NPU: the build's own lax kernels are the default; Qwen3.6-35B-A3B through Lemonade

[bong-water-water-bong]

Checklist item 6 (the NPU from Lemonade), engine half.

Change: 1bit serve now finds the lax kernels without a flag. The lookup order is --npu-kernels, <dir>/npu/lax, $ONEBIT_NPU_LAX_KERNELS, then the build's own. -DONEBIT_NPU_LAX=ON builds them once into the build tree with scripts/build-lax.sh, from the open kernels in third_party/OpenFlowLM-Next. -DONEBIT_NPU_LAX_KERNELS=<dir> points at an existing build instead.

Measured on strixhalo:

• build-lax.sh at the pin: lax_a insts.elf md5 426b8dd… and insts.bin md5 4f3c749…, both matching tests/golden/npu_lax.
• 1bit serve -m <35B dir> with no kernel flag: ready in about 36 s, 16.9 tok/s, full ELFs.
• Through Lemonade (fork onebit-npu, catalog entry Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NPU-1bit → FastFlowLM/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NPU2): Lemonade hash-verified the checkpoint repo, loaded it in 30 s, and answered "Paris" at 16.0 tok/s. The log shows "full ELFs from …/lax/kernels"; no xclbin is read.

Docs: docs/npu-lax.md, and the checklist in docs/lemonade.md. Still open there: the small NPU models, reasoning_content on the NPU route, and our own HF repos.

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Commit 93a8b02

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⏱️ Estimated effort to review: 3 🔵🔵🔵⚪⚪

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⚡ Recommended focus areas for review Incorrect Error Message The error message in run_serve function has been updated to include a new suggestion about the build's own lax kernels, but it still refers to the old path <dir>/npu/lax instead of the new default search order. This could mislead users about where to place the kernels. "Qwen3.6-35B-A3B needs the lax kernels: --npu-kernels, <dir>/npu/lax, " "$ONEBIT_NPU_LAX_KERNELS or a -DONEBIT_NPU_LAX build)"); Default Kernel Path Not Fully Documented The help message in run_unified function mentions the new default search order, but it doesn't clearly indicate that -DONEBIT_NPU_LAX=ON builds the kernels into the build tree. This could lead to confusion about how the default path is determined. " else <model dir>/npu/lax, else $ONEBIT_NPU_LAX_KERNELS, else this build's\n" " (-DONEBIT_NPU_LAX, docs/npu-lax.md)\n"