From e7c16ae9de7bcdbffcd05b6b2315f5650cb790a9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Prathik Rao <prathikrao@microsoft.com>
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2026 14:25:47 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 01/20] impl

---
 .../templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml   | 42 ++++++++++++++
 .pipelines/v2/templates/stages-cs.yml         | 23 ++------
 .pipelines/v2/templates/stages-js.yml         | 19 +------
 .pipelines/v2/templates/stages-python.yml     | 23 ++------
 .pipelines/v2/templates/steps-build-linux.yml |  5 +-
 .pipelines/v2/templates/steps-build-macos.yml |  5 +-
 .../v2/templates/steps-build-windows.yml      |  5 +-
 sdk_v2/DEVELOPMENT.md                         |  8 +++
 .../cpp/test/internal_api/test_model_cache.h  | 55 +++---------------
 .../FoundryLocal.Tests/LOCAL_MODEL_TESTING.md | 23 ++------
 .../Microsoft.AI.Foundry.Local.Tests.csproj   |  9 ---
 sdk_v2/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/Utils.cs    | 57 ++++---------------
 .../FoundryLocal.Tests/appsettings.Test.json  |  3 -
 sdk_v2/python/test/conftest.py                | 13 +++--
 14 files changed, 101 insertions(+), 189 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 .pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
 delete mode 100644 sdk_v2/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/appsettings.Test.json

diff --git a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5eba74e05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+# Download test model data from blob storage into a local directory.
+# Uses azcopy with AZCLI auth so the agent identity can read from storage.
+
+parameters:
+- name: destinationPath
+  type: string
+  default: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/test-data-shared'
+
+steps:
+- task: AzureCLI@2
+  displayName: 'Fetch test data from blob'
+  inputs:
+    azureSubscription: 'FoundryLocalCore-SP'
+    scriptType: pscore
+    scriptLocation: inlineScript
+    inlineScript: |
+      $ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
+
+      $destination = '${{ parameters.destinationPath }}'
+      $storageAccount = 'foundrylocalmodels'
+      $container = 'models'
+      $prefix = 'foundrylocal/models'
+      $source = "https://$storageAccount.blob.core.windows.net/$container/$prefix/*"
+
+      if (Test-Path $destination) {
+        Remove-Item -Recurse -Force $destination
+      }
+      New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $destination -Force | Out-Null
+
+      azcopy copy $source $destination --recursive
+      if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
+        throw "azcopy failed downloading test data from $source"
+      }
+
+      $count = @(Get-ChildItem -Path $destination -Recurse -File).Count
+      if ($count -eq 0) {
+        throw "Downloaded test data is empty at $destination"
+      }
+
+      Write-Host "Downloaded $count files into $destination"
+  env:
+    AZCOPY_AUTO_LOGIN_TYPE: AZCLI
diff --git a/.pipelines/v2/templates/stages-cs.yml b/.pipelines/v2/templates/stages-cs.yml
index c271dda13..4ba4ff7f3 100644
--- a/.pipelines/v2/templates/stages-cs.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/v2/templates/stages-cs.yml
@@ -129,9 +129,7 @@ stages:
       steps:
       - checkout: self
         clean: true
-      - template: ../../templates/checkout-steps.yml@self
-        parameters:
-          repoName: test-data-shared
+      - template: ../../templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml@self
       - template: steps-test-cs.yml
         parameters:
           flNugetDir: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)/${{ parameters._config_base.nativeArtifact }}'
@@ -159,9 +157,7 @@ stages:
       steps:
       - checkout: self
         clean: true
-      - template: ../../templates/checkout-steps.yml@self
-        parameters:
-          repoName: test-data-shared
+      - template: ../../templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml@self
       - template: steps-test-cs.yml
         parameters:
           flNugetDir: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)/${{ parameters._config_winml.nativeArtifact }}'
@@ -192,9 +188,7 @@ stages:
       steps:
       - checkout: self
         clean: true
-      - template: ../../templates/checkout-steps.yml@self
-        parameters:
-          repoName: test-data-shared
+      - template: ../../templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml@self
       - template: steps-test-cs.yml
         parameters:
           flNugetDir: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)/${{ parameters._config_base.nativeArtifact }}'
@@ -223,16 +217,7 @@ stages:
       steps:
       - checkout: self
         clean: true
-      - bash: |
-          set -euo pipefail
-          if ! command -v git-lfs >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-            brew install git-lfs
-          fi
-          git lfs install
-        displayName: 'Install git-lfs (macOS)'
-      - template: ../../templates/checkout-steps.yml@self
-        parameters:
-          repoName: test-data-shared
+      - template: ../../templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml@self
       - template: steps-test-cs.yml
         parameters:
           flNugetDir: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)/${{ parameters._config_base.nativeArtifact }}'
diff --git a/.pipelines/v2/templates/stages-js.yml b/.pipelines/v2/templates/stages-js.yml
index e434f7c74..f11ed23bb 100644
--- a/.pipelines/v2/templates/stages-js.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/v2/templates/stages-js.yml
@@ -198,9 +198,7 @@ stages:
     steps:
     - checkout: self
       clean: true
-    - template: ../../templates/checkout-steps.yml@self
-      parameters:
-        repoName: test-data-shared
+    - template: ../../templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml@self
     - template: steps-test-js.yml
       parameters:
         rid: 'win-x64'
@@ -224,9 +222,7 @@ stages:
     steps:
     - checkout: self
       clean: true
-    - template: ../../templates/checkout-steps.yml@self
-      parameters:
-        repoName: test-data-shared
+    - template: ../../templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml@self
     - template: steps-test-js.yml
       parameters:
         rid: 'linux-x64'
@@ -252,16 +248,7 @@ stages:
     steps:
     - checkout: self
       clean: true
-    - bash: |
-          set -euo pipefail
-          if ! command -v git-lfs >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-              brew install git-lfs
-          fi
-          git lfs install
-      displayName: 'Install git-lfs (macOS)'
-    - template: ../../templates/checkout-steps.yml@self
-      parameters:
-        repoName: test-data-shared
+    - template: ../../templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml@self
     - template: steps-test-js.yml
       parameters:
         rid: 'osx-arm64'
diff --git a/.pipelines/v2/templates/stages-python.yml b/.pipelines/v2/templates/stages-python.yml
index 7a07c7dae..3f59570a1 100644
--- a/.pipelines/v2/templates/stages-python.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/v2/templates/stages-python.yml
@@ -178,9 +178,7 @@ stages:
         steps:
         - checkout: self
           clean: true
-        - template: ../../templates/checkout-steps.yml@self
-          parameters:
-            repoName: test-data-shared
+        - template: ../../templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml@self
         - template: steps-test-python.yml
           parameters:
             wheelDir: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)/python-sdk-base-win-x64'
@@ -204,9 +202,7 @@ stages:
         steps:
         - checkout: self
           clean: true
-        - template: ../../templates/checkout-steps.yml@self
-          parameters:
-            repoName: test-data-shared
+        - template: ../../templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml@self
         - template: steps-test-python.yml
           parameters:
             wheelDir: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)/python-sdk-base-linux-x64'
@@ -232,16 +228,7 @@ stages:
         steps:
         - checkout: self
           clean: true
-        - bash: |
-              set -euo pipefail
-              if ! command -v git-lfs >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-                  brew install git-lfs
-              fi
-              git lfs install
-          displayName: 'Install git-lfs (macOS)'
-        - template: ../../templates/checkout-steps.yml@self
-          parameters:
-            repoName: test-data-shared
+        - template: ../../templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml@self
         - template: steps-test-python.yml
           parameters:
             wheelDir: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)/python-sdk-base-osx-arm64'
@@ -336,9 +323,7 @@ stages:
         steps:
         - checkout: self
           clean: true
-        - template: ../../templates/checkout-steps.yml@self
-          parameters:
-            repoName: test-data-shared
+        - template: ../../templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml@self
         - template: steps-test-python.yml
           parameters:
             wheelDir: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)/python-sdk-winml-win-x64'
diff --git a/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-build-linux.yml b/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-build-linux.yml
index b16b13fdd..f092abc41 100644
--- a/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-build-linux.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-build-linux.yml
@@ -43,10 +43,9 @@ steps:
   displayName: 'Append version define'
 
 - ${{ if eq(parameters.runTests, true) }}:
-  - template: ../../templates/checkout-steps.yml@self
+  - template: ../../templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml@self
     parameters:
-      repoName: test-data-shared
-      basePath: '$(Agent.BuildDirectory)'
+      destinationPath: '$(Agent.BuildDirectory)/test-data-shared'
 
 - bash: |
     set -euo pipefail
diff --git a/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-build-macos.yml b/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-build-macos.yml
index 278bdbff8..92f9825e9 100644
--- a/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-build-macos.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-build-macos.yml
@@ -51,10 +51,9 @@ steps:
   displayName: 'Append version define'
 
 - ${{ if eq(parameters.runTests, true) }}:
-  - template: ../../templates/checkout-steps.yml@self
+  - template: ../../templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml@self
     parameters:
-      repoName: test-data-shared
-      basePath: '$(Agent.BuildDirectory)'
+      destinationPath: '$(Agent.BuildDirectory)/test-data-shared'
 
 - bash: |
     set -euo pipefail
diff --git a/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-build-windows.yml b/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-build-windows.yml
index 0e17f07b6..dd1b8f5d5 100644
--- a/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-build-windows.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-build-windows.yml
@@ -78,10 +78,9 @@ steps:
 
 # Tests need shared model files.
 - ${{ if eq(parameters.runTests, true) }}:
-  - template: ../../templates/checkout-steps.yml@self
+  - template: ../../templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml@self
     parameters:
-      repoName: test-data-shared
-      basePath: '$(Agent.BuildDirectory)'
+      destinationPath: '$(Agent.BuildDirectory)/test-data-shared'
 
 - ${{ if and(eq(parameters.arch, 'x64'), eq(parameters.useWinml, false)) }}:
   - script: >-
diff --git a/sdk_v2/DEVELOPMENT.md b/sdk_v2/DEVELOPMENT.md
index bc8afb6c2..31ab2fc1e 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/DEVELOPMENT.md
+++ b/sdk_v2/DEVELOPMENT.md
@@ -90,6 +90,14 @@ pwsh ./build_and_test_all.ps1 -ContinueOnError
 
 See `pwsh ./build_and_test_all.ps1 -?` for the full parameter list.
 
