diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index 95a17a974c..b91005f485 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -104,8 +104,8 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        task: [optimage, openpilot]
-    name: ${{ matrix.task=='optimage'&&'GPU OPT and IMAGE Tests'||'openpilot (OpenCL) Tests'}}
+        task: [optimage, openpilot, multigpu]
+    name: ${{ matrix.task=='optimage'&&'GPU OPT and IMAGE Tests'|| matrix.task=='openpilot'&&'openpilot (OpenCL) Tests'|| matrix.task=='multigpu'&&'MultiGPU Tests'}}
     runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
     timeout-minutes: 20
 
@@ -154,6 +154,10 @@ jobs:
       - if: ${{ matrix.task == 'openpilot' }}
         name: Test tensor core ops
         run: GPU=1 TC=2 python3 -m pytest -n=auto test/test_ops.py
+      - if: ${{ matrix.task == 'multigpu' }}
+        name: Test multigpu
+        run: |
+          PYTHONPATH="." python test/external/dist/test_world.py
 
   testmetalwebgpu:
     name: Metal and WebGPU Tests
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 0b132e239b..b834f91a73 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ notebooks
 *.pyc
 *.so
 build
-dist
+/dist
 *.egg-info
 /env
 a.out
diff --git a/extra/dist/__init__.py b/extra/dist/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d870805739
--- /dev/null
+++ b/extra/dist/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+# this file needs to be very careful with its imports as to not accidentally initialize the runtimes
+from multiprocessing.connection import Connection
+from typing import Any, Callable, List, Tuple
+from tinygrad.helpers import DEBUG, getenv
+import multiprocessing as mp
+import os
+
+# this needs to be called before everything else if you are using distributed
+def preinit():
+  os.environ["DELAYED_RUNTIME_INIT"] = "1"
+  mp.set_start_method("spawn")
+
+# out-of-band communication/synchronization
+class _OOB:
+  def __init__(self, pipes:List[Tuple[Connection, Connection]]):
+    self.pipes = pipes
+
+  # send some data to a target rank, blocks until data is received
+  def send(self, data:Any, target_rank:int):
+    self.pipes[getenv("RANK") * getenv("WORLD_SIZE") + target_rank][1].send(data)
+
+  # receive some data from a target rank, blocks until data is received
+  def recv(self, target_rank:int) -> Any:
+    return self.pipes[target_rank * getenv("WORLD_SIZE") + getenv("RANK")][0].recv()
+OOB = None
+
+def init_oob(world_size:int):
+  os.environ["WORLD_SIZE"] = str(world_size)
+
+  global OOB
+  OOB = _OOB([mp.Pipe(False) for _ in range(world_size * world_size)])
+
+# this runs in the spawned process so we can do all the delayed runtime initialization
+def _process_wrap(rank:int, device:str, oob:_OOB, fn:Callable, args=()):
+  # setup the rank
+  os.environ["RANK"] = str(rank)
+
+  # setup out of band communication
+  global OOB
+  OOB = oob
+
+  # do specific runtime initialization for distributed
+  from tinygrad.lazy import Device
+  device, device_num = Device.canonicalize(device), 0 if ":" not in device else int(device.split(":")[-1])
+  if "GPU" in device:
+    from tinygrad.runtime.ops_gpu import CL
+    CL.post_init(device_num)
+  elif "HIP" in device:
+    import extra.hip_wrapper as hip
+    hip.hipSetDevice(device_num)
+  if DEBUG >= 1: print(f"distributed process {rank} initialized runtime for device {device}")
+
+  # convert device to be process specific
+  Device.DEFAULT = device.split(":")[0]
+
+  fn(*args)
+
+# wrapper around mp.Process that initializes the runtime
+def spawn(rank:int, device:str, fn:Callable, args=()) -> mp.Process:
+  (p := mp.Process(target=_process_wrap, args=(rank, device, OOB, fn, args))).start()
+  return p
diff --git a/extra/dist/world.py b/extra/dist/world.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..05046dc7c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/extra/dist/world.py
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+from typing import Any, Optional, Tuple
+from extra import dist
+from multiprocessing import shared_memory
+from tinygrad.helpers import DEBUG, GlobalCounters, colored
+from tinygrad.lazy import LazyBuffer
+from tinygrad.runtime.lib import RawBufferCopyIn, RawBufferCopyInOut
+from tinygrad.runtime.ops_shm import RawShmBuffer
+from tinygrad.tensor import Tensor, Function
+import numpy as np
+
+# fake the function signature of ASTRunner so we can put it in the cache
+def __send_rb(args:Tuple[RawBufferCopyInOut, RawShmBuffer, int, Any], jit=False, force_wait=False):
+  args[0]._copyout(np.frombuffer(args[1]._buffer(), dtype=args[0].dtype.np))
+  dist.OOB.send(args[3], args[2])
+  if DEBUG >= 2: print(f"{colored('****', 'magenta' if jit else None)}   sent {args[0]} to rank {args[2]}")
+
+def __recv_rb(args:Tuple[RawBufferCopyIn, RawShmBuffer, int], jit=False, force_wait=False):
+  dist.OOB.recv(args[2])
+  args[0]._copyin(args[1].toCPU())
