Smartly Apply Constraints During Cartesian Product by Scienfitz · Pull Request #773 · emdgroup/baybe

Scienfitz · 2026-03-31T00:40:44Z

This PR implements a more optimized Cartesian product creation in the presence of constraints which can result in memory and time gains of many orders of magnitude (see mini benchmark below).

Rationale

Currently constraint filtering is done only after the entire search space has been created. This means the memory needed for the intermediate df is potentially huge even if the final df is tiny. In practice this had led to many problems when working with slot based mixtures, even if the optimized from_simplex constructor was used
Instead, any given cosntraint can be applied early during the parameter-by-parameter cross join operations. There are three tiers of applying this:
1. As soon as possible filter: A constraint can be applied as soon as all of its affected parameters are in the current crossjoin-df. After this application the constraint is fully ensured and does not have to be applied again. If the order in which cross join goes over the parameters is optimized this would already lead to an improvement as subsequent operations "see" much smaller left-dataframes.
2. Partial/early filter:
- Some constraints can be applied even if not all affected parameters are present yet.
- Example: no label duplicates - even if there are just 2 out of 7 parameters present, we can remove the rows that have duplicates in the 2 parameters.
- This filter has to be repeated in every loop iteration until it ran with all affected parameters present. However, the cost of multiple filter applications are dwarfed by the savings from smaller cross join operations.
- Whether a constraint supports early filtering might depend on its configuration, example: exclude constraint with combiner (early filter supported for OR, not for AND or XOR)
1. Look ahead: Some constraints can look ahead based on the possible parameter values that might be incoming and recognize that constraints cannot be fulfilled even in future crossjoin iterations.
- This is essentially what from_simplex implements for the very special case of 1 global sum constraint and 1 cardinality constraint. If we ever implement look-ahead filters for all constraints the from_simplex constructor might become obsolete
- For this we would need access to the parameter values inside the constraint logic, which might be easier to implement once the constraints have been refactored Refactor General Constraint Interface #517
This PR implements smart filtering for tiers 1 and 2. I left IMPROVE notes to remember about tier 3. To achieve this
- Constraint.get_invalid was extended to handle situations where not all parameters are in the df to be filtered. The constraint can the decide whether it can apply early filtering or returns the new UnsupportedEarlyFilteringError if it needs all parameters present
- The crossjoin is done in a custom loop inside parameter_cartesian_prod_pandas_constrained which itself performs the process described above after deciding on a smart parameter order for the crossjoin

Good To Know

new Constraint method has_polars_implementation, discussion here
new Constraint property _filtering_parameters, discussion here
strange appearance of DiscreteNoLabelDuplicatesConstraint in DiscretePermutationInvarianceConstraint .get_invalid explained here

Mini Benchmark:

Scenario 1: 7 categoricals with 8 values each and a no label dupe constraint
Scenario 2: complex slot-based mixture with 6 slots, 3 subgroups, sum constraints and additional product parameters
tested on (old main vs this branch) x (polars on/off)
30min as max runtime for a quick test

Scenario	Polars	main	feature	Speedup	Memory reduction
1: `from_product`, 7×8 cat, NoLabelDuplicates (2M→40K rows)	OFF	61.4s / 636 MB	6.6s / 48 MB	9.3x	13.2x
	ON	1.8s / 73 MB	1.6s / 47 MB	1.1x	1.6x
2: `from_simplex`, 6-slot mixture + 3 extras (~12B→22K rows)	OFF	>30min	0.5s / 17 MB	>3600x	—
	ON	>30min	0.5s / 17 MB	>3600x	—

Copilot

Pull request overview

This PR optimizes discrete search space construction by applying discrete constraints incrementally during Cartesian product generation (including improved Polars/Pandas interop), aiming to reduce intermediate memory use and runtime for highly constrained spaces.

Changes:

Added baybe.searchspace.utils with shared Cartesian product helpers and a new incremental constrained-product builder.
Extended discrete constraint interfaces to support (or explicitly refuse) early filtering via UnsupportedEarlyFilteringError, plus a has_polars_implementation capability flag.
Updated discrete search space constructors and tests to use the new incremental filtering path (and added parity tests vs the naive approach).

