diff --git a/common/speculative.cpp b/common/speculative.cpp
index 3488b9393c5..ebaef15bde1 100644
--- a/common/speculative.cpp
+++ b/common/speculative.cpp
@@ -539,7 +539,12 @@ struct common_speculative_state_draft_mtp : public common_speculative_impl {
             set_h(i_batch_beg[seq_id], pending_h[seq_id].data());
         }
 
+        // During prompt sync the draft MTP context only needs its cache/state
+        // updated. Host-visible pre-norm rows are consumed during draft()
+        // generation, not while mirroring prompt batches.
+        llama_set_embeddings_pre_norm(ctx_dft, false);
         const int32_t rc = llama_decode(ctx_dft, batch);
+        llama_set_embeddings_pre_norm(ctx_dft, true);
         if (rc != 0) {
             LOG_ERR("%s: llama_decode(ctx_dft) failed rc=%d (pos=%d)\n", __func__, (int) rc, (int) batch_in.pos[0]);
             return false;
diff --git a/src/llama-context.cpp b/src/llama-context.cpp
index 083cb673ef7..c6ce7c707db 100644
--- a/src/llama-context.cpp
+++ b/src/llama-context.cpp
@@ -888,14 +888,23 @@ float * llama_context::get_embeddings_pre_norm() {
 }
 
 float * llama_context::get_embeddings_pre_norm_ith(int32_t i) {
-    output_reorder();
-
     try {
         if (embd_pre_norm.data == nullptr) {
             throw std::runtime_error("no pre-norm embeddings");
         }
 
-        const int64_t j = output_resolve_row(i);
+        int64_t j = i;
+        if (j < 0) {
+            j = n_outputs_pre_norm + j;
+            if (j < 0) {
+                throw std::runtime_error(format("negative index out of range [0, %d)", n_outputs_pre_norm));
+            }
+        }
+
+        if (j >= n_outputs_pre_norm) {
+            throw std::runtime_error(format("pre-norm embeddings id out of range [0, %d)", n_outputs_pre_norm));
+        }
+
         const uint32_t n_embd = model.hparams.n_embd;
         return embd_pre_norm.data + j*n_embd;
     } catch (const std::exception & err) {
@@ -1346,6 +1355,7 @@ int llama_context::encode(const llama_batch & batch_inp) {
     }
 
     n_outputs = n_tokens;
+    n_outputs_pre_norm = cparams.embeddings_pre_norm ? n_tokens : 0;
 
     const auto causal_attn_org = cparams.causal_attn;
 
@@ -1731,12 +1741,13 @@ int llama_context::decode(const llama_batch & batch_inp) {
     }
 
     // reserve output buffer
-    if (output_reserve(n_outputs_all) < n_outputs_all) {
+    if (output_reserve(n_outputs_all, cparams.embeddings_pre_norm ? n_tokens_all : n_outputs_all) < n_outputs_all) {
         LLAMA_LOG_ERROR("%s: could not reserve space for batch with %d outputs\n", __func__, n_outputs_all);
         return -2;
     };
 
     int64_t n_outputs_prev = 0;
+    int64_t n_outputs_pre_norm_prev = 0;
 
     do {
         const auto & ubatch = mctx->get_ubatch();
@@ -1882,16 +1893,17 @@ int llama_context::decode(const llama_batch & batch_inp) {
 
         // extract pre-norm embeddings (hidden state before the final output norm)
         // only meaningful in LLAMA_POOLING_TYPE_NONE (per-token); other pooling modes are ignored.
-        if (embd_pre_norm.data && t_h_pre_norm && n_outputs > 0 && cparams.pooling_type == LLAMA_POOLING_TYPE_NONE) {
+        if (embd_pre_norm.data && t_h_pre_norm && cparams.pooling_type == LLAMA_POOLING_TYPE_NONE) {
             ggml_backend_t backend_h = ggml_backend_sched_get_tensor_backend(sched.get(), t_h_pre_norm);
             GGML_ASSERT(backend_h != nullptr);
 
             const uint32_t n_embd = hparams.n_embd;
-            float * embd_pre_norm_out = embd_pre_norm.data + n_outputs_prev*n_embd;
+            const int64_t n_outputs_pre_norm_new = t_h_pre_norm->ne[1];
+            float * embd_pre_norm_out = embd_pre_norm.data + n_outputs_pre_norm_prev*n_embd;
 