+## Model cache for tests
+
+Model-dependent sdk_v2 tests require `FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR` to point to a
+local model cache directory.
+
+In CI, sdk_v2 pipelines download model data from blob storage into this path.
+For local runs, set it explicitly before invoking test commands.
+
 ## Troubleshooting
 
 * **`cl.exe ... HostX86\x86\cl.exe` during pip install** — your shell has
diff --git a/sdk_v2/cpp/test/internal_api/test_model_cache.h b/sdk_v2/cpp/test/internal_api/test_model_cache.h
index 7f95e6bc0..b1b674440 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/cpp/test/internal_api/test_model_cache.h
+++ b/sdk_v2/cpp/test/internal_api/test_model_cache.h
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 // Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
 // Licensed under the MIT License.
 // Shared helper for tests that need access to the shared test model cache.
-// Mirrors the C# test setup pattern:
-//   - Default: look for "test-data-shared" in the parent of the git repo root
-//   - Override via FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR environment variable (absolute or relative path)
+// Requires FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR to be set to an existing model cache path.
 #pragma once
 
 #include "utils/safe_getenv.h"
@@ -17,56 +15,21 @@ namespace fs = std::filesystem;
 
 namespace fl::test {
 
-/// Walk up from source_dir to find the directory containing .git.
-inline fs::path FindRepoRoot(const fs::path& source_dir) {
-  fs::path dir = source_dir;
-
-  while (!dir.empty() && dir.has_parent_path()) {
-    if (fs::exists(dir / ".git")) {
-      return dir;
-    }
-
-    auto parent = dir.parent_path();
-    if (parent == dir) {
-      break;
-    }
-
-    dir = parent;
-  }
-
-  throw std::runtime_error("Could not find git repository root from: " + source_dir.string());
-}
-
-/// Default test-data-shared directory name.
-constexpr const char* kDefaultTestModelCacheDirName = "test-data-shared";
-
 /// Resolve the test model cache directory.
-/// Priority:
-///   1. FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR environment variable (absolute or relative path)
-///   2. Default: {repo_root}/../test-data-shared/
+/// FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR is required.
 inline fs::path GetTestModelCacheDir() {
-  // Check environment variable first
   std::string env_value = SafeGetEnv("FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR");
-  if (!env_value.empty()) {
-    fs::path env_path(env_value);
-    if (!fs::exists(env_path)) {
-      throw std::runtime_error("FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR does not exist: " + env_path.string());
-    }
-
-    return fs::canonical(env_path);
+  if (env_value.empty()) {
+    throw std::runtime_error(
+        "FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR is not set. Set it to a local model cache directory before running tests.");
   }
 
-  // Default: {repo_root}/../test-data-shared/
-  fs::path repo_root = FindRepoRoot(fs::path(__FILE__).parent_path());
-  fs::path default_path = repo_root.parent_path() / kDefaultTestModelCacheDirName;
-
-  if (!fs::exists(default_path)) {
-    throw std::runtime_error(
-        "Test model cache directory not found at default location: " + default_path.string() +
-        "\nSet FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR environment variable to override.");
+  fs::path env_path(env_value);
+  if (!fs::exists(env_path)) {
+    throw std::runtime_error("FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR does not exist: " + env_path.string());
   }
 
-  return fs::canonical(default_path);
+  return fs::canonical(env_path);
 }
 
 /// Returns true when running under a known CI provider.
diff --git a/sdk_v2/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/LOCAL_MODEL_TESTING.md b/sdk_v2/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/LOCAL_MODEL_TESTING.md
index 1b4a71e78..6f74cb537 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/LOCAL_MODEL_TESTING.md
+++ b/sdk_v2/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/LOCAL_MODEL_TESTING.md
@@ -1,24 +1,13 @@
 # Running Local Model Tests
 
-## Configuration
-
-The test model cache directory name is configured in `sdk/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/appsettings.Test.json`:
-
-```json
-{
-  "TestModelCacheDirName": "test-data-shared"
-}
-```
-
-If the value is a directory name it will be resolved as <repository-root>/../{TestModelCacheDirName}.
-Otherwise the value will be resolved using Path.GetFullPath, which allows for absolute paths or
-relative paths based on the current working directory.
+Set `FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR` to a local model cache path before running tests.
+The path can point to any directory layout that contains the models expected by
+the test suite.
 
 ## Run the tests
 
-The tests will automatically find the models in the configured test model cache directory.
-
 ```bash
-cd /path/to/parent-dir/foundry-local-sdk/sdk/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests
-dotnet test Microsoft.AI.Foundry.Local.Tests.csproj --configuration Release# Running Local Model Tests
+export FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR=/path/to/model-cache
+cd /path/to/Foundry-Local/sdk_v2/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests
+dotnet test Microsoft.AI.Foundry.Local.Tests.csproj --configuration Release
 ```
diff --git a/sdk_v2/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/Microsoft.AI.Foundry.Local.Tests.csproj b/sdk_v2/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/Microsoft.AI.Foundry.Local.Tests.csproj
index 2f1e6f1a0..16e01ebb1 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/Microsoft.AI.Foundry.Local.Tests.csproj
+++ b/sdk_v2/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/Microsoft.AI.Foundry.Local.Tests.csproj
@@ -62,13 +62,6 @@
     <PackageReference Include="System.Threading.Channels" Version="9.0.9" />
   </ItemGroup>
 
-  <!-- copies appsettings.Test.json to output directory so tests can find it -->
-  <ItemGroup>
-    <None Update="appsettings.Test.json">
-      <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
-    </None>
-  </ItemGroup>
-
   <ItemGroup>
     <None Include="../../../testdata/Recording.mp3" Link="testdata/Recording.mp3">
       <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
@@ -87,8 +80,6 @@
       <PrivateAssets>all</PrivateAssets>
     </PackageReference>
     <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Console" Version="9.0.9" />
-    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration" Version="9.0.9" />
-    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.Json" Version="9.0.9" />
     <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.NET.Test.Sdk" Version="18.0.0" />
     <PackageReference Include="TUnit" Version="0.63.3" />
     <PackageReference Include="TUnit.Core" Version="0.63.3" />
diff --git a/sdk_v2/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/Utils.cs b/sdk_v2/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/Utils.cs
index e684e1e5d..cf5c5cf2d 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/Utils.cs
+++ b/sdk_v2/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/Utils.cs
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ namespace Microsoft.AI.Foundry.Local.Tests;
 using System.Text.Json;
 
 using Microsoft.AI.Foundry.Local.Detail;
-using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
 
 #pragma warning disable CS0618 // Test helpers exercise PromptTemplate/ModelSettings which are obsolete but still supported.
@@ -62,58 +61,24 @@ static Utils()
 
         ILogger logger = loggerFactory.CreateLogger("FoundryLocalSdkTest");
 
-        // Read configuration from appsettings.Test.json
-        logger.LogDebug("Reading configuration from appsettings.Test.json");
-        var configuration = new ConfigurationBuilder()
-            .SetBasePath(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory())
-            .AddJsonFile("appsettings.Test.json", optional: true, reloadOnChange: false)
-            .Build();
-
-        // Prefer the FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR env var when set (used by CI). If it points at
-        // an existing directory we treat it as an absolute path. Otherwise fall back to
-        // the appsettings.Test.json TestModelCacheDirName logic for inner-loop / VS use.
+        // FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR is required for model-dependent tests.
         var envCacheDir = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR");
-        string testDataSharedPath;
-        if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(envCacheDir) && Directory.Exists(envCacheDir))
+        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(envCacheDir))
         {
-            testDataSharedPath = Path.GetFullPath(envCacheDir);
-            logger.LogInformation(
-                "Using test model cache directory from FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR env var: {TestDataSharedPath}",
-                testDataSharedPath);
+            logger.LogWarning(
+                "FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR is not set. Integration tests will be skipped.");
+            Console.Error.WriteLine(
+                "[Utils::Utils] FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR is not set. Integration tests will be skipped.");
+            return;
         }
-        else
-        {
-            if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(envCacheDir))
-            {
-                logger.LogWarning(
-                    "FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR is set to '{EnvCacheDir}' but the directory does not exist; falling back to appsettings.Test.json.",
-                    envCacheDir);
-            }
 
-            var testModelCacheDirName = configuration["TestModelCacheDirName"] ?? "test-data-shared";
-            if (Path.IsPathRooted(testModelCacheDirName) ||
-                testModelCacheDirName.Contains(Path.DirectorySeparatorChar) ||
-                testModelCacheDirName.Contains(Path.AltDirectorySeparatorChar))
-            {
-                // It's a relative or complete filepath, resolve from current directory
-                testDataSharedPath = Path.GetFullPath(testModelCacheDirName);
-            }
-            else
-            {
-                // It's just a directory name, combine with repo root parent
-                testDataSharedPath = Path.GetFullPath(Path.Combine(GetRepoRoot(), "..", testModelCacheDirName));
-            }
-
-            logger.LogInformation(
-                "Using test model cache directory from appsettings.Test.json: {TestDataSharedPath}",
-                testDataSharedPath);
-        }
+        string testDataSharedPath = Path.GetFullPath(envCacheDir);
+        logger.LogInformation(
+            "Using test model cache directory from FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR env var: {TestDataSharedPath}",
+            testDataSharedPath);
 
         if (!Directory.Exists(testDataSharedPath))
         {
-            // Do NOT throw — that would abort every test in the assembly, including pure unit
-            // tests that don't touch the manager. Instead leave IntegrationTestsAvailable=false
-            // so integration tests skip via [SkipUnlessIntegration] while unit tests still run.
             logger.LogWarning(
                 "Test model cache directory does not exist: {TestDataSharedPath}. Integration tests will be skipped. See LOCAL_MODEL_TESTING.md.",
                 testDataSharedPath);
diff --git a/sdk_v2/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/appsettings.Test.json b/sdk_v2/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/appsettings.Test.json
deleted file mode 100644
index d42d87893..000000000
--- a/sdk_v2/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/appsettings.Test.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "TestModelCacheDirName": "test-data-shared"
-}
diff --git a/sdk_v2/python/test/conftest.py b/sdk_v2/python/test/conftest.py
index 5f521efed..a1fdccfce 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/python/test/conftest.py
+++ b/sdk_v2/python/test/conftest.py
@@ -38,9 +38,7 @@ def is_running_in_ci() -> bool:
 
 IS_CI: bool = is_running_in_ci()
 
-# Optional override that points the SDK at a pre-staged model cache so
-# integration tests can find cached models without downloading.
-# Mirrors the C++ FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR env var.
+# Required model cache path for sdk_v2 Python tests.
 FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR: str | None = os.environ.get("FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR") or None
 
 
@@ -66,13 +64,18 @@ def manager():
     # and must not close it on teardown.
     created_here = False
 
+    if not FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR:
+        pytest.skip("FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR is required for sdk_v2 Python tests.")
+
+    if not os.path.isdir(FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR):
+        pytest.skip(f"FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR does not exist: {FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR}")
+
     if FoundryLocalManager.instance is None:
         config_kwargs = {
             "app_name": "FoundryLocalPythonTests",
             "log_level": LogLevel.WARNING,
+            "model_cache_dir": FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR,
         }
-        if FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR:
-            config_kwargs["model_cache_dir"] = FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR
 
         config = Configuration(**config_kwargs)
         FoundryLocalManager.initialize(config)

From 327fbe3e7c03f91d435d499d1a7b5188a26e9ea1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Prathik Rao <prathikrao@microsoft.com>
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2026 15:00:25 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 02/20] diff azure sub

