feat: Support static workers, run without etcd. (#2281)

components/frontend/src/dynamo/frontend/main.py

@@ -8,9 +8,19 @@
 # - Auto-discovery: Watches etcd for engine/worker registration (via `register_llm`).
 # - Pre-processor: Prompt templating and tokenization.
 # - Router, defaulting to round-robin (TODO: Add flags to enable KV routing).
+#
+# Pass `--interactive` or `-i` for text chat instead of HTTP server.
+#
+# For static mode (no etcd auto-discovery):
+# - python -m dynamo.frontend --model-name Qwen3-0.6B-Q8_0.gguf --model-path ~/llms/Qwen3-0.6B --static-endpoint dynamo.backend.generate
+# Worker example:
+# - cd lib/bindings/python/examples/hello_world
+# - python server_sglang_static.py
 
 import argparse
 import asyncio
+import os
+import re
 
 import uvloop
 
@@ -26,6 +36,36 @@ from dynamo.llm import (
 from dynamo.runtime import DistributedRuntime
 
 
+def validate_static_endpoint(value):
+    """Validate that static-endpoint is three words separated by dots."""
+    if not re.match(
+        r"^[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*\.[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*\.[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*$",
+        value,
+    ):
+        raise argparse.ArgumentTypeError(
+            f"static-endpoint must be three words separated by dots, got: {value}"
+        )
+    return value
+
+
+def validate_model_name(value):
+    """Validate that model-name is a non-empty string."""
+    if not value or not isinstance(value, str) or len(value.strip()) == 0:
+        raise argparse.ArgumentTypeError(
+            f"model-name must be a non-empty string, got: {value}"
+        )
+    return value.strip()
+
+
+def validate_model_path(value):
+    """Validate that model-path is a valid directory on disk."""
+    if not os.path.isdir(value):
+        raise argparse.ArgumentTypeError(
+            f"model-path must be a valid directory on disk, got: {value}"
+        )
+    return value
+
+
 def parse_args():
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
         description="Dynamo Frontend: HTTP+Pre-processor+Router",
@@ -72,13 +112,35 @@ def parse_args():
         help=" KV Router. Disable KV events.",
     )
     parser.set_defaults(use_kv_events=True)
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--static-endpoint",
+        type=validate_static_endpoint,
+        help="Static endpoint in format: word.word.word (e.g., dynamo.backend.generate)",
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--model-name",
+        type=validate_model_name,
+        help="Model name as a string (e.g., 'Llama-3.2-1B-Instruct')",
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--model-path",
+        type=validate_model_path,
+        help="Path to model directory on disk (e.g., /tmp/model_cache/lama3.2_1B/)",
+    )
 
-    return parser.parse_args()
+    flags = parser.parse_args()
+
+    if flags.static_endpoint and (not flags.model_name or not flags.model_path):
+        parser.error("--static-endpoint requires both --model-name and --model-path")
+
+    return flags
 
 
 async def async_main():
-    runtime = DistributedRuntime(asyncio.get_running_loop(), False)
     flags = parse_args()
+    is_static = bool(flags.static_endpoint)  # true if the string has a value
+
+    runtime = DistributedRuntime(asyncio.get_running_loop(), is_static)
 
     if flags.router_mode == "kv":
         router_mode = RouterMode.KV
@@ -100,8 +162,20 @@ async def async_main():
         "router_config": RouterConfig(router_mode, kv_router_config),
     }
 
-    # out=dyn
-    e = EntrypointArgs(EngineType.Dynamic, **kwargs)
+    if flags.static_endpoint:
+        kwargs["endpoint_id"] = flags.static_endpoint
+    if flags.model_name:
+        kwargs["model_name"] = flags.model_name
+    if flags.model_path:
+        kwargs["model_path"] = flags.model_path
+
+    if is_static:
+        # out=dyn://<static_endpoint>
+        engine_type = EngineType.Static
+    else:
+        # out=auto, most common
+        engine_type = EngineType.Dynamic
+    e = EntrypointArgs(engine_type, **kwargs)
     engine = await make_engine(runtime, e)
 
     try:

docs/guides/dynamo_run.md

@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ You will need [etcd](https://etcd.io/) and [nats](https://nats.io) with jetstrea
 **Node 1:** OpenAI compliant HTTP server, optional pre-processing, worker discovery:
 
 ```
-dynamo-run in=http out=dyn
+dynamo-run in=http out=auto
 ```
 
 **Node 2:** Vllm engine. Receives and returns requests over the network:
@@ -141,7 +141,18 @@ Example 4: Multiple component in a pipeline.
 
 In the P/D disaggregated setup you would have `deepseek-distill-llama8b.prefill.generate` (possibly multiple instances of this) and `deepseek-distill-llama8b.decode.generate`.
 
-For output it is always only `out=dyn`. This tells Dynamo to auto-discover the instances, group them by model, and load balance appropriately (depending on `--router-mode` flag). The old syntax of `dyn://...` is still accepted for backwards compatibility.
+For output it is always only `out=auto`. This tells Dynamo to auto-discover the instances, group them by model, and load balance appropriately (depending on `--router-mode` flag). The exception is static workers, see that section.
+
+### Static workers without etcd
+
+Normally in the distributed system the frontend uses etcd to discover workers. The option exists to have a static endpoint without etcd.
+
+```
+Node 1: dynamo-run in=http out=dyn://dynamo.backend.generate --model-name Qwen3-0.6B-Q8_0.gguf --model-path ~/llms/Qwen3-0.6B
+Node 2: dynamo-run in=dyn://dynamo.backend.generate out=llamacpp ~/llms/Qwen3-0.6B-Q8_0.gguf --static-worker --context-length 4096
+```
+
+Note how `out=` points to a single endpoint, which must match the worker. The model's name and config (to do pre-processing) are usually discovered by the frontend via etcd. Now we must pass them in (`--model-name` and `--model-path`).
 