-            GGML_ASSERT( n_outputs_prev + n_outputs <= n_outputs_all);
-            GGML_ASSERT((n_outputs_prev + n_outputs)*n_embd <= (int64_t) embd_pre_norm.size);
-            ggml_backend_tensor_get_async(backend_h, t_h_pre_norm, embd_pre_norm_out, 0, n_outputs*n_embd*sizeof(float));
+            GGML_ASSERT(n_outputs_pre_norm_prev + n_outputs_pre_norm_new <= (int64_t) embd_pre_norm.size/(int64_t)n_embd);
+            ggml_backend_tensor_get_async(backend_h, t_h_pre_norm, embd_pre_norm_out, 0, n_outputs_pre_norm_new*n_embd*sizeof(float));
+            n_outputs_pre_norm_prev += n_outputs_pre_norm_new;
         }
 
         // Copy backend sampling output if this ubatch produced any sampling tensors.
@@ -1912,6 +1924,7 @@ int llama_context::decode(const llama_batch & batch_inp) {
 
     // set to total number of outputs in the batch, for use in llama_get_logits_ith
     n_outputs = n_outputs_all;
+    n_outputs_pre_norm = n_outputs_pre_norm_prev;
 
     // set output mappings
     if (n_outputs > 0) {
@@ -1970,11 +1983,14 @@ int llama_context::decode(const llama_batch & batch_inp) {
 // output
 //
 
-uint32_t llama_context::output_reserve(int32_t n_outputs) {
+uint32_t llama_context::output_reserve(int32_t n_outputs, int32_t n_outputs_pre_norm_req) {
     const auto & hparams = model.hparams;
     const auto & vocab   = model.vocab;
 
     const int64_t n_outputs_max = std::max<int64_t>(n_outputs, n_seq_max());
+    const int64_t n_outputs_pre_norm_max = cparams.embeddings_pre_norm
+        ? std::max<int64_t>(n_outputs_pre_norm_req < 0 ? n_outputs : n_outputs_pre_norm_req, n_seq_max())
+        : 0;
 
     const auto n_batch    = cparams.n_batch;
     const auto n_vocab    = vocab.n_tokens();
@@ -1997,7 +2013,7 @@ uint32_t llama_context::output_reserve(int32_t n_outputs) {
 
     logits.size        = has_logits        ? n_vocab*n_outputs_max     : 0;
     embd.size          = has_embd          ? n_embd_out*n_outputs_max  : 0;
-    embd_pre_norm.size = has_embd_pre_norm ? n_embd*n_outputs_max      : 0;
+    embd_pre_norm.size = has_embd_pre_norm ? n_embd*n_outputs_pre_norm_max : 0;
 
     // Allocate backend sampling output buffers if there are backend samplers configured.
     const bool has_sampling = !sampling.samplers.empty();
@@ -2102,6 +2118,7 @@ uint32_t llama_context::output_reserve(int32_t n_outputs) {
     std::fill(output_ids.begin(), output_ids.end(), -1);
 
     this->n_outputs = 0;
+    this->n_outputs_pre_norm = 0;
 
     return n_outputs_max;
 }
@@ -2126,12 +2143,6 @@ void llama_context::output_reorder() {
             }
         }
 
-        if (embd_pre_norm.size > 0) {
-            for (uint64_t k = 0; k < n_embd; k++) {
-                std::swap(embd_pre_norm.data[i0*n_embd + k], embd_pre_norm.data[i1*n_embd + k]);
-            }
-        }
-
         if (!sampling.samplers.empty()) {
             assert(sampling.logits.size > 0);
             assert(sampling.probs.size > 0);
diff --git a/src/llama-context.h b/src/llama-context.h
index e16ac4c618b..0a9e40de162 100644
--- a/src/llama-context.h
+++ b/src/llama-context.h
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ struct llama_context {
 
     // Make sure enough space is available for outputs.
     // Returns max number of outputs for which space was reserved.
-    uint32_t output_reserve(int32_t n_outputs);
+    uint32_t output_reserve(int32_t n_outputs, int32_t n_outputs_pre_norm = -1);
 
     void output_reorder();
 
@@ -282,10 +282,11 @@ struct llama_context {
     // populated only when pooling_type == LLAMA_POOLING_TYPE_NONE
     buffer_view<float> embd = {nullptr, 0};
 
-    // hidden state before the final output norm (2-dimensional array: [n_outputs][n_embd])
+    // hidden state before the final output norm (2-dimensional array: [n_outputs_pre_norm][n_embd])
     // populated only when cparams.embeddings_pre_norm is enabled and the model graph
     // sets llm_graph_result::t_h_pre_norm
     buffer_view<float> embd_pre_norm = {nullptr, 0};
+    int32_t n_outputs_pre_norm = 0;
 
     struct sampling_info {
         // !samplers.empty() to check if any samplers are active
diff --git a/src/llama-graph.cpp b/src/llama-graph.cpp
index f4ca37c5160..be10cd28a16 100644
--- a/src/llama-graph.cpp
+++ b/src/llama-graph.cpp
@@ -177,6 +177,14 @@ void llm_graph_input_pos_bucket_kv::set_input(const llama_ubatch * ubatch) {
 void llm_graph_input_out_ids::set_input(const llama_ubatch * ubatch) {
     GGML_ASSERT(out_ids);
 