---
 .pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
index 5eba74e05..a987eedef 100644
--- a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ steps:
 - task: AzureCLI@2
   displayName: 'Fetch test data from blob'
   inputs:
-    azureSubscription: 'FoundryLocalCore-SP'
+    azureSubscription: 'ortcibuild_readonly_mi2-ONNX Runtime'
     scriptType: pscore
     scriptLocation: inlineScript
     inlineScript: |

From 2a8f8d2645964749d225f9328c6ae03734ed3125 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Prathik Rao <prathikrao@microsoft.com>
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2026 15:13:15 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 03/20] tests

---
 .../templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml   | 38 +++++++++++++++----
 .pipelines/v2/templates/steps-test-cs.yml     |  4 +-
 .pipelines/v2/templates/steps-test-js.yml     |  2 +-
 .pipelines/v2/templates/steps-test-python.yml |  4 +-
 sdk_v2/DEVELOPMENT.md                         | 10 +++++
 5 files changed, 46 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
index a987eedef..63fbaa591 100644
--- a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
@@ -20,16 +20,40 @@ steps:
       $storageAccount = 'foundrylocalmodels'
       $container = 'models'
       $prefix = 'foundrylocal/models'
-      $source = "https://$storageAccount.blob.core.windows.net/$container/$prefix/*"
+      New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $destination -Force | Out-Null
+
+      function Invoke-AzCopy {
+        param(
+          [string]$Source,
+          [string]$Target
+        )
+
+        $parent = Split-Path -Path $Target -Parent
+        if (-not [string]::IsNullOrEmpty($parent)) {
+          New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $parent -Force | Out-Null
+        }
 
-      if (Test-Path $destination) {
-        Remove-Item -Recurse -Force $destination
+        $args = @('copy', $Source, $Target, '--recursive')
+
+        & azcopy @args
+        if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
+          throw "azcopy failed downloading test data from $Source"
+        }
       }
-      New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $destination -Force | Out-Null
 
-      azcopy copy $source $destination --recursive
-      if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
-        throw "azcopy failed downloading test data from $source"
+      $modelPaths = @(
+        'qwen2.5-0.5b-instruct-generic-cpu-4',
+        'openai-whisper-tiny-generic-cpu-4',
+        'openai-whisper-tiny-generic-cpu-2',
+        'nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b-generic-cpu-3',
+        'qwen3-embedding-0.6b-generic-cpu-1',
+        'qwen3.5-0.8b-generic-cpu-2'
+      )
+
+      foreach ($relativePath in $modelPaths) {
+        $source = "https://$storageAccount.blob.core.windows.net/$container/$prefix/$relativePath/*"
+        $target = Join-Path $destination $relativePath
+        Invoke-AzCopy -Source $source -Target $target
       }
 
       $count = @(Get-ChildItem -Path $destination -Recurse -File).Count
diff --git a/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-test-cs.yml b/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-test-cs.yml
index 73274e275..d92b437df 100644
--- a/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-test-cs.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-test-cs.yml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 # (FoundryLocal.Tests). The caller is responsible for:
 #   - placing the Foundry Local Runtime nupkg in `flNugetDir`
 #   - downloading the `version-info` pipeline artifact
-#   - checking out `test-data-shared` at `testDataSharedDir`
+#   - populating the model cache directory at `testDataSharedDir`
 
 parameters:
 - name: flNugetDir
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ parameters:
   default: false
 - name: testDataSharedDir
   type: string
-  displayName: 'Absolute path to a checked-out test-data-shared working tree'
+  displayName: 'Absolute path to the model cache directory used by tests'
 - name: additionalTestArgs
   type: string
   default: ''
diff --git a/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-test-js.yml b/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-test-js.yml
index d161da06e..f33c69850 100644
--- a/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-test-js.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-test-js.yml
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ parameters:
   displayName: 'Path to the downloaded js-prebuild-<rid> artifact directory (root with prebuilds/ inside)'
 - name: testDataSharedDir
   type: string
-  displayName: 'Path to the checked-out test-data-shared repo'
+  displayName: 'Path to the model cache directory used by tests'
 
 steps:
 
diff --git a/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-test-python.yml b/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-test-python.yml
index 9396a7cce..63027b170 100644
--- a/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-test-python.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/v2/templates/steps-test-python.yml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 #
 # The caller is responsible for:
 #   * placing the built wheel (.whl) under `wheelDir`
-#   * checking out test-data-shared at `testDataSharedDir`
+#   * populating the model cache directory at `testDataSharedDir`
 
 parameters:
 - name: wheelDir
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ parameters:
   displayName: 'Path to directory containing the built foundry_local_sdk wheel'
 - name: testDataSharedDir
   type: string
-  displayName: 'Absolute path to a checked-out test-data-shared working tree'
+  displayName: 'Absolute path to the model cache directory used by tests'
 - name: isWinML
   type: boolean
   default: false
diff --git a/sdk_v2/DEVELOPMENT.md b/sdk_v2/DEVELOPMENT.md
index 31ab2fc1e..6e00decbf 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/DEVELOPMENT.md
+++ b/sdk_v2/DEVELOPMENT.md
@@ -98,6 +98,16 @@ local model cache directory.
 In CI, sdk_v2 pipelines download model data from blob storage into this path.
 For local runs, set it explicitly before invoking test commands.
 
+Example:
+
+```powershell
+$env:FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR = 'C:\path\to\model-cache'
+pwsh ./build_and_test_all.ps1
+```
+
+The directory can have any name. What matters is that it already contains the
+model files expected by the tests you are running.
+
 ## Troubleshooting
 
 * **`cl.exe ... HostX86\x86\cl.exe` during pip install** — your shell has

From ce025b0af185eaba509076c60dc39c8af5c66e81 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Prathik Rao <prathikrao@microsoft.com>
Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2026 16:29:47 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 04/20] Foundry Local PME

---
 .pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
index 63fbaa591..4d0b6aa95 100644
--- a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ steps:
 - task: AzureCLI@2
   displayName: 'Fetch test data from blob'
   inputs:
-    azureSubscription: 'ortcibuild_readonly_mi2-ONNX Runtime'
+    azureSubscription: 'Foundry Local PME'
     scriptType: pscore
     scriptLocation: inlineScript
     inlineScript: |

From 4f56d23b2aabeddb9735810832dffda4f67ec0cc Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Prathik Rao <prathikrao@microsoft.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2026 08:26:59 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 05/20] add azure sub

---
 .pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
index 4d0b6aa95..63fbaa591 100644
--- a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ steps:
 - task: AzureCLI@2
   displayName: 'Fetch test data from blob'
   inputs:
-    azureSubscription: 'Foundry Local PME'
+    azureSubscription: 'ortcibuild_readonly_mi2-ONNX Runtime'
     scriptType: pscore
     scriptLocation: inlineScript
     inlineScript: |

From 68e757cf63258aadd7caad244d87f9e6dfa1f6be Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Prathik Rao <prathikrao@microsoft.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2026 08:30:35 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 06/20] final azure sub

---
 .pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
index 63fbaa591..527d0b5fe 100644
--- a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ steps:
 - task: AzureCLI@2
   displayName: 'Fetch test data from blob'
   inputs:
-    azureSubscription: 'ortcibuild_readonly_mi2-ONNX Runtime'
+    azureSubscription: 'ortcibuild_readonly_mi2-ONNX Runtime-AIFoundryLocal'
     scriptType: pscore
     scriptLocation: inlineScript
     inlineScript: |

From 7dae763eae64de9b9cf1ce592feca92a201bdf01 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Prathik Rao <prathikrao@microsoft.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2026 09:14:22 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 07/20] filepaths

---
 .pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml | 10 +++++-----
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
index 527d0b5fe..f7f6148b4 100644
--- a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@ steps:
       function Invoke-AzCopy {
         param(
           [string]$Source,
-          [string]$Target
+          [string]$Target,
+          [string]$IncludePath
         )
 
         $parent = Split-Path -Path $Target -Parent
@@ -33,7 +34,7 @@ steps:
           New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $parent -Force | Out-Null
         }
 
-        $args = @('copy', $Source, $Target, '--recursive')
+        $args = @('copy', $Source, $Target, '--include-path', $IncludePath, '--recursive')
 
         & azcopy @args
         if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
@@ -51,9 +52,8 @@ steps:
       )
 
       foreach ($relativePath in $modelPaths) {
-        $source = "https://$storageAccount.blob.core.windows.net/$container/$prefix/$relativePath/*"
-        $target = Join-Path $destination $relativePath
-        Invoke-AzCopy -Source $source -Target $target
+        $source = "https://$storageAccount.blob.core.windows.net/$container/$prefix/*"
+        Invoke-AzCopy -Source $source -Target $destination -IncludePath $relativePath
       }
 
       $count = @(Get-ChildItem -Path $destination -Recurse -File).Count

From a1500039abf29adefad870539cc1d4d8b89d0cec Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Prathik Rao <prathikrao@microsoft.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2026 11:57:13 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 08/20] hella logs

---
 .../templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml   | 122 ++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 122 insertions(+)

diff --git a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
index f7f6148b4..dba38d315 100644
--- a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
@@ -20,6 +20,23 @@ steps:
       $storageAccount = 'foundrylocalmodels'
       $container = 'models'
       $prefix = 'foundrylocal/models'
+
+      Write-Host '=== Fetch test data from blob: diagnostics start ==='
+      Write-Host "PowerShell version: $($PSVersionTable.PSVersion)"
+      Write-Host "OS: $([System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeInformation]::OSDescription)"
+      Write-Host "Destination path: $destination"
+      Write-Host "Storage account: $storageAccount"
+      Write-Host "Container: $container"
+      Write-Host "Prefix: $prefix"
+
+      Write-Host 'Azure CLI version:'
+      az version
+      Write-Host 'AzCopy version:'
+      azcopy --version
+
+      $accountContext = az account show --query "{name:name,id:id,tenantId:tenantId,userType:user.type}" -o json
+      Write-Host "Active Azure account context: $accountContext"
+
       New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $destination -Force | Out-Null
 
       function Invoke-AzCopy {
@@ -42,6 +59,48 @@ steps:
         }
       }
 
+      function Get-FirstBlobMatch {
+        param(
+          [string]$BlobPrefix
+        )
+
+        $match = az storage blob list `
+          --account-name $storageAccount `
+          --container-name $container `
+          --auth-mode login `
+          --prefix $BlobPrefix `
+          --num-results 1 `
+          --query "[0].name" `
+          -o tsv
+
+        if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
+          throw "Failed to probe blob prefix: $BlobPrefix"
+        }
+
+        return $match
+      }
+
+      function Get-BlobSamples {
+        param(
+          [string]$BlobPrefix
+        )
+
+        $samples = az storage blob list `
+          --account-name $storageAccount `
+          --container-name $container `
+          --auth-mode login `
+          --prefix $BlobPrefix `
+          --num-results 5 `
+          --query "[].name" `
+          -o tsv
+
+        if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
+          throw "Failed to list blob samples for prefix: $BlobPrefix"
+        }
+
+        return @($samples)
+      }
+
       $modelPaths = @(
         'qwen2.5-0.5b-instruct-generic-cpu-4',
         'openai-whisper-tiny-generic-cpu-4',
@@ -51,16 +110,79 @@ steps:
         'qwen3.5-0.8b-generic-cpu-2'
       )
 
