[Bugfix] Offload blocking tokenizer ops to shared thread pool to unblock event loop

tests/entrypoints/openai/chat_completion/test_chat_error.py

@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ class MockModelConfig:
     skip_tokenizer_init = False
     is_encoder_decoder: bool = False
     is_multimodal_model: bool = False
+    renderer_num_workers: int = 1
 
     def get_diff_sampling_param(self):
         return self.diff_sampling_param or {}

tests/entrypoints/openai/chat_completion/test_serving_chat.py

@@ -536,6 +536,7 @@ class MockModelConfig:
     skip_tokenizer_init: bool = False
     is_encoder_decoder: bool = False
     is_multimodal_model: bool = False
+    renderer_num_workers: int = 1
 
     def get_diff_sampling_param(self):
         return self.diff_sampling_param or {}

tests/entrypoints/openai/completion/test_completion_error.py

@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ class MockModelConfig:
     skip_tokenizer_init = False
     is_encoder_decoder: bool = False
     is_multimodal_model: bool = False
+    renderer_num_workers: int = 1
 
     def get_diff_sampling_param(self):
         return self.diff_sampling_param or {}

tests/entrypoints/openai/completion/test_lora_resolvers.py

@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ class MockModelConfig:
     skip_tokenizer_init: bool = False
     is_encoder_decoder: bool = False
     is_multimodal_model: bool = False
+    renderer_num_workers: int = 1
 
     def get_diff_sampling_param(self):
         return self.diff_sampling_param or {}

tests/renderers/test_completions.py

@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ class MockModelConfig:
     skip_tokenizer_init: bool = False
     is_encoder_decoder: bool = False
     is_multimodal_model: bool = False
+    renderer_num_workers: int = 1
 
 
 @dataclass

tests/renderers/test_mistral.py

@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ class MockModelConfig:
     skip_tokenizer_init: bool = False
     is_encoder_decoder: bool = False
     is_multimodal_model: bool = False
+    renderer_num_workers: int = 1
 
 
 @dataclass

vllm/config/model.py

@@ -291,6 +291,10 @@ class ModelConfig:
     definitions"""
     io_processor_plugin: str | None = None
     """IOProcessor plugin name to load at model startup"""
+    renderer_num_workers: int = 1
+    """Number of worker threads in the renderer thread pool. This pool
+    handles async tokenization, chat template rendering, and multimodal
+    preprocessing."""
 
     # Pooler config
     pooler_config: PoolerConfig | None = None

vllm/engine/arg_utils.py

@@ -508,6 +508,7 @@ class EngineArgs:
         MultiModalConfig.mm_encoder_attn_backend
     )
     io_processor_plugin: str | None = None
+    renderer_num_workers: int = 1
     skip_mm_profiling: bool = MultiModalConfig.skip_mm_profiling
     video_pruning_rate: float | None = MultiModalConfig.video_pruning_rate
     mm_tensor_ipc: MMTensorIPC = MultiModalConfig.mm_tensor_ipc
@@ -767,6 +768,10 @@ def add_cli_args(parser: FlexibleArgumentParser) -> FlexibleArgumentParser:
         model_group.add_argument(
             "--io-processor-plugin", **model_kwargs["io_processor_plugin"]
         )
+        model_group.add_argument(
+            "--renderer-num-workers",
+            **model_kwargs["renderer_num_workers"],
+        )
 
         # Model loading arguments
         load_kwargs = get_kwargs(LoadConfig)
@@ -1438,6 +1443,7 @@ def create_model_config(self) -> ModelConfig:
             video_pruning_rate=self.video_pruning_rate,
             mm_tensor_ipc=self.mm_tensor_ipc,
             io_processor_plugin=self.io_processor_plugin,
+            renderer_num_workers=self.renderer_num_workers,
         )
 
     def validate_tensorizer_args(self):

vllm/renderers/base.py

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 import time
 from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
 from collections.abc import Mapping, Sequence
+from concurrent.futures import Executor, ThreadPoolExecutor
 from functools import cached_property
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, Generic, overload
 
@@ -38,7 +39,10 @@
 from vllm.multimodal.processing import ProcessorInputs as MMProcessorInputs
 from vllm.multimodal.registry import MultiModalTimingRegistry
 from vllm.tokenizers import TokenizerLike
-from vllm.utils.async_utils import AsyncMicrobatchTokenizer
+from vllm.utils.async_utils import (
+    AsyncMicrobatchTokenizer,
+    make_async,
+)
 from vllm.utils.counter import AtomicCounter
 from vllm.utils.torch_utils import set_default_torch_num_threads
 from vllm.v1.metrics.stats import MultiModalCacheStats
@@ -78,11 +82,28 @@ def __init__(self, config: "VllmConfig", tokenizer: _T | None) -> None:
 