 ### KV-aware routing
 
@@ -194,7 +205,7 @@ dynamo-run in=dyn://dynamo.endpoint.generate out=vllm /data/llms/Qwen/Qwen3-4B
 **Start the ingress node**
 
 ```
-dynamo-run in=http out=dyn --router-mode kv
+dynamo-run in=http out=auto --router-mode kv
 ```
 
 The only difference from the distributed system above is `--router-mode kv`. The patched vllm announces when a KV block is created or removed. The Dynamo router run finds the worker with the best match for those KV blocks and directs the traffic to that node.
@@ -569,7 +580,7 @@ And below are arguments that are mocker-specific:
 ```bash
 echo '{"speedup_ratio": 10.0}' > mocker_args.json
 dynamo-run in=dyn://dynamo.mocker.generate out=mocker --model-path TinyLlama/TinyLlama-1.1B-Chat-v1.0 --extra-engine-args mocker_args.json
-dynamo-run in=http out=dyn --router-mode kv
+dynamo-run in=http out=auto --router-mode kv
 ```
 
 ### Extra engine arguments

launch/dynamo-run/src/flags.rs

@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ use std::collections::HashMap;
 use std::path::PathBuf;
 
 use clap::ValueEnum;
+use dynamo_llm::entrypoint::input::Input;
 use dynamo_llm::entrypoint::RouterConfig;
 use dynamo_llm::kv_router::KvRouterConfig;
 use dynamo_llm::local_model::LocalModel;
@@ -127,6 +128,12 @@ pub struct Flags {
     #[arg(long, value_parser = clap::value_parser!(u32).range(0..1024))]
     pub migration_limit: Option<u32>,
 
+    /// Make this a static worker.
+    /// Do not connect to or advertise self on etcd.
+    /// in=dyn://x.y.z only
+    #[arg(long, default_value = "false")]
+    pub static_worker: bool,
+
     /// Everything after a `--`.
     /// These are the command line arguments to the python engine when using `pystr` or `pytok`.
     #[arg(index = 2, last = true, hide = true, allow_hyphen_values = true)]
@@ -136,9 +143,23 @@ pub struct Flags {
 impl Flags {
     /// For each Output variant, check if it would be able to run.
     /// This takes validation out of the main engine creation path.
-    pub fn validate(&self, local_model: &LocalModel, out_opt: &Output) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+    pub fn validate(
+        &self,
+        local_model: &LocalModel,
+        in_opt: &Input,
+        out_opt: &Output,
+    ) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+        match in_opt {
+            Input::Endpoint(_) => {}
+            _ => {
+                if self.static_worker {
+                    anyhow::bail!("'--static-worker true' only applies to in=dyn://x.y.z");
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
         match out_opt {
-            Output::Dynamic => {
+            Output::Auto => {
                 if self.context_length.is_some() {
                     anyhow::bail!("'--context-length' flag should only be used on the worker node, not on the ingress");
                 }
@@ -149,6 +170,19 @@ impl Flags {
                     anyhow::bail!("'--migration-limit' flag should only be used on the worker node, not on the ingress");
                 }
             }
+            Output::Static(_) => {
+                if self.model_name.is_none()
+                    || self
+                        .model_path_pos
+                        .as_ref()
+                        .or(self.model_path_flag.as_ref())
+                        .is_none()
+                {
+                    anyhow::bail!(
+                        "out=dyn://<path> requires --model-name and --model-path, which are the name and path on disk of the model we expect to serve."
+                    );
+                }
+            }
             Output::EchoFull => {}
             Output::EchoCore => {
                 if !local_model.card().has_tokenizer() {

launch/dynamo-run/src/lib.rs

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ use anyhow::Context as _;
 use dynamo_llm::entrypoint::input::Input;
 use dynamo_llm::entrypoint::EngineConfig;
 use dynamo_llm::local_model::{LocalModel, LocalModelBuilder};
+use dynamo_runtime::distributed::DistributedConfig;
 use dynamo_runtime::CancellationToken;
 use dynamo_runtime::{DistributedRuntime, Runtime};
 
@@ -50,9 +51,13 @@ pub async fn run(
     if let Input::Endpoint(path) = &in_opt {
         builder.endpoint_id(Some(path.parse().with_context(|| path.clone())?));
 
-        let distributed_runtime = DistributedRuntime::from_settings(runtime.clone()).await?;
+        let dst_config = DistributedConfig::from_settings(flags.static_worker);
+        let distributed_runtime = DistributedRuntime::new(runtime.clone(), dst_config).await?;
         rt = Either::Right(distributed_runtime);
     };
+    if let Some(Output::Static(path)) = &out_opt {
+        builder.endpoint_id(Some(path.parse().with_context(|| path.clone())?));
+    }
 
     let local_model = builder.build().await?;
 
@@ -64,7 +69,7 @@ pub async fn run(
     print_cuda(&out_opt);
 
