hipRAFT Python API documentation

2026-03-13

2 min read time

Applies to Linux

hipRAFT ships two Python packages serving distinct roles:

• pylibraft is the core Python library, providing single-GPU, high-performance primitives that map directly onto the underlying C++ API. It is the primary entry point for most users and covers device resource management, random matrix generation, sparse operations, and more.

• raft_dask is a complementary package for multi-node, multi-GPU workloads. It builds on top of pylibraft and Dask to provide distributed communicator abstractions (NCCL, UCX/UCXX), enabling collective operations across GPU clusters. Use raft_dask when your workflow spans more than one GPU or node. Note: raft_dask is experimental and has limited testing.