+      $missingPaths = @()
+      $downloadedPaths = @()
+
       foreach ($relativePath in $modelPaths) {
+        Write-Host "---- Evaluating model path: $relativePath"
+        $blobPrefix = "$prefix/$relativePath/"
+        Write-Host "Probing prefix: $blobPrefix"
+
+        $match = Get-FirstBlobMatch -BlobPrefix $blobPrefix
+        if ([string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($match)) {
+          Write-Warning "No blobs found for prefix '$blobPrefix'"
+
+          $sampleRoot = "$prefix/$relativePath"
+          $samples = Get-BlobSamples -BlobPrefix $sampleRoot
+          if ($samples.Count -gt 0) {
+            Write-Warning "Sample blobs under '$sampleRoot':"
+            foreach ($sample in $samples) {
+              Write-Warning "  $sample"
+            }
+          }
+
+          $missingPaths += $relativePath
+          continue
+        }
+
+        Write-Host "First matching blob: $match"
+
         $source = "https://$storageAccount.blob.core.windows.net/$container/$prefix/*"
+        Write-Host "AzCopy source: $source"
+        Write-Host "AzCopy include-path: $relativePath"
+        Write-Host "AzCopy target: $destination"
+
         Invoke-AzCopy -Source $source -Target $destination -IncludePath $relativePath
+
+        $localPath = Join-Path $destination $relativePath
+        $localCount = if (Test-Path -Path $localPath) {
+          @(Get-ChildItem -Path $localPath -Recurse -File).Count
+        } else {
+          0
+        }
+        Write-Host "Local file count for $relativePath: $localCount"
+
+        if ($localCount -gt 0) {
+          $downloadedPaths += $relativePath
+        }
+      }
+
+      if ($missingPaths.Count -gt 0) {
+        Write-Warning "Missing model paths in blob storage: $($missingPaths -join ', ')"
+      }
+
+      if ($downloadedPaths.Count -gt 0) {
+        Write-Host "Downloaded model paths: $($downloadedPaths -join ', ')"
+      } else {
+        Write-Warning 'No model paths were downloaded successfully.'
       }
 
       $count = @(Get-ChildItem -Path $destination -Recurse -File).Count
+      Write-Host "Total downloaded file count under destination: $count"
+
+      Write-Host 'Top-level destination entries:'
+      $topLevel = Get-ChildItem -Path $destination -Force
+      if ($topLevel.Count -gt 0) {
+        ($topLevel | Select-Object Mode, Name, Length | Format-Table -AutoSize | Out-String).TrimEnd() | Write-Host
+      } else {
+        Write-Host '  <empty>'
+      }
+
       if ($count -eq 0) {
         throw "Downloaded test data is empty at $destination"
       }
 
       Write-Host "Downloaded $count files into $destination"
+      Write-Host '=== Fetch test data from blob: diagnostics end ==='
   env:
     AZCOPY_AUTO_LOGIN_TYPE: AZCLI

From 608ef789339768d7dc2913f93fba92b61bec893f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Prathik Rao <prathikrao@microsoft.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2026 12:44:16 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 09/20] bug

---
 .pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
index dba38d315..e12b71fd7 100644
--- a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ steps:
         } else {
           0
         }
-        Write-Host "Local file count for $relativePath: $localCount"
+        Write-Host "Local file count for ${relativePath}: $localCount"
 
         if ($localCount -gt 0) {
           $downloadedPaths += $relativePath

From 35d10d39d915abefb29b5070a55ef5cebcde4652 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Prathik Rao <prathikrao@microsoft.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2026 13:40:56 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 10/20] pls

---
 .../templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml   | 109 +++---------------
 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 96 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
index e12b71fd7..49b9ef2f7 100644
--- a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
@@ -21,29 +21,12 @@ steps:
       $container = 'models'
       $prefix = 'foundrylocal/models'
 
-      Write-Host '=== Fetch test data from blob: diagnostics start ==='
-      Write-Host "PowerShell version: $($PSVersionTable.PSVersion)"
-      Write-Host "OS: $([System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeInformation]::OSDescription)"
-      Write-Host "Destination path: $destination"
-      Write-Host "Storage account: $storageAccount"
-      Write-Host "Container: $container"
-      Write-Host "Prefix: $prefix"
-
-      Write-Host 'Azure CLI version:'
-      az version
-      Write-Host 'AzCopy version:'
-      azcopy --version
-
-      $accountContext = az account show --query "{name:name,id:id,tenantId:tenantId,userType:user.type}" -o json
-      Write-Host "Active Azure account context: $accountContext"
-
       New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $destination -Force | Out-Null
 
       function Invoke-AzCopy {
         param(
           [string]$Source,
-          [string]$Target,
-          [string]$IncludePath
+          [string]$Target
         )
 
         $parent = Split-Path -Path $Target -Parent
@@ -51,7 +34,7 @@ steps:
           New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $parent -Force | Out-Null
         }
 
-        $args = @('copy', $Source, $Target, '--include-path', $IncludePath, '--recursive')
+        $args = @('copy', $Source, $Target, '--recursive')
 
         & azcopy @args
         if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
@@ -80,109 +63,43 @@ steps:
         return $match
       }
 
-      function Get-BlobSamples {
-        param(
-          [string]$BlobPrefix
-        )
-
-        $samples = az storage blob list `
-          --account-name $storageAccount `
-          --container-name $container `
-          --auth-mode login `
-          --prefix $BlobPrefix `
-          --num-results 5 `
-          --query "[].name" `
-          -o tsv
-
-        if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
-          throw "Failed to list blob samples for prefix: $BlobPrefix"
-        }
-
-        return @($samples)
-      }
-
       $modelPaths = @(
-        'qwen2.5-0.5b-instruct-generic-cpu-4',
-        'openai-whisper-tiny-generic-cpu-4',
-        'openai-whisper-tiny-generic-cpu-2',
-        'nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b-generic-cpu-3',
-        'qwen3-embedding-0.6b-generic-cpu-1',
-        'qwen3.5-0.8b-generic-cpu-2'
+        'qwen2.5-0.5b-instruct',
+        'openai-whisper-tiny',
+        'openai-whisper-tiny',
+        'nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b',
+        'qwen3-embedding-0.6b',
+        'qwen3.5-0.8b'
       )
 
       $missingPaths = @()
-      $downloadedPaths = @()
 
       foreach ($relativePath in $modelPaths) {
-        Write-Host "---- Evaluating model path: $relativePath"
         $blobPrefix = "$prefix/$relativePath/"
-        Write-Host "Probing prefix: $blobPrefix"
+        $requestedUrl = "https://$storageAccount.blob.core.windows.net/$container/$blobPrefix*"
+        Write-Host "Requested blob URL: $requestedUrl"
 
         $match = Get-FirstBlobMatch -BlobPrefix $blobPrefix
         if ([string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($match)) {
-          Write-Warning "No blobs found for prefix '$blobPrefix'"
-
-          $sampleRoot = "$prefix/$relativePath"
-          $samples = Get-BlobSamples -BlobPrefix $sampleRoot
-          if ($samples.Count -gt 0) {
-            Write-Warning "Sample blobs under '$sampleRoot':"
-            foreach ($sample in $samples) {
-              Write-Warning "  $sample"
-            }
-          }
-
+          Write-Warning "No blobs found for $requestedUrl"
           $missingPaths += $relativePath
           continue
         }
 
-        Write-Host "First matching blob: $match"
-
-        $source = "https://$storageAccount.blob.core.windows.net/$container/$prefix/*"
-        Write-Host "AzCopy source: $source"
-        Write-Host "AzCopy include-path: $relativePath"
-        Write-Host "AzCopy target: $destination"
-
-        Invoke-AzCopy -Source $source -Target $destination -IncludePath $relativePath
-
-        $localPath = Join-Path $destination $relativePath
-        $localCount = if (Test-Path -Path $localPath) {
-          @(Get-ChildItem -Path $localPath -Recurse -File).Count
-        } else {
-          0
-        }
-        Write-Host "Local file count for ${relativePath}: $localCount"
-
-        if ($localCount -gt 0) {
-          $downloadedPaths += $relativePath
-        }
+        $target = Join-Path $destination $relativePath
+        Invoke-AzCopy -Source $requestedUrl -Target $target
       }
 
       if ($missingPaths.Count -gt 0) {
         Write-Warning "Missing model paths in blob storage: $($missingPaths -join ', ')"
       }
 
-      if ($downloadedPaths.Count -gt 0) {
-        Write-Host "Downloaded model paths: $($downloadedPaths -join ', ')"
-      } else {
-        Write-Warning 'No model paths were downloaded successfully.'
-      }
-
       $count = @(Get-ChildItem -Path $destination -Recurse -File).Count
-      Write-Host "Total downloaded file count under destination: $count"
-
-      Write-Host 'Top-level destination entries:'
-      $topLevel = Get-ChildItem -Path $destination -Force
-      if ($topLevel.Count -gt 0) {
-        ($topLevel | Select-Object Mode, Name, Length | Format-Table -AutoSize | Out-String).TrimEnd() | Write-Host
-      } else {
-        Write-Host '  <empty>'
-      }
 
       if ($count -eq 0) {
         throw "Downloaded test data is empty at $destination"
       }
 
       Write-Host "Downloaded $count files into $destination"
-      Write-Host '=== Fetch test data from blob: diagnostics end ==='
   env:
     AZCOPY_AUTO_LOGIN_TYPE: AZCLI

From b460966d61e2b645df8e7239a5cf3ffa046b5791 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Prathik Rao <prathikrao@microsoft.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2026 13:45:20 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 11/20] simplify

---
 .../templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml   | 43 +++----------------
 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 37 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
index 49b9ef2f7..a32686460 100644
--- a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
@@ -42,58 +42,22 @@ steps:
         }
       }
 
-      function Get-FirstBlobMatch {
-        param(
-          [string]$BlobPrefix
-        )
-
-        $match = az storage blob list `
-          --account-name $storageAccount `
-          --container-name $container `
-          --auth-mode login `
-          --prefix $BlobPrefix `
-          --num-results 1 `
-          --query "[0].name" `
-          -o tsv
-
-        if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
-          throw "Failed to probe blob prefix: $BlobPrefix"
-        }
-
-        return $match
-      }
-
       $modelPaths = @(
         'qwen2.5-0.5b-instruct',
         'openai-whisper-tiny',
-        'openai-whisper-tiny',
         'nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b',
         'qwen3-embedding-0.6b',
         'qwen3.5-0.8b'
       )
 
-      $missingPaths = @()
-
       foreach ($relativePath in $modelPaths) {
-        $blobPrefix = "$prefix/$relativePath/"
-        $requestedUrl = "https://$storageAccount.blob.core.windows.net/$container/$blobPrefix*"
+        $requestedUrl = "https://$storageAccount.blob.core.windows.net/$container/$prefix/$relativePath/*"
         Write-Host "Requested blob URL: $requestedUrl"
 