     // Now that we know the output we're targeting, check if we expect it to work
-    flags.validate(&local_model, &out_opt)?;
+    flags.validate(&local_model, &in_opt, &out_opt)?;
 
     // Make an engine from the local_model, flags and output.
     let engine_config = engine_for(
@@ -94,24 +99,35 @@ async fn engine_for(
     rt: Either<Runtime, DistributedRuntime>,
 ) -> anyhow::Result<EngineConfig> {
     match out_opt {
-        Output::Dynamic => Ok(EngineConfig::Dynamic(Box::new(local_model))),
+        Output::Auto => {
+            // Auto-discover backends
+            Ok(EngineConfig::Dynamic(Box::new(local_model)))
+        }
+        Output::Static(_) => {
+            // A single static backend, no etcd
+            Ok(EngineConfig::StaticRemote(Box::new(local_model)))
+        }
         Output::EchoFull => Ok(EngineConfig::StaticFull {
             model: Box::new(local_model),
             engine: dynamo_llm::engines::make_engine_full(),
+            is_static: flags.static_worker,
         }),
         Output::EchoCore => Ok(EngineConfig::StaticCore {
             engine: dynamo_llm::engines::make_engine_core(),
             model: Box::new(local_model),
+            is_static: flags.static_worker,
         }),
         #[cfg(feature = "mistralrs")]
         Output::MistralRs => Ok(EngineConfig::StaticFull {
             engine: dynamo_engine_mistralrs::make_engine(&local_model).await?,
             model: Box::new(local_model),
+            is_static: flags.static_worker,
         }),
         #[cfg(feature = "llamacpp")]
         Output::LlamaCpp => Ok(EngineConfig::StaticCore {
             engine: dynamo_engine_llamacpp::make_engine(cancel_token, &local_model).await?,
             model: Box::new(local_model),
+            is_static: flags.static_worker,
         }),
         Output::Mocker => {
             let Either::Right(drt) = rt else {
@@ -127,6 +143,7 @@ async fn engine_for(
             Ok(EngineConfig::StaticCore {
                 engine,
                 model: Box::new(local_model),
+                is_static: flags.static_worker,
             })
         }
     }

launch/dynamo-run/src/main.rs

@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ Example:
 - OR: ./dynamo-run /data/models/Llama-3.2-1B-Instruct-Q4_K_M.gguf
 "#;
 
-const USAGE: &str = "USAGE: dynamo-run in=[http|text|dyn://<path>|batch:<folder>] out=ENGINE_LIST|dyn [--http-port 8080] [--model-path <path>] [--model-name <served-model-name>] [--model-config <hf-repo>] [--tensor-parallel-size=1] [--context-length=N] [--kv-cache-block-size=16] [--num-nodes=1] [--node-rank=0] [--leader-addr=127.0.0.1:9876] [--base-gpu-id=0] [--extra-engine-args=args.json] [--router-mode random|round-robin|kv] [--kv-overlap-score-weight=2.0] [--kv-gpu-cache-usage-weight=1.0] [--kv-waiting-requests-weight=1.0] [--migration-limit=0] [--verbosity (-v|-vv)]";
+const USAGE: &str = "USAGE: dynamo-run in=[http|text|dyn://<path>|batch:<folder>] out=ENGINE_LIST|auto|dyn://<path> [--http-port 8080] [--model-path <path>] [--model-name <served-model-name>] [--model-config <hf-repo>] [--tensor-parallel-size=1] [--context-length=N] [--kv-cache-block-size=16] [--num-nodes=1] [--node-rank=0] [--leader-addr=127.0.0.1:9876] [--base-gpu-id=0] [--extra-engine-args=args.json] [--static-worker] [--router-mode random|round-robin|kv] [--kv-overlap-score-weight=2.0] [--kv-gpu-cache-usage-weight=1.0] [--kv-waiting-requests-weight=1.0] [--migration-limit=0] [--verbosity (-v|-vv)]";
 
 fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     // Set log level based on verbosity flag
@@ -134,5 +134,5 @@ fn is_in_dynamic(in_opt: &Input) -> bool {
 }
 
 fn is_out_dynamic(out_opt: &Option<Output>) -> bool {
-    matches!(out_opt, Some(Output::Dynamic))
+    matches!(out_opt, Some(Output::Auto) | Some(Output::Static(_)))
 }

launch/dynamo-run/src/opt.rs

@@ -12,7 +12,14 @@ pub enum Output {
     EchoCore,
 
     /// Listen for models on nats/etcd, add/remove dynamically
-    Dynamic,
+    Auto,
+
+    /// Static remote: The dyn://namespace.component.endpoint name of a remote worker we expect to
+    /// exists. THIS DISABLES AUTO-DISCOVERY. Only this endpoint will be connected.
+    /// `--model-name and `--model-path` must also be set.
+    ///
+    /// A static remote setup avoids having to run etcd.
+    Static(String),
 
     #[cfg(feature = "mistralrs")]
     /// Run inference on a model in a GGUF file using mistralrs w/ candle
@@ -40,15 +47,11 @@ impl TryFrom<&str> for Output {
             "echo_full" => Ok(Output::EchoFull),
             "echo_core" => Ok(Output::EchoCore),
 
-            "dyn" => Ok(Output::Dynamic),
+            "dyn" | "auto" => Ok(Output::Auto),
 