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 10 out of 10 changed files in this pull request and generated 7 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
`baybe/searchspace/utils.py`	New utilities: parameter ordering, pandas/polars cartesian product, and incremental constrained cartesian product builder.
`baybe/searchspace/discrete.py`	Switches discrete space construction to incremental filtering; Polars path builds partial product and merges remainder via pandas. Adds new `from_simplex` validation.
`baybe/constraints/base.py`	Adds `_required_filtering_parameters` and `has_polars_implementation`; updates docs for partial-dataframe filtering semantics.
`baybe/constraints/discrete.py`	Updates discrete constraints to support early/partial filtering and to raise `UnsupportedEarlyFilteringError` when unsupported.
`baybe/exceptions.py`	Adds `UnsupportedEarlyFilteringError`.
`tests/constraints/test_constrained_cartesian_product.py`	New test ensuring naive vs incremental constrained product results match across several scenarios.
`tests/constraints/test_constraints_polars.py`	Updates imports for moved cartesian product helpers.
`tests/test_searchspace.py`	Updates imports for moved cartesian product helpers.
`tests/hypothesis_strategies/alternative_creation/test_searchspace.py`	Adjusts simplex-related tests to reflect new `from_simplex` constraints.
`CHANGELOG.md`	Documents incremental filtering and new constraint capability/exception additions.

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AdrianSosic

Hi @Scienfitz, I'll need some more time for the review but wanted to already share some comments so that you can start to think about it / we can discuss. More will follow 🙃

AdrianSosic · 2026-04-09T13:54:38Z


    @override
    def get_invalid(self, data: pd.DataFrame) -> pd.Index:
+        if not set(self.parameters) <= set(data.columns):


Two things:

Wasn't the _required_filtering_parameters property exactly intended for this purpose, i.e. don't have to hardcode the set(self.parameters) in each constraint but to dynamically read it from the property?

I thought the reason to add the property in the first place was that we can automate this check, but now you've manually implemented it in each constraint!? I would have expected a template-design approach, where there the check is implemented in the base class and the subclasses only implement a _get_invalid or similar.

it depends

I actually only wanted to use the helper in the two cosntraints tha are more complex, ie where self.parameters is NOT the full set of affected parameters

But I can understand your request and its def stragne to sue it int he colum checks for some and some not. But then consider the many otehr applciations of self.parameters that I wold have to chagne for consistency as well. here an exmaple:

should I apply it here on the top and in evaluate_data as well? That would be way more invasive than I intended

A variant to clean this a bit could be: Do not make _required_parameters a base class property but only give it to the two problematic constraints. Would enforce. a bit better that I am only suing this as workaround int he two problematic constraints. Opinion? this would revert the utility the _required_parameters property has in things like the new utils and things outside of the constraint class itself

@AdrianSosic with the changes to the control flow the template worfklow now made much more sense and I added it there

RE the should I apply it everywhere: I think to be consistent, you need to apply it in all places where self.parameters carries the same semantic meaning. You certainly know: there are cases where a quantity just happens to carry the same value but is semantically different! In these cases, self.parameters needs to stay, but in all others, I suggest to change it to self._required_parameters. You would indeed have to check case by case 😬

so what do you want further changed?

Exactly what I wrote: whenever there is a self.parameter that is semantically equivalent to self._required_parameters --> replace the latter with the former to make this semantic coupling explicit!

hmm only ones I could find was in valdation where it was indeed useful
this required lifting the property to Constraint which should be fine
3360cd5

AVHopp

Incomplete review. Only had a look at the changes made to the constraints so far. Tried to comprehend the constraints, and the logic for them seems to check out. Will give a more in-depth review after some of the general issues pointed out by the others have been addressed.

AVHopp · 2026-04-10T12:59:14Z

+- Polars path in discrete search space construction now builds the Cartesian product
+  only for parameters involved in Polars-capable constraints, merging the rest
+  incrementally via pandas


Suggested change

- Polars path in discrete search space construction now builds the Cartesian product

only for parameters involved in Polars-capable constraints, merging the rest

incrementally via pandas

- `Polars` path in discrete search space construction now builds the Cartesian product

only for parameters involved in `Polars`-capable constraints, merging the rest

incrementally via `pandas`

that would be quite inconsistent with the existing CHANGELOG fyi

AVHopp · 2026-04-10T13:09:27Z

+        cols = set(data.columns)
+        pairs = [(p, c) for p, c in zip(self.parameters, self.conditions) if p in cols]
+        if not pairs:
+            raise UnsupportedEarlyFilteringError(


The docstring clearly states what this function should do: Get the indices of dataframe entries that are invalid under the constraint.. No indices are invalid, so it should return an empty index and not an error in my opinion.

