added to the --additional-config argument in server_args.

@github-actions github-actions Bot added documentation Improvements or additions to documentation module:tests module:core labels Aug 21, 2026
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👋 Hi! Thank you for contributing to the vLLM Ascend project. The following points will speed up your PR merge:‌‌

  • A PR should do only one thing, smaller PRs enable faster reviews.
  • Every PR should include unit tests and end-to-end tests ‌to ensure it works and is not broken by other future PRs.
  • Write the commit message by fulfilling the PR description to help reviewer and future developers understand.

If CI fails, you can run linting and testing checks locally according Contributing and Testing.

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This pull request has conflicts, please resolve those before we can evaluate the pull request.

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