+    if (n_outputs == 0) {
+        return;
+    }
+
+    if (out_ids->buffer == nullptr) {
+        return;
+    }
+
     const int64_t n_tokens = ubatch->n_tokens;
 
     GGML_ASSERT(ggml_backend_buffer_is_host(out_ids->buffer));
diff --git a/src/models/qwen35.cpp b/src/models/qwen35.cpp
index 2b4d5b14cd4..54b5fb18690 100644
--- a/src/models/qwen35.cpp
+++ b/src/models/qwen35.cpp
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ llama_model_qwen35::graph::graph(const llama_model & model, const llm_graph_para
     auto * inp = build_inp_mem_hybrid();
 
     ggml_tensor * inp_pos     = build_inp_pos();
-    ggml_tensor * inp_out_ids = build_inp_out_ids();
+    ggml_tensor * inp_out_ids = (n_outputs > 0 && (!cparams.embeddings_pre_norm || n_outputs < n_tokens)) ? build_inp_out_ids() : nullptr;
 
     // MTP/NextN layers are loaded as extra decoder blocks but not executed in the main pass.
     const int n_transformer_layers = n_layer - (int) hparams.nextn_predict_layers;
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ llama_model_qwen35::graph::graph(const llama_model & model, const llm_graph_para
             cur = build_layer_attn(inp->get_attn(), cur, inp_pos, sections, il);
         }
 
-        if (il == n_transformer_layers - 1 && inp_out_ids) {
+        if (il == n_transformer_layers - 1 && inp_out_ids && !cparams.embeddings_pre_norm) {
             cur   = ggml_get_rows(ctx0, cur, inp_out_ids);
             inpSA = ggml_get_rows(ctx0, inpSA, inp_out_ids);
         }
@@ -211,6 +211,16 @@ llama_model_qwen35::graph::graph(const llama_model & model, const llm_graph_para
     cb(cur, "h_pre_norm", -1);
     res->t_h_pre_norm = cur;
 
+    if (n_outputs == 0) {
+        ggml_build_forward_expand(gf, cur);
+        return;
+    }
+
+    if (inp_out_ids && cparams.embeddings_pre_norm && n_outputs < n_tokens) {
+        cur = ggml_get_rows(ctx0, cur, inp_out_ids);
+        cb(cur, "h_pre_norm_out", -1);
+    }
+
     // Final norm
     cur = build_norm(cur, model.output_norm, nullptr, LLM_NORM_RMS, -1);
 
@@ -520,8 +530,9 @@ llama_model_qwen35::graph_mtp::graph_mtp(const llama_model & model, const llm_gr
 
     res->add_input(std::move(inp));
 
-    ggml_tensor * inp_pos = build_inp_pos();
-    auto * inp_attn       = build_attn_inp_kv();
+    ggml_tensor * inp_pos     = build_inp_pos();
+    ggml_tensor * inp_out_ids = (n_outputs > 0 && n_outputs < n_tokens) ? build_inp_out_ids() : nullptr;
+    auto * inp_attn           = build_attn_inp_kv();
 
     ggml_tensor * h_norm = build_norm(h_input, layer.nextn.hnorm, nullptr, LLM_NORM_RMS, il);
     cb(h_norm, "mtp_hnorm", il);
@@ -610,6 +621,16 @@ llama_model_qwen35::graph_mtp::graph_mtp(const llama_model & model, const llm_gr
     cb(cur, "h_pre_norm", -1);
     res->t_h_pre_norm = cur;
 
+    if (n_outputs == 0) {
+        ggml_build_forward_expand(gf, cur);
+        return;
+    }
+
+    if (inp_out_ids && n_outputs < n_tokens) {
+        cur = ggml_get_rows(ctx0, cur, inp_out_ids);
+        cb(cur, "mtp_h_pre_norm_out", -1);
+    }
+
     ggml_tensor * head_norm_w = layer.nextn.shared_head_norm
             ? layer.nextn.shared_head_norm
             : model.output_norm;
diff --git a/src/models/qwen35moe.cpp b/src/models/qwen35moe.cpp
index 22e3e110765..029e1a4febf 100644
--- a/src/models/qwen35moe.cpp
+++ b/src/models/qwen35moe.cpp
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ llama_model_qwen35moe::graph::graph(const llama_model & model, const llm_graph_p
     auto * inp = build_inp_mem_hybrid();
 
     ggml_tensor * inp_pos     = build_inp_pos();
-    ggml_tensor * inp_out_ids = build_inp_out_ids();
+    ggml_tensor * inp_out_ids = (n_outputs > 0 && (!cparams.embeddings_pre_norm || n_outputs < n_tokens)) ? build_inp_out_ids() : nullptr;
 
