An unset transformer_quant used to mean off (run the GGUF as-is), so the
hardware ladder only engaged when auto was explicitly chosen and the panel
showed Off as the default. Unset (or auto) now hands the decision to the
ladder: a dense-capable GPU gets at least int8, data-center silicon fp8,
falling back to the GGUF when the device, VRAM, family deny table or disk
cannot take it. An explicit none/off pins GGUF-as-is and is now
expressible in the API (previously only omission meant off, so pinned-off
and unset were indistinguishable); an explicit scheme pins that scheme.
The dense candidate also gains a free-disk gate: with auto as the default
the bf16 base download (up to ~40 GB) must never wedge a nearly-full
model-cache disk, so the candidate is dropped (GGUF build kept) when free
space cannot hold it plus a 10 GiB margin. Unprobeable disk passes.
Frontend: the Dtype select defaults to Auto (fastest for GPU), keeps Off
as an explicit choice, and sends none through instead of omitting it.
Suite: 622 diffusion tests green (default-load test rewritten to the new
contract, explicit-off short-circuit covered), CI-sim green.