         self.tokenizer = tokenizer
 
+        # Shared thread pool executor for blocking tokenizer and
+        # multimodal preprocessing operations.  The multimodal processor
+        # receives a deep-copied tokenizer (see #36557) so it is safe to
+        # run tokenization and MM preprocessing concurrently.
+        pool_workers = config.model_config.renderer_num_workers
+        self._executor = ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=pool_workers)
+
+        # Multimodal preprocessing is always offloaded to the thread pool
+        # to keep the asyncio event loop responsive under concurrent load.
+        self._mm_executor: Executor = self._executor
+
         # Lazy initialization since offline LLM doesn't use async
         self._async_tokenizer: AsyncMicrobatchTokenizer | None = None
 
         self.mm_processor: BaseMultiModalProcessor | None = None
         self._mm_cache_stats: MultiModalCacheStats | None = None
+        self._clear_mm_cache_async = make_async(
+            self.clear_mm_cache, executor=self._executor
+        )
+        self._process_multimodal_async = make_async(
+            self._process_multimodal, executor=self._mm_executor
+        )
         if config.model_config.is_multimodal_model:
             mm_processor_cache = mm_registry.processor_cache_from_config(config)
 
@@ -119,7 +140,9 @@ def get_tokenizer(self) -> _T:
 
     def get_async_tokenizer(self) -> AsyncMicrobatchTokenizer:
         if self._async_tokenizer is None:
-            self._async_tokenizer = AsyncMicrobatchTokenizer(self.get_tokenizer())
+            self._async_tokenizer = AsyncMicrobatchTokenizer(
+                self.get_tokenizer(), executor=self._executor
+            )
 
         return self._async_tokenizer
 
@@ -211,11 +234,24 @@ def warmup(self, chat_params: ChatParams) -> None:
             finally:
                 self.clear_mm_cache()
 
+    async def clear_mm_cache_async(self) -> None:
+        """Serialize clear_mm_cache through the shared executor to avoid
+        races with concurrent process_inputs on the mm_processor_cache."""
+        await self._clear_mm_cache_async()
+
     def shutdown(self) -> None:
         mm_processor_cache = self.mm_processor_cache
         if mm_processor_cache is not None:
             mm_processor_cache.close()
 
+        if executor := getattr(self, "_executor", None):
+            executor.shutdown(wait=False)
+
+        if (
+            mm_executor := getattr(self, "_mm_executor", None)
+        ) is not None and mm_executor is not executor:
+            mm_executor.shutdown(wait=False)
+
     def get_bos_token_id(self) -> int | None:
         if self.tokenizer is None:
             logger.warning_once(
@@ -621,6 +657,9 @@ def _process_tokens(
         self,
         prompt: TokensPrompt,
     ) -> TokensInput | MultiModalInput:
+        """Process token inputs, with multimodal preprocessing offloaded
+        to the shared thread pool in the async variant.
+        """
         prompt_token_ids = prompt["prompt_token_ids"]
 
         engine_input: TokensInput | MultiModalInput
@@ -670,12 +709,46 @@ def _process_embeds(self, prompt: EmbedsPrompt) -> EmbedsInput:
             cache_salt=prompt.get("cache_salt"),
         )
 
+    async def _process_tokens_async(
+        self,
+        prompt: TokensPrompt,
+    ) -> TokensInput | MultiModalInput:
+        prompt_token_ids = prompt["prompt_token_ids"]
+
+        engine_input: TokensInput | MultiModalInput
+        if multi_modal_data := prompt.get("multi_modal_data"):
+            engine_input = await self._process_multimodal_async(
+                prompt_token_ids,
+                multi_modal_data,
+                mm_processor_kwargs=prompt.get("mm_processor_kwargs"),
+                tokenization_kwargs=None,
+                mm_uuids=prompt.get("multi_modal_uuids"),
+            )
+        else:
+            engine_input = tokens_input(prompt_token_ids)
+
+        if prompt_text := prompt.get("prompt"):
+            engine_input["prompt"] = prompt_text
+        if cache_salt := prompt.get("cache_salt"):
+            engine_input["cache_salt"] = cache_salt
+
+        return engine_input
+
     def _process_singleton(self, prompt: SingletonTokPrompt) -> SingletonInput:
         if "prompt_embeds" in prompt:
             return self._process_embeds(prompt)  # type: ignore[arg-type]
 
         return self._process_tokens(prompt)  # type: ignore[arg-type]
 
+    async def _process_singleton_async(
+        self,
+        prompt: SingletonTokPrompt,
+    ) -> SingletonInput:
+        if "prompt_embeds" in prompt:
+            return self._process_embeds(prompt)  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+
+        return await self._process_tokens_async(prompt)  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+
     def _process_enc_dec(
         self,
         prompt: EncoderDecoderTokPrompt,
@@ -699,6 +772,28 @@ def _process_enc_dec(
             skip_decoder_start_token=skip_decoder_start_token,
         )
 
