diff --git a/src/model/vae/minimax_h3_vae.hpp b/src/model/vae/minimax_h3_vae.hpp
index f6c8eb49..ec6f6239 100644
--- a/src/model/vae/minimax_h3_vae.hpp
+++ b/src/model/vae/minimax_h3_vae.hpp
@@ -633,8 +633,11 @@ namespace MiniMaxH3VAE {
             auto plan   = make_vae_temporal_tile_plan(input.shape()[2], {17, 0});
             auto result = process_vae_temporal_tiles(input, plan, [&](const sd::Tensor<float>& chunk, const VAETemporalTile& tile) {
                 SD_UNUSED(tile);
-                return VAE::encode(n_threads, chunk, tiling, circular_x, circular_y);
+                // keep the runner alive across chunks; ending it here would
+                // evict and reload the encoder weights every chunk
+                return VAE::encode(n_threads, chunk, tiling, circular_x, circular_y, false);
             });
+            runner_end();
             if (result.empty()) {
                 return {};
             }
@@ -695,13 +698,16 @@ namespace MiniMaxH3VAE {
                 {static_cast<int>(tokens_per_chunk + token_overlap), static_cast<int>(token_overlap)});
             GGML_ASSERT(plan.tiles.size() == static_cast<size_t>(num_chunks));
             auto result = process_vae_temporal_tiles(input, plan, [&](const sd::Tensor<float>& chunk, const VAETemporalTile& tile) {
+                // keep the runner alive across chunks; ending it here would
+                // evict and reload the decoder weights every chunk
                 auto decoded = VAE::decode(n_threads,
                                            chunk,
                                            tiling,
                                            true,
                                            circular_x,
                                            circular_y,
-                                           silent);
+                                           silent,
+                                           false);
                 if (decoded.empty()) {
                     return sd::Tensor<float>();
                 }
@@ -728,6 +734,7 @@ namespace MiniMaxH3VAE {
                 }
                 return first;
             });
+            runner_end();
             if (result.empty()) {
                 return {};
             }
diff --git a/src/model/vae/vae.hpp b/src/model/vae/vae.hpp
index 5d6e4eee..d5ac6f58 100644
--- a/src/model/vae/vae.hpp
+++ b/src/model/vae/vae.hpp
@@ -241,6 +241,15 @@ public:
                                      sd_tiling_params_t tiling_params,
                                      bool circular_x = false,
                                      bool circular_y = false) {
+        return encode(n_threads, x, tiling_params, circular_x, circular_y, true);
+    }
+
+    sd::Tensor<float> encode(int n_threads,
+                             const sd::Tensor<float>& x,
+                             sd_tiling_params_t tiling_params,
+                             bool circular_x,
+                             bool circular_y,
+                             bool auto_end) {
         int64_t t0              = ggml_time_ms();
         tiling_params           = resolve_tiling_params(tiling_params);
         sd::Tensor<float> input = x;
@@ -280,7 +289,9 @@ public:
                                                   tiling_params);
         }
 
-        runner_end();
+        if (auto_end) {
+            runner_end();
+        }
 
         if (output.empty()) {
             LOG_ERROR("vae encode compute failed");
@@ -298,6 +309,17 @@ public:
                                      bool circular_x   = false,
                                      bool circular_y   = false,
                                      bool silent       = false) {
+        return decode(n_threads, x, tiling_params, decode_video, circular_x, circular_y, silent, true);
+    }
+
+    sd::Tensor<float> decode(int n_threads,
+                             const sd::Tensor<float>& x,
+                             sd_tiling_params_t tiling_params,
+                             bool decode_video,
+                             bool circular_x,
+                             bool circular_y,
+                             bool silent,
+                             bool auto_end) {
         int64_t t0              = ggml_time_ms();
         tiling_params           = resolve_tiling_params(tiling_params);
         sd::Tensor<float> input = x;
@@ -338,7 +360,9 @@ public:
                                                   tiling_params);
         }
 
-        runner_end();
+        if (auto_end) {
+            runner_end();
+        }
 
         if (output.empty()) {
             LOG_ERROR("vae decode compute failed");