diff --git a/benchmarks/bench_linear_float8.py b/benchmarks/bench_linear_float8.py
index ff6a52a..2780600 100644
--- a/benchmarks/bench_linear_float8.py
+++ b/benchmarks/bench_linear_float8.py
@@ -147,7 +147,6 @@ def main(
 
         linear_float8 = Float8Linear.from_float(
             copy.deepcopy(linear_ref),
-            emulate=False,
             config=config,
         )
         scaling_repr = linear_float8.scaling_repr()
diff --git a/benchmarks/bench_multi_gpu.py b/benchmarks/bench_multi_gpu.py
index b099d34..9e82cdb 100644
--- a/benchmarks/bench_multi_gpu.py
+++ b/benchmarks/bench_multi_gpu.py
@@ -79,7 +79,6 @@ def get_model(K, N, is_fp8, base_dtype=torch.float32):
     if is_fp8:
         swap_linear_with_float8_linear(
             m,
-            emulate=False,
             config=config,
         )
     return m
diff --git a/float8_experimental/config.py b/float8_experimental/config.py
index c063c78..e190b2f 100644
--- a/float8_experimental/config.py
+++ b/float8_experimental/config.py
@@ -69,6 +69,9 @@ class Float8LinearConfig:
     # This can cause a memory spike however so we keep this off by default.
     pad_inner_dim: bool = False
 
+    # If True, emulation is used instead of hardware accelerated gemm
+    emulate: bool = False
+
 
 # If True, use 'fnuz' float8 types for calculations.
 # Currently, ROCm only supports fnuz variants.
diff --git a/float8_experimental/float8_linear.py b/float8_experimental/float8_linear.py
index 782fa6b..6c1e3e0 100644
--- a/float8_experimental/float8_linear.py
+++ b/float8_experimental/float8_linear.py
@@ -166,8 +166,8 @@ def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
         )
         # Amax scales should always be kept as float32.
         self.always_float32_buffers = set()
-        emulate = kwargs.pop("emulate", False)
         config = kwargs.pop("config")
+        emulate = config.emulate
         super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
 
         # Defines the scaling behavior of input, weight, grad_output
@@ -434,7 +434,6 @@ def extra_repr(self):
     def from_float(
         cls,
         mod,
-        emulate: bool = False,
         config: Optional[Float8LinearConfig] = None,
     ):
         """
@@ -442,7 +441,6 @@ def from_float(
 
         Args:
             mod (torch.nn.Linear): nn.Linear to convert
-            emulate (bool): whether to emulate fp8 matmul logic in float32
             config (Optional[Float8LinearConfig]): configuration for conversion to float8
         """
         if config is None:
@@ -452,7 +450,6 @@ def from_float(
                 mod.in_features,
                 mod.out_features,
                 bias=False,
-                emulate=emulate,
                 config=config,
             )
         new_mod.weight = mod.weight
diff --git a/float8_experimental/float8_linear_utils.py b/float8_experimental/float8_linear_utils.py
index 4e4ad3f..41365df 100644
--- a/float8_experimental/float8_linear_utils.py
+++ b/float8_experimental/float8_linear_utils.py
@@ -127,7 +127,6 @@ def post_order_traversal(
 def swap_linear_with_float8_linear(
     module: nn.Module,
     *,
-    emulate: bool = False,
     module_filter_fn: Optional[Callable[[str, nn.Module], bool]] = None,
     config: Float8LinearConfig = None,
 ) -> Optional[nn.Module]:
@@ -136,7 +135,6 @@ def swap_linear_with_float8_linear(
 
     Args:
         module: Module to modify.
-        emulate: If True, emulation is used instead of hardware accelerated gemm
         module_filter_fn: If specified, only the `torch.nn.Linear` subclasses that
             that pass the filter function will be swapped. The inputs to the
             filter function are the FQN and module instance.
@@ -149,7 +147,6 @@ def swap_linear_with_float8_linear(
         config = Float8LinearConfig()
     from_float = lambda m: Float8Linear.from_float(
         m,
-        emulate=emulate,
         config=config,
     )
     return swap_linear_layers(
diff --git a/test/test_base.py b/test/test_base.py
index 9c102df..10d53b6 100644
--- a/test/test_base.py
+++ b/test/test_base.py
@@ -152,12 +152,10 @@ def _test_linear_impl(
         self,
         x,
         m_ref,
-        emulate: bool,
         config: Float8LinearConfig,
     ):
         m_fp8 = Float8Linear.from_float(
             copy.deepcopy(m_ref),
-            emulate,
             config,
         )
         for _ in range(2):
@@ -264,11 +262,11 @@ def test_linear(
             cast_config_grad_output=Float8TensorCastConfig(
                 scaling_type=scaling_type_grad_output
             ),
+            emulate=emulate,
         )
         self._test_linear_impl(
             x,
             m_ref,
-            emulate,
             config,
         )
 