-        $match = Get-FirstBlobMatch -BlobPrefix $blobPrefix
-        if ([string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace($match)) {
-          Write-Warning "No blobs found for $requestedUrl"
-          $missingPaths += $relativePath
-          continue
-        }
-
         $target = Join-Path $destination $relativePath
         Invoke-AzCopy -Source $requestedUrl -Target $target
       }
 
-      if ($missingPaths.Count -gt 0) {
-        Write-Warning "Missing model paths in blob storage: $($missingPaths -join ', ')"
-      }
-
       $count = @(Get-ChildItem -Path $destination -Recurse -File).Count
 
       if ($count -eq 0) {
@@ -101,5 +65,10 @@ steps:
       }
 
       Write-Host "Downloaded $count files into $destination"
+      Write-Host "Cache directory contents for $destination:"
+      (Get-ChildItem -Path $destination -Recurse -Force |
+        Select-Object FullName, Length |
+        Format-Table -AutoSize |
+        Out-String).TrimEnd() | Write-Host
   env:
     AZCOPY_AUTO_LOGIN_TYPE: AZCLI

From 2704f9a4c793e851f21612ff5ce513440bc622ad Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Prathik Rao <prathikrao@microsoft.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2026 14:08:34 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 12/20] bug fix

---
 .pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
index a32686460..f857d51c2 100644
--- a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ steps:
       }
 
       Write-Host "Downloaded $count files into $destination"
-      Write-Host "Cache directory contents for $destination:"
+      Write-Host "Cache directory contents for $destination"
       (Get-ChildItem -Path $destination -Recurse -Force |
         Select-Object FullName, Length |
         Format-Table -AutoSize |

From c2d6362ec95f4f066c77a8d8ec4ea1922fac5e67 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Prathik Rao <prathikrao@microsoft.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2026 15:05:25 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 13/20] map

---
 .../templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml   | 34 ++++++++++++++-----
 1 file changed, 25 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
index a32686460..89ba2ab60 100644
--- a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
@@ -21,6 +21,22 @@ steps:
       $container = 'models'
       $prefix = 'foundrylocal/models'
 
+      if (-not (Get-Command azcopy -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {
+        if ($IsMacOS) {
+          Write-Host 'azcopy not found on macOS agent. Installing via Homebrew...'
+          if (-not (Get-Command brew -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {
+            throw 'Homebrew is required to install azcopy on macOS agents, but brew was not found.'
+          }
+
+          brew update --quiet
+          brew install --quiet azcopy
+        } else {
+          throw 'azcopy is not installed on this agent.'
+        }
+      }
+
+      azcopy --version
+
       New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $destination -Force | Out-Null
 
       function Invoke-AzCopy {
@@ -42,19 +58,19 @@ steps:
         }
       }
 
-      $modelPaths = @(
-        'qwen2.5-0.5b-instruct',
-        'openai-whisper-tiny',
-        'nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b',
-        'qwen3-embedding-0.6b',
-        'qwen3.5-0.8b'
+      $modelMappings = @(
+        @{ SourcePath = 'qwen2.5-0.5b-instruct'; TargetAlias = 'qwen2.5-0.5b-instruct-generic-cpu-4' },
+        @{ SourcePath = 'openai-whisper-tiny'; TargetAlias = 'openai-whisper-tiny-generic-cpu-4' },
+        @{ SourcePath = 'nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b'; TargetAlias = 'nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b-generic-cpu-3' },
+        @{ SourcePath = 'qwen3-embedding-0.6b'; TargetAlias = 'qwen3-embedding-0.6b-generic-cpu-1' },
+        @{ SourcePath = 'qwen3.5-0.8b'; TargetAlias = 'qwen3.5-0.8b-generic-cpu-2' }
       )
 
-      foreach ($relativePath in $modelPaths) {
-        $requestedUrl = "https://$storageAccount.blob.core.windows.net/$container/$prefix/$relativePath/*"
+      foreach ($model in $modelMappings) {
+        $requestedUrl = "https://$storageAccount.blob.core.windows.net/$container/$prefix/$($model.SourcePath)/onnx/cpu_and_mobile/*"
         Write-Host "Requested blob URL: $requestedUrl"
 
-        $target = Join-Path $destination $relativePath
+        $target = Join-Path $destination $model.TargetAlias
         Invoke-AzCopy -Source $requestedUrl -Target $target
       }
 

From 4a260e94d1f3175ecb490387aacf9d2cfba28027 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Prathik Rao <prathikrao@microsoft.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2026 16:19:16 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 14/20] versioned model names

---
 .../templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml   | 27 +++++++++++++++----
 sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts  |  4 +--
 sdk_v2/js/test/audio-client.test.ts           |  2 +-
 sdk_v2/js/test/audio-session.test.ts          |  4 +--
 sdk_v2/js/test/embedding-client.test.ts       |  2 +-
 sdk_v2/js/test/embeddings-session.test.ts     |  2 +-
 sdk_v2/js/test/live-audio-client.test.ts      |  2 +-
 7 files changed, 30 insertions(+), 13 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
index 9db799106..c917aced3 100644
--- a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
@@ -58,12 +58,29 @@ steps:
         }
       }
 
+      # The active SDK tests resolve versioned model aliases in cache.
+      # Keep one target alias per source model to avoid duplicate copies.
       $modelMappings = @(
-        @{ SourcePath = 'qwen2.5-0.5b-instruct'; TargetAlias = 'qwen2.5-0.5b-instruct-generic-cpu-4' },
-        @{ SourcePath = 'openai-whisper-tiny'; TargetAlias = 'openai-whisper-tiny-generic-cpu-4' },
-        @{ SourcePath = 'nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b'; TargetAlias = 'nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b-generic-cpu-3' },
-        @{ SourcePath = 'qwen3-embedding-0.6b'; TargetAlias = 'qwen3-embedding-0.6b-generic-cpu-1' },
-        @{ SourcePath = 'qwen3.5-0.8b'; TargetAlias = 'qwen3.5-0.8b-generic-cpu-2' }
+        @{
+          SourcePath = 'qwen2.5-0.5b-instruct'
+          TargetAlias = 'qwen2.5-0.5b-instruct-generic-cpu-4'
+        },
+        @{
+          SourcePath = 'openai-whisper-tiny'
+          TargetAlias = 'openai-whisper-tiny-generic-cpu-4'
+        },
+        @{
+          SourcePath = 'nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b'
+          TargetAlias = 'nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b-generic-cpu-3'
+        },
+        @{
+          SourcePath = 'qwen3-embedding-0.6b'
+          TargetAlias = 'qwen3-embedding-0.6b-generic-cpu-1'
+        },
+        @{
+          SourcePath = 'qwen3.5-0.8b'
+          TargetAlias = 'qwen3.5-0.8b-generic-cpu-2'
+        }
       )
 
       foreach ($model in $modelMappings) {
diff --git a/sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts b/sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts
index 786bf427e..d752a73ad 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts
+++ b/sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ export interface RealModelManagerOptions {
   /**
    * Preferred model alias / name. If supplied AND the model is in the
    * catalog, it wins over the smallest-by-task fallback. Defaults to
-   * "qwen2.5-0.5b" — alias of the smallest chat model we ship.
+    * a versioned chat alias that we pre-cache in CI.
    */
   readonly namePreference?: string;
 }
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ export async function setupRealModelManager(opts: RealModelManagerOptions = {}):
     modelCacheDir: envCache,
   });
   const catalog = manager.catalog;
-  const namePref = opts.namePreference ?? "qwen2.5-0.5b";
+  const namePref = opts.namePreference ?? "qwen2.5-0.5b-instruct-generic-cpu-4";
 
   // Preference 1: exact name / alias hit (V1 throws on miss, so swallow).
   let model: IModel | undefined;
diff --git a/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-client.test.ts b/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-client.test.ts
index 0cf818311..18de8bf3b 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-client.test.ts
+++ b/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-client.test.ts
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ describe.skipIf(!haveTestModelCache)("AudioClient (real whisper-tiny model, V1 O
 
   beforeAll(async () => {
     fixture = await setupRealModelManager({
-      namePreference: "whisper-tiny",
+      namePreference: "openai-whisper-tiny-generic-cpu-4",
       task: "automatic-speech-recognition",
     });
     if (fixture !== undefined) {
diff --git a/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-session.test.ts b/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-session.test.ts
index a2a7fcb7d..f0f79ebee 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-session.test.ts
+++ b/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-session.test.ts
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ describe.skipIf(!haveTestModelCache)("AudioSession (real whisper-tiny model)", (
 
   beforeAll(async () => {
     fixture = await setupRealModelManager({
-      namePreference: "whisper-tiny",
+      namePreference: "openai-whisper-tiny-generic-cpu-4",
       task: "automatic-speech-recognition",
     });
   }, 5 * 60_000);
@@ -394,7 +394,7 @@ describe.skipIf(!haveTestModelCache)("AudioSession (real nemotron streaming mode
 
   beforeAll(async () => {
     fixture = await setupRealModelManager({
-      namePreference: "nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b-generic-cpu",
+      namePreference: "nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b-generic-cpu-3",
       task: "automatic-speech-recognition",
     });
   }, 5 * 60_000);
diff --git a/sdk_v2/js/test/embedding-client.test.ts b/sdk_v2/js/test/embedding-client.test.ts
index b9076b93a..032a87d51 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/js/test/embedding-client.test.ts
+++ b/sdk_v2/js/test/embedding-client.test.ts
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ describe.skipIf(!haveTestModelCache)("EmbeddingClient (real model, V1 OpenAI-JSO
   beforeAll(async () => {
     fixture = await setupRealModelManager({
       task: "embeddings",
-      namePreference: "qwen3-embedding-0.6b-generic-cpu",
+      namePreference: "qwen3-embedding-0.6b-generic-cpu-1",
     });
     if (fixture !== undefined) {
       client = fixture.model.createEmbeddingClient();
diff --git a/sdk_v2/js/test/embeddings-session.test.ts b/sdk_v2/js/test/embeddings-session.test.ts
index 341f0dc52..ae87c69da 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/js/test/embeddings-session.test.ts
+++ b/sdk_v2/js/test/embeddings-session.test.ts
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ describe.skipIf(!haveTestModelCache)("EmbeddingsSession (real model)", () => {
   beforeAll(async () => {
     fixture = await setupRealModelManager({
       task: "embeddings",
-      namePreference: "qwen3-embedding-0.6b-generic-cpu",
+      namePreference: "qwen3-embedding-0.6b-generic-cpu-1",
     });
   }, 5 * 60_000);
 
diff --git a/sdk_v2/js/test/live-audio-client.test.ts b/sdk_v2/js/test/live-audio-client.test.ts
index d3c1732c0..0e79403ed 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/js/test/live-audio-client.test.ts
+++ b/sdk_v2/js/test/live-audio-client.test.ts
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ describe.skipIf(!haveTestModelCache)("LiveAudioTranscriptionSession (V1, real ne
 
   beforeAll(async () => {
     fixture = await setupRealModelManager({
-      namePreference: "nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b-generic-cpu",
+      namePreference: "nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b-generic-cpu-3",
       task: "automatic-speech-recognition",
     });
     if (fixture !== undefined) {

