diff --git a/tinygrad/uop/spec.py b/tinygrad/uop/spec.py
index 01773ce764..71a1379768 100644
--- a/tinygrad/uop/spec.py
+++ b/tinygrad/uop/spec.py
@@ -1,58 +1,8 @@
-from typing import cast, Callable
-from tinygrad.uop.ops import PatternMatcher, UPat, GroupOp, Ops, UOp, print_uops, python_alu, graph_rewrite, AxisType
+from typing import cast
+from tinygrad.uop.ops import PatternMatcher, UPat, GroupOp, Ops, UOp, print_uops, AxisType
 from tinygrad.dtype import DType, ImageDType, dtypes, PtrDType, AddrSpace, Invalid
-from tinygrad.helpers import DEBUG, IGNORE_OOB, Context, cpu_profile
-try:
-  import z3
-  # older versions of z3 dont have some operators like & overloaded
-  if z3.get_version() < (4, 12, 4, 0): raise ImportError
-
-  # IDIV is truncated division but z3 does euclidian division (floor if b>0 ceil otherwise); mod by power of two sometimes uses Ops.AND
-  def z3_cdiv(a, b):return z3.If((a<0), z3.If(0<b, (a+(b-1))/b, (a-(b+1))/b), a/b)
-  def z3_xor(a,b):
-    if isinstance(a, z3.BoolRef): return a^b
-    assert a==-1 or b==-1, "xor can only be used in indexing if one of the aruments is -1"
-    return -a-1 if b==-1 else -b-1
-  z3_alu: dict[Ops, Callable] = python_alu | {Ops.MOD: lambda a,b: a-z3_cdiv(a,b)*b, Ops.IDIV: z3_cdiv, Ops.SHR: lambda a,b: a/(2**b.as_long()),
-    Ops.SHL: lambda a,b: a*(2**b.as_long()), Ops.AND: lambda a,b: a%(b+1) if isinstance(b, z3.ArithRef) else a&b, Ops.WHERE: z3.If, Ops.XOR: z3_xor,
-    Ops.MAX: lambda a,b: z3.If(a<b, b, a), Ops.TRUNC: lambda a: a if a.is_int() else z3.ToReal(z3.If(a >= 0, z3.ToInt(a), -z3.ToInt(-a)))}
-  def create_bounded(name:str, vmin, vmax, solver:z3.Solver) -> z3.ArithRef:
-    s = z3.Int(name, ctx=solver.ctx)
-    solver.add(vmin <= s, s <= vmax)
-    return s
-
-  # ctx is (solver, load_number_dict)
-  # each uop gets rewritten to NOOP(arg=(solver, z3_object)), the arg has the solver first due to UOpMetaClass caching. z3 objects from different
-  # contexts can have the same hash but error on comparison
-  z3_renderer = PatternMatcher([
-    (UPat(Ops.SPECIAL, src=UPat(Ops.NOOP), name="x"), lambda x,ctx: UOp(Ops.NOOP, arg=(ctx[0],create_bounded(x.arg, 0, x.src[0].arg[1]-1, ctx[0])))),
-    (UPat(Ops.DEFINE_VAR, name="x"), lambda x,ctx: UOp(Ops.NOOP, arg=(ctx[0],create_bounded(x.arg[0], x.arg[1], x.arg[2], ctx[0])))),
-    (UPat(Ops.RANGE, name="x"), lambda x,ctx: UOp(Ops.NOOP, arg=(ctx[0],create_bounded(f"ridx{x.arg}", 0, x.src[0].arg[1]-1, ctx[0])))),
-    # loaded bools become a z3 int with min max of 0-1
-    (UPat(Ops.LOAD, dtypes.ints+(dtypes.bool,), name="x"), lambda x,ctx:
-      UOp(Ops.NOOP, arg=(ctx[0],create_bounded(f"load{ctx[1].setdefault(x, len(ctx[1]))}", x.dtype.min, x.dtype.max, ctx[0]))).cast(x.dtype)),
-    (UPat(Ops.CONST, dtype=dtypes.ints+(dtypes.bool,dtypes.index), name="x"),
-      lambda x,ctx: UOp(Ops.NOOP, arg=(ctx[0],(z3.BoolVal if dtypes.is_bool(x.dtype) else z3.IntVal)(x.arg, ctx=ctx[0].ctx)))),
-    # z3 can cast from bool to int automatically
-    (UPat(Ops.CAST, dtype=dtypes.ints+(dtypes.index,), src=UPat(Ops.NOOP), name="x"), lambda x: x.src[0]),
