LibTorch Stable ABI

Created On: Mar 17, 2025 | Last Updated On: Jun 17, 2025

This note will eventually contain more details on how to use the APIs in torch/csrc/stable. For the moment, it contains a table of internal representations:

1. type in custom extension: type used within the end user custom library.

2. StableIValue representation: a stable conversion of the type to liaison between the user model vs libtorch.so in an ABI-stable manner.

3. type in libtorch: type used within libtorch.so (or any code binary locked with libtorch).

4. Schema Type: type as described by the schema, which we hail as the source of truth for both ATen ops in native_functions.yaml and for user defined custom operators registered to the dispatcher via TORCH_LIBRARY or torch.library.

type in custom extension	StableIValue representation	type in libtorch	Schema Type
std::optional<S>	if there is a value, raw bitwise copy into leading bytes of uint64_t of pointer to a new StableIValue representing S. if there is no value, nullptr.	std::optional<T>	Type?
RAIIATH	raw bitwise copy of underlying AtenTensorHandle into leading bytes of uint64_t	at::Tensor	Tensor
int32_t	raw bitwise copy into leading bytes of uint64_t	at::ScalarType	ScalarType
int32_t	raw bitwise copy into leading bytes of uint64_t	at::Layout	Layout
int32_t	raw bitwise copy into leading bytes of uint64_t	at::MemoryFormat	MemoryFormat
bool	raw bitwise copy into leading bytes of uint64_t	bool	bool
int64_t	raw bitwise copy into leading bytes of uint64_t	int64_t	int
double	raw bitwise copy into leading bytes of uint64_t	double	float
?	?	c10::Device	Device
?	?	c10::Stream	Stream
?	?	c10::complex	complex
?	?	at::Scalar	Scalar
?	?	std::string/const char*/ivalue::ConstantString	str
?	?	at::Storage	Storage
?	?	at::Generator	Generator
?	?	c10::List<T>	Type[]
?	?	ivalue::Tuple<T>	(Type, …)
?	?	c10::SymInt	SymInt
?	?	c10::SymFloat	SymFloat
?	?	c10::SymBool	SymBool
?	?	at::QScheme	QScheme

Our confidently supported types are the ones in the table that have completed rows. You can rely on this subset proper ABI stability.

For a limited set of use cases, we also implicitly support any literal type that is representable within 64 bits as StableIValues, as the default reinterpret_cast will succeed. These types are currently ABI-stable on best effort but might break in the future and thus should be used for short term testing only.

You can always work with StableIValue abstractions in your custom kernel for types such as c10::Device even if there is no standard defined representation of device in custom extensions by not introspecting into the StableIValue. For example, a custom operator can take as argument a StableIValue device and directly pass it through to an aten operator with aoti_torch_call_dispatcher.

How to use stack-based APIs

aoti_torch_call_dispatcher is what we consider a stack-based API because it takes as input a stack of StableIValues. Working with the dispatcher will likely bring you into proximity with stack-based APIs, so we are documenting some invariants:

1. The stack is populated left to right. a. For example, a stack representing arguments arg0, arg1, and arg2 will have arg0 at index 0, arg1 at index 1, and arg2 at index 2. b. Returns are also populated left to right, e.g., ret0 will be at index 0 and ret1 will be at index 1, and so on.

2. The stack always has ownership of the objects it holds. a. When calling a stack-based API, you must give owning references to the calling stack and steal references from the returned stack. b. When registering your function to be called with a stack, you must steal references from your argument stack and push onto the stack new references.