From f90d0107425ae48bcd4a60389b37171270700b28 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Prathik Rao <prathikrao@microsoft.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2026 08:44:12 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 15/20] /Microsoft

---
 .../templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml      | 12 +++++++++++-
 sdk_v2/cpp/test/internal_api/test_model_cache.h  |  8 +++++++-
 sdk_v2/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/Utils.cs       |  6 +++---
 sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts     | 16 +++++++++-------
 sdk_v2/js/test/audio-session.test.ts             |  2 +-
 sdk_v2/js/test/live-audio-client.test.ts         |  2 +-
 6 files changed, 32 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
index c917aced3..115c6709e 100644
--- a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ steps:
       azcopy --version
 
       New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $destination -Force | Out-Null
+      $publisherRoot = Join-Path $destination 'Microsoft'
+      New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $publisherRoot -Force | Out-Null
 
       function Invoke-AzCopy {
         param(
@@ -80,6 +82,14 @@ steps:
         @{
           SourcePath = 'qwen3.5-0.8b'
           TargetAlias = 'qwen3.5-0.8b-generic-cpu-2'
+        },
+        @{
+          SourcePath = 'nemotron-3.5-asr-streaming-0.6b'
+          TargetAlias = 'nemotron-3.5-asr-streaming-0.6b-generic-cpu-3'
+        },
+        @{
+          SourcePath = 'deepseek-r1-distill-qwen-14b'
+          TargetAlias = 'deepseek-r1-distill-qwen-14b-generic-cpu-4'
         }
       )
 
@@ -87,7 +97,7 @@ steps:
         $requestedUrl = "https://$storageAccount.blob.core.windows.net/$container/$prefix/$($model.SourcePath)/onnx/cpu_and_mobile/*"
         Write-Host "Requested blob URL: $requestedUrl"
 
-        $target = Join-Path $destination $model.TargetAlias
+        $target = Join-Path $publisherRoot $model.TargetAlias
         Invoke-AzCopy -Source $requestedUrl -Target $target
       }
 
diff --git a/sdk_v2/cpp/test/internal_api/test_model_cache.h b/sdk_v2/cpp/test/internal_api/test_model_cache.h
index b1b674440..ea08b9ba3 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/cpp/test/internal_api/test_model_cache.h
+++ b/sdk_v2/cpp/test/internal_api/test_model_cache.h
@@ -29,7 +29,13 @@ inline fs::path GetTestModelCacheDir() {
     throw std::runtime_error("FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR does not exist: " + env_path.string());
   }
 
-  return fs::canonical(env_path);
+  fs::path publisher_path = env_path / "Microsoft";
+  if (!fs::exists(publisher_path)) {
+    throw std::runtime_error("FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR/Microsoft does not exist: " +
+                             publisher_path.string());
+  }
+
+  return fs::canonical(publisher_path);
 }
 
 /// Returns true when running under a known CI provider.
diff --git a/sdk_v2/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/Utils.cs b/sdk_v2/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/Utils.cs
index cf5c5cf2d..f05fd8f31 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/Utils.cs
+++ b/sdk_v2/cs/test/FoundryLocal.Tests/Utils.cs
@@ -72,9 +72,9 @@ static Utils()
             return;
         }
 
-        string testDataSharedPath = Path.GetFullPath(envCacheDir);
+        string testDataSharedPath = Path.GetFullPath(Path.Combine(envCacheDir, "Microsoft"));
         logger.LogInformation(
-            "Using test model cache directory from FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR env var: {TestDataSharedPath}",
+            "Using test model cache directory from FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR/Microsoft: {TestDataSharedPath}",
             testDataSharedPath);
 
         if (!Directory.Exists(testDataSharedPath))
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ static Utils()
         // exactly which path we resolved. Critical when diagnosing initialization
         // failures from CI logs only.
         Console.WriteLine($"[Utils::Utils] FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR env: '{envCacheDir}'");
-        Console.WriteLine($"[Utils::Utils] Resolved test model cache: '{testDataSharedPath}'");
+        Console.WriteLine($"[Utils::Utils] Resolved test model cache (FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR/Microsoft): '{testDataSharedPath}'");
 
         var config = new Configuration
         {
diff --git a/sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts b/sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts
index d752a73ad..dcb30c118 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts
+++ b/sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts
@@ -11,14 +11,16 @@
 // a multi-gigabyte download. Local devs implicitly opt into downloads simply
 // by setting FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR.
 import { existsSync, statSync } from "node:fs";
+import { join } from "node:path";
 
 import type { Catalog } from "../../src/catalog.js";
 import { FoundryLocalManager } from "../../src/foundryLocalManager.js";
 import type { IModel } from "../../src/imodel.js";
 
 const envCache = process.env.FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR;
+const publisherCache = envCache !== undefined && envCache.length > 0 ? join(envCache, "Microsoft") : undefined;
 const cacheDirExists =
-  envCache !== undefined && envCache.length > 0 && existsSync(envCache) && statSync(envCache).isDirectory();
+  publisherCache !== undefined && existsSync(publisherCache) && statSync(publisherCache).isDirectory();
 
 /**
  * True iff `FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR` is set and points at a real directory.
@@ -27,8 +29,8 @@ const cacheDirExists =
 export const haveTestModelCache: boolean = cacheDirExists;
 
 export const testModelCacheDiagnostic = haveTestModelCache
-  ? `[v2 SDK real-model tests] using cache dir ${envCache}`
-  : "[v2 SDK real-model tests] SKIPPED — FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR is not set or does not exist";
+  ? `[v2 SDK real-model tests] using cache dir ${publisherCache}`
+  : "[v2 SDK real-model tests] SKIPPED — FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR/Microsoft is not set or does not exist";
 
 const isCi: boolean = process.env.CI !== undefined || process.env.TF_BUILD !== undefined;
 
@@ -63,15 +65,15 @@ export interface RealModelManagerFixture {
  * must gate the `describe` block themselves.
  */
 export async function setupRealModelManager(opts: RealModelManagerOptions = {}): Promise<RealModelManagerFixture> {
-  if (!haveTestModelCache || envCache === undefined) {
+  if (!haveTestModelCache || publisherCache === undefined) {
     throw new Error(
-      "setupRealModelManager called without FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR — gate the describe with `skipIf(!haveTestModelCache)`",
+      "setupRealModelManager called without FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR/Microsoft — gate the describe with `skipIf(!haveTestModelCache)`",
     );
   }
 
   const manager = FoundryLocalManager.create({
     appName: opts.appName ?? "foundry-local-js-sdk-v2-real-tests",
-    modelCacheDir: envCache,
+    modelCacheDir: publisherCache,
   });
   const catalog = manager.catalog;
   const namePref = opts.namePreference ?? "qwen2.5-0.5b-instruct-generic-cpu-4";
@@ -85,7 +87,7 @@ export async function setupRealModelManager(opts: RealModelManagerOptions = {}):
   }
 
   // Preference 1b: catalog entries often carry a `-N` version suffix
-  // (e.g. `nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b-generic-cpu-3`). If the exact
+  // (e.g. `nemotron-3.5-asr-streaming-0.6b-generic-cpu-3`). If the exact
   // hit missed, try matching by prefix before falling back to the task
   // filter — caller-specified names should win over "smallest by task".
   if (model === undefined && opts.namePreference !== undefined) {
diff --git a/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-session.test.ts b/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-session.test.ts
index f0f79ebee..c1dde6b4e 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-session.test.ts
+++ b/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-session.test.ts
@@ -394,7 +394,7 @@ describe.skipIf(!haveTestModelCache)("AudioSession (real nemotron streaming mode
 
   beforeAll(async () => {
     fixture = await setupRealModelManager({
-      namePreference: "nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b-generic-cpu-3",
+      namePreference: "nemotron-3.5-asr-streaming-0.6b-generic-cpu-3",
       task: "automatic-speech-recognition",
     });
   }, 5 * 60_000);
diff --git a/sdk_v2/js/test/live-audio-client.test.ts b/sdk_v2/js/test/live-audio-client.test.ts
index 0e79403ed..f9920f32f 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/js/test/live-audio-client.test.ts
+++ b/sdk_v2/js/test/live-audio-client.test.ts
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ describe.skipIf(!haveTestModelCache)("LiveAudioTranscriptionSession (V1, real ne
 
   beforeAll(async () => {
     fixture = await setupRealModelManager({
-      namePreference: "nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b-generic-cpu-3",
+      namePreference: "nemotron-3.5-asr-streaming-0.6b-generic-cpu-3",
       task: "automatic-speech-recognition",
     });
     if (fixture !== undefined) {

From cf1802eafee8ce787c2400aa8c22d4bc0908e3f0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Prathik Rao <prathikrao@microsoft.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2026 09:53:23 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 16/20] revert

---
 sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts | 88 ++++++++++++++------
 sdk_v2/js/test/audio-client.test.ts          |  2 +-
 sdk_v2/js/test/audio-session.test.ts         |  4 +-
 sdk_v2/js/test/embedding-client.test.ts      |  2 +-
 sdk_v2/js/test/embeddings-session.test.ts    |  2 +-
 sdk_v2/js/test/live-audio-client.test.ts     |  2 +-
 6 files changed, 67 insertions(+), 33 deletions(-)

diff --git a/sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts b/sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts
index dcb30c118..0779fd721 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts
+++ b/sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts
@@ -19,8 +19,7 @@ import type { IModel } from "../../src/imodel.js";
 
 const envCache = process.env.FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR;
 const publisherCache = envCache !== undefined && envCache.length > 0 ? join(envCache, "Microsoft") : undefined;
-const cacheDirExists =
-  publisherCache !== undefined && existsSync(publisherCache) && statSync(publisherCache).isDirectory();
+const cacheDirExists = publisherCache !== undefined && existsSync(publisherCache) && statSync(publisherCache).isDirectory();
 
 /**
  * True iff `FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR` is set and points at a real directory.
@@ -34,6 +33,31 @@ export const testModelCacheDiagnostic = haveTestModelCache
 
 const isCi: boolean = process.env.CI !== undefined || process.env.TF_BUILD !== undefined;
 