-            // Deprecated, should only use `out=dyn`
             endpoint_path if endpoint_path.starts_with(ENDPOINT_SCHEME) => {
-                tracing::warn!(
-                    "out=dyn://<path> is deprecated, the path is not used. Please use 'out=dyn'"
-                );
-                //let path = endpoint_path.strip_prefix(ENDPOINT_SCHEME).unwrap();
-                Ok(Output::Dynamic)
+                let path = endpoint_path.strip_prefix(ENDPOINT_SCHEME).unwrap();
+                Ok(Output::Static(path.to_string()))
             }
 
             e => Err(anyhow::anyhow!("Invalid out= option '{e}'")),
@@ -69,7 +72,8 @@ impl fmt::Display for Output {
             Output::EchoFull => "echo_full",
             Output::EchoCore => "echo_core",
 
-            Output::Dynamic => "dyn",
+            Output::Auto => "auto",
+            Output::Static(endpoint) => &format!("{ENDPOINT_SCHEME}{endpoint}"),
         };
         write!(f, "{s}")
     }

lib/bindings/python/examples/hello_world/server_sglang_static.py

+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2025 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+#
+# Static version of server_sglang.py - see there for most details.
+#
+# The key differences between this and `server_sglang.py` are:
+# - We do not call register_llm to advertise ourself in etcd. There is no etcd.
+# - The frontend must know up-front all the details for the model: name, pre-processor path, and type.
+#
+# Window 1: `python server_sglang_static.py`. Wait for log "Starting endpoint".
+# Window 2: `dynamo-run out=dyn://dynamo.backend.generate --model-name "Qwen/Qwen3-0.6B" --model-path <hf_path> --model-type Backend
+
+import argparse
+import asyncio
+import sys
+
+import sglang
+import uvloop
+from sglang.srt.server_args import ServerArgs
+
+from dynamo.runtime import DistributedRuntime, dynamo_worker
+
+DEFAULT_ENDPOINT = "dyn://dynamo.backend.generate"
+DEFAULT_MODEL = "Qwen/Qwen3-0.6B"
+DEFAULT_TEMPERATURE = 0.7
+
+
+class Config:
+    """Command line parameters or defaults"""
+
+    namespace: str
+    component: str
+    endpoint: str
+    model: str
+
+
+class RequestHandler:
+    """
+    Request handler for the generate endpoint
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, engine):
+        self.engine_client = engine
+
+    async def generate(self, request):
+        # print(f"Received request: {request}")
+        sampling_params = {
+            "temperature": request["sampling_options"]["temperature"]
+            or DEFAULT_TEMPERATURE,
+            # sglang defaults this to 128
+            "max_new_tokens": request["stop_conditions"]["max_tokens"],
+        }
+        num_output_tokens_so_far = 0
+        gen = await self.engine_client.async_generate(
+            input_ids=request["token_ids"], sampling_params=sampling_params, stream=True
+        )
+        async for res in gen:
+            # res is a dict
+
+            finish_reason = res["meta_info"]["finish_reason"]
+            if finish_reason:
+                # Don't forward the stop token
+                out = {"token_ids": [], "finish_reason": finish_reason["type"]}
+                next_total_toks = num_output_tokens_so_far
+            else:
+                next_total_toks = len(res["output_ids"])
+                out = {"token_ids": res["output_ids"][num_output_tokens_so_far:]}
+            yield out
+            num_output_tokens_so_far = next_total_toks
+
+
+@dynamo_worker(static=True)
+async def worker(runtime: DistributedRuntime):
+    await init(runtime, cmd_line_args())
+
+
+async def init(runtime: DistributedRuntime, config: Config):
+    """
+    Instantiate and serve
+    """
+    component = runtime.namespace(config.namespace).component(config.component)
+    await component.create_service()
+
+    endpoint = component.endpoint(config.endpoint)
+
+    engine_args = ServerArgs(
+        model_path=config.model,
+        skip_tokenizer_init=True,
+    )
+
+    engine_client = sglang.Engine(server_args=engine_args)
+
+    # the server will gracefully shutdown (i.e., keep opened TCP streams finishes)
+    # after the lease is revoked
+    await endpoint.serve_endpoint(RequestHandler(engine_client).generate)
+
+
+def cmd_line_args():
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
+        description="SGLang server integrated with Dynamo runtime."
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--endpoint",
+        type=str,
+        default=DEFAULT_ENDPOINT,
+        help=f"Dynamo endpoint string in 'dyn://namespace.component.endpoint' format. Default: {DEFAULT_ENDPOINT}",
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--model",
+        type=str,
+        default=DEFAULT_MODEL,
+        help=f"Path to disk model or HuggingFace model identifier to load. Default: {DEFAULT_MODEL}",
+    )
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+
+    config = Config()
+    config.model = args.model
+
+    endpoint_str = args.endpoint.replace("dyn://", "", 1)
+    endpoint_parts = endpoint_str.split(".")
+    if len(endpoint_parts) != 3:
+        print(
+            f"Invalid endpoint format: '{args.endpoint}'. Expected 'dyn://namespace.component.endpoint' or 'namespace.component.endpoint'."
+        )
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+    parsed_namespace, parsed_component_name, parsed_endpoint_name = endpoint_parts
+
+    config.namespace = parsed_namespace
+    config.component = parsed_component_name
+    config.endpoint = parsed_endpoint_name
+
+    return config
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    uvloop.install()
+    asyncio.run(worker())

