diff --git a/.ci/scripts/check_gibberish b/.ci/scripts/check_gibberish
index 5d9783b3b..912020a5a 100755
--- a/.ci/scripts/check_gibberish
+++ b/.ci/scripts/check_gibberish
@@ -24,6 +24,18 @@ else
     fi
 fi
 
+#######################################################################
+#
+# check whether aspell spell check evailable
+
+if command -v aspell &> /dev/null; then
+    echo "Checking $TMPFILE for gibberish"
+else
+    echo "Aspell is not installed or not in PATH."
+    echo "Gibberish unchecked in $TMPFILE"
+    exit 0
+fi
+
 #######################################################################
 #
 # run spell check on the extracted sequence
diff --git a/.ci/scripts/run-docs b/.ci/scripts/run-docs
index 521cfa811..71f074cef 100755
--- a/.ci/scripts/run-docs
+++ b/.ci/scripts/run-docs
@@ -1,144 +1,67 @@
-# /bin/bash -x
+#!/bin/bash -x
 
-if [ "X$1" == "X" ]; then
+# Check if an argument was provided
+if [ -z "$1" ]; then
   echo "Must specify document to run"
   exit 1
 fi
 
-if [ "$1" == "readme" ]; then
-        echo "::group::Create script to run README"
-        python3 torchchat/utils/scripts/updown.py --create-sections --file README.md --replace 'llama3.1:stories15M,-l 3:-l 2' --suppress huggingface-cli,HF_TOKEN > ./run-readme.sh
-        # for good measure, if something happened to updown processor,
-        # and it did not error out, fail with an exit 1
-        echo "exit 1" >> ./run-readme.sh
-        echo "::endgroup::"
-
-        echo "::group::Run README"
-        echo "*******************************************"
-        cat ./run-readme.sh
-        echo "*******************************************"
-        bash -x ./run-readme.sh
-        echo "::endgroup::"
-
-        exit 0
-fi
-
-if [ "$1" == "quantization" ]; then
-        echo "::group::Create script to run quantization"
-        python3 torchchat/utils/scripts/updown.py --create-sections --file docs/quantization.md --replace llama3:stories15M --suppress huggingface-cli,HF_TOKEN > ./run-quantization.sh
-        # for good measure, if something happened to updown processor,
-        # and it did not error out, fail with an exit 1
-        echo "exit 1" >> ./run-quantization.sh
-        echo "::endgroup::"
-
-        echo "::group::Run quantization"
-        echo "*******************************************"
-        cat ./run-quantization.sh
-        echo "*******************************************"
-        bash -x ./run-quantization.sh
-        echo "::endgroup::"
-
-        exit 0
-fi
-
-if [ "$1" == "gguf" ]; then
-        echo "::group::Create script to run gguf"
-        python3 torchchat/utils/scripts/updown.py --file docs/GGUF.md --replace 'llama3:stories15M,-l 3:-l 2' --suppress huggingface-cli,HF_TOKEN > ./run-gguf.sh
-        # for good measure, if something happened to updown processor,
-        # and it did not error out, fail with an exit 1
-        echo "exit 1" >> ./run-gguf.sh
-        echo "::endgroup::"
-
-        echo "::group::Run gguf"
-        echo "*******************************************"
-        cat ./run-gguf.sh
-        echo "*******************************************"
-        bash -x ./run-gguf.sh
-        echo "::endgroup::"
-fi
-
-
-if [ "$1" == "advanced" ]; then
-        echo "::group::Create script to run advanced"
-        python3 torchchat/utils/scripts/updown.py --file docs/ADVANCED-USERS.md --replace 'llama3:stories15M,-l 3:-l 2' --suppress huggingface-cli,HF_TOKEN > ./run-advanced.sh
-        # for good measure, if something happened to updown processor,
-        # and it did not error out, fail with an exit 1
-        echo "exit 1" >> ./run-advanced.sh
-        echo "::endgroup::"
-
-        echo "::group::Run advanced"
-        echo "*******************************************"
-        cat ./run-advanced.sh
-        echo "*******************************************"
-        bash -x ./run-advanced.sh
-        echo "::endgroup::"
-fi
-
-if [ "$1" == "evaluation" ]; then
-        echo "::group::Create script to run evaluation"
-        python3 torchchat/utils/scripts/updown.py --file torchchat/utils/docs/evaluation.md --replace 'llama3:stories15M,-l 3:-l 2' --suppress huggingface-cli,HF_TOKEN > ./run-evaluation.sh
-        # for good measure, if something happened to updown processor,
-        # and it did not error out, fail with an exit 1
-        echo "exit 1" >> ./run-evaluation.sh
