feat: support convert_lora_to_hf without merge

docs/design-docs/checkpointing.md

@@ -37,11 +37,20 @@ uv run --extra mcore examples/converters/convert_megatron_to_hf.py \
   --hf-ckpt-path=<path_to_save_hf_ckpt>
 ```
 
-## Merging Megatron LoRA Adapter Checkpoints to Hugging Face Format
+## Converting Megatron LoRA Adapter Checkpoints to Hugging Face Format
 
-When training with [LoRA (Low-Rank Adaptation)](../guides/sft.md#lora-configuration) on the Megatron backend, the resulting checkpoint contains only the adapter weights alongside the base model configuration. To produce a standalone Hugging Face checkpoint suitable for inference or evaluation, use the LoRA merger script. It loads the base model, applies the LoRA adapter weights on top, and saves the merged result in Hugging Face format.
+When training with [LoRA (Low-Rank Adaptation)](../guides/sft.md#lora-configuration) on the Megatron backend, the resulting checkpoint contains only the adapter weights alongside the base model configuration. The `convert_lora_to_hf.py` script supports two export modes:
 
-This script requires Megatron-Core, so make sure to launch with the `mcore` extra:
+- **Merged**: fold the LoRA adapter into the base model and export a single standalone HuggingFace checkpoint.
+- **Adapter-only**: export only the LoRA adapter weights in [HuggingFace PEFT](https://huggingface.co/docs/peft) format, keeping the base model separate.
+
+This script requires Megatron-Core, so make sure to launch with the `mcore` extra.
+
+### Option A — Merged checkpoint
+
+Loads the base model, applies the LoRA adapter weights on top, and saves the merged result in HuggingFace format. The output can be used directly with `AutoModelForCausalLM.from_pretrained` or passed to the [evaluation pipeline](../guides/eval.md).
+
+**Example:**
 
 ```sh
 uv run --extra mcore python examples/converters/convert_lora_to_hf.py \
@@ -51,24 +60,29 @@ uv run --extra mcore python examples/converters/convert_lora_to_hf.py \
     --hf-ckpt-path <output_path_for_merged_hf_model>
 ```
 
-### Arguments
+### Option B — Adapter-only (PEFT format)
 
-| Argument | Description |
-|---|---|
-| `--base-ckpt` | Path to the base model's Megatron checkpoint directory (the `iter_XXXXXXX` folder). |
-| `--adapter-ckpt` | Path to the LoRA adapter's Megatron checkpoint directory (must contain a `run_config.yaml` with a `peft` section). |
-| `--hf-model-name` | HuggingFace model identifier used to resolve the model architecture and tokenizer (e.g. `Qwen/Qwen2.5-7B`). |
-| `--hf-ckpt-path` | Output directory for the merged HuggingFace checkpoint. Must not already exist. |
+Exports only the LoRA adapter weights in HuggingFace PEFT format without merging into the base model. This is useful when you want to serve the base model and adapter separately (e.g. with vLLM's LoRA support).
+
+Although the output is adapter-only, the converter still needs `--base-ckpt` to reconstruct the Megatron model, apply the LoRA modules, and load the adapter weights before exporting them to PEFT format.
 
-### Example
+**Example:**
 
 ```sh
-# Merge a LoRA adapter trained on Qwen2.5-7B back into a full HF checkpoint
 uv run --extra mcore python examples/converters/convert_lora_to_hf.py \
-    --base-ckpt ~/.cache/huggingface/nemo_rl/Qwen/Qwen2.5-7B/iter_0000000 \
-    --adapter-ckpt results/sft_lora/step_100/policy/weights/iter_0000000 \
-    --hf-model-name Qwen/Qwen2.5-7B \
-    --hf-ckpt-path results/sft_lora/merged_hf
+    --base-ckpt <path_to_base_megatron_checkpoint>/iter_0000000 \
+    --adapter-only \
+    --adapter-ckpt <path_to_lora_adapter_checkpoint>/iter_0000000 \
+    --hf-model-name <huggingface_model_name> \
+    --hf-ckpt-path <output_path_for_hf_adapter>
 ```
 
-The merged checkpoint can then be used directly with `AutoModelForCausalLM.from_pretrained` or passed to the [evaluation pipeline](../guides/eval.md).
