diff --git a/yasha/infer/base_infer.py b/yasha/infer/base_infer.py
index bd60242..c520e47 100644
--- a/yasha/infer/base_infer.py
+++ b/yasha/infer/base_infer.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import logging
+import struct
 from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
 from collections.abc import AsyncGenerator
 
@@ -27,6 +28,25 @@
     error=ErrorInfo(message="model does not support this action", type="invalid_request_error", code=404)
 )
 
+# 44-byte WAV header + 2 bytes of silence (one 16-bit sample at 16 kHz mono)
+_MINIMAL_WAV_HEADER = struct.pack(
+    "<4sI4s4sIHHIIHH4sI",
+    b"RIFF",
+    36 + 2,
+    b"WAVE",  # RIFF chunk
+    b"fmt ",
+    16,
+    1,
+    1,
+    16000,
+    32000,
+    2,
+    16,  # fmt sub-chunk: PCM, mono, 16 kHz, 16-bit
+    b"data",
+    2,  # data sub-chunk: 2 bytes
+)
+MINIMAL_WAV = _MINIMAL_WAV_HEADER + b"\x00\x00"
+
 
 class BaseInfer(ABC):
     def __init__(self, model_config: YashaModelConfig):
@@ -46,6 +66,15 @@ def _set_max_context_length(self, length: int | None) -> None:
     @abstractmethod
     async def start(self) -> None: ...
 
+    @abstractmethod
+    async def warmup(self) -> None:
+        """Run a minimal inference pass to warm up the model (CUDA kernels, caches, etc.).
+
+        Subclasses should override this to send a tiny dummy request through
+        their actual inference path. The default is a no-op for loaders that
+        don't need warmup.
+        """
+
     async def create_chat_completion(
         self, request: ChatCompletionRequest, raw_request: DisconnectProxy
     ) -> ErrorResponse | ChatCompletionResponse | AsyncGenerator[str, None]:
diff --git a/yasha/infer/custom/custom_infer.py b/yasha/infer/custom/custom_infer.py
index e15ea42..fa59a6b 100644
--- a/yasha/infer/custom/custom_infer.py
+++ b/yasha/infer/custom/custom_infer.py
@@ -34,6 +34,17 @@ async def start(self):
 
         self.serving_speech = await self.init_serving_speech()
 
+    async def warmup(self) -> None:
+        if self.serving_speech is None:
+            return
+        logger.info("Warming up custom TTS model: %s", self.model_config.name)
+        request = SpeechRequest(model=self.model_config.name, input="warmup", voice="default")
+        result = await self.create_speech(request, DisconnectProxy(None, {}))
+        if isinstance(result, AsyncGenerator):
+            async for _ in result:
+                pass
+        logger.info("Warmup TTS done for %s", self.model_config.name)
+
     async def init_serving_speech(self) -> OpenAIServingSpeech | None:
         logger.info("init serving speech with model: %s", self.model_config.name)
         return (
diff --git a/yasha/infer/diffusers/diffusers_infer.py b/yasha/infer/diffusers/diffusers_infer.py
index 4eab810..1413fcb 100644
--- a/yasha/infer/diffusers/diffusers_infer.py
+++ b/yasha/infer/diffusers/diffusers_infer.py
@@ -69,6 +69,21 @@ async def start(self):
             else None
         )
 
+    async def warmup(self) -> None:
+        if self.serving_image is None:
+            return
+        logger.info("Warming up diffusers model: %s", self.model_config.name)
+        request = ImageGenerationRequest(
+            model=self.model_config.name,
+            prompt="warmup",
+            n=1,
+            size="64x64",
+            num_inference_steps=1,
+            guidance_scale=0.0,
+        )
+        await self.create_image_generation(request, DisconnectProxy(None, {}))
+        logger.info("Warmup image generation done for %s", self.model_config.name)
+
     async def create_image_generation(
         self, request: ImageGenerationRequest, raw_request: DisconnectProxy
     ) -> ErrorResponse | ImageGenerationResponse:
diff --git a/yasha/infer/model_deployment.py b/yasha/infer/model_deployment.py
index d1dd8bb..03c3b6c 100644
--- a/yasha/infer/model_deployment.py
+++ b/yasha/infer/model_deployment.py
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ async def __init__(self, config: YashaModelConfig):
                 self.infer = CustomInfer(config)
 
             await self.infer.start()
+            await self.infer.warmup()
         except Exception:
             MODEL_LOAD_FAILURES_TOTAL.inc(tags={"model": config.name, "loader": config.loader.value})
             raise
diff --git a/yasha/infer/transformers/transformers_infer.py b/yasha/infer/transformers/transformers_infer.py
index 34545c6..8c3944a 100644
--- a/yasha/infer/transformers/transformers_infer.py
+++ b/yasha/infer/transformers/transformers_infer.py
@@ -59,6 +59,17 @@ async def init_serving_speech(self) -> OpenAIServingSpeech | None:
 
         return OpenAIServingSpeech(speech_model=speech_model) if self.model_config.usecase is ModelUsecase.tts else None
 