+  if DEBUG >= 2: print(f"{colored('****', 'magenta' if jit else None)}   recv {args[0]} from rank {args[2]}")
+
+# send a rawbuffer from out rank to the target rank
+def _send_rb(x:RawBufferCopyInOut, target_rank:int, cache_id:Optional[str]=None):
+  assert isinstance(x, RawBufferCopyInOut), "we only support RawBufferCopyInOut for now"
+  # cache the shared memory so we don't have to create it every time
+  if cache_id is not None and cache_id in _send_rb.shared_memory_cache:
+    shm_name = _send_rb.shared_memory_cache[cache_id]
+  else:
+    shm_name = (s := shared_memory.SharedMemory(create=True, size=x.size * x.dtype.itemsize)).name
+    s.close()
+    if cache_id is not None: _send_rb.shared_memory_cache[cache_id] = shm_name
+  # copy the buffer into shared memory
+  device = f"{shm_name},{cache_id}" if cache_id is not None else shm_name
+  rb = RawShmBuffer(x.size, x.dtype, device=device)
+  __send_rb((x, rb, target_rank, (shm_name, cache_id)))
+
+  # jit support
+  if GlobalCounters.cache is not None: GlobalCounters.cache.append((__send_rb, [x, rb, target_rank, None]))
+setattr(_send_rb, "shared_memory_cache", {})
+
+# receive a rawbuffer from the target rank
+def _recv_rb(x:RawBufferCopyIn, target_rank:int):
+  assert isinstance(x, RawBufferCopyIn), "we only support RawBufferCopyIn for now"
+  extra = dist.OOB.recv(target_rank)
+  device = f"{extra[0]},{extra[1]}" if extra[1] is not None else f"{extra[0]}"
+  rb = RawShmBuffer(x.size, x.dtype, device=device)
+  x._copyin(rb.toCPU())
+  if DEBUG >= 2: print(f"****   got {x} from rank {target_rank}")
+
+  if extra[1] is None:
+    (s := shared_memory.SharedMemory(name=extra[0])).close()
+    s.unlink()
+
+  # jit support
+  if GlobalCounters.cache is not None: GlobalCounters.cache.append((__recv_rb, [x, rb, target_rank]))
+
+# sends a lazybuffer from our rank to the target rank
+def _send_lb(x:LazyBuffer, target_rank:int, cache_id:Optional[str]=None) -> None: _send_rb(x.contiguous().realize().realized, target_rank, cache_id=cache_id)
+
+# receive a lazybuffer from the target rank
+def _recv_lb(x:LazyBuffer, target_rank:int) -> LazyBuffer:
+  _recv_rb(x.realize().realized, target_rank)
+  return x
+
+class Send(Function):
+  def forward(self, x:LazyBuffer, target_rank:int, cache_id:Optional[str]=None) -> LazyBuffer:
+    self.target_rank, self.shape, self.dtype = target_rank, x.shape, x.dtype
+    _send_lb(x, target_rank, cache_id=cache_id)
+    return x
+
+class Recv(Function):
+  def forward(self, x:LazyBuffer, target_rank:int, cache_id:Optional[str]=None) -> LazyBuffer:
+    self.target_rank, self.cache_id = target_rank, cache_id
+    return _recv_lb(x, target_rank)
+
+def send(x:Tensor, target_rank:int, cache_id:Optional[str]=None) -> Tensor: return Send.apply(x, target_rank=target_rank, cache_id=cache_id)
+def recv(x:Tensor, target_rank:int, cache_id:Optional[str]=None) -> Tensor: return Recv.apply(x, target_rank=target_rank, cache_id=cache_id)
diff --git a/test/external/dist/test_world.py b/test/external/dist/test_world.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..68fe902abc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/external/dist/test_world.py
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+from extra import dist
+from tinygrad.jit import TinyJit
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+  dist.preinit()
+
+from extra.dist import world
+from tinygrad.helpers import CI, getenv
+from tinygrad.tensor import Tensor
+import numpy as np
+
+@TinyJit
+def send_jit(t, target_rank, cache_id=None) -> Tensor:
+  return world.send(t, target_rank, cache_id=cache_id).realize()
+
+@TinyJit
+def recv_jit(t, target_rank, cache_id=None) -> Tensor:
+  return world.recv(t, target_rank, cache_id=cache_id).realize()
+
+SIZE = 2048 if not CI else 2
+
+def run():
+  # set a deterministic seed so that both ranks generate the same random tensor
+  Tensor.manual_seed(42)
+
+  rank = getenv("RANK")
+
+  # loop 3 times to make sure it works with the jit
+  for _ in range(3):
+    # create a tensor to send
+    t = Tensor.randn(SIZE, SIZE)
+
+    # send to rank 1
+    if rank == 0:
+      send_jit(t, 1, cache_id="test")
+    elif rank == 1:
+      t2 = Tensor.empty(SIZE, SIZE)
+      recv_jit(t2, 0, cache_id="test")
+
+    # recv from rank 1
+    if rank == 0:
+      t2 = Tensor.empty(SIZE, SIZE)
+      recv_jit(t2, 1, cache_id="test2")
+    elif rank == 1:
+      send_jit(t2, 0, cache_id="test2")
+
+    # check that the received tensor is the same as the sent tensor
+    if rank == 0:
+      assert np.allclose(t.numpy(), t2.numpy())
+
+  print(f"rank {rank} passed")
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+  devices = ["gpu:0", "gpu:1" if not CI else "gpu:0"]
+  world_size = len(devices)
+
+  dist.init_oob(world_size)
+
+  processes = []
+  for rank, device in enumerate(devices):
+    processes.append(dist.spawn(rank, device, fn=run, args=()))
+  for p in processes: p.join()