+### Arguments
+
+| Argument | Description |
+|---|---|
+| `--base-ckpt` | Path to the base model's Megatron checkpoint directory (the `iter_XXXXXXX` folder). Required for both merged and adapter-only export. |
+| `--adapter-ckpt` | Path to the LoRA adapter's Megatron checkpoint directory (must contain a `run_config.yaml` with a `peft` section). |
+| `--hf-model-name` | HuggingFace model identifier used to resolve the model architecture and tokenizer (e.g. `Qwen/Qwen2.5-7B`). |
+| `--hf-ckpt-path` | Output directory for the exported HuggingFace checkpoint or adapter. Must not already exist. |
+| `--adapter-only` | Export only the LoRA adapter in HuggingFace PEFT format without merging into the base model. |

docs/guides/sft.md

@@ -339,7 +339,12 @@ For more details on LoRA, see [LoRA: Low-Rank Adaptation of Large Language Model
 
 ### Exporting a LoRA Checkpoint to Hugging Face Format
 
-After training with LoRA on the Megatron backend, use the LoRA merger script to fold the adapter weights into the base model and produce a standalone Hugging Face checkpoint for inference or evaluation. See the [Checkpointing documentation](../design-docs/checkpointing.md#merging-megatron-lora-adapter-checkpoints-to-hugging-face-format) for full usage details.
+After training with LoRA on the Megatron backend, the `convert_lora_to_hf.py` script supports two export modes:
+
+- **Merged**: fold the adapter into the base model and export a single standalone HuggingFace checkpoint for inference or evaluation.
+- **Adapter-only**: export only the adapter weights in HuggingFace PEFT format, keeping the base model separate (e.g. for use with vLLM's LoRA support).
+
+See the [Checkpointing documentation](../design-docs/checkpointing.md#converting-megatron-lora-adapter-checkpoints-to-hugging-face-format) for full usage details and examples.
 
 ## Optimizations
 

docs/nsys-profiling.md

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ NeMo RL supports Nsight profiling for Ray workers through environment variable p
 
 ## Prerequisites
 
-* Install NVIDIA Nsight Systems (`nsys`) on the compute nodes where workers will run. For Ubuntu installation instructions, see the [NVIDIA Nsight Systems Installation Guide](https://docs.nvidia.com/nsight-systems/InstallationGuide/index.html#package-manager-installation)).
+* Install NVIDIA Nsight Systems (`nsys`) on the compute nodes where workers will run. For Ubuntu installation instructions, see the [NVIDIA Nsight Systems Installation Guide](https://docs.nvidia.com/nsight-systems/InstallationGuide/index.html#package-manager-installation).
 
 **Note: If you're using NeMo RL containers, `nsys` is already installed.**
 

examples/converters/convert_lora_to_hf.py

@@ -1,10 +1,36 @@
-"""Merge a Megatron LoRA adapter checkpoint with its base model and export to HuggingFace format.
+# Copyright (c) 2026, NVIDIA CORPORATION.  All rights reserved.
+#
+# 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.
 
-This is helpful when one wants to train the model using Megatron with LoRA adapter and then convert it to HuggingFace format
-for inference and evaluation.
+
+"""Export a Megatron LoRA adapter checkpoint to HuggingFace format.
+
+This script supports two workflows:
+
+1. Merge the base model and LoRA adapter, then export a standard HuggingFace model.
+2. Export only the LoRA adapter to a HuggingFace PEFT-compatible directory without merging.
 
 Usage (requires mcore extra):
 
+    # Export adapter only (recommended when you want PEFT format)
+    uv run --extra mcore python examples/converters/convert_lora_to_hf.py \
+        --base-ckpt ~/.cache/huggingface/nemo_rl/zai-org/GLM-5/iter_0000000 \
+        --adapter-only \
+        --adapter-ckpt results/dpo_glm5/step_5/policy/weights/iter_0000000 \
+        --hf-model-name zai-org/GLM-5 \
+        --hf-ckpt-path ./hf_lora_adapter
+
+    # Merge base model + adapter and export a full HF checkpoint
     uv run --extra mcore python examples/converters/convert_lora_to_hf.py \
         --base-ckpt ~/.cache/huggingface/nemo_rl/zai-org/GLM-5/iter_0000000 \
         --adapter-ckpt results/dpo_glm5/step_5/policy/weights/iter_0000000 \
@@ -18,6 +44,7 @@
 import logging
 import os
 import sys
+from contextlib import contextmanager
 
 import yaml
 
@@ -29,13 +56,13 @@
 
 def parse_args():
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
-        description="Merge Megatron LoRA adapter with base model and export to HF"
+        description="Export Megatron LoRA checkpoint to HuggingFace format"
     )
     parser.add_argument(
         "--base-ckpt",
         type=str,
         required=True,
-        help="Path to base model Megatron checkpoint (iter_XXXXXXX directory)",
+        help="Path to base model Megatron checkpoint (iter_XXXXXXX directory). Required for both merged and adapter-only export.",
     )
     parser.add_argument(
         "--adapter-ckpt",
@@ -53,46 +80,37 @@ def parse_args():
         "--hf-ckpt-path",
         type=str,
         required=True,
-        help="Output path for merged HF checkpoint",
+        help="Output path for the exported HF checkpoint or adapter directory",
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--adapter-only",
+        action="store_true",
+        help="Export only the LoRA adapter in HuggingFace PEFT format without merging into the base model.",
     )
-    return parser.parse_args()
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+    return args
 
 
-def merge_lora_to_hf(
+@contextmanager
+def _build_megatron_model_with_lora(
     base_ckpt: str,
     adapter_ckpt: str,
     hf_model_name: str,
-    hf_ckpt_path: str,
-) -> str:
-    """Merge a Megatron LoRA adapter with its base model and export to HuggingFace format.