lib/bindings/python/examples/hello_world/server_static.py

-# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2025 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
-# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-# You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-# limitations under the License.
-
-import asyncio
-
-import uvloop
-
-from dynamo.runtime import DistributedRuntime, dynamo_worker
-
-
-class RequestHandler:
-    """
-    Request handler for the generate endpoint
-    """
-
-    async def generate(self, request):
-        print(f"Received request: {request}")
-        for char in request:
-            yield char
-
-
-@dynamo_worker(static=True)
-async def worker(runtime: DistributedRuntime):
-    await init(runtime, "dynamo")
-
-
-async def init(runtime: DistributedRuntime, ns: str):
-    """
-    Instantiate a `backend` component and serve the `generate` endpoint
-    A `Component` can serve multiple endpoints
-    """
-    component = runtime.namespace(ns).component("backend")
-    await component.create_service()
-
-    endpoint = component.endpoint("generate")
-    print("Started server instance")
-    await endpoint.serve_endpoint(RequestHandler().generate)
-
-
-if __name__ == "__main__":
-    uvloop.install()
-    asyncio.run(worker())

lib/bindings/python/rust/llm/entrypoint.rs

@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ pub enum EngineType {
     Echo = 1,
     Dynamic = 2,
     Mocker = 3,
+    Static = 4,
 }
 
 #[pyclass]
@@ -178,9 +179,11 @@ async fn select_engine(
             RsEngineConfig::StaticFull {
                 model: Box::new(local_model),
                 engine: dynamo_llm::engines::make_engine_full(),
+                is_static: false,
             }
         }
         EngineType::Dynamic => RsEngineConfig::Dynamic(Box::new(local_model)),
+        EngineType::Static => RsEngineConfig::StaticRemote(Box::new(local_model)),
         EngineType::Mocker => {
             let mocker_args = if let Some(extra_args_path) = args.extra_engine_args {
                 MockEngineArgs::from_json_file(&extra_args_path).map_err(|e| {
@@ -209,6 +212,7 @@ async fn select_engine(
             RsEngineConfig::StaticCore {
                 engine,
                 model: Box::new(local_model),
+                is_static: false,
             }
         }
     };

lib/llm/src/discovery/watcher.rs

@@ -18,16 +18,20 @@ use dynamo_runtime::{
 
 use crate::{
     backend::Backend,
-    kv_router::{KvPushRouter, KvRouterConfig},
-    migration::Migration,
+    entrypoint,
+    kv_router::KvRouterConfig,
     model_type::ModelType,
-    preprocessor::{OpenAIPreprocessor, PreprocessedEmbeddingRequest, PreprocessedRequest},
-    protocols::common::llm_backend::{EmbeddingsEngineOutput, LLMEngineOutput},
-    protocols::openai::chat_completions::{
+    preprocessor::{OpenAIPreprocessor, PreprocessedEmbeddingRequest},
+    protocols::{
+        common::llm_backend::EmbeddingsEngineOutput,
+        openai::{
+            chat_completions::{
                 NvCreateChatCompletionRequest, NvCreateChatCompletionStreamResponse,
             },
-    protocols::openai::completions::{NvCreateCompletionRequest, NvCreateCompletionResponse},
-    protocols::openai::embeddings::{NvCreateEmbeddingRequest, NvCreateEmbeddingResponse},
+            completions::{NvCreateCompletionRequest, NvCreateCompletionResponse},
+            embeddings::{NvCreateEmbeddingRequest, NvCreateEmbeddingResponse},
+        },
+    },
 };
 
 use super::{ModelEntry, ModelManager, MODEL_ROOT_PATH};
@@ -197,93 +201,36 @@ impl ModelWatcher {
                 // function. Needs checking carefully, possibly we need to store it in state.
                 let _cache_dir = Some(card.move_from_nats(self.drt.nats_client()).await?);
 
-                // Chat Completions
-                let frontend = SegmentSource::<
-                    SingleIn<NvCreateChatCompletionRequest>,
-                    ManyOut<Annotated<NvCreateChatCompletionStreamResponse>>,
-                >::new();
-                let preprocessor = OpenAIPreprocessor::new(card.clone()).await?.into_operator();
-                let backend = Backend::from_mdc(card.clone()).await?.into_operator();
-                let migration = Migration::from_mdc(card.clone()).await?.into_operator();
-                let router =
-                    PushRouter::<PreprocessedRequest, Annotated<LLMEngineOutput>>::from_client(
-                        client.clone(),
-                        self.router_mode,
-                    )
-                    .await?;
-                let service_backend = match self.router_mode {
-                    RouterMode::Random | RouterMode::RoundRobin | RouterMode::Direct(_) => {
-                        ServiceBackend::from_engine(Arc::new(router))
-                    }
-                    RouterMode::KV => {
-                        let chooser = self
-                            .manager
+                let kv_chooser = if self.router_mode == RouterMode::KV {
+                    Some(
+                        self.manager
                             .kv_chooser_for(
                                 &model_entry.name,
                                 &component,
                                 card.kv_cache_block_size,
                                 self.kv_router_config,
                             )
-                            .await?;
-                        let kv_push_router = KvPushRouter::new(router, chooser);
-                        ServiceBackend::from_engine(Arc::new(kv_push_router))
-                    }
+                            .await?,
+                    )
+                } else {
+                    None
                 };
 
