Diagram of a speculative decoding loop with an n-gram draft model feeding into a target verification step.

Building a Speculative Decoding Engine From Scratch: A Portfolio Project That Actually Signals Systems Skill

Build a runnable speculative decoding engine in Python with an n-gram draft model and target-model verification loop — a portfolio project that demonstrates LLM inference, KV-cache reasoning, and acceptance sampling.

September 7, 2026 · 14 min · 2845 words · martinuke0
Feedback