---
title: "PagedAttention: how vLLM manages the KV cache"
description: "A systems guide to PagedAttention, KV blocks, block tables, copy-on-write, fragmentation, and what vLLM’s memory manager changes."
canonical_url: "https://fanout.sh/blog/pagedattention-vllm-kv-cache"
md_url: "https://fanout.sh/blog/pagedattention-vllm-kv-cache.md"
last_updated: "2026-08-03"
access: "public"
---

# PagedAttention: how vLLM manages the KV cache

A systems guide to PagedAttention, KV blocks, block tables, copy-on-write, fragmentation, and what vLLM’s memory manager changes.

- Author: Suraj Gaud

- Published: 2026-08-03

- Track: Inference engineering

- Access: Fanout Pro

- Tags: PagedAttention, vLLM, KV cache, LLM inference, GPU memory

The complete article body is available to Fanout Pro members on the canonical page.

---
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