…duct

Co-authored-by: AdrianSosic <adrian.sosic@merckgroup.com>

…frame

…eringError

AdrianSosic · 2026-04-14T06:19:50Z

-        if not simplex_parameters:
-            return cls(parameters=product_parameters, exp_rep=product_space)
+        # Validate minimum number of simplex parameters
+        if len(simplex_parameters) < 2:


Can you elaborate why you changed this? Of course, we both agree that calling from_simplex with just one parameter is sort of meaningless but:

it's not "wrong", i.e. it still works. So should we really forbid it?

If we really do want to forbid (which I'm not sure, perhaps a warning is more appropriate), I think the message needs to change. You are just saying what is not allowed, but it's missing what you should do instead.

despite it "working" and not causing any problems I think it is most likely always a mistake if this is called with just 1 simplex parameter (can you name me a usecase?) So its simply safe to forbid it

The concepts of cardinality and sum constraints (which this mthod implements in a special way) do not make sense if there is just 1 parameter, agree? So its safe to forbid.

Yes I can change the message

Agree that there is no original use case, but one may argue from a different angle:

Errors are intended for not compatible / something is wrong

Warnings are intended for makes no particular sense / is unusual, but logic is still valid

The use case I could possibly see is when stuff is set up programmatically: You define your specs e.g. via list comprehensions and vary (for whatever reason) the number of numerical parameters that go into the simplex rule. If we go with error, it means that the user would need to change the code logic for the edge case of 1 parameter, while with a warning, that case would simply run through as well.

But if you have a strong preference for error, I'm also fine with it.

ok I turned it into warnings for len < 2
in the case of 0 the rest is piped through to from_product while for the case of 1 the logic of the function is called as is
5e5d731

AdrianSosic · 2026-04-14T06:21:52Z

-        # Remove entries that violate parameter constraints:
-        _apply_constraint_filter_pandas(exp_rep, constraints)
+        # Merge product parameters and apply constraints incrementally
+        exp_rep = parameter_cartesian_prod_pandas_constrained(


Not caused by your change, but general question: why are we using hard-coded pandas here? Could it be that we simple forgot to add the polars path?

yes there was never a polars path here imo

AdrianSosic · 2026-04-14T07:25:37Z

+            polars_param_names: set[str] = set()
+            for c in polars_constraints:
+                polars_param_names.update(c._required_parameters)
+            polars_params = [p for p in parameters if p.name in polars_param_names]


Perhaps a stupid question, but what happens downstream from here when the set of parameters is only a subset of the polars parameters? For example, I could have a polars constraint on ["A", "B", "C"] while my parameters contain only ["A", "B"]. Then polars_params will be "incorrectly" filtered down to just ["A", "B"]

AdrianSosic · 2026-04-14T07:31:46Z

+                )
+                initial_df = lazy_df.collect().to_pandas()
+                # Apply Polars constraints that failed back via pandas
+                _apply_constraint_filter_pandas(


Hm, could it be that this is now also just dead code because we filter to polars-compatible constraints upfront? Or what am I not seeing here?

think youre right
c4008d9

AdrianSosic · 2026-04-17T06:46:08Z

+    # (smallest expansion factor during cross-merging).
+    ordered: list[DiscreteParameter] = []
+    available: set[str] = set()
+    remaining = list(constrained)


the remaining variable is a bit unlucky, I think:

it has initially the same content as unconstrained and is mutated, but unconstrained is never used again --> no need for second variable

I think all of them should be sets, not lists, right?

unconstrained is used at the bottom

AdrianSosic · 2026-04-17T06:47:26Z

+    parameters: Sequence[DiscreteParameter],
+    constraints: Sequence[DiscreteConstraint],
+) -> list[DiscreteParameter]:
+    """Compute an optimal parameter ordering for incremental space construction.