-                let chat_engine = frontend
-                    .link(preprocessor.forward_edge())?
-                    .link(backend.forward_edge())?
-                    .link(migration.forward_edge())?
-                    .link(service_backend)?
-                    .link(migration.backward_edge())?
-                    .link(backend.backward_edge())?
-                    .link(preprocessor.backward_edge())?
-                    .link(frontend)?;
+                let chat_engine =
+                    entrypoint::build_routed_pipeline::<
+                        NvCreateChatCompletionRequest,
+                        NvCreateChatCompletionStreamResponse,
+                    >(&card, &client, self.router_mode, kv_chooser.clone())
+                    .await?;
                 self.manager
                     .add_chat_completions_model(&model_entry.name, chat_engine)?;
 
-                // Completions
-                let frontend = SegmentSource::<
-                    SingleIn<NvCreateCompletionRequest>,
-                    ManyOut<Annotated<NvCreateCompletionResponse>>,
-                >::new();
-                let preprocessor = OpenAIPreprocessor::new(card.clone()).await?.into_operator();
-                let backend = Backend::from_mdc(card.clone()).await?.into_operator();
-                let migration = Migration::from_mdc(card.clone()).await?.into_operator();
-                let router =
-                    PushRouter::<PreprocessedRequest, Annotated<LLMEngineOutput>>::from_client(
-                        client,
-                        self.router_mode,
-                    )
-                    .await?;
-                let service_backend = match self.router_mode {
-                    RouterMode::Random | RouterMode::RoundRobin | RouterMode::Direct(_) => {
-                        ServiceBackend::from_engine(Arc::new(router))
-                    }
-                    RouterMode::KV => {
-                        let chooser = self
-                            .manager
-                            .kv_chooser_for(
-                                &model_entry.name,
-                                &component,
-                                card.kv_cache_block_size,
-                                self.kv_router_config,
-                            )
+                let completions_engine =
+                    entrypoint::build_routed_pipeline::<
+                        NvCreateCompletionRequest,
+                        NvCreateCompletionResponse,
+                    >(&card, &client, self.router_mode, kv_chooser)
                     .await?;
-                        let kv_push_router = KvPushRouter::new(router, chooser);
-                        ServiceBackend::from_engine(Arc::new(kv_push_router))
-                    }
-                };
-
-                let completions_engine = frontend
-                    .link(preprocessor.forward_edge())?
-                    .link(backend.forward_edge())?
-                    .link(migration.forward_edge())?
-                    .link(service_backend)?
-                    .link(migration.backward_edge())?
-                    .link(backend.backward_edge())?
-                    .link(preprocessor.backward_edge())?
-                    .link(frontend)?;
                 self.manager
                     .add_completions_model(&model_entry.name, completions_engine)?;
             }

lib/llm/src/engines.rs

 // SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2024-2025 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
-//
-// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-// You may obtain a copy of the License at
-//
-// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-//
-// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-// limitations under the License.
 
 use std::env;
 use std::sync::Arc;

lib/llm/src/entrypoint.rs

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 //! - Connect it to an Input
 
 pub mod input;
+pub use input::build_routed_pipeline;
 
 use std::sync::Arc;
 
@@ -33,19 +34,24 @@ impl RouterConfig {
 
 #[derive(Clone)]
 pub enum EngineConfig {
-    /// Remote networked engines
+    /// Remote networked engines that we discover via etcd
     Dynamic(Box<LocalModel>),
 
+    /// Remote networked engines that we know about at startup
+    StaticRemote(Box<LocalModel>),
+
     /// A Full service engine does it's own tokenization and prompt formatting.
     StaticFull {
         engine: Arc<dyn StreamingEngine>,
         model: Box<LocalModel>,
+        is_static: bool,
     },
 
     /// A core engine expects to be wrapped with pre/post processors that handle tokenization.
     StaticCore {
         engine: ExecutionContext,
         model: Box<LocalModel>,
+        is_static: bool,
     },
 }
 
@@ -54,6 +60,7 @@ impl EngineConfig {
         use EngineConfig::*;
         match self {
             Dynamic(lm) => lm,
+            StaticRemote(lm) => lm,
             StaticFull { model, .. } => model,
             StaticCore { model, .. } => model,
         }

lib/llm/src/entrypoint/input.rs

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ use std::{
 
 pub mod batch;
 mod common;
+pub use common::build_routed_pipeline;
 pub mod endpoint;
 pub mod http;
 pub mod text;

lib/llm/src/entrypoint/input/common.rs

@@ -7,10 +7,12 @@ use crate::{
     backend::{Backend, ExecutionContext},
     discovery::{ModelManager, ModelWatcher, MODEL_ROOT_PATH},
     engines::StreamingEngineAdapter,
-    entrypoint::EngineConfig,
+    entrypoint::{self, EngineConfig},
+    kv_router::{KvPushRouter, KvRouter},
+    migration::Migration,
     model_card::ModelDeploymentCard,
     preprocessor::OpenAIPreprocessor,
-    protocols::common::llm_backend::{BackendOutput, PreprocessedRequest},
+    protocols::common::llm_backend::{BackendOutput, LLMEngineOutput, PreprocessedRequest},
     request_template::RequestTemplate,
     types::{
         openai::chat_completions::{
@@ -21,8 +23,13 @@ use crate::{
     },
 };
 use dynamo_runtime::{
+    component::Client,
+    distributed::DistributedConfig,
     engine::{AsyncEngineStream, Data},
-    pipeline::{Context, ManyOut, Operator, ServiceBackend, ServiceFrontend, SingleIn, Source},
+    pipeline::{
+        Context, ManyOut, Operator, PushRouter, RouterMode, SegmentSource, ServiceBackend,
+        ServiceEngine, ServiceFrontend, SingleIn, Source,
+    },
     DistributedRuntime, Runtime,
 };
 use std::sync::Arc;
@@ -78,6 +85,7 @@ pub async fn prepare_engine(
             // '/models` to list, and notifications when models are added / removed.
 