-        echo "::endgroup::"
-
-        echo "::group::Run evaluation"
-        echo "*******************************************"
-        cat ./run-evaluation.sh
-        echo "*******************************************"
-        bash -x ./run-evaluation.sh
-fi
-
-if [ "$1" == "multimodal" ]; then
-
-   # Expecting that this might fail this test as-is, because 
-   # it's the first on-pr test depending on github secrets for access with HF token access
-
-        echo "::group::Create script to run multimodal"
-        python3 torchchat/utils/scripts/updown.py --file docs/multimodal.md > ./run-multimodal.sh
-        # for good measure, if something happened to updown processor,
-        # and it did not error out, fail with an exit 1
-        echo "exit 1" >> ./run-multimodal.sh
-        echo "::endgroup::"
-
-        echo "::group::Run multimodal"
-        echo "*******************************************"
-        cat ./run-multimodal.sh
-        echo "*******************************************"
-        bash -x ./run-multimodal.sh
-        echo "::endgroup::"
-fi
-
-if [ "$1" == "native" ]; then
-
-        echo "::group::Create script to run native-execution"
-        python3 torchchat/utils/scripts/updown.py --file docs/native-execution.md > ./run-native.sh
-        # for good measure, if something happened to updown processor,
-        # and it did not error out, fail with an exit 1
-        echo "exit 1" >> ./run-native.sh
-        echo "::endgroup::"
-
-        echo "::group::Run native-execution"
-        echo "*******************************************"
-        cat ./run-native.sh
-        echo "*******************************************"
-        bash -x ./run-native.sh
-        echo "::endgroup::"
-fi
-
-if [ "$1" == "distributed" ]; then
-
-        echo "::group::Create script to run distributed"
-        python3 torchchat/utils/scripts/updown.py --file docs/distributed.md > ./run-distributed.sh
-        # for good measure, if something happened to updown processor,
-        # and it did not error out, fail with an exit 1
-        echo "exit 1" >> ./run-distributed.sh
-        echo "::endgroup::"
-
-        echo "::group::Run distributed"
-        echo "*******************************************"
-        cat ./run-distributed.sh
-        echo "*******************************************"
-        bash -x ./run-distributed.sh
-        echo "::endgroup::"
-fi
+# Pre-initialize variables
+filepath=""
+parameters="--replace 'llama3:stories15M,-l3:-l2' --suppress huggingface-cli,HF_TOKEN"
+script_name="./run-${1}.sh"  # Dynamically initialize script name
+
+# Use a case statement to handle the $1 argument
+case "$1" in
+  "readme")
+    filepath="README.md"
+    ;;
+  "quantization")
+    filepath="docs/quantization.md"
+    ;;
+  "gguf")
+    filepath="docs/GGUF.md"
+    ;;
+  "advanced")
+    filepath="docs/ADVANCED-USERS.md"
+    ;;
+  "evaluation")
+    filepath="torchchat/utils/docs/evaluation.md"
+    ;;
+  "multimodal")
+    filepath="docs/multimodal.md"
+    parameters=""  # Clear parameters
+    ;;
+  "native")
+    filepath="docs/native-execution.md"
+    parameters=""  # Clear parameters
+    ;;
+  "distributed")
+    filepath="docs/distributed.md"
+    parameters="--replace 'llama3.1:stories110M,-l3:-l2' --suppress huggingface-cli,HF_TOKEN"  # Use stories110M to avoid need for authentication
+    ;;
+  "local")
+    filepath="docs/local-model.md"
+    parameters=""  # Clear parameters
+    ;;
+
+  *)
+    echo "Unknown option: $1"
+    exit 1
+    ;;
+esac
+
+# Generate the script
+echo "::group::Create script to run $1"
+python3 torchchat/utils/scripts/updown.py --file "$filepath" $parameters > "$script_name"
+# if something happened to updown processor, and it did not error out, fail with an exit 1
+echo "exit 1" >> "$script_name"
+echo "::endgroup::"
+
+# Run the script
+echo "::group::Run $1"
+echo "*******************************************"
+cat "$script_name"
+echo "*******************************************"
+bash -x "$script_name"
+echo "::endgroup::"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/more-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/more-tests.yml
index c2502e7e4..0d0316069 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/more-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/more-tests.yml
@@ -40,9 +40,10 @@ jobs:
         echo "::endgroup::"
 