@@ -303,8 +301,9 @@ def test_autocast_outputs(
             cast_config_grad_output=Float8TensorCastConfig(
                 scaling_type=TensorScalingType.DELAYED
             ),
+            emulate=emulate,
         )
-        m = Float8Linear.from_float(copy.deepcopy(m_ref), emulate, config)
+        m = Float8Linear.from_float(copy.deepcopy(m_ref), config)
 
         # autocast off
         x = torch.randn(16, 32, device="cuda", dtype=linear_dtype)
@@ -339,8 +338,8 @@ def test_type_cast(self, linear_dtype: torch.dtype, emulate: bool):
         )
 
         m = nn.Linear(32, 16, device="cuda", dtype=linear_dtype)
-        config = Float8LinearConfig()
-        m = Float8Linear.from_float(copy.deepcopy(m), emulate, config)
+        config = Float8LinearConfig(emulate=emulate)
+        m = Float8Linear.from_float(copy.deepcopy(m), config)
 
         # Cast the module to dtype
         m = m.to(dtype=linear_dtype)
@@ -389,10 +388,10 @@ def test_repr(self):
             cast_config_weight=Float8TensorCastConfig(
                 scaling_type=TensorScalingType.DELAYED
             ),
+            emulate=True,
         )
         m = Float8Linear.from_float(
             copy.deepcopy(m),
-            emulate=True,
             config=config,
         )
         s = m.__repr__()
@@ -604,7 +603,8 @@ class TestFloat8LinearUtils(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_swap_root_linear(self):
         for emulate in [True, False]:
             module = nn.Linear(3, 3)
-            module = swap_linear_with_float8_linear(module, emulate=emulate)
+            config = Float8LinearConfig(emulate=emulate)
+            module = swap_linear_with_float8_linear(module, config=config)
             self.assertIsInstance(module, Float8Linear)
             self.assertEqual(module.linear_mm_config.y.emulate, emulate)
             self.assertEqual(module.linear_mm_config.y.emulate, emulate)
@@ -613,11 +613,12 @@ def test_swap_root_linear_with_children_raises(self):
         for emulate in [True, False]:
             module = nn.Linear(3, 3)
             module.child = nn.Sequential(nn.Linear(3, 3))
+            config = Float8LinearConfig(emulate=emulate)
             with self.assertRaisesRegex(
                 AssertionError,
                 "Does not support a root nn.Linear with children",
             ):
-                swap_linear_with_float8_linear(module, emulate=emulate)
+                swap_linear_with_float8_linear(module, config=config)
 
     def test_swap_submodule_linears(self):
         class MLP(nn.Module):
@@ -628,7 +629,8 @@ def __init__(self, dim: int):
 
         for emulate in [True, False]:
             model = nn.Sequential(MLP(3), nn.Linear(3, 3), MLP(3))
-            model = swap_linear_with_float8_linear(model, emulate=emulate)
+            config = Float8LinearConfig(emulate=emulate)
+            model = swap_linear_with_float8_linear(model, config=config)
             self.assertIsInstance(model[0].lin1, Float8Linear)
             self.assertIsInstance(model[0].lin2, Float8Linear)
             self.assertIsInstance(model[1], Float8Linear)
@@ -655,9 +657,10 @@ def module_filter_fn(fqn, mod):
                 and mod.out_features % 16 == 0
             )
 
+        config = Float8LinearConfig(emulate=True)
         model = swap_linear_with_float8_linear(
             model,
-            emulate=True,
+            config=config,
             module_filter_fn=module_filter_fn,
         )
         # in_features=8, out_features=32, 8 is less than 32.
@@ -683,9 +686,10 @@ def __init__(self, dim: int):
             "0.lin2",
             "2.lin1",
         ]
+        config = Float8LinearConfig(emulate=True)
         model = swap_linear_with_float8_linear(
             model,
-            emulate=True,
+            config=config,
             module_filter_fn=module_filter_fn,
         )
         self.assertTrue(type(model[0].lin1) is Float8Linear)
diff --git a/test/test_compile.py b/test/test_compile.py
index 3525585..cd2372d 100644
--- a/test/test_compile.py
+++ b/test/test_compile.py
@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@
 def _test_compile_base(
     backend: str,
     fullgraph: bool,
-    emulate: bool,
     config: Float8LinearConfig,
     dtype: torch.dtype,
 ):
@@ -50,7 +49,6 @@ def _test_compile_base(
 
     m_fp8 = Float8Linear.from_float(
         copy.deepcopy(m_ref),
-        emulate,
         config,
     )
 