+function normalizeModelLabel(value: string): string {
+  return value.trim().toLowerCase().replace(/-\d+$/, "");
+}
+
+function pickBestModel(candidates: readonly IModel[]): IModel | undefined {
+  if (candidates.length === 0) {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+
+  const sorted = [...candidates];
+  sorted.sort((a, b) => {
+    if (a.isCached !== b.isCached) {
+      return a.isCached ? -1 : 1;
+    }
+    const aSize = a.info.fileSizeMb ?? Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY;
+    const bSize = b.info.fileSizeMb ?? Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY;
+    if (aSize !== bSize) {
+      return aSize - bSize;
+    }
+    return a.info.name.localeCompare(b.info.name);
+  });
+
+  return sorted[0];
+}
+
 export interface RealModelManagerOptions {
   /** Override the appName. Defaults to a fixed test id. */
   readonly appName?: string;
@@ -76,33 +100,47 @@ export async function setupRealModelManager(opts: RealModelManagerOptions = {}):
     modelCacheDir: publisherCache,
   });
   const catalog = manager.catalog;
-  const namePref = opts.namePreference ?? "qwen2.5-0.5b-instruct-generic-cpu-4";
-
-  // Preference 1: exact name / alias hit (V1 throws on miss, so swallow).
-  let model: IModel | undefined;
-  try {
-    model = await catalog.getModel(namePref);
-  } catch {
-    model = undefined;
+  const cachedModels = await catalog.getCachedModels();
+  const allModels = await catalog.getModels();
+  const namePref = opts.namePreference ?? "qwen2.5-0.5b-instruct-generic-cpu";
+
+  // Normalize catalog labels from cache by stripping trailing version suffix.
+  const normalizedPref = normalizeModelLabel(namePref);
+  let model = pickBestModel(
+    cachedModels.filter((m) => {
+      const normalizedName = normalizeModelLabel(m.info.name);
+      const normalizedAlias = normalizeModelLabel(m.info.alias);
+      return normalizedName === normalizedPref || normalizedAlias === normalizedPref;
+    }),
+  );
+
+  // Fallback for local runs where cache may be empty/incomplete.
+  if (model === undefined) {
+    model = pickBestModel(
+      allModels.filter((m) => {
+        const normalizedName = normalizeModelLabel(m.info.name);
+        const normalizedAlias = normalizeModelLabel(m.info.alias);
+        return normalizedName === normalizedPref || normalizedAlias === normalizedPref;
+      }),
+    );
   }
 
-  // Preference 1b: catalog entries often carry a `-N` version suffix
-  // (e.g. `nemotron-3.5-asr-streaming-0.6b-generic-cpu-3`). If the exact
-  // hit missed, try matching by prefix before falling back to the task
-  // filter — caller-specified names should win over "smallest by task".
-  if (model === undefined && opts.namePreference !== undefined) {
-    const all = await catalog.getModels();
-    const prefixed = all.find((m) => m.info.name.startsWith(namePref));
-    if (prefixed !== undefined) {
-      model = prefixed;
+  // Preference 2: smallest model matching the task filter.
+  if (model === undefined) {
+    const task = opts.task ?? "chat-completion";
+    const matching = cachedModels.filter((m) => {
+      const info = m.info;
+      return info.task === task && info.deviceType === "CPU";
+    });
+    const fromCache = pickBestModel(matching);
+    if (fromCache !== undefined) {
+      model = fromCache;
     }
   }
 
-  // Preference 2: smallest model matching the task filter.
   if (model === undefined) {
     const task = opts.task ?? "chat-completion";
-    const all = await catalog.getModels();
-    const matching = all.filter((m) => {
+    const matching = allModels.filter((m) => {
       const info = m.info;
       return info.task === task && info.deviceType === "CPU";
     });
@@ -112,11 +150,7 @@ export async function setupRealModelManager(opts: RealModelManagerOptions = {}):
         `No catalog model matches task='${task}' deviceType='CPU' (and preference '${namePref}' missing)`,
       );
     }
-    matching.sort(
-      (a, b) =>
-        (a.info.filesizeMb ?? Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY) - (b.info.filesizeMb ?? Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY),
-    );
-    model = matching[0];
+    model = pickBestModel(matching);
   }
   if (model === undefined) {
     manager.dispose();
diff --git a/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-client.test.ts b/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-client.test.ts
index 18de8bf3b..6b3eb9d3c 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-client.test.ts
+++ b/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-client.test.ts
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ describe.skipIf(!haveTestModelCache)("AudioClient (real whisper-tiny model, V1 O
 
   beforeAll(async () => {
     fixture = await setupRealModelManager({
-      namePreference: "openai-whisper-tiny-generic-cpu-4",
+      namePreference: "openai-whisper-tiny-generic-cpu",
       task: "automatic-speech-recognition",
     });
     if (fixture !== undefined) {
diff --git a/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-session.test.ts b/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-session.test.ts
index c1dde6b4e..621f407d5 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-session.test.ts
+++ b/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-session.test.ts
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ describe.skipIf(!haveTestModelCache)("AudioSession (real whisper-tiny model)", (
 
   beforeAll(async () => {
     fixture = await setupRealModelManager({
-      namePreference: "openai-whisper-tiny-generic-cpu-4",
+      namePreference: "openai-whisper-tiny-generic-cpu",
       task: "automatic-speech-recognition",
     });
   }, 5 * 60_000);
@@ -394,7 +394,7 @@ describe.skipIf(!haveTestModelCache)("AudioSession (real nemotron streaming mode
 
   beforeAll(async () => {
     fixture = await setupRealModelManager({
-      namePreference: "nemotron-3.5-asr-streaming-0.6b-generic-cpu-3",
+      namePreference: "nemotron-3.5-asr-streaming-0.6b-generic-cpu",
       task: "automatic-speech-recognition",
     });
   }, 5 * 60_000);
diff --git a/sdk_v2/js/test/embedding-client.test.ts b/sdk_v2/js/test/embedding-client.test.ts
index 032a87d51..b9076b93a 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/js/test/embedding-client.test.ts
+++ b/sdk_v2/js/test/embedding-client.test.ts
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ describe.skipIf(!haveTestModelCache)("EmbeddingClient (real model, V1 OpenAI-JSO
   beforeAll(async () => {
     fixture = await setupRealModelManager({
       task: "embeddings",
-      namePreference: "qwen3-embedding-0.6b-generic-cpu-1",
+      namePreference: "qwen3-embedding-0.6b-generic-cpu",
     });
     if (fixture !== undefined) {
       client = fixture.model.createEmbeddingClient();
diff --git a/sdk_v2/js/test/embeddings-session.test.ts b/sdk_v2/js/test/embeddings-session.test.ts
index ae87c69da..341f0dc52 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/js/test/embeddings-session.test.ts
+++ b/sdk_v2/js/test/embeddings-session.test.ts
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ describe.skipIf(!haveTestModelCache)("EmbeddingsSession (real model)", () => {
   beforeAll(async () => {
     fixture = await setupRealModelManager({
       task: "embeddings",
-      namePreference: "qwen3-embedding-0.6b-generic-cpu-1",
+      namePreference: "qwen3-embedding-0.6b-generic-cpu",
     });
   }, 5 * 60_000);
 
diff --git a/sdk_v2/js/test/live-audio-client.test.ts b/sdk_v2/js/test/live-audio-client.test.ts
index f9920f32f..2d6925852 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/js/test/live-audio-client.test.ts
+++ b/sdk_v2/js/test/live-audio-client.test.ts
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ describe.skipIf(!haveTestModelCache)("LiveAudioTranscriptionSession (V1, real ne
 
   beforeAll(async () => {
     fixture = await setupRealModelManager({
-      namePreference: "nemotron-3.5-asr-streaming-0.6b-generic-cpu-3",
+      namePreference: "nemotron-3.5-asr-streaming-0.6b-generic-cpu",
       task: "automatic-speech-recognition",
     });
     if (fixture !== undefined) {

From 5175a472f6ad160656cbec605ed16247f770d2e0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Prathik Rao <prathikrao@microsoft.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2026 10:54:20 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 17/20] reset

---
 sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts | 102 ++++++-------------
 1 file changed, 33 insertions(+), 69 deletions(-)

diff --git a/sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts b/sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts
index 0779fd721..786bf427e 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts
+++ b/sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts
@@ -11,15 +11,14 @@
 // a multi-gigabyte download. Local devs implicitly opt into downloads simply
 // by setting FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR.
 import { existsSync, statSync } from "node:fs";
-import { join } from "node:path";
 
 import type { Catalog } from "../../src/catalog.js";
 import { FoundryLocalManager } from "../../src/foundryLocalManager.js";
 import type { IModel } from "../../src/imodel.js";
 
 const envCache = process.env.FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR;
-const publisherCache = envCache !== undefined && envCache.length > 0 ? join(envCache, "Microsoft") : undefined;
-const cacheDirExists = publisherCache !== undefined && existsSync(publisherCache) && statSync(publisherCache).isDirectory();
+const cacheDirExists =
+  envCache !== undefined && envCache.length > 0 && existsSync(envCache) && statSync(envCache).isDirectory();
 
 /**
  * True iff `FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR` is set and points at a real directory.
@@ -28,36 +27,11 @@ const cacheDirExists = publisherCache !== undefined && existsSync(publisherCache
 export const haveTestModelCache: boolean = cacheDirExists;
 
 export const testModelCacheDiagnostic = haveTestModelCache
-  ? `[v2 SDK real-model tests] using cache dir ${publisherCache}`
-  : "[v2 SDK real-model tests] SKIPPED — FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR/Microsoft is not set or does not exist";
+  ? `[v2 SDK real-model tests] using cache dir ${envCache}`
+  : "[v2 SDK real-model tests] SKIPPED — FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR is not set or does not exist";
 
 const isCi: boolean = process.env.CI !== undefined || process.env.TF_BUILD !== undefined;
 
-function normalizeModelLabel(value: string): string {
-  return value.trim().toLowerCase().replace(/-\d+$/, "");
-}
-
-function pickBestModel(candidates: readonly IModel[]): IModel | undefined {
-  if (candidates.length === 0) {
-    return undefined;
-  }
-
-  const sorted = [...candidates];
-  sorted.sort((a, b) => {
-    if (a.isCached !== b.isCached) {
-      return a.isCached ? -1 : 1;
-    }
-    const aSize = a.info.fileSizeMb ?? Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY;
-    const bSize = b.info.fileSizeMb ?? Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY;
-    if (aSize !== bSize) {
-      return aSize - bSize;
-    }
-    return a.info.name.localeCompare(b.info.name);
-  });
-
-  return sorted[0];
-}
-
 export interface RealModelManagerOptions {
   /** Override the appName. Defaults to a fixed test id. */
   readonly appName?: string;
@@ -69,7 +43,7 @@ export interface RealModelManagerOptions {
   /**
    * Preferred model alias / name. If supplied AND the model is in the
    * catalog, it wins over the smallest-by-task fallback. Defaults to
-    * a versioned chat alias that we pre-cache in CI.
+   * "qwen2.5-0.5b" — alias of the smallest chat model we ship.
    */
   readonly namePreference?: string;
 }
@@ -89,58 +63,44 @@ export interface RealModelManagerFixture {
  * must gate the `describe` block themselves.
  */
 export async function setupRealModelManager(opts: RealModelManagerOptions = {}): Promise<RealModelManagerFixture> {
-  if (!haveTestModelCache || publisherCache === undefined) {
+  if (!haveTestModelCache || envCache === undefined) {
     throw new Error(
-      "setupRealModelManager called without FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR/Microsoft — gate the describe with `skipIf(!haveTestModelCache)`",
+      "setupRealModelManager called without FOUNDRY_TEST_DATA_DIR — gate the describe with `skipIf(!haveTestModelCache)`",
     );
   }
 
   const manager = FoundryLocalManager.create({
     appName: opts.appName ?? "foundry-local-js-sdk-v2-real-tests",
-    modelCacheDir: publisherCache,
+    modelCacheDir: envCache,
   });
   const catalog = manager.catalog;
-  const cachedModels = await catalog.getCachedModels();
-  const allModels = await catalog.getModels();
-  const namePref = opts.namePreference ?? "qwen2.5-0.5b-instruct-generic-cpu";
-
-  // Normalize catalog labels from cache by stripping trailing version suffix.
-  const normalizedPref = normalizeModelLabel(namePref);
-  let model = pickBestModel(
-    cachedModels.filter((m) => {
-      const normalizedName = normalizeModelLabel(m.info.name);
-      const normalizedAlias = normalizeModelLabel(m.info.alias);
-      return normalizedName === normalizedPref || normalizedAlias === normalizedPref;
-    }),
-  );
-
-  // Fallback for local runs where cache may be empty/incomplete.
-  if (model === undefined) {
-    model = pickBestModel(
-      allModels.filter((m) => {
-        const normalizedName = normalizeModelLabel(m.info.name);
-        const normalizedAlias = normalizeModelLabel(m.info.alias);
-        return normalizedName === normalizedPref || normalizedAlias === normalizedPref;
-      }),
-    );
+  const namePref = opts.namePreference ?? "qwen2.5-0.5b";
+
+  // Preference 1: exact name / alias hit (V1 throws on miss, so swallow).
+  let model: IModel | undefined;
+  try {
+    model = await catalog.getModel(namePref);
+  } catch {
+    model = undefined;
   }
 