-
-    Args:
-        base_ckpt: Path to the base model Megatron checkpoint (iter_XXXXXXX directory).
-        adapter_ckpt: Path to the LoRA adapter Megatron checkpoint (iter_XXXXXXX directory).
-                      Must contain a ``run_config.yaml`` with a ``peft`` section.
-        hf_model_name: HuggingFace model identifier (e.g. ``zai-org/GLM-5``).
-        hf_ckpt_path: Output directory for the merged HuggingFace checkpoint.
-
-    Returns:
-        The *hf_ckpt_path* that was written to.
-
-    Raises:
-        FileExistsError: If *hf_ckpt_path* already exists.
-        ValueError: If the adapter's ``run_config.yaml`` has no ``peft`` section.
-    """
-    if os.path.exists(hf_ckpt_path):
-        raise FileExistsError(f"Output path already exists: {hf_ckpt_path}")
-
+):
+    """Build a single-rank Megatron model with LoRA weights loaded for export flows."""
     from megatron.bridge import AutoBridge
     from megatron.bridge.peft.lora import LoRA
     from megatron.bridge.training.checkpointing import (
+        _generate_model_state_dict,
         _load_model_weights_from_checkpoint,
+        apply_peft_adapter_filter_to_state_dict,
     )
     from megatron.bridge.training.model_load_save import (
         load_model_config,
         megatron_cpu_init_context,
         temporary_distributed_context,
     )
+    from megatron.core import dist_checkpointing
 
     bridge = AutoBridge.from_hf_pretrained(hf_model_name, trust_remote_code=True)
 
@@ -128,6 +146,7 @@ def merge_lora_to_hf(
         model_cfg.hierarchical_context_parallel_sizes = None
         model_cfg.fp8 = None
         model_cfg.fp8_param = False
+        model_cfg.gradient_accumulation_fusion = False
 
         peft = LoRA(
             target_modules=peft_section.get("target_modules", []),
@@ -140,9 +159,10 @@ def merge_lora_to_hf(
             lora_B_init_method=peft_section.get("lora_B_init_method", "zero"),
             a2a_experimental=peft_section.get("a2a_experimental", False),
         )
-        model_cfg.peft = peft
 
-        logger.info("Building model with LoRA wrappers on CPU...")
+        logger.info(
+            "Building base model on CPU (LoRA wrappers applied after base weights are loaded)..."
+        )
         if hasattr(model_cfg, "finalize"):
             model_cfg.finalize()
         with megatron_cpu_init_context(model_cfg):
@@ -159,10 +179,67 @@ def merge_lora_to_hf(
         _load_model_weights_from_checkpoint(base_ckpt, megatron_model, strict=False)
         gc.collect()
 
+        logger.info("Applying LoRA wrappers to model...")
+        megatron_model = peft(megatron_model, training=False)
+        gc.collect()
+
         logger.info(f"Loading LoRA adapter from {adapter_ckpt}...")
-        _load_model_weights_from_checkpoint(adapter_ckpt, megatron_model, strict=False)
+        adapter_sharded_state_dict = _generate_model_state_dict(megatron_model, {})
+        adapter_sharded_state_dict = apply_peft_adapter_filter_to_state_dict(
+            adapter_sharded_state_dict, peft
+        )
+        loaded_adapter_state_dict = dist_checkpointing.load(
+            adapter_sharded_state_dict, adapter_ckpt
+        )
+        model_key = (
+            "model"
+            if "model" in loaded_adapter_state_dict
+            else next(k for k in loaded_adapter_state_dict if k.startswith("model"))
+        )
+        for m in megatron_model:
+            m.load_state_dict(loaded_adapter_state_dict[model_key], strict=False)
         gc.collect()
 
+        try:
+            yield bridge, megatron_model, peft
+        finally:
+            del megatron_model
+            gc.collect()
+            logger.info("Freed model memory.")
