Developing high-performance CUDA kernels demands specialized knowledge in algorithm implementation, correctness validation, and hardware-aware parallel optimization, creating a substantial expertise barrier and making generating CUDA kernels directly from natural language (Text2CUDA) essential.
Meanwhile, the general-purpose code generation capability of Large Language Models (LLMs) prompts a series of works exploring LLM-based CUDA kernel generation. They mainly focus on transpilation from high-level frameworks such as PyTorch to CUDA (Torch2CUDA) rather than Text2CUDA, where models must understand the high-level input semantics and handle low-level kernel implementation and validation.
Additionally, these methods are vulnerable to reward hacking due to reliance on predefined test inputs.
In this paper, we propose CUDA-Harness, a framework for harnessing agentic CUDA kernel generation and optimization from natural language.
Specifically, we introduce Intermediate-Structured Generation to connect high-level semantic understanding with low-level kernel generation.
To dilute reward hacking in Text2CUDA, we construct Synthesis-Based Verification to provide isolated test data and progressive validation.
Furthermore, we propose Feedback-Adaptive Evolution, a kernel evolution strategy that prioritizes correctness while optimizing performance.
Finally, through extensive experiments, we demonstrate the effectiveness of CUDA-Harness, with further evaluations illustrating generalization across LLMs, hardware platforms, and to C-to-CUDA transpilation.