diff --git a/tests/shared/granite4_equivalence.py b/tests/shared/granite4_equivalence.py
index e5206e1..01e0beb 100644
--- a/tests/shared/granite4_equivalence.py
+++ b/tests/shared/granite4_equivalence.py
@@ -31,11 +31,22 @@ def assert_close(actual, expected, *, atol, rtol, msg=""):
 
     This avoids the joint formula (atol + rtol * |b|) where the two
     tolerances inflate each other's budget.
+
+    ``atol=rtol=0.0`` is a valid bit-exact gate. Passing it here rather than
+    to ``torch.testing.assert_close`` is deliberate: that function's ``msg=``
+    string *replaces* its whole diagnostic, so a failure reports only the
+    message and none of the numbers needed to tell a last-bit drift from a
+    real regression.
+
+    Matching non-finite entries count as equal. Logprob tensors are padded
+    with ``-inf`` for positions vLLM did not return, and ``-inf - -inf`` is
+    ``nan``, which fails every comparison — including ``diff <= 0.0`` — and
+    would surface as a bogus ``worst=nan``.
     """
     diff = (actual - expected).abs()
     abs_ok = diff <= atol
     rel_ok = diff <= rtol * expected.abs()
-    ok = abs_ok | rel_ok
+    ok = abs_ok | rel_ok | (actual == expected)
 
     if not ok.all():
         num_bad = (~ok).sum().item()
@@ -256,6 +267,21 @@ def get_tolerances(layer_types, long_sequence=False, has_kv_hidden=False):
        position while upstream embeds the original control id. Visible
        positions attending to the control position pick up that delta.
 
+    Case 1's bit-exactness holds for the *eager* graph only. Under
+    torch.compile the switch graph and the upstream graph are different
+    graphs, so inductor is free to fuse and tile them differently; at
+    production dimensions that is enough to round one bf16 logit's last bit
+    apart. It surfaced as ``test_logits_match[4.0-micro]`` failing on vLLM
+    0.20 while passing on 0.19 — with 4.0-1b and 4.0-350m (same 40 layers,
+    same dense stack) passing on both, and the same test bit-exact on the HF
+    backend, which is why the divergence is attributed to compilation rather
+    than to the weight transfer. vLLM's per-engine kernel choice is visible
+    in its own logs: the failing engine reported
+    ``IrOpPriorityConfig(rms_norm=['native'])`` where its sibling reported
+    ``['vllm_c', 'native']``. The vLLM callers that want a bit-exact gate
+    therefore pass ``enforce_eager=True``; see
+    ``tests/vllm/_granite4_fullsize_tests.py``.
+
     Args:
         layer_types: list of "attention" strings
         long_sequence: unused (kept for API compatibility)
diff --git a/tests/vllm/_granite4_fullsize_tests.py b/tests/vllm/_granite4_fullsize_tests.py
index 57a131c..67604a7 100644
--- a/tests/vllm/_granite4_fullsize_tests.py
+++ b/tests/vllm/_granite4_fullsize_tests.py
@@ -3,6 +3,10 @@
 
 Full-size Granite 4 equivalence tests via vllm.LLM.
 Requires CUDA GPU and vLLM installed.
+
+Runs eager. These are the bit-exact tests, and bit-exactness is a property of
+the module tree, not of whatever inductor decided to fuse in each of the two
+graphs — see the comment on ``enforce_eager`` below.
 """
 
 import pytest
@@ -53,22 +57,39 @@ def test_logits_match(self, model_name, tmp_path):
             tmpdir=tmp_path,
             max_model_len=64,
             gpu_memory_utilization=0.4,
+            # Compare the two module trees, not two compilations of them.
+            # torch.compile/inductor pick fusions and kernels per graph, and
+            # the switch graph is not the upstream graph, so at production
+            # dimensions the compiled paths can land a bf16 last bit
+            # differently while the eager math is identical. That is what
+            # broke 4.0-micro under vLLM 0.20 and not 0.19 (see the note in
+            # get_tolerances). enforce_eager removes the compiler, the
+            # CUDA-graph capture and vLLM's on-disk compile cache from the
+            # comparison, which restores a meaningful bit-exact gate.
+            # The compiled path is still covered, by the tests that are
+            # tolerant of a flipped last bit:
+            # tests/composer/test_skinning_equivalence.py (real weights) and
+            # tests/vllm/test_generation_equivalence.py (distribution).
+            enforce_eager=True,
         )
 
         tol = get_tolerances(layer_types)
-        if tol is None:
-            torch.testing.assert_close(
-                switch,
-                upstream,
-                atol=0.0,
-                rtol=0.0,
-                msg=f"{model_name}: logprobs should be bit-exact",
-            )
-        else:
-            assert_close(
-                switch,
-                upstream,
-                atol=tol[0],
-                rtol=tol[1],
-                msg=f"{model_name}: full-size logprobs diverge",
-            )
+        atol, rtol = (0.0, 0.0) if tol is None else tol
+        assert_close(
+            switch,
+            upstream,
+            atol=atol,
+            rtol=rtol,
+            msg=f"{model_name}: full-size logprobs diverge",
+        )
+
+        # Print the margin on a pass, not only into the failure message. A
+        # bit-exact gate that has quietly started riding at one ULP is a
+        # regression in progress, and this is the only place it shows.
+        delta = (switch - upstream).abs()
+        finite = delta[delta.isfinite()]
+        print(
+            f"{model_name}: {finite.numel()} finite logprob entries, "
+            f"max |delta| = {finite.max().item():.3e} "
+            f"(atol={atol:.1e} rtol={rtol:.1e})"
+        )