         echo "::group::Run inference"
-        export MODEL_PATH=checkpoints/stories15M/stories15M.pt
+        export MODEL_DIR=checkpoints/stories15M/
+        export MODEL_PATH=${MODEL_DIR}/stories15M.pt
         export MODEL_NAME=stories15M
-        export MODEL_DIR=/tmp
+
 
         for DTYPE in bfloat16 float16 float32; do
           ###################################################################
@@ -145,3 +146,65 @@ jobs:
         echo "tests complete"
         echo "******************************************"
         echo "::endgroup::"
+
+  test-sdpa-backends-export:
+    permissions:
+      id-token: write
+      contents: read
+    uses: pytorch/test-infra/.github/workflows/linux_job_v2.yml@main
+    with:
+      runner: linux.g5.4xlarge.nvidia.gpu
+      gpu-arch-type: cuda
+      gpu-arch-version: "12.4"
+      timeout: 60
+      script: |
+        set -xeou pipefail
+        echo "::group::Print machine info"
+        uname -a
+        echo "::endgroup::"
+
+        echo "::group::Download checkpoints"
+        # Install requirements
+        ./install/install_requirements.sh cuda
+        pip3 list
+        python3 -c 'import torch;print(f"torch: {torch.__version__, torch.version.git_version}")'
+        echo "::endgroup::"
+
+        echo "::group::Download checkpoints"
+        mkdir -p checkpoints/stories15M
+        pushd checkpoints/stories15M
+        wget https://huggingface.co/karpathy/tinyllamas/resolve/main/stories15M.pt
+        wget https://github.com/karpathy/llama2.c/raw/master/tokenizer.model
+        popd
+        echo "::endgroup::"
+
+        echo "::group::Run inference"
+        export MODEL_DIR=checkpoints/stories15M/
+        export MODEL_PATH=${MODEL_DIR}/stories15M.pt
+        export MODEL_NAME=stories15M
+
+        ./torchchat/utils/scripts/build_native.sh aoti
+        
+        for DEVICE in cpu cuda; do
+          # depending on how the parameter passing works, may only be able to do bfloat16 for aoti_run, similar to runner-cuda-dtype.yml
+          # (although the runner environment should not have an opinion what we us in the artifact, and we might suitably abstract that)
+          for DTYPE in bfloat16 float16 float32; do
+            for SDPA in 'math' 'flash_attention' 'efficient_attention' 'cudnn_attention'; do
+              echo "***************************************************************"
+              echo "*** $DEVICE $DTYPE $SDPA"
+              ###################################################################
+              # Export DSO and run with Python
+              python torchchat.py export --output-dso dso.so --checkpoint-path ${MODEL_PATH} --attention-backend ${SDPA} --device ${DEVICE} --dtype ${DTYPE} 
+              python torchchat.py generate --dso-path dso.so --checkpoint-path ${MODEL_PATH} --attention-backend ${SDPA} --device ${DEVICE} --dtype ${DTYPE} --temperature 0 --prompt "Once upon a time"
+              ###################################################################
+              # Export AOTI and run with aoti_run
+              python torchchat.py export --output-aoti /tmp/model.pt2 --checkpoint-path ${MODEL_PATH} --attention-backend ${SDPA} --device ${DEVICE} --dtype ${DTYPE} 
+              ./cmake-out/aoti_run /tmp/model.pt2 -z ${MODEL_DIR}/tokenizer.model -i "Once upon a time"
+              ###################################################################
+            done
+          done
+        done
+
+        echo "tests complete"
+        echo "******************************************"
+        echo "::endgroup::"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/workflows/run-readme-pr-mps.yml b/.github/workflows/run-readme-pr-mps.yml
index 4d5cd7e14..db16bc80e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/run-readme-pr-mps.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/run-readme-pr-mps.yml
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ jobs:
           conda create -y -n test-readme-mps-macos python=3.10.11 llvm-openmp
           conda activate test-readme-mps-macos
           set -x
-          # NS: Remove previous installation  of torch first
-          # as this script does not isntall anything into conda env but rather as system dep
+          # NS: Remove previous installation of torch first
+          # as this script does not install anything into conda env but rather as system dep
           pip3 uninstall -y torch || true
           set -eou pipefail
 
