Functional Simulator

TT-Lang includes a functional simulator that runs operations as pure Python, without requiring Tenstorrent hardware or the full compiler stack. Use it to validate kernel logic and iterate quickly during development.

The simulator typically supports more language features than the compiler at any given point — see the functionality matrix for current coverage.

Setup

The simulator does not require building the compiler. Configure with -DTTLANG_SIM_ONLY=ON to create just the Python environment:

cmake -G Ninja -B build -DTTLANG_SIM_ONLY=ON
source build/env/activate

This skips the LLVM, tt-mlir, and tt-metal builds entirely and only sets up the Python venv with runtime dependencies.

If you have already built the full TT-Lang compiler (source build/env/activate), the simulator works without any additional setup.

Running

ttlang-sim examples/eltwise_add.py

Run the simulator test suite:

python -m pytest test/sim/

Debugging

The simulator runs as standard Python code, so any Python debugger works with it.

VSCode

Create a debug configuration in .vscode/launch.json:

{
  "name": "Debug TT-Lang Simulator",
  "type": "debugpy",
  "request": "launch",
  "module": "sim.ttlang_sim",
  "args": ["${file}"],
  "console": "integratedTerminal",
  "justMyCode": false,
  "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
  "env": {
    "PYTHONPATH": "${workspaceFolder}/python"
  }
}

  1. Open a TT-NN program file in VSCode (e.g., examples/eltwise_add.py)

  2. Set breakpoints in your program code

  3. Press F5 or select “Debug TT-Lang Simulator” from the Run menu

  4. The debugger stops at breakpoints, allowing variable inspection and step-through execution