+            sys.stderr.flush()
+            sys.stdout.flush()
+
+
+def merge_lora_to_hf(
+    base_ckpt: str,
+    adapter_ckpt: str,
+    hf_model_name: str,
+    hf_ckpt_path: str,
+) -> str:
+    """Merge a Megatron LoRA adapter with its base model and export to HuggingFace format.
+
+    Args:
+        base_ckpt: Path to the base model Megatron checkpoint (iter_XXXXXXX directory).
+        adapter_ckpt: Path to the LoRA adapter Megatron checkpoint (iter_XXXXXXX directory).
+                      Must contain a ``run_config.yaml`` with a ``peft`` section.
+        hf_model_name: HuggingFace model identifier (e.g. ``zai-org/GLM-5``).
+        hf_ckpt_path: Output directory for the merged HuggingFace checkpoint.
+
+    Returns:
+        The *hf_ckpt_path* that was written to.
+
+    Raises:
+        FileExistsError: If *hf_ckpt_path* already exists.
+        ValueError: If the adapter's ``run_config.yaml`` has no ``peft`` section.
+    """
+    if os.path.exists(hf_ckpt_path):
+        raise FileExistsError(f"Output path already exists: {hf_ckpt_path}")
+
+    with _build_megatron_model_with_lora(
+        base_ckpt=base_ckpt,
+        adapter_ckpt=adapter_ckpt,
+        hf_model_name=hf_model_name,
+    ) as (bridge, megatron_model, _):
         logger.info("Saving merged model in HuggingFace format...")
         bridge.save_hf_pretrained(
             megatron_model,
@@ -171,24 +248,68 @@ def merge_lora_to_hf(
             merge_adapter_weights=True,
         )
 
-        del megatron_model
-        gc.collect()
-        logger.info("Freed model memory.")
-        sys.stderr.flush()
-        sys.stdout.flush()
-
     logger.info(f"Done! Merged HF model saved to: {hf_ckpt_path}")
     return hf_ckpt_path
 
 
+def export_lora_adapter_to_hf(
+    base_ckpt: str,
+    adapter_ckpt: str,
+    hf_model_name: str,
+    hf_ckpt_path: str,
+) -> str:
+    """Export a Megatron LoRA adapter to HuggingFace PEFT format.
+
+    Args:
+        base_ckpt: Path to the base model Megatron checkpoint (iter_XXXXXXX directory).
+        adapter_ckpt: Path to the LoRA adapter Megatron checkpoint (iter_XXXXXXX directory).
+                      Must contain a ``run_config.yaml`` with a ``peft`` section.
+        hf_model_name: HuggingFace model identifier (e.g. ``zai-org/GLM-5``).
+        hf_ckpt_path: Output directory for the HuggingFace PEFT adapter checkpoint.
+
+    Returns:
+        The *hf_ckpt_path* that was written to.
+
+    Raises:
+        FileExistsError: If *hf_ckpt_path* already exists.
+        ValueError: If the adapter's ``run_config.yaml`` has no ``peft`` section.
+    """
+    if os.path.exists(hf_ckpt_path):
+        raise FileExistsError(f"Output path already exists: {hf_ckpt_path}")
+
+    with _build_megatron_model_with_lora(
+        base_ckpt=base_ckpt,
+        adapter_ckpt=adapter_ckpt,
+        hf_model_name=hf_model_name,
+    ) as (bridge, megatron_model, peft):
+        logger.info("Saving LoRA adapter in HuggingFace PEFT format...")
+        bridge.save_hf_adapter(
+            megatron_model,
+            hf_ckpt_path,
+            peft_config=peft,
+            base_model_name_or_path=hf_model_name,
+        )
+
+    logger.info(f"Done! HF adapter saved to: {hf_ckpt_path}")
+    return hf_ckpt_path
+
+
 def main():
     args = parse_args()
-    merge_lora_to_hf(
-        base_ckpt=args.base_ckpt,
-        adapter_ckpt=args.adapter_ckpt,
-        hf_model_name=args.hf_model_name,
-        hf_ckpt_path=args.hf_ckpt_path,
-    )
+    if args.adapter_only:
+        export_lora_adapter_to_hf(
+            base_ckpt=args.base_ckpt,
+            adapter_ckpt=args.adapter_ckpt,
+            hf_model_name=args.hf_model_name,
+            hf_ckpt_path=args.hf_ckpt_path,
+        )
+    else:
+        merge_lora_to_hf(
+            base_ckpt=args.base_ckpt,
+            adapter_ckpt=args.adapter_ckpt,
+            hf_model_name=args.hf_model_name,
+            hf_ckpt_path=args.hf_ckpt_path,
+        )
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":