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ jobs:
     uses: pytorch/test-infra/.github/workflows/macos_job.yml@main
     with:
       runner: macos-m1-14
+      timeout: 60
       script: |
           set -x
           conda create -y -n test-quantization-mps-macos python=3.10.11
diff --git a/.github/workflows/run-readme-pr.yml b/.github/workflows/run-readme-pr.yml
index f32473435..37c27822b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/run-readme-pr.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/run-readme-pr.yml
@@ -306,3 +306,25 @@ jobs:
         echo "::endgroup::"
 
         TORCHCHAT_DEVICE=cpu .ci/scripts/run-docs native
+
+  test-distributed-cuda:
+    permissions:
+      id-token: write
+      contents: read
+    uses: pytorch/test-infra/.github/workflows/linux_job_v2.yml@main
+    with:
+      runner: linux.g5.4xlarge.nvidia.gpu
+      gpu-arch-type: cuda
+      gpu-arch-version: "12.4"
+      timeout: 60
+      script: |
+        echo "::group::Print machine info"
+        uname -a
+        echo "::endgroup::"
+
+        .ci/scripts/run-docs distributed
+
+        echo "::group::Completion"
+        echo "tests complete"
+        echo "*******************************************"
+        echo "::endgroup::"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2448b0b72..51db1bfca 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -3,7 +3,11 @@
 torchchat is a small codebase showcasing the ability to run large language models (LLMs) seamlessly. With torchchat, you can run LLMs using Python, within your own (C/C++) application (desktop or server) and on iOS and Android.
 
 > [!IMPORTANT]
-> Update September 25, 2024: torchchat has multimodal support for **Llama3.2 11B**!!
+> Update
+>
+> **February 3, 2025**: torchchat has support for [**DeepSeek R1 Distill: 8B**]( https://huggingface.co/deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama-8B)!
+>
+> **September 25, 2024**: torchchat has multimodal support for **Llama3.2 11B**!
 >
 > To try it out, finish the [Installation](#Installation) section below, then hop
 > over to our [multimodal guide](docs/multimodal.md) to learn more.
@@ -75,6 +79,7 @@ aliases.
 | [ibm-granite/granite-3.0-8b-instruct](https://huggingface.co/ibm-granite/granite-3.0-8b-instruct) |✅| Alias to `granite3-8b`.|
 | [ibm-granite/granite-3.1-2b-instruct](https://huggingface.co/ibm-granite/granite-3.1-2b-instruct) |✅| Alias to `granite3.1-2b` and `granite3.1`.|
 | [ibm-granite/granite-3.1-8b-instruct](https://huggingface.co/ibm-granite/granite-3.1-8b-instruct) |✅| Alias to `granite3.1-8b`.|
+| [deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama-8B](https://huggingface.co/deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama-8B) |✅| Alias to `deepseek-r1:8b`.|
 
 
 ## Installation
@@ -413,7 +418,7 @@ torchchat/utils/scripts/build_native.sh et
 
 Execute using the runner
 ```bash
-cmake-out/et_run llama3.1.pte -z `python3 torchchat.py where llama3.1`/tokenizer.model -l 3 -i "Once upon a time"
+cmake-out/et_run llama3.1.pte -z `python3 torchchat.py where llama3.1`/tokenizer.model -i "Once upon a time"
 ```
 