             let model_service_name = watch_obj.wait_for_chat_model().await;
+            tracing::info!("Connected to {model_service_name}");
             let engine = model_manager.get_chat_completions_engine(&model_service_name)?;
             Ok(PreparedEngine {
                 service_name: model_service_name,
@@ -87,7 +95,56 @@ pub async fn prepare_engine(
                 request_template: local_model.request_template(),
             })
         }
-        EngineConfig::StaticFull { engine, model } => {
+        EngineConfig::StaticRemote(local_model) => {
+            // For now we only do ModelType.Backend
+            // For batch/text we only do Chat Completions
+
+            // The card should have been loaded at 'build' phase earlier
+            let card = local_model.card();
+            let router_mode = local_model.router_config().router_mode;
+
+            let dst_config = DistributedConfig::from_settings(true);
+            let distributed_runtime = DistributedRuntime::new(runtime, dst_config).await?;
+
+            let endpoint_id = local_model.endpoint_id();
+            let component = distributed_runtime
+                .namespace(&endpoint_id.namespace)?
+                .component(&endpoint_id.component)?;
+            let client = component.endpoint(&endpoint_id.name).client().await?;
+
+            let kv_chooser = if router_mode == RouterMode::KV {
+                let model_manager = Arc::new(ModelManager::new());
+                Some(
+                    model_manager
+                        .kv_chooser_for(
+                            local_model.display_name(),
+                            &component,
+                            card.kv_cache_block_size,
+                            Some(local_model.router_config().kv_router_config),
+                        )
+                        .await?,
+                )
+            } else {
+                None
+            };
+
+            let chat_engine = entrypoint::build_routed_pipeline::<
+                NvCreateChatCompletionRequest,
+                NvCreateChatCompletionStreamResponse,
+            >(card, &client, router_mode, kv_chooser.clone())
+            .await?;
+
+            let service_name = local_model.service_name().to_string();
+            tracing::info!("Static connecting to {service_name}");
+            Ok(PreparedEngine {
+                service_name,
+                engine: chat_engine,
+                inspect_template: false,
+                request_template: local_model.request_template(),
+                card: Some(local_model.into_card()),
+            })
+        }
+        EngineConfig::StaticFull { engine, model, .. } => {
             let service_name = model.service_name().to_string();
             tracing::debug!("Model: {service_name} with engine pre-processing");
             let engine = Arc::new(StreamingEngineAdapter::new(engine));
@@ -102,6 +159,7 @@ pub async fn prepare_engine(
         EngineConfig::StaticCore {
             engine: inner_engine,
             model,
+            ..
         } => {
             let pipeline = build_pipeline::<
                 NvCreateChatCompletionRequest,
@@ -152,6 +210,56 @@ where
         .link(frontend)?)
 }
 
+pub async fn build_routed_pipeline<Req, Resp>(
+    card: &ModelDeploymentCard,
+    client: &Client,
+    router_mode: RouterMode,
+    chooser: Option<Arc<KvRouter>>,
+) -> anyhow::Result<ServiceEngine<SingleIn<Req>, ManyOut<Annotated<Resp>>>>
+where
+    Req: Data,
+    Resp: Data,
+    OpenAIPreprocessor: Operator<
+        Context<Req>,
+        Pin<Box<dyn AsyncEngineStream<Annotated<Resp>>>>,
+        Context<PreprocessedRequest>,
+        Pin<Box<dyn AsyncEngineStream<Annotated<BackendOutput>>>>,
+    >,
+{
+    let frontend = SegmentSource::<SingleIn<Req>, ManyOut<Annotated<Resp>>>::new();
+    let preprocessor = OpenAIPreprocessor::new(card.clone()).await?.into_operator();
+    let backend = Backend::from_mdc(card.clone()).await?.into_operator();
+    let migration = Migration::from_mdc(card.clone()).await?.into_operator();
+    let router = PushRouter::<PreprocessedRequest, Annotated<LLMEngineOutput>>::from_client(
+        client.clone(),
+        router_mode,
+    )
+    .await?;
+    let service_backend = match router_mode {
+        RouterMode::Random | RouterMode::RoundRobin | RouterMode::Direct(_) => {
+            ServiceBackend::from_engine(Arc::new(router))
+        }
+        RouterMode::KV => {
+            let Some(chooser) = chooser else {
+                anyhow::bail!("RouterMode::KV requires KVRouter to not be null");
+            };
+            let kv_push_router = KvPushRouter::new(router, chooser);
+            ServiceBackend::from_engine(Arc::new(kv_push_router))
+        }
+    };
+
+    let engine = frontend
+        .link(preprocessor.forward_edge())?
+        .link(backend.forward_edge())?
+        .link(migration.forward_edge())?
+        .link(service_backend)?
+        .link(migration.backward_edge())?
+        .link(backend.backward_edge())?
+        .link(preprocessor.backward_edge())?
+        .link(frontend)?;
+    Ok(engine)
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;

lib/llm/src/entrypoint/input/endpoint.rs

@@ -42,14 +42,20 @@ pub async fn run(
 
     let (rt_fut, card): (Pin<Box<dyn Future<Output = _> + Send + 'static>>, _) = match engine_config
     {
-        EngineConfig::StaticFull { engine, mut model } => {
+        EngineConfig::StaticFull {
+            engine,
+            mut model,
+            is_static,
+        } => {
             let engine = Arc::new(StreamingEngineAdapter::new(engine));
             let ingress_chat = Ingress::<
                 Context<NvCreateChatCompletionRequest>,
                 Pin<Box<dyn AsyncEngineStream<Annotated<NvCreateChatCompletionStreamResponse>>>>,
             >::for_engine(engine)?;
 