-    (UPat(Ops.CAST, dtype=dtypes.bool, src=UPat(Ops.NOOP), name="x"), lambda x,ctx: UOp(Ops.NOOP, arg=(ctx[0], x.src[0].arg[1]!=0))),
-    # if the source of the cast is not a noop it means that it is a float and so we create a new variable
-    (UPat(Ops.CAST, dtype=dtypes.ints+(dtypes.index,), name="x"), lambda x,ctx:
-      UOp(Ops.NOOP, arg=(ctx[0], create_bounded(f"cast{ctx[1].setdefault(x, len(ctx[1]))}", x.dtype.min, x.dtype.max, ctx[0])))),
-    (UPat(Ops.CAST, dtype=dtypes.bool, name="x"), lambda x,ctx:
-      UOp(Ops.NOOP, arg=(ctx[0], z3.Bool(f"cast{ctx[1].setdefault(x, len(ctx[1]))}",ctx=ctx[0].ctx)))),
-    (UPat(GroupOp.ALU, src=UPat(Ops.NOOP), name="x"), lambda x,ctx: UOp(Ops.NOOP, arg=(ctx[0], z3_alu[x.op](*(s.arg[1] for s in x.src))))),
-    # A comparison between floats introduces a new bool variable
-    (UPat(GroupOp.Comparison, src=UPat(dtype=dtypes.floats), name="x"), lambda x,ctx:
-      UOp(Ops.NOOP, arg=(ctx[0], z3.Bool(f"float_cmp{ctx[1].setdefault(x, len(ctx[1]))}",ctx=ctx[0].ctx)))),
-  ])
-
-  def uops_to_z3(solver, *uops: UOp) -> 'list[z3.ExprRef]':
-    with Context(TRACK_MATCH_STATS=0, SPEC=0):  # cant pickle z3 objects, and these UOps don't follow spec
-      return [s.arg[1] for s in graph_rewrite(uops[0].sink(*uops[1:]), z3_renderer, ctx=(solver, {})).src]
-
-  z3_imported = True
-except (ImportError, AttributeError): z3_imported = False
+from tinygrad.helpers import DEBUG, Context
+from tinygrad.uop.validate import validate_index
 
 # four specs:
 #   shared_spec  -- usable anywhere
@@ -86,7 +36,7 @@ shared_spec = PatternMatcher([
       all(isinstance(ra, int) for ra in rng.arg[0:-1]) and isinstance(rng.arg[-1], AxisType)),
 ])
 
-# *** this is the spec of a Tensor in UOp ***
+# ***** UOp spec in the Tensor graph *****
 
 tensor_spec = PatternMatcher([
   # buffer spec
@@ -148,33 +98,8 @@ tensor_spec = PatternMatcher([
   (UPat(Ops.AFTER, src=(UPat((Ops.BUFFER, Ops.AFTER)),), allow_any_len=True), lambda: True),
 ])+shared_spec
 
-# ***** uop type spec *****
+# ***** UOp spec in linearized programs *****
 
-def validate_index(idx:UOp, gate:UOp|None=None):
-  if gate is None: gate = UOp.const(dtypes.bool, True)
-  # TODO: check for overflow
-  if IGNORE_OOB or isinstance(idx.dtype, ImageDType) or (sz := idx.src[0].ptrdtype.size) == -1: return True
-  # We can use UOp min/max to do a faster check, but it can give false positive since its not an exact bound and doesn't consider the mask
-  if 0<=idx.src[1].vmin and idx.src[1].vmax<sz: return True
-  mask = idx.src[2]&gate if len(idx.src)==3 else gate
-
-  # WEBGPU has a BITCAST in the index. TODO: fix
-  if any(x.op is Ops.BITCAST for x in idx.toposort()): return True
-
-  if not z3_imported: raise ImportError("z3 >= 4.12.4 is required for bounds checking, try IGNORE_OOB=0 or \"pip install 'z3-solver>=4.12.4\"")
-  solver = z3.Solver(ctx=z3.Context())
-  z3_idx, z3_mask = uops_to_z3(solver, idx.src[1], mask)
-  solver.add(z3_mask)
-  with cpu_profile("validate index with z3", "TINY"):
-    if solver.check((z3_idx<0)|(sz<=z3_idx)) == z3.sat:
-      print(f"idx={idx.src[1].render(simplify=False)}")
-      print(f"mask & gate={mask.render(simplify=False)}")
-      print(f"# OUT OF BOUNDS ACCESS: at {solver.model()} INDEX not in 0 - {sz}\nconstraints = {solver}")
-      return False
-  return True
-
-# this is the matcher for the final rendered UOps
-# matcher functions returns True or False (or None to not match)
 program_spec = PatternMatcher([
   # DEFINEs
   (UPat(Ops.DEFINE_GLOBAL, name="x"), lambda x: isinstance(x.dtype, (PtrDType, ImageDType)) and x.dtype.addrspace == AddrSpace.GLOBAL),
diff --git a/tinygrad/uop/validate.py b/tinygrad/uop/validate.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..63ab0dfe8a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tinygrad/uop/validate.py
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+from typing import Callable
+from tinygrad.uop.ops import PatternMatcher, UPat, GroupOp, Ops, UOp, python_alu, graph_rewrite
+from tinygrad.dtype import ImageDType, dtypes
+from tinygrad.helpers import IGNORE_OOB, Context, cpu_profile
+
+try:
+  import z3
+  # older versions of z3 dont have some operators like & overloaded
+  if z3.get_version() < (4, 12, 4, 0): raise ImportError
+
+  # IDIV is truncated division but z3 does euclidian division (floor if b>0 ceil otherwise); mod by power of two sometimes uses Ops.AND
+  def z3_cdiv(a, b):return z3.If((a<0), z3.If(0<b, (a+(b-1))/b, (a-(b+1))/b), a/b)
+  def z3_xor(a,b):
+    if isinstance(a, z3.BoolRef): return a^b
+    assert a==-1 or b==-1, "xor can only be used in indexing if one of the aruments is -1"
+    return -a-1 if b==-1 else -b-1
+  z3_alu: dict[Ops, Callable] = python_alu | {Ops.MOD: lambda a,b: a-z3_cdiv(a,b)*b, Ops.IDIV: z3_cdiv, Ops.SHR: lambda a,b: a/(2**b.as_long()),
+    Ops.SHL: lambda a,b: a*(2**b.as_long()), Ops.AND: lambda a,b: a%(b+1) if isinstance(b, z3.ArithRef) else a&b, Ops.WHERE: z3.If, Ops.XOR: z3_xor,
+    Ops.MAX: lambda a,b: z3.If(a<b, b, a), Ops.TRUNC: lambda a: a if a.is_int() else z3.ToReal(z3.If(a >= 0, z3.ToInt(a), -z3.ToInt(-a)))}
+  def create_bounded(name:str, vmin, vmax, solver:z3.Solver) -> z3.ArithRef:
+    s = z3.Int(name, ctx=solver.ctx)
+    solver.add(vmin <= s, s <= vmax)
+    return s
+
+  # ctx is (solver, load_number_dict)
+  # each uop gets rewritten to NOOP(arg=(solver, z3_object)), the arg has the solver first due to UOpMetaClass caching. z3 objects from different
+  # contexts can have the same hash but error on comparison
+  z3_renderer = PatternMatcher([
+    (UPat(Ops.SPECIAL, src=UPat(Ops.NOOP), name="x"), lambda x,ctx: UOp(Ops.NOOP, arg=(ctx[0],create_bounded(x.arg, 0, x.src[0].arg[1]-1, ctx[0])))),
+    (UPat(Ops.DEFINE_VAR, name="x"), lambda x,ctx: UOp(Ops.NOOP, arg=(ctx[0],create_bounded(x.arg[0], x.arg[1], x.arg[2], ctx[0])))),
+    (UPat(Ops.RANGE, name="x"), lambda x,ctx: UOp(Ops.NOOP, arg=(ctx[0],create_bounded(f"ridx{x.arg}", 0, x.src[0].arg[1]-1, ctx[0])))),
+    # loaded bools become a z3 int with min max of 0-1
+    (UPat(Ops.LOAD, dtypes.ints+(dtypes.bool,), name="x"), lambda x,ctx:
+      UOp(Ops.NOOP, arg=(ctx[0],create_bounded(f"load{ctx[1].setdefault(x, len(ctx[1]))}", x.dtype.min, x.dtype.max, ctx[0]))).cast(x.dtype)),
+    (UPat(Ops.CONST, dtype=dtypes.ints+(dtypes.bool,dtypes.index), name="x"),
+      lambda x,ctx: UOp(Ops.NOOP, arg=(ctx[0],(z3.BoolVal if dtypes.is_bool(x.dtype) else z3.IntVal)(x.arg, ctx=ctx[0].ctx)))),
+    # z3 can cast from bool to int automatically
+    (UPat(Ops.CAST, dtype=dtypes.ints+(dtypes.index,), src=UPat(Ops.NOOP), name="x"), lambda x: x.src[0]),
+    (UPat(Ops.CAST, dtype=dtypes.bool, src=UPat(Ops.NOOP), name="x"), lambda x,ctx: UOp(Ops.NOOP, arg=(ctx[0], x.src[0].arg[1]!=0))),
+    # if the source of the cast is not a noop it means that it is a float and so we create a new variable
+    (UPat(Ops.CAST, dtype=dtypes.ints+(dtypes.index,), name="x"), lambda x,ctx:
+      UOp(Ops.NOOP, arg=(ctx[0], create_bounded(f"cast{ctx[1].setdefault(x, len(ctx[1]))}", x.dtype.min, x.dtype.max, ctx[0])))),
+    (UPat(Ops.CAST, dtype=dtypes.bool, name="x"), lambda x,ctx:
+      UOp(Ops.NOOP, arg=(ctx[0], z3.Bool(f"cast{ctx[1].setdefault(x, len(ctx[1]))}",ctx=ctx[0].ctx)))),
+    (UPat(GroupOp.ALU, src=UPat(Ops.NOOP), name="x"), lambda x,ctx: UOp(Ops.NOOP, arg=(ctx[0], z3_alu[x.op](*(s.arg[1] for s in x.src))))),
+    # A comparison between floats introduces a new bool variable
+    (UPat(GroupOp.Comparison, src=UPat(dtype=dtypes.floats), name="x"), lambda x,ctx:
+      UOp(Ops.NOOP, arg=(ctx[0], z3.Bool(f"float_cmp{ctx[1].setdefault(x, len(ctx[1]))}",ctx=ctx[0].ctx)))),
+  ])
+
+  def uops_to_z3(solver, *uops: UOp) -> 'list[z3.ExprRef]':
+    with Context(TRACK_MATCH_STATS=0, SPEC=0):  # cant pickle z3 objects, and these UOps don't follow spec
+      return [s.arg[1] for s in graph_rewrite(uops[0].sink(*uops[1:]), z3_renderer, ctx=(solver, {})).src]
+
+  z3_imported = True
+except (ImportError, AttributeError): z3_imported = False
+
+def validate_index(idx:UOp, gate:UOp|None=None):
+  if gate is None: gate = UOp.const(dtypes.bool, True)
+  # TODO: check for overflow
+  if IGNORE_OOB or isinstance(idx.dtype, ImageDType) or (sz := idx.src[0].ptrdtype.size) == -1: return True
+  # We can use UOp min/max to do a faster check, but it can give false positive since its not an exact bound and doesn't consider the mask
+  if 0<=idx.src[1].vmin and idx.src[1].vmax<sz: return True
+  mask = idx.src[2]&gate if len(idx.src)==3 else gate
+
+  # WEBGPU has a BITCAST in the index. TODO: fix
+  if any(x.op is Ops.BITCAST for x in idx.toposort()): return True
+
+  if not z3_imported: raise ImportError("z3 >= 4.12.4 is required for bounds checking, try IGNORE_OOB=0 or \"pip install 'z3-solver>=4.12.4\"")
+  solver = z3.Solver(ctx=z3.Context())
+  z3_idx, z3_mask = uops_to_z3(solver, idx.src[1], mask)
+  solver.add(z3_mask)
+  with cpu_profile("validate index with z3", "TINY"):
+    if solver.check((z3_idx<0)|(sz<=z3_idx)) == z3.sat:
+      print(f"idx={idx.src[1].render(simplify=False)}")
+      print(f"mask & gate={mask.render(simplify=False)}")
+      print(f"# OUT OF BOUNDS ACCESS: at {solver.model()} INDEX not in 0 - {sz}\nconstraints = {solver}")
+      return False
+  return True