-  // Preference 2: smallest model matching the task filter.
-  if (model === undefined) {
-    const task = opts.task ?? "chat-completion";
-    const matching = cachedModels.filter((m) => {
-      const info = m.info;
-      return info.task === task && info.deviceType === "CPU";
-    });
-    const fromCache = pickBestModel(matching);
-    if (fromCache !== undefined) {
-      model = fromCache;
+  // Preference 1b: catalog entries often carry a `-N` version suffix
+  // (e.g. `nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b-generic-cpu-3`). If the exact
+  // hit missed, try matching by prefix before falling back to the task
+  // filter — caller-specified names should win over "smallest by task".
+  if (model === undefined && opts.namePreference !== undefined) {
+    const all = await catalog.getModels();
+    const prefixed = all.find((m) => m.info.name.startsWith(namePref));
+    if (prefixed !== undefined) {
+      model = prefixed;
     }
   }
 
+  // Preference 2: smallest model matching the task filter.
   if (model === undefined) {
     const task = opts.task ?? "chat-completion";
-    const matching = allModels.filter((m) => {
+    const all = await catalog.getModels();
+    const matching = all.filter((m) => {
       const info = m.info;
       return info.task === task && info.deviceType === "CPU";
     });
@@ -150,7 +110,11 @@ export async function setupRealModelManager(opts: RealModelManagerOptions = {}):
         `No catalog model matches task='${task}' deviceType='CPU' (and preference '${namePref}' missing)`,
       );
     }
-    model = pickBestModel(matching);
+    matching.sort(
+      (a, b) =>
+        (a.info.filesizeMb ?? Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY) - (b.info.filesizeMb ?? Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY),
+    );
+    model = matching[0];
   }
   if (model === undefined) {
     manager.dispose();

From 76bbecbfc125a9d370cd45a679435a8a1f6d5a33 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Prathik Rao <prathikrao@microsoft.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2026 12:33:04 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 18/20] local

---
 .pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml | 4 ----
 sdk_v2/js/test/audio-session.test.ts               | 2 +-
 sdk_v2/js/test/live-audio-client.test.ts           | 2 +-
 3 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
index 115c6709e..95e38384f 100644
--- a/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/templates/fetch-test-data-from-blob.yml
@@ -83,10 +83,6 @@ steps:
           SourcePath = 'qwen3.5-0.8b'
           TargetAlias = 'qwen3.5-0.8b-generic-cpu-2'
         },
-        @{
-          SourcePath = 'nemotron-3.5-asr-streaming-0.6b'
-          TargetAlias = 'nemotron-3.5-asr-streaming-0.6b-generic-cpu-3'
-        },
         @{
           SourcePath = 'deepseek-r1-distill-qwen-14b'
           TargetAlias = 'deepseek-r1-distill-qwen-14b-generic-cpu-4'
diff --git a/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-session.test.ts b/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-session.test.ts
index 621f407d5..72b522710 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-session.test.ts
+++ b/sdk_v2/js/test/audio-session.test.ts
@@ -394,7 +394,7 @@ describe.skipIf(!haveTestModelCache)("AudioSession (real nemotron streaming mode
 
   beforeAll(async () => {
     fixture = await setupRealModelManager({
-      namePreference: "nemotron-3.5-asr-streaming-0.6b-generic-cpu",
+      namePreference: "nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b-generic-cpu",
       task: "automatic-speech-recognition",
     });
   }, 5 * 60_000);
diff --git a/sdk_v2/js/test/live-audio-client.test.ts b/sdk_v2/js/test/live-audio-client.test.ts
index 2d6925852..d3c1732c0 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/js/test/live-audio-client.test.ts
+++ b/sdk_v2/js/test/live-audio-client.test.ts
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ describe.skipIf(!haveTestModelCache)("LiveAudioTranscriptionSession (V1, real ne
 
   beforeAll(async () => {
     fixture = await setupRealModelManager({
-      namePreference: "nemotron-3.5-asr-streaming-0.6b-generic-cpu",
+      namePreference: "nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b-generic-cpu",
       task: "automatic-speech-recognition",
     });
     if (fixture !== undefined) {

From 69ad060056cfbb9780727fd1e83b8c578a1b186c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Prathik Rao <prathikrao@microsoft.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2026 12:43:43 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 19/20] correct test env var

---
 .pipelines/v2/templates/stages-js.yml | 6 +++---
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.pipelines/v2/templates/stages-js.yml b/.pipelines/v2/templates/stages-js.yml
index f11ed23bb..24308897f 100644
--- a/.pipelines/v2/templates/stages-js.yml
+++ b/.pipelines/v2/templates/stages-js.yml
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ stages:
       parameters:
         rid: 'win-x64'
         prebuildArtifactDir: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)/js-prebuild-win-x64'
-        testDataSharedDir: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/test-data-shared'
+        testDataSharedDir: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/test-data-shared/Microsoft'
 
 - stage: js_test_linux_x64
   displayName: 'JS SDK: Test Linux x64'
@@ -227,7 +227,7 @@ stages:
       parameters:
         rid: 'linux-x64'
         prebuildArtifactDir: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)/js-prebuild-linux-x64'
-        testDataSharedDir: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/test-data-shared'
+        testDataSharedDir: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/test-data-shared/Microsoft'
 
 - stage: js_test_osx_arm64
   displayName: 'JS SDK: Test macOS ARM64'
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ stages:
       parameters:
         rid: 'osx-arm64'
         prebuildArtifactDir: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)/js-prebuild-osx-arm64'
-        testDataSharedDir: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/test-data-shared'
+        testDataSharedDir: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/test-data-shared/Microsoft'
 
 # =====================================================================
 # Pack stage — runs after all four builds. Pure packaging on Windows.

From 5a721858065169f97e7df5927b98d0434a8fdc67 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Prathik Rao <prathikrao@microsoft.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2026 14:08:19 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 20/20] test suite

---
 sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts | 59 ++++++++++++++------
 1 file changed, 41 insertions(+), 18 deletions(-)

diff --git a/sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts b/sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts
index 786bf427e..8a9ff919b 100644
--- a/sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts
+++ b/sdk_v2/js/test/_fixtures/realModelManager.ts
@@ -75,31 +75,58 @@ export async function setupRealModelManager(opts: RealModelManagerOptions = {}):
   });
   const catalog = manager.catalog;
   const namePref = opts.namePreference ?? "qwen2.5-0.5b";
+  const task = opts.task ?? "chat-completion";
+  const all = await catalog.getModels();
+
+  const normalizeVersionSuffix = (value: string): string => value.replace(/-\d+$/, "");
+  const nameMatchesPreference = (candidateName: string, preference: string): boolean => {
+    if (candidateName === preference) {
+      return true;
+    }
+
+    const candidateBase = normalizeVersionSuffix(candidateName);
+    const prefBase = normalizeVersionSuffix(preference);
+
+    // Handles versioned/unversioned pairs in either direction, e.g.
+    //  - preference: openai-whisper-tiny-generic-cpu
+    //  - candidate : openai-whisper-tiny-generic-cpu-4
+    return candidateBase === prefBase;
+  };
+
+  const bySize = (a: IModel, b: IModel): number =>
+    (a.info.fileSizeMb ?? Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY) - (b.info.fileSizeMb ?? Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY);
+
+  const preferCachedThenSize = (models: IModel[]): IModel | undefined => {
+    const cached = models.filter((m) => m.isCached);
+    if (cached.length > 0) {
+      return cached.sort(bySize)[0];
+    }
+    return models.sort(bySize)[0];
+  };
 
   // Preference 1: exact name / alias hit (V1 throws on miss, so swallow).
   let model: IModel | undefined;
   try {
-    model = await catalog.getModel(namePref);
+    const exact = await catalog.getModel(namePref);
+    if (exact.info.deviceType === "CPU") {
+      model = exact;
+    }
   } catch {
     model = undefined;
   }
 
-  // Preference 1b: catalog entries often carry a `-N` version suffix
-  // (e.g. `nemotron-speech-streaming-en-0.6b-generic-cpu-3`). If the exact
-  // hit missed, try matching by prefix before falling back to the task
-  // filter — caller-specified names should win over "smallest by task".
-  if (model === undefined && opts.namePreference !== undefined) {
-    const all = await catalog.getModels();
-    const prefixed = all.find((m) => m.info.name.startsWith(namePref));
-    if (prefixed !== undefined) {
-      model = prefixed;
-    }
+  // Preference 1b: robust preference matching with CPU + cache-first behavior.
+  // Handles versioned/unversioned names in either direction.
+  if (model === undefined) {
+    const preferredMatches = all.filter((m) => {
+      const info = m.info;
+      return info.deviceType === "CPU" && nameMatchesPreference(info.name, namePref);
+    });
+    model = preferCachedThenSize(preferredMatches);
   }
 
   // Preference 2: smallest model matching the task filter.
   if (model === undefined) {
-    const task = opts.task ?? "chat-completion";
-    const all = await catalog.getModels();
     const matching = all.filter((m) => {
       const info = m.info;
       return info.task === task && info.deviceType === "CPU";
@@ -110,11 +137,7 @@ export async function setupRealModelManager(opts: RealModelManagerOptions = {}):
         `No catalog model matches task='${task}' deviceType='CPU' (and preference '${namePref}' missing)`,
       );
     }
-    matching.sort(
-      (a, b) =>
-        (a.info.filesizeMb ?? Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY) - (b.info.filesizeMb ?? Number.POSITIVE_INFINITY),
-    );
-    model = matching[0];
+    model = preferCachedThenSize(matching);
   }
   if (model === undefined) {
     manager.dispose();