Just out of curiosity: have you considered if a true optimal solution is feasible?
If not, I think the docstring needs to be adjusted (i.e. it's not optimal but a greedy approximation)

not considered and not intended to speak in the mathematical sense
8f2e521

AdrianSosic · 2026-04-17T06:53:50Z

+    import polars as pl
+
+
+def compute_parameter_order(


really minor so just resolve if disagree: perhaps the name of the function could be a bit less generic, i.e. compute says very little (it's like get). How about something with optimize, to make clear what is happening?

AdrianSosic · 2026-04-17T06:56:10Z

+    # Initialize the dataframe
+    if initial_df is not None:
+        df = initial_df
+    else:
+        df = pd.DataFrame()


How about

Suggested change

# Initialize the dataframe

if initial_df is not None:

df = initial_df

else:

df = pd.DataFrame()

# Initialize the dataframe

df = initial_df or pd.DataFrame()

seems explicitly forbdden by pandas
ValueError: The truth value of a DataFrame is ambiguous. Use a.empty, a.bool(), a.item(), a.any() or a.all().

Scienfitz self-assigned this Mar 31, 2026

Scienfitz added the enhancement Expand / change existing functionality label Mar 31, 2026

Scienfitz added this to the 0.15.0 milestone Mar 31, 2026

Scienfitz force-pushed the feature/smart_cartesian_product_constraints branch 2 times, most recently from 6a33c52 to 503fef9 Compare April 1, 2026 23:48

Scienfitz commented Apr 2, 2026

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Comment thread baybe/constraints/base.py Outdated

Comment thread baybe/constraints/base.py Outdated

Comment thread baybe/constraints/discrete.py

Scienfitz marked this pull request as ready for review April 2, 2026 00:27

Scienfitz requested review from AVHopp and AdrianSosic as code owners April 2, 2026 00:27

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings April 2, 2026 00:27

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of Scienfitz April 2, 2026 00:28 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Apr 2, 2026

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AdrianSosic requested changes Apr 9, 2026

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Scienfitz force-pushed the feature/smart_cartesian_product_constraints branch 2 times, most recently from 78eb87b to 66c39c4 Compare April 9, 2026 18:16

AVHopp reviewed Apr 10, 2026

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Scienfitz and others added 13 commits April 10, 2026 21:20

Add UnsupportedEarlyFilteringError exception

b1d4589

Add incremental filtering interface to DiscreteConstraint

0312a0b

Add incremental filtering to discrete constraint implementations

55bdf24

Add searchspace utility functions

aec6686

Rework from_product and from_simplex to use constrained Cartesian pro…

a7b8594

…duct

Update test imports for moved utility functions

5123372

Add tests for constrained Cartesian product

6006ac4

Update CHANGELOG

beb23a1

Simplify logic

05f92fd

Co-authored-by: AdrianSosic <adrian.sosic@merckgroup.com>

Make has_polars_implementation a classproperty

2bf0f55

Rename _required_filtering_parameters to _required_parameters

232d4d0

Add breaking changes entry for moved utility functions

8973d3f

Improve UnsupportedEarlyFilteringError messages to reference the data…

2c634b5

…frame

Scienfitz force-pushed the feature/smart_cartesian_product_constraints branch from 66c39c4 to 2c634b5 Compare April 10, 2026 20:29

Scienfitz added 2 commits April 13, 2026 19:14

Add allow_missing flag to get_invalid and remove UnsupportedEarlyFilt…

05fe304

…eringError

Avoid FutureWarning in PermutationInvarianceConstraint concat

c1c53f3

AdrianSosic requested changes Apr 17, 2026

View reviewed changes

Scienfitz added 4 commits April 22, 2026 16:39

Lift _required_parameters to Constraint base and use it in validation

3360cd5

Use warning instead of error

5e5d731

Remove dead Polars constraint fallback code

c4008d9

Rename compute_parameter_order to optimize_parameter_order

8f2e521

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Rationale

Good To Know

Mini Benchmark:

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Scienfitz commented Mar 31, 2026 •

edited by AdrianSosic

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Scienfitz Apr 10, 2026 •

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