@@ -95,11 +93,11 @@ def test_eager_only(
         cast_config_grad_output=Float8TensorCastConfig(
             scaling_type=scaling_type_grad_output
         ),
+        emulate=emulate,
     )
     _test_compile_base(
         "eager",
         fullgraph,
-        emulate,
         config,
         dtype,
     )
@@ -133,11 +131,11 @@ def test_aot_eager(
         cast_config_grad_output=Float8TensorCastConfig(
             scaling_type=scaling_type_grad_output
         ),
+        emulate=emulate,
     )
     _test_compile_base(
         "aot_eager",
         fullgraph,
-        emulate,
         config,
         dtype,
     )
@@ -171,11 +169,11 @@ def test_inductor(
         cast_config_grad_output=Float8TensorCastConfig(
             scaling_type=scaling_type_grad_output
         ),
+        emulate=emulate,
     )
     _test_compile_base(
         "inductor",
         fullgraph,
-        emulate,
         config,
         dtype,
     )
@@ -315,11 +313,20 @@ def test_sync_amax_func_cuda_graph_success():
         my_module = nn.Sequential(
             nn.Linear(16, 32, bias=True), nn.ReLU(), nn.Linear(32, 16, bias=True)
         ).to("cuda")
+        config = Float8LinearConfig(
+            cast_config_input=Float8TensorCastConfig(
+                scaling_type=TensorScalingType.DELAYED
+            ),
+            cast_config_weight=Float8TensorCastConfig(
+                scaling_type=TensorScalingType.DELAYED
+            ),
+            cast_config_grad_output=Float8TensorCastConfig(
+                scaling_type=TensorScalingType.DELAYED
+            ),
+        )
         swap_linear_with_float8_linear(
             my_module,
-            scaling_type_input=TensorScalingType.DELAYED,
-            scaling_type_weight=TensorScalingType.DELAYED,
-            scaling_type_grad_output=TensorScalingType.DELAYED,
+            config=config,
         )
         inpt = torch.randn(
             16, 16, device="cuda", dtype=torch.float32, requires_grad=True
diff --git a/test/test_dtensor.py b/test/test_dtensor.py
index 606b3a5..842e214 100644
--- a/test/test_dtensor.py
+++ b/test/test_dtensor.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 import torch
 import torch.nn as nn
 import torch.nn.functional as F
-from float8_experimental.config import TensorScalingType
+from float8_experimental import Float8LinearConfig
 
 from float8_experimental.float8_dynamic_utils import NoopFwToFloat8E5M2Bw
 from float8_experimental.float8_linear_utils import swap_linear_with_float8_linear
@@ -184,14 +184,15 @@ def _test_fp8_mlp_tensor_parallelism_base(
     # For now, only supports dynamic scaling of `x` and `dL_dY`.
     # TODO(future): add support for float8 all-gather with delayed scaling
     # for activations and gradients.
+    config = Float8LinearConfig(emulate=True)
 
     toy_model = ToyModel().to(device)
-    toy_model_fp8 = swap_linear_with_float8_linear(toy_model, emulate=True)
+    toy_model_fp8 = swap_linear_with_float8_linear(toy_model, config=config)
 
     tp_model = copy.deepcopy(toy_model)
-    tp_model = swap_linear_with_float8_linear(tp_model, emulate=True)
+    tp_model = swap_linear_with_float8_linear(tp_model, config=config)
     sp_model = copy.deepcopy(toy_model)
-    sp_model = swap_linear_with_float8_linear(sp_model, emulate=True)
+    sp_model = swap_linear_with_float8_linear(sp_model, config=config)
 
