## Description

Brief description of what this PR does and why.

## Related Issue

Closes #

## Type of Change

- [ ] Bug fix (non-breaking change that fixes an issue)
- [ ] New feature (non-breaking change that adds functionality)
- [ ] Performance improvement (with benchmark numbers)
- [ ] Refactoring (no functional changes)
- [ ] Documentation update
- [ ] CI/CD or tooling change
- [ ] Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing functionality to not work as expected)

## Changes

- Change 1
- Change 2

## Test Plan

- [ ] All existing tests pass (`python -m pytest tests/ -v`)
- [ ] New tests added for new functionality
- [ ] Regression test passes (`python examples/run_regression.py`) -- required for inference changes
- [ ] Manual testing performed (describe below)

## Benchmarks

If this PR affects inference performance, counting accuracy, or API latency, include before/after numbers:

| Metric | Before | After |
|--------|--------|-------|

## Checklist

- [ ] My code follows the project's code style (type hints, no unnecessary abstractions)
- [ ] I have updated documentation if needed
- [ ] I have not introduced any new AGPL-licensed dependencies
- [ ] This PR contains no breaking API changes (or they are documented above)
- [ ] I have not committed secrets, API keys, or credentials