     // MTP/NextN layers are loaded as extra decoder blocks but not executed in the main pass.
     const int n_transformer_layers = n_layer - (int) hparams.nextn_predict_layers;
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ llama_model_qwen35moe::graph::graph(const llama_model & model, const llm_graph_p
             cur = build_layer_attn(inp->get_attn(), cur, inp_pos, sections, il);
         }
 
-        if (il == n_transformer_layers - 1 && inp_out_ids) {
+        if (il == n_transformer_layers - 1 && inp_out_ids && !cparams.embeddings_pre_norm) {
             cur   = ggml_get_rows(ctx0, cur, inp_out_ids);
             inpSA = ggml_get_rows(ctx0, inpSA, inp_out_ids);
         }
@@ -234,6 +234,16 @@ llama_model_qwen35moe::graph::graph(const llama_model & model, const llm_graph_p
     cb(cur, "h_pre_norm", -1);
     res->t_h_pre_norm = cur;
 
+    if (n_outputs == 0) {
+        ggml_build_forward_expand(gf, cur);
+        return;
+    }
+
+    if (inp_out_ids && cparams.embeddings_pre_norm && n_outputs < n_tokens) {
+        cur = ggml_get_rows(ctx0, cur, inp_out_ids);
+        cb(cur, "h_pre_norm_out", -1);
+    }
+
     // Final norm
     cur = build_norm(cur, model.output_norm, nullptr, LLM_NORM_RMS, -1);
 
@@ -584,8 +594,9 @@ llama_model_qwen35moe::graph_mtp::graph_mtp(const llama_model & model, const llm
 
     res->add_input(std::move(inp));
 
-    ggml_tensor * inp_pos = build_inp_pos();
-    auto * inp_attn       = build_attn_inp_kv();
+    ggml_tensor * inp_pos     = build_inp_pos();
+    ggml_tensor * inp_out_ids = (n_outputs > 0 && n_outputs < n_tokens) ? build_inp_out_ids() : nullptr;
+    auto * inp_attn           = build_attn_inp_kv();
 
     ggml_tensor * h_norm = build_norm(h_input, layer.nextn.hnorm, nullptr, LLM_NORM_RMS, il);
     cb(h_norm, "mtp_hnorm", il);
@@ -706,6 +717,16 @@ llama_model_qwen35moe::graph_mtp::graph_mtp(const llama_model & model, const llm
     cb(cur, "h_pre_norm", -1);
     res->t_h_pre_norm = cur;
 
+    if (n_outputs == 0) {
+        ggml_build_forward_expand(gf, cur);
+        return;
+    }
+
+    if (inp_out_ids && n_outputs < n_tokens) {
+        cur = ggml_get_rows(ctx0, cur, inp_out_ids);
+        cb(cur, "mtp_h_pre_norm_out", -1);
+    }
+
     ggml_tensor * head_norm_w = layer.nextn.shared_head_norm
             ? layer.nextn.shared_head_norm
             : model.output_norm;
diff --git a/tools/server/server-context.cpp b/tools/server/server-context.cpp
index 6096dd6b728..2d68db7c206 100644
--- a/tools/server/server-context.cpp
+++ b/tools/server/server-context.cpp
@@ -240,7 +240,11 @@ struct server_slot {
 
     bool need_embd() const {
         GGML_ASSERT(task);
-        return task->need_embd() || (spec && common_speculative_need_embd(spec));
+        return task->need_embd();
+    }
+
+    bool need_embd_pre_norm() const {
+        return spec && common_speculative_need_embd(spec);
     }
 
     // if the context does not have a memory module then all embeddings have to be computed within a single ubatch
@@ -2801,9 +2805,6 @@ struct server_context_impl {
                             break;
                         }
 
-                        // embedding requires all tokens in the batch to be output;
-                        // MTP also wants logits at every prompt position so the
-                        // streaming hook can mirror t_h_pre_norm into ctx_dft.
                         common_batch_add(batch,
                             cur_tok,
                             slot.prompt.tokens.pos_next(),