     # vanilla TP
     tp_model = parallelize_module(
@@ -222,7 +223,7 @@ def _test_fp8_mlp_tensor_parallelism_base(
 
     # PrepareFloat8ModuleInput with specific submodule fqn
     sp_model2 = copy.deepcopy(toy_model)
-    sp_model2 = swap_linear_with_float8_linear(sp_model2, emulate=True)
+    sp_model2 = swap_linear_with_float8_linear(sp_model2, config=config)
 
     sp_model2 = parallelize_module(
         sp_model2,
diff --git a/test/test_fsdp.py b/test/test_fsdp.py
index 637be89..202e7e3 100644
--- a/test/test_fsdp.py
+++ b/test/test_fsdp.py
@@ -84,13 +84,14 @@ def fsdp_main(rank, world_size, args):
     )
     config = Float8LinearConfig(
         cast_config_weight=Float8TensorCastConfig(scaling_type=scaling_type_weight),
+        # TODO(future): delete this arg as it's always False
+        emulate=False,
     )
 
     # Note: we only iterate over `scaling_type_weight` because FSDP only interacts
     # with weights.
     swap_linear_with_float8_linear(
         model_fp8,
-        emulate=False,
         config=config,
     )
 
diff --git a/test/test_fsdp2/test_fsdp2.py b/test/test_fsdp2/test_fsdp2.py
index dacf911..fca34a4 100644
--- a/test/test_fsdp2/test_fsdp2.py
+++ b/test/test_fsdp2/test_fsdp2.py
@@ -185,8 +185,9 @@ def _test_transformer_memory(self, enable_fsdp_fp8_all_gather: bool):
         # requirement to use a smaller activation size
         float8_linear_config = Float8LinearConfig(
             enable_fsdp_fp8_all_gather=enable_fsdp_fp8_all_gather,
+            emulate=True,
         )
-        swap_linear_with_float8_linear(model, emulate=True, config=float8_linear_config)
+        swap_linear_with_float8_linear(model, config=float8_linear_config)
         model_unsharded_numel = sum(p.numel() for p in model.parameters())
         model_sharded_numel = (model_unsharded_numel + 1) // 2
         block_lin_weight_numel = 0
@@ -294,10 +295,10 @@ def test_weight_subclass_dynamic(self):
         module_fp32 = self.init_single_module()
         float8_linear_config = Float8LinearConfig(
             enable_fsdp_fp8_all_gather=True,
+            emulate=True,
         )
         module = swap_linear_with_float8_linear(
             module_fp32,
-            emulate=True,
             config=float8_linear_config,
         )
         self.assertIsInstance(module.weight, tensor_cls)
@@ -311,7 +312,6 @@ def test_weight_subclass_dynamic(self):
         module = self.init_multi_module()
         module = swap_linear_with_float8_linear(
             module,
-            emulate=True,
             config=float8_linear_config,
         )
         for param_name, param in module.named_parameters():
@@ -517,12 +517,13 @@ def test_bf16_mp_fp8_dynamic_multi_parity(self):
         # parameters, changing the numerics.
         module = self.init_multi_module()
         ref_module_bf16 = copy.deepcopy(module).to(torch.bfloat16)
+        float8_config = Float8LinearConfig(emulate=True)
         ref_module_bf16 = swap_linear_with_float8_linear(
             ref_module_bf16,
-            emulate=True,
+            config=float8_config,
         )
         ref_module_fp32 = copy.deepcopy(module).cuda()
-        module = swap_linear_with_float8_linear(module, emulate=True)
+        module = swap_linear_with_float8_linear(module, config=float8_config)
         mp_policy = MixedPrecisionPolicy(param_dtype=torch.bfloat16)
         for mlp in module:
             fully_shard(mlp, mp_policy=mp_policy)
diff --git a/test/test_fsdp_compile.py b/test/test_fsdp_compile.py
index c23cfbe..2080782 100644
--- a/test/test_fsdp_compile.py
+++ b/test/test_fsdp_compile.py
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ def get_model(K, N, is_fp8, emulate, base_dtype=torch.float32):
         cast_config_grad_output=Float8TensorCastConfig(
             scaling_type=TensorScalingType.DELAYED
         ),
+        emulate=emulate,
     )
 
     m = nn.Sequential(
@@ -74,7 +75,6 @@ def get_model(K, N, is_fp8, emulate, base_dtype=torch.float32):
     )
     swap_linear_with_float8_linear(
         m,
-        emulate=emulate,
         config=config,
     )
     return m
diff --git a/test/test_numerics_integration.py b/test/test_numerics_integration.py
index 2260780..9b8e2e4 100644
--- a/test/test_numerics_integration.py
+++ b/test/test_numerics_integration.py
@@ -122,7 +122,6 @@ def test_encoder_fw_bw(
         )
         swap_linear_with_float8_linear(
             model_fp8,
-            emulate=False,
             config=config,
         )