# Model, Architecture, Layer and Module

Every view, selection, and query in Tensormorph operates over the same address space - a hierarchy running from a whole model down to a single scalar. This page covers the coarse end of that hierarchy; the fine end (tensor down to scalar) continues in [Tensor, Matrix, Block and Scalar](/docs/core-concepts/tensor-matrix-block-scalar).

## The drill ladder

Navigating from an overview to a specific value follows eight steps:

```
Model → Architecture → Layer → Module → Tensor → Tile/Block → Row/Col/Channel → Scalar
```

This eight-step ladder is the navigation-level breakdown. A separate, coarser grouping - model, layer, module, tensor, tile, row, element - names the seven kinds of addressable entity underlying it; the two aren't in conflict, they answer different questions ("what do I click through" vs. "what fundamentally has an address").

-   **Model** - the whole loaded checkpoint.
-   **Architecture** - the recognized structural pattern the model follows (transformer, MoE, multi-tower multimodal, and so on) - see [Model Adapters](#the-model-adapter) below.
-   **Layer** - a top-level repeated unit (a transformer block, for instance).
-   **Module** - a named component within a layer (an attention block, an MLP, a single expert).

From here the ladder continues into individual tensors and below; see [Tensor, Matrix, Block and Scalar](/docs/core-concepts/tensor-matrix-block-scalar).

## The Semantic Model Graph

Tensormorph doesn't work with a checkpoint's raw file structure directly - on open, it's read into the **Semantic Model Graph (SMG)**, a typed tree where every node has a stable identity and an address. Every view (the Outliner, the [Architecture view](/docs/editors/architecture-editor), the [Comparison Editor](/docs/editors/comparison-editor)) renders a projection of the same SMG rather than maintaining its own separate model of the checkpoint, which is why selection stays synchronized across every view at once.

## The Model Adapter

Building the SMG from a raw checkpoint is the job of a **`ModelAdapter`** - a component written for a specific architecture that knows how to recognize its layer/module structure (which weights form an attention block, which form an MLP, whether there's MoE routing or multiple modality towers). When no specific adapter recognizes a model, the **fallback adapter** still builds a usable SMG from generic structural cues, so every checkpoint opens and is inspectable - you just don't get architecture-specific views (like the [MoE Expert Galaxy](/docs/working-with-models/mixture-of-experts-models)) without a matching adapter.

## Shared state across the address space

Whatever you've focused, selected, filtered, or pinned lives in a single shared **InspectionContext** - every view reads from and writes to the same context, rather than each view keeping its own private notion of "what's selected." Selecting a module in the Outliner is why it's simultaneously highlighted in the Architecture view and summarized in the Inspector panel, with no explicit synchronization step.

## Related resources

-   [Tensor, Matrix, Block and Scalar](/docs/core-concepts/tensor-matrix-block-scalar) - the fine-grained continuation of this address space.
-   [Multimodal Models](/docs/working-with-models/multimodal-models) - a case where a `ModelAdapter` must represent more than one tower.
-   [Glossary](/docs/reference/glossary) - short definitions for SMG, `ModelAdapter`, and `InspectionContext`.