+    async def _process_enc_dec_async(
+        self,
+        prompt: EncoderDecoderTokPrompt,
+    ) -> EncoderDecoderInput:
+        enc_prompt = prompt["encoder_prompt"]
+        dec_prompt = prompt["decoder_prompt"]
+
+        encoder_input, decoder_input = await asyncio.gather(
+            self._process_singleton_async(enc_prompt),
+            (
+                asyncio.sleep(0)
+                if dec_prompt is None
+                else self._process_singleton_async(dec_prompt)
+            ),
+        )
+
+        return build_enc_dec_input(
+            encoder_input=encoder_input,
+            decoder_input=decoder_input,
+            decoder_start_token_id=self.get_dec_start_token_id(),
+        )
+
     def process_for_engine(self, prompt: TokPrompt, arrival_time: float) -> EngineInput:
         engine_input: EngineInput
         if "encoder_prompt" in prompt:
@@ -710,6 +805,21 @@ def process_for_engine(self, prompt: TokPrompt, arrival_time: float) -> EngineIn
 
         return engine_input
 
+    async def process_for_engine_async(
+        self, prompt: TokPrompt, arrival_time: float
+    ) -> EngineInput:
+        engine_input: EngineInput
+        if "encoder_prompt" in prompt:
+            engine_input = await self._process_enc_dec_async(
+                prompt  # type: ignore[arg-type]
+            )
+        else:
+            engine_input = await self._process_singleton_async(prompt)
+
+        engine_input["arrival_time"] = arrival_time
+
+        return engine_input
+
     # Top-level methods
     def render_cmpl(
         self,
@@ -747,7 +857,9 @@ async def render_cmpl_async(
 
         self._apply_prompt_extras(tok_prompts, prompt_extras)
 
-        return [self.process_for_engine(prompt, arrival_time) for prompt in tok_prompts]
+        return await asyncio.gather(
+            *(self.process_for_engine_async(p, arrival_time) for p in tok_prompts)
+        )
 
     def render_chat(
         self,
@@ -811,8 +923,8 @@ async def render_chat_async(
 
         self._apply_prompt_extras(tok_prompts, prompt_extras)
 
-        eng_prompts = [
-            self.process_for_engine(prompt, arrival_time) for prompt in tok_prompts
-        ]
+        eng_prompts = await asyncio.gather(
+            *(self.process_for_engine_async(p, arrival_time) for p in tok_prompts)
+        )
 
         return out_conversations, eng_prompts

vllm/renderers/deepseek_v32.py

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 # SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright contributors to the vLLM project
 
+from vllm.config import VllmConfig
 from vllm.entrypoints.chat_utils import (
     ChatCompletionMessageParam,
     ConversationMessage,
@@ -9,6 +10,7 @@
 )
 from vllm.logger import init_logger
 from vllm.tokenizers.deepseek_v32 import DeepseekV32Tokenizer
+from vllm.utils.async_utils import make_async
 
 from .base import BaseRenderer
 from .inputs import DictPrompt
@@ -19,12 +21,25 @@
 
 
 class DeepseekV32Renderer(BaseRenderer[DeepseekV32Tokenizer]):
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        config: VllmConfig,
+        tokenizer: DeepseekV32Tokenizer | None,
+    ) -> None:
+        super().__init__(config, tokenizer)
+
+        self._apply_chat_template_async = make_async(
+            self._apply_chat_template, executor=self._executor
+        )
+
+    def _apply_chat_template(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        return self.get_tokenizer().apply_chat_template(*args, **kwargs)
+
     def render_messages(
         self,
         messages: list[ChatCompletionMessageParam],
         params: ChatParams,
     ) -> tuple[list[ConversationMessage], DictPrompt]:
-        tokenizer = self.get_tokenizer()
         conversation, mm_data, mm_uuids = parse_chat_messages(
             messages,
             self.model_config,
@@ -33,7 +48,7 @@ def render_messages(
             mm_processor_kwargs=params.mm_processor_kwargs,
         )
 
-        prompt_raw = tokenizer.apply_chat_template(
+        prompt_raw = self._apply_chat_template(
             conversation=conversation,
             messages=messages,
             **params.get_apply_chat_template_kwargs(),
@@ -52,7 +67,6 @@ async def render_messages_async(
         messages: list[ChatCompletionMessageParam],
         params: ChatParams,
     ) -> tuple[list[ConversationMessage], DictPrompt]:
-        tokenizer = self.get_tokenizer()
         conversation, mm_data, mm_uuids = await parse_chat_messages_async(
             messages,
             self.model_config,
@@ -61,7 +75,7 @@ async def render_messages_async(
             mm_processor_kwargs=params.mm_processor_kwargs,
         )
 
-        prompt_raw = tokenizer.apply_chat_template(
+        prompt_raw = await self._apply_chat_template_async(
             conversation=conversation,
             messages=messages,
             **params.get_apply_chat_template_kwargs(),