diff --git a/src/exo/worker/engines/mlx/auto_parallel.py b/src/exo/worker/engines/mlx/auto_parallel.py
index 159c2a45..855101dc 100644
--- a/src/exo/worker/engines/mlx/auto_parallel.py
+++ b/src/exo/worker/engines/mlx/auto_parallel.py
@@ -110,10 +110,26 @@ class PipelineFirstLayer(CustomMlxLayer):
         super().__init__(original_layer)
         self.r: int = r
         self.group = group
+        self.iteration: int = 0
+        # Shared storage for hidden states from previous rank
+        self._pending_hidden: mx.array | None = None
+
+    def set_pending_hidden(self, hidden: mx.array) -> None:
+        """Called by PipelineLastLayer to pass hidden states."""
+        self._pending_hidden = hidden
 
     def __call__(self, x: mx.array, *args: object, **kwargs: object) -> mx.array:
+        self.iteration += 1
         if self.r != 0:
-            x = mx.distributed.recv_like(x, (self.r - 1), group=self.group)
+            # Use all_gather instead of send/recv - it's synchronized across all ranks
+            # Rank 0 contributes real hidden states, other ranks contribute placeholder
+            gathered = mx.distributed.all_gather(x, group=self.group)
+            mx.eval(gathered)
+            # Extract hidden states from rank r-1 (previous rank in pipeline)
+            # all_gather concatenates along axis 0, so we need to slice appropriately
+            batch_size = x.shape[0]
+            x = gathered[(self.r - 1) * batch_size : self.r * batch_size]
+            logger.info(f"[rank {self.r}] iter={self.iteration} RECV shape={x.shape}, mean={float(mx.mean(x)):.6f}")
         return self.original_layer(x, *args, **kwargs)
 
 
@@ -130,8 +146,10 @@ class PipelineLastLayer(CustomMlxLayer):
         self.s: int = s
         self.group = group
         self.original_layer_signature = signature(self.original_layer.__call__)
+        self.iteration: int = 0
 
     def __call__(self, x: mx.array, *args: object, **kwargs: object) -> mx.array:
+        self.iteration += 1
         cache = self.original_layer_signature.bind_partial(
             x, *args, **kwargs
         ).arguments.get("cache", None)
@@ -139,11 +157,14 @@ class PipelineLastLayer(CustomMlxLayer):
         output: mx.array = self.original_layer(x, *args, **kwargs)
 
         if self.r != self.s - 1:
-            output = mx.distributed.send(
-                output, (self.r + 1) % self.s, group=self.group
-            )
+            mx.eval(output)
+            logger.info(f"[rank {self.r}] iter={self.iteration} SEND shape={output.shape}, mean={float(mx.mean(output)):.6f}")
+            # Use all_gather instead of send - it's synchronized across all ranks
+            # This all_gather pairs with the one in PipelineFirstLayer
+            gathered = mx.distributed.all_gather(output, group=self.group)
+            mx.eval(gathered)
             if cache is not None:
-                cache.keys = mx.depends(cache.keys, output)  # type: ignore[reportUnknownMemberType]
+                cache.keys = mx.depends(cache.keys, gathered)  # type: ignore[reportUnknownMemberType]
 
         return output
 
@@ -248,13 +269,25 @@ def patch_pipeline_model[T](model: T, group: mx.distributed.Group) -> T:
             "cache", None
         )
 
-        # Add dependency to last cache entry to ensure distributed ops are evaluated
-        if cache is not None:
-            cache[-1].state = mx.depends(cache[-1].state, logits)  # type: ignore
+        logger.info(
+            f"[rank {group.rank()}] pre-gather logits shape: {logits.shape}, "
+            f"cache entries: {len(cache) if cache else 0}"
+        )
 
-        logits = mx.distributed.all_gather(logits, group=group)[
-            -logits.shape[0] :
-        ]  # type :ignore
+        pre_gather_shape = logits.shape[0]
+        logits = mx.distributed.all_gather(logits, group=group)
+
+        logger.info(
+            f"[rank {group.rank()}] post-gather logits shape: {logits.shape}, "
+            f"slicing [-{pre_gather_shape}:]"
+        )
+
+        logits = logits[-pre_gather_shape:]
+
+        mx.eval(logits)
+        if cache is not None:
+            for c in cache:  # type: ignore
+                mx.eval(c.state)  # type: ignore
 
         return logits