 </details>
diff --git a/docs/quantization.md b/docs/quantization.md
index 704a7ed6a..56fd2182e 100644
--- a/docs/quantization.md
+++ b/docs/quantization.md
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ OMP_NUM_THREADS=6 python3 torchchat.py generate llama3.1 --dso-path llama3_1.so
 If you built the AOTI runner with link_torchao_ops as discussed in the setup section, you can also use the C++ runner:
 
 ```
-OMP_NUM_THREADS=6 ./cmake-out/aoti_run llama3_1.so -z $HOME/.torchchat/model-cache/meta-llama/Meta-Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct/tokenizer.model -l 3 -i "Once upon a time,"
+OMP_NUM_THREADS=6 ./cmake-out/aoti_run llama3_1.so -z $HOME/.torchchat/model-cache/meta-llama/Meta-Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct/tokenizer.model -i "Once upon a time," # -l 3
 ```
 
 #### ExecuTorch
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ python torchchat.py export llama3.1 --device cpu --dtype float32 --quantize '{"e
 Note: only the ExecuTorch C++ runner in torchchat when built using the instructions in the setup can run the exported *.pte file.  It will not work with the `python torchchat.py generate` command.
 
 ```
-./cmake-out/et_run llama3_1.pte -z $HOME/.torchchat/model-cache/meta-llama/Meta-Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct/tokenizer.model -l 3 -i "Once upon a time,"
+./cmake-out/et_run llama3_1.pte -z $HOME/.torchchat/model-cache/meta-llama/Meta-Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct/tokenizer.model -l3 -i "Once upon a time,"
 ```
 
 ## Experimental TorchAO MPS lowbit kernels
diff --git a/runner/run.cpp b/runner/run.cpp
index e5c818cfa..d64c636bb 100644
--- a/runner/run.cpp
+++ b/runner/run.cpp
@@ -803,41 +803,53 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
   } else {
     error_usage();
   }
-  for (int i = 2; i < argc; i += 2) {
+  for (int i = 2; i < argc; i += 1) {
     // do some basic validation
-    if (i + 1 >= argc) {
-      error_usage();
-    } // must have arg after flag
+    char *parm = argv[i+1];
+    // uniarg means the arg comes right after the letter in accordance with posix
+    int uniarg = strlen(argv[i]) > 2; 
+
     if (argv[i][0] != '-') {
       error_usage();
     } // must start with dash
-    if (strlen(argv[i]) != 2) {
+
+    if (strlen(argv[i]) < 2) {
       error_usage();
-    } // must be -x (one dash, one letter)
+    } // must have at least dash '-' and option letter
+    
+    if (uniarg) {
+      parm=&argv[i][2];
+    } else if (i + 1 >= argc) {
+      error_usage();
+    } // must have arg after option if flag is not contiguous to option
+    
     // read in the args
     if (argv[i][1] == 't') {
-      temperature = atof(argv[i + 1]);
+      temperature = atof(parm);
     } else if (argv[i][1] == 'p') {
-      topp = atof(argv[i + 1]);
+      topp = atof(parm);
     } else if (argv[i][1] == 's') {
-      rng_seed = atoi(argv[i + 1]);
+      rng_seed = atoi(parm);
     } else if (argv[i][1] == 'n') {
-      steps = atoi(argv[i + 1]);
+      steps = atoi(parm);
     } else if (argv[i][1] == 'v') {
-      vocab_size = atoi(argv[i + 1]);
+      vocab_size = atoi(parm);
     } else if (argv[i][1] == 'i') {
-      prompt = argv[i + 1];
+      prompt = parm;
     } else if (argv[i][1] == 'z') {
-      tokenizer_path = argv[i + 1];
+      tokenizer_path = parm;
     } else if (argv[i][1] == 'm') {
-      mode = argv[i + 1];
+      mode = parm;
     } else if (argv[i][1] == 'y') {
-      system_prompt = argv[i + 1];
+      system_prompt = parm;
     } else if (argv[i][1] == 'l') {
-      llama_ver = atoi(argv[i + 1]);
+      llama_ver = atoi(parm);
     } else {
       error_usage();
     }
+
+    // account for parameter
+    i += (uniarg)?0:1;
   }
 