+            if !is_static {
                 model.attach(&endpoint, ModelType::Chat).await?;
+            }
             let fut_chat = endpoint.endpoint_builder().handler(ingress_chat).start();
 
             (Box::pin(fut_chat), Some(model.card().clone()))
@@ -57,6 +63,7 @@ pub async fn run(
         EngineConfig::StaticCore {
             engine: inner_engine,
             mut model,
+            is_static,
         } => {
             // Pre-processing is done ingress-side, so it should be already done.
             let frontend = SegmentSource::<
@@ -74,11 +81,16 @@ pub async fn run(
                 .link(frontend)?;
             let ingress = Ingress::for_pipeline(pipeline)?;
 
+            if !is_static {
                 model.attach(&endpoint, ModelType::Backend).await?;
+            }
             let fut = endpoint.endpoint_builder().handler(ingress).start();
 
             (Box::pin(fut), Some(model.card().clone()))
         }
+        EngineConfig::StaticRemote(_) => {
+            panic!("StaticRemote definitions are only for the frontend end node.");
+        }
         EngineConfig::Dynamic(_) => {
             unreachable!("An endpoint input will never have a Dynamic engine");
         }

lib/llm/src/entrypoint/input/http.rs

@@ -6,18 +6,16 @@ use std::sync::Arc;
 use crate::{
     discovery::{ModelManager, ModelWatcher, MODEL_ROOT_PATH},
     engines::StreamingEngineAdapter,
-    entrypoint::{input::common, EngineConfig},
+    entrypoint::{self, input::common, EngineConfig},
     http::service::service_v2,
     kv_router::KvRouterConfig,
-    types::{
-        openai::chat_completions::{
-            NvCreateChatCompletionRequest, NvCreateChatCompletionStreamResponse,
-        },
-        openai::completions::{NvCreateCompletionRequest, NvCreateCompletionResponse},
+    types::openai::{
+        chat_completions::{NvCreateChatCompletionRequest, NvCreateChatCompletionStreamResponse},
+        completions::{NvCreateCompletionRequest, NvCreateCompletionResponse},
     },
 };
-use dynamo_runtime::pipeline::RouterMode;
 use dynamo_runtime::transports::etcd;
+use dynamo_runtime::{distributed::DistributedConfig, pipeline::RouterMode};
 use dynamo_runtime::{DistributedRuntime, Runtime};
 
 /// Build and run an HTTP service
@@ -55,7 +53,50 @@ pub async fn run(runtime: Runtime, engine_config: EngineConfig) -> anyhow::Resul
                 }
             }
         }
-        EngineConfig::StaticFull { engine, model } => {
+        EngineConfig::StaticRemote(local_model) => {
+            let card = local_model.card();
+            let router_mode = local_model.router_config().router_mode;
+
+            let dst_config = DistributedConfig::from_settings(true);
+            let distributed_runtime = DistributedRuntime::new(runtime.clone(), dst_config).await?;
+            let manager = http_service.model_manager();
+
+            let endpoint_id = local_model.endpoint_id();
+            let component = distributed_runtime
+                .namespace(&endpoint_id.namespace)?
+                .component(&endpoint_id.component)?;
+            let client = component.endpoint(&endpoint_id.name).client().await?;
+
+            let kv_chooser = if router_mode == RouterMode::KV {
+                Some(
+                    manager
+                        .kv_chooser_for(
+                            local_model.display_name(),
+                            &component,
+                            card.kv_cache_block_size,
+                            Some(local_model.router_config().kv_router_config),
+                        )
+                        .await?,
+                )
+            } else {
+                None
+            };
+
+            let chat_engine = entrypoint::build_routed_pipeline::<
+                NvCreateChatCompletionRequest,
+                NvCreateChatCompletionStreamResponse,
+            >(card, &client, router_mode, kv_chooser.clone())
+            .await?;
+            manager.add_chat_completions_model(local_model.display_name(), chat_engine)?;
+
+            let completions_engine = entrypoint::build_routed_pipeline::<
+                NvCreateCompletionRequest,
+                NvCreateCompletionResponse,
+            >(card, &client, router_mode, kv_chooser)
+            .await?;
+            manager.add_completions_model(local_model.display_name(), completions_engine)?;
+        }
+        EngineConfig::StaticFull { engine, model, .. } => {
             let engine = Arc::new(StreamingEngineAdapter::new(engine));
             let manager = http_service.model_manager();
             manager.add_completions_model(model.service_name(), engine.clone())?;
@@ -64,6 +105,7 @@ pub async fn run(runtime: Runtime, engine_config: EngineConfig) -> anyhow::Resul
         EngineConfig::StaticCore {
             engine: inner_engine,
             model,
+            ..
         } => {
             let manager = http_service.model_manager();