+    async def warmup(self) -> None:
+        if self.serving_speech is None:
+            return
+        logger.info("Warming up transformers TTS model: %s", self.model_config.name)
+        request = SpeechRequest(model=self.model_config.name, input="warmup", voice="default")
+        result = await self.create_speech(request, DisconnectProxy(None, {}))
+        if isinstance(result, AsyncGenerator):
+            async for _ in result:
+                pass
+        logger.info("Warmup TTS done for %s", self.model_config.name)
+
     async def create_speech(
         self, request: SpeechRequest, raw_request: DisconnectProxy
     ) -> ErrorResponse | RawSpeechResponse | AsyncGenerator[str, None]:
diff --git a/yasha/infer/vllm/vllm_infer.py b/yasha/infer/vllm/vllm_infer.py
index 5085fc0..b826049 100644
--- a/yasha/infer/vllm/vllm_infer.py
+++ b/yasha/infer/vllm/vllm_infer.py
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
+import io
 import logging
 from collections.abc import AsyncGenerator
 from typing import ClassVar, cast
 
+from fastapi import UploadFile
 from starlette.requests import Request
 from starlette.responses import Response
 from vllm.config.model import ModelDType
@@ -17,12 +19,13 @@
 from vllm.usage.usage_lib import UsageContext
 from vllm.v1.engine.async_llm import AsyncLLM
 
-from yasha.infer.base_infer import BaseInfer
+from yasha.infer.base_infer import MINIMAL_WAV, BaseInfer
 from yasha.infer.infer_config import DisconnectProxy, ModelUsecase, VllmEngineConfig, YashaModelConfig
 from yasha.metrics import _ENABLED as _METRICS_ENABLED
 from yasha.openai.protocol import (
     ChatCompletionRequest,
     ChatCompletionResponse,
+    EmbeddingCompletionRequest,
     EmbeddingRequest,
     ErrorResponse,
     TranscriptionRequest,
@@ -112,6 +115,50 @@ async def start(self):
         self.serving_transcription = await self.init_serving_transcription()
         self.serving_translation = await self.init_serving_translation()
 
+    async def warmup(self) -> None:
+        logger.info("Warming up vllm model: %s", self.model_config.name)
+        dummy_proxy = DisconnectProxy(None, {})
+
+        if self.serving_chat is not None:
+            request = ChatCompletionRequest(
+                model=self.model_config.name, messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "warmup"}], max_tokens=1, seed=-1
+            )
+            result = await self.create_chat_completion(request, dummy_proxy)
+            if isinstance(result, AsyncGenerator):
+                async for _ in result:
+                    pass
+            logger.info("Warmup chat completion done for %s", self.model_config.name)
+
+        elif self.serving_embedding is not None:
+            request = EmbeddingCompletionRequest(
+                model=self.model_config.name,
+                input="warmup",
+            )
+            await self.create_embedding(request, dummy_proxy)
+            logger.info("Warmup embedding done for %s", self.model_config.name)
+
+        elif self.serving_transcription is not None:
+            request = TranscriptionRequest(
+                model=self.model_config.name, file=UploadFile(file=io.BytesIO(MINIMAL_WAV)), seed=-1
+            )
+            audio_data = MINIMAL_WAV
+            result = await self.create_transcription(audio_data, request, dummy_proxy)
+            if isinstance(result, AsyncGenerator):
+                async for _ in result:
+                    pass
+            logger.info("Warmup transcription done for %s", self.model_config.name)
+
+        elif self.serving_translation is not None:
+            request = TranslationRequest(
+                model=self.model_config.name, file=UploadFile(file=io.BytesIO(MINIMAL_WAV)), seed=-1
+            )
+            audio_data = MINIMAL_WAV
+            result = await self.create_translation(audio_data, request, dummy_proxy)
+            if isinstance(result, AsyncGenerator):
+                async for _ in result:
+                    pass
+            logger.info("Warmup translation done for %s", self.model_config.name)
+
     async def init_serving_chat(self) -> OpenAIServingChat | None:
         logger.info("init_serving_chat: %s, %s", self.supported_tasks, self.model_config.usecase)
         if not (self.model_config.usecase is ModelUsecase.generate and "generate" in self.supported_tasks):
diff --git a/yasha/openai/protocol.py b/yasha/openai/protocol.py
index d472642..835840a 100644
--- a/yasha/openai/protocol.py
+++ b/yasha/openai/protocol.py
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 
 # -- embeddings -------------------------------------------------------------
 from vllm.entrypoints.pooling.embed.protocol import (
+    EmbeddingCompletionRequest,
     EmbeddingRequest,
     EmbeddingResponse,
 )
@@ -112,6 +113,7 @@ class ImageGenerationResponse(OpenAIBaseModel):
 __all__ = [
     "ChatCompletionRequest",
     "ChatCompletionResponse",
+    "EmbeddingCompletionRequest",
     "EmbeddingRequest",
     "EmbeddingResponse",
     "ErrorInfo",