   if (model_path == NULL) {
diff --git a/tokenizer/hf_tokenizer.py b/tokenizer/hf_tokenizer.py
index d10ecb076..b77ee43ea 100644
--- a/tokenizer/hf_tokenizer.py
+++ b/tokenizer/hf_tokenizer.py
@@ -46,8 +46,14 @@ def __init__(self, file_path: str):
         if tokenizer_config_path is not None:
             with open(tokenizer_config_path, "r") as handle:
                 tok_config = json.load(handle)
-            bos_token = tok_config.get("bos_token")
-            eos_token = tok_config.get("eos_token")
+
+            def _extract_token(identifier: str) -> Optional[str]:
+                entry: Optional[Union[str, dict]] = tok_config.get(identifier)
+                return entry.get("content") if isinstance(entry, dict) else entry
+
+            bos_token = _extract_token("bos_token")
+            eos_token = _extract_token("eos_token")
+
             if bos_token is not None:
                 self._bos_id = self._tokenizer.token_to_id(bos_token)
             if eos_token is not None:
diff --git a/torchchat/cli/builder.py b/torchchat/cli/builder.py
index a5b23dfe3..1e04800ab 100644
--- a/torchchat/cli/builder.py
+++ b/torchchat/cli/builder.py
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ class BuilderArgs:
     gguf_kwargs: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None
     dso_path: Optional[Union[Path, str]] = None
     aoti_package_path: Optional[Union[Path, str]] = None
+    snapshot_path: Optional[Union[Path, str]] = None
     pte_path: Optional[Union[Path, str]] = None
     device: Optional[str] = None
     precision: torch.dtype = torch.float32
@@ -87,6 +88,7 @@ def __post_init__(self):
             or (self.dso_path and Path(self.dso_path).is_file())
             or (self.aoti_package_path and Path(self.aoti_package_path).is_file())
             or (self.pte_path and Path(self.pte_path).is_file())
+            or (self.snapshot_path and Path(self.snapshot_path).is_file())
         ):
             raise RuntimeError(
                 "need to specify a valid checkpoint path, checkpoint dir, gguf path, DSO path, AOTI PACKAGE or PTE path"
@@ -142,6 +144,7 @@ def from_args(cls, args: argparse.Namespace) -> "BuilderArgs":
         dso_path = getattr(args, "dso_path", None)
         pte_path = getattr(args, "pte_path", None)
         aoti_package_path = getattr(args, "aoti_package_path", None)
+        snapshot_path = getattr(args, "snapshot_path", None)
 
         is_chat_model = False
         if args.is_chat_model:
@@ -169,6 +172,7 @@ def from_args(cls, args: argparse.Namespace) -> "BuilderArgs":
         output_pte_path = getattr(args, "output_pte_path", None)
         output_aoti_package_path = getattr(args, "output_aoti_package_path", None)
         output_dso_path = getattr(args, "output_dso_path", None)
+        output_snapshot_path = getattr(args, "output_snapshot_path", None)
         if output_pte_path and args.dtype.startswith("fast"):
             if args.dtype == "fast":
                 # As per Kimish, float32 should be faster on ET XNNPACK
@@ -206,6 +210,7 @@ def from_args(cls, args: argparse.Namespace) -> "BuilderArgs":
             dso_path=dso_path,
             aoti_package_path=aoti_package_path,
             pte_path=pte_path,
+            snapshot_path=snapshot_path,
             device=args.device,
             precision=dtype,
             setup_caches=(
@@ -631,6 +636,34 @@ def do_nothing(max_batch_size, max_seq_length):
             model = PTEModel(config, builder_args.pte_path)
         except Exception:
             raise RuntimeError(f"Failed to load ET compiled {builder_args.pte_path}")
+    elif builder_args.snapshot_path:
+        # Resolve ModelArgs for constructing the PTEModel
+        # If a manual params_path is provided, use that
+        if builder_args.params_path:
+            config: ModelArgs = ModelArgs.from_params(builder_args.params_path)
+        else:
+            # TODO: Instead of loading the whole model, refactor to call a
+            # helper that generate just model.config
+            with measure_time("Time to load model: {time:.02f} seconds"):
+                model = _load_model(builder_args)
+                device_sync(device=builder_args.device)
+                config = model.config
+                model = None
+        try:
+            model = torch.load(builder_args.snapshot_path, weights_only=False)
+        except Exception:
+            raise RuntimeError(f"Failed to load torchchat snapshot {builder_args.snapshot_path}")
+        # _active_backend() does not allow DSO & AOTI to be true. 
+        # Choose either.
+        from torchchat.utils.build_utils import set_backend
+        set_backend (dso=True, pte=False, aoti_package=False)
+        if (model.config != config):
+            raise RuntimeError("loaded model architecture mismatch")
+        ##        
+        ## import all libraries with custom kernels ans custom operators
+        ## that quantize may be pulling in
+        ##
+
     elif builder_args.distributed:
         pp_degree = builder_args.pp
         tp_degree = builder_args.tp
diff --git a/torchchat/cli/cli.py b/torchchat/cli/cli.py
index 70f404635..1d531c709 100644
--- a/torchchat/cli/cli.py
+++ b/torchchat/cli/cli.py
@@ -207,6 +207,12 @@ def _add_export_output_path_args(parser) -> None:
         default=None,
         help="Output to the specified AOT Inductor .dso model file",
     )
+    exclusive_parser.add_argument( 
+        "--output-snapshot-path",
+        type=str,
+        default=None,
+        help="Output to the specified PyTorch model and sha256 file",
+    )
     exclusive_parser.add_argument(
         "--output-aoti-package-path",
         type=str,
@@ -254,7 +260,13 @@ def _add_exported_input_path_args(parser) -> None:
         default=None,
         help="Use the specified ExecuTorch .pte model file",
     )
-
+    exclusive_parser.add_argument(
+        "--snapshot-path",
+        type=Path,
+        default=None,
+        help="Use the specified torchchat snaphot .tc model file",
+    )
+ 
 
