license: other
license_name: katanemo-research
license_link: https://huggingface.co/katanemo/Arch-Router-1.5B/blob/main/LICENSE
base_model:
- Qwen/Qwen2.5-1.5B-Instruct
language:
- en
pipeline_tag: text-generation
library_name: transformers
katanemo/Arch-Router-1.5B
Overview
With the rapid proliferation of large language models (LLM)—each optimized for different strengths, style, or latency/cost profile—routing has become an essential technique to operationalize the use of different models.
Existing work on LLM routing typically focuses on learning an optimal policy to route between a limited pool of models, where optimal is measured via well-defined performance benchmarks. This framework, however, is misaligned with real-world scenarios. Benchmark performance does not capture subjective evaluation and testing criteria in the real world.
Arch-Router is a preference-aligned routing model designed to intelligently guide model selection by matching queries to user-defined domains (e.g., finance and healthcare) and action types (e.g., code generation, image editing, etc.). Experiments on conversational datasets demonstrate that our approach achieves state-of-the-art (SOTA) results in matching queries with human preferences, outperforming top proprietary routing systems. Our preference-aligned approach matches practical definitions of performance in the real world and makes routing decisions more transparent and adaptable.
How It Works
To support effective routing, Arch-Router introduces two key concepts:
- Domain – the high-level thematic category or subject matter of a request (e.g., legal, healthcare, programming).
- Action – the specific type of operation the user wants performed (e.g., summarization, code generation, booking appointment, translation).
Both domain and action configs are associated with preferred models or model variants. At inference time, Arch-Router analyzes the incoming prompt to infer its domain and action using semantic similarity, task indicators, and contextual cues. It then applies the user-defined routing preferences to select the model best suited to handle the request.
Key Features
- Structured Preference Routing: Aligns prompt request with model strengths using explicit domain–action mappings.
- Transparent and Controllable: Makes routing decisions transparent and configurable, empowering users to customize system behavior.
- Flexible and Adaptive: Supports evolving user needs, model updates, and new domains/actions without retraining the router.
- Production-Ready Performance: Optimized for low-latency, high-throughput applications in multi-model environments.
Arch-Router powers the open-source Arch Gateway, enabling seamless, preference-based prompt routing in multi-LLM systems.
Requirements
The code of Arch-Router-1.5B has been in the Hugging Face transformers library and we advise you to install latest version:
pip install transformers>=4.37.0
How to use
We use the following example to illustrate how to use our model to perform routing tasks. Please note that, our model works best with our provided prompt format.
Quickstart
import json
from typing import Any, Dict, List
from transformers import AutoModelForCausalLM, AutoTokenizer
model_name = "katanemo/Arch-Router-1.5B"
model = AutoModelForCausalLM.from_pretrained(
model_name, device_map="auto", torch_dtype="auto", trust_remote_code=True
)
tokenizer = AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained(model_name)
# Please use our provided prompt for best performance
TASK_INSTRUCTION = """
You are a helpful assistant designed to find the best suited route.
You are provided with route description within <routes></routes> XML tags:
<routes>
\n{routes}\n
</routes>
<conversation>
\n{conversation}\n
</conversation>
"""
FORMAT_PROMPT = """
Your task is to decide which route is best suit with user intent on the conversation in <conversation></conversation> XML tags. Follow the instruction:
1. If the latest intent from user is irrelevant or user intent is full filled, response with other route {"route": "other"}.
2. You must analyze the route descriptions and find the best match route for user latest intent.
3. You only response the name of the route that best matches the user's request, use the exact name in the <routes></routes>.
Based on your analysis, provide your response in the following JSON formats if you decide to match any route:
{"route": "route_name"}
"""
# Define route config
route_config = [
{
"name": "code_generation",
"description": "Generating new code snippets, functions, or boilerplate based on user prompts or requirements",
},
{
"name": "bug_fixing",
"description": "Identifying and fixing errors or bugs in the provided code across different programming languages",
},
{
"name": "performance_optimization",
"description": "Suggesting improvements to make code more efficient, readable, or scalable",
},
{
"name": "api_help",
"description": "Assisting with understanding or integrating external APIs and libraries",
},
{
"name": "programming",
"description": "Answering general programming questions, theory, or best practices",
},
]
# Helper function to create the system prompt for our model
def format_prompt(
route_config: List[Dict[str, Any]], conversation: List[Dict[str, Any]]
):
return (
TASK_INSTRUCTION.format(
routes=json.dumps(route_config), conversation=json.dumps(conversation)
)
+ FORMAT_PROMPT
)
# Define conversations
conversation = [
{
"role": "user",
"content": "fix this module 'torch.utils._pytree' has no attribute 'register_pytree_node'. did you mean: '_register_pytree_node'?",
}
]
route_prompt = format_prompt(route_config, conversation)
messages = [
{"role": "user", "content": route_prompt},
]
input_ids = tokenizer.apply_chat_template(
messages, add_generation_prompt=True, return_tensors="pt"
).to(model.device)
# 2. Generate
generated_ids = model.generate(
input_ids=input_ids, # or just positional: model.generate(input_ids, …)
max_new_tokens=32768,
)
# 3. Strip the prompt from each sequence
prompt_lengths = input_ids.shape[1] # same length for every row here
generated_only = [
output_ids[prompt_lengths:] # slice off the prompt tokens
for output_ids in generated_ids
]
# 4. Decode if you want text
response = tokenizer.batch_decode(generated_only, skip_special_tokens=True)[0]
print(response)
Then you should be able to see the following output string in JSON format:
{"route": "bug_fixing"}
To better understand how to create the route descriptions, please take a look at our Katanemo API.
License
Katanemo Arch-Router model is distributed under the Katanemo license.