 # Add CLI Args related to JIT downloading of model artifacts
 def _add_jit_downloading_args(parser) -> None:
diff --git a/torchchat/export.py b/torchchat/export.py
index 829bd47db..997639ffe 100644
--- a/torchchat/export.py
+++ b/torchchat/export.py
@@ -28,6 +28,31 @@
 default_device = "cpu"
 
 
+"""
+Export Snapshot
+"""
+
+
+def export_snapshot(
+    model: nn.Module,
+    device: Optional[str] = None,
+    output_path: str = "model-snapshot.tc",
+) -> str:
+    """
+    Export the model as snapshot.
+
+    Args:
+        model: The model to be exported.
+        device: The device to run the model on.
+        output_path: The path to save the exported model.
+    Returns:
+        The path to the exported model.
+    """
+    assert output_path.endswith(".tc"), "use .tc extension for snapshots"
+    torch.save(model, output_path)
+    return output_path
+
+
 """
 Export for Server
 """
@@ -72,6 +97,7 @@ def export_for_server(
             "aot_inductor.package": package,
             "aot_inductor.metadata": metadata or {},
         }
+
         if not package:
             options = {"aot_inductor.output_path": output_path}
 
@@ -373,6 +399,7 @@ def main(args):
 
     output_pte_path = args.output_pte_path
     output_dso_path = args.output_dso_path
+    output_snapshot_path = args.output_snapshot_path
     output_aoti_package_path = args.output_aoti_package_path
 
     if output_pte_path and builder_args.device != "cpu":
@@ -380,7 +407,7 @@ def main(args):
             f"Warning! ExecuTorch export target is controlled by export recipe, not device setting. Ignoring device={builder_args.device} setting."
         )
         builder_args.device = "cpu"
-    elif "mps" in builder_args.device:
+    elif (output_pte_path or output_dso_path or output_aoti_package_path) and "mps" in builder_args.device:
         print("Warning! Device MPS not supported for export. Exporting for device CPU.")
         builder_args.device = "cpu"
 
@@ -417,6 +444,7 @@ def main(args):
         model_to_pte = model
         model_to_dso = model
         model_to_aoti_package = model
+        model_to_snapshot = model
     else:
         if output_pte_path:
             _set_gguf_kwargs(builder_args, is_et=True, context="export")
@@ -436,6 +464,15 @@ def main(args):
             model_to_dso = model_to_aoti_package
             _unset_gguf_kwargs(builder_args)
 
+        if output_snapshot_path:
+            _set_gguf_kwargs(builder_args, is_et=False, context="export")
+            model_to_snapshot = _initialize_model(
+                builder_args,
+                quantize,
+                support_tensor_subclass=False,
+            )
+            _unset_gguf_kwargs(builder_args)
+ 
     with torch.no_grad():
         if output_pte_path:
             output_pte_path = str(os.path.abspath(output_pte_path))
@@ -453,13 +490,14 @@ def main(args):
             print(
                 "WARNING!! The path of compiling a dso is deprecated. Please use --output-aoti-package-path to create a .pt2 artifact instead."
             )
-            export_for_server(
-                model_to_dso,
-                builder_args.device,
-                output_dso_path,
-                builder_args.dynamic_shapes,
-                package=False,
-            )
+            with torch.nn.attention.sdpa_kernel([builder_args.attention_backend]):
+                export_for_server(
+                    model_to_dso,
+                    builder_args.device,
+                    output_dso_path,
+                    builder_args.dynamic_shapes,
+                    package=False,
+                )
 
         if output_aoti_package_path:
             output_aoti_package_path = str(os.path.abspath(output_aoti_package_path))
@@ -475,11 +513,21 @@ def main(args):
             print(
                 "Exporting model using AOT Inductor to " f"{output_aoti_package_path}."
             )
-            export_for_server(
-                model_to_aoti_package,
+            with torch.nn.attention.sdpa_kernel([builder_args.attention_backend]):
+                export_for_server(
+                    model_to_aoti_package,
+                    builder_args.device,
+                    output_aoti_package_path,
+                    builder_args.dynamic_shapes,
+                    package=True,
+                    metadata=metadata,
+                )
+
+        if output_snapshot_path:
+            output_snapshot_path = str(os.path.abspath(output_snapshot_path))
+            print(f"Exporting model using Snapshot to {output_snapshot_path}")
+            export_snapshot(
+                model_to_snapshot,
                 builder_args.device,
-                output_aoti_package_path,
-                builder_args.dynamic_shapes,
-                package=True,
-                metadata=metadata,
+                output_snapshot_path,
             )
diff --git a/torchchat/model_config/models.json b/torchchat/model_config/models.json
index d2252e6dd..3c2161b9b 100644
--- a/torchchat/model_config/models.json
+++ b/torchchat/model_config/models.json
@@ -51,6 +51,12 @@
         "distribution_path": "meta-llama/Meta-Llama-3.1-8B-Instruct",
         "transformer_params_key": "Meta-Llama-3.1-8B"
     },
+    "deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama-8B": {
+        "aliases": ["deepseek-r1:8b"],
+        "distribution_channel": "HuggingFaceSnapshot",
+        "distribution_path": "deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama-8B",
+        "tokenizer_file": "tokenizer.json"
+    },
     "meta-llama/Meta-Llama-3.1-70B-Instruct": {
         "aliases": ["llama3.1-70b"],
         "distribution_channel": "HuggingFaceSnapshot",
diff --git a/torchchat/model_params/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama-8B.json b/torchchat/model_params/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama-8B.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b9fa79cd2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/torchchat/model_params/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama-8B.json
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{"block_size": 131072, "dim": 4096, "ffn_dim_multiplier": 1.3, "multiple_of": 1024, "n_heads": 32, "n_local_heads": 8, "n_layers": 32, "rope_base": 500000.0, "vocab_size": 128256, "use_tiktoken": true, "use_hf_tokenizer": true, "norm_eps": 1e-05, "rope_scaling": {"factor": 8.0, "low_freq_factor": 1.0, "high_freq_factor": 4.0, "original_max_position_embeddings": 8192}}
diff --git a/torchchat/quant_config/cuda-32.json b/torchchat/quant_config/cuda-32.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..90c37250a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/torchchat/quant_config/cuda-32.json
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+{
+    "executor": {"accelerator": "cuda"},
+    "precision": {"dtype": "bf16"},
+    "linear:int4": {"groupsize" : 32}
+}
diff --git a/torchchat/quant_config/mobile-32.json b/torchchat/quant_config/mobile-32.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3afaa7542
--- /dev/null
+++ b/torchchat/quant_config/mobile-32.json
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+{
+    "embedding": {"bitwidth": 4, "groupsize" : 32},
+    "linear:a8w4dq": {"groupsize" : 32}
+}