diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 7d4676ce3..2fbd53fdf 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -172,4 +172,6 @@ mase-trainer/
 test-trainer/
 
 # DiffLogic: tutorial files
-docs/tutorials/difflogic/data-mnist/
\ No newline at end of file
+docs/tutorials/difflogic/data-mnist/
+
+tiny-imagenet-200/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 72d438534..3c685ae7a 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -5,9 +5,11 @@ description = "Machine-Learning Accelerator System Exploration Tools"
 readme = "README.md"
 requires-python = ">=3.11.9"
 
+# PyTorch stack is pinned to match ExecuTorch 1.0.x on PyPI (torch>=2.9,<2.10).
+# torchvision 0.24.1 requires torch==2.9.1. For export tooling: pip install -e ".[executorch]"
 dependencies = [
-    "torch==2.6",
-    "torchvision",
+    "torch==2.9.1",
+    "torchvision==0.24.1",
     "onnx",
     "black",
     "toml",
@@ -81,6 +83,11 @@ dependencies = [
     "mase-triton>=0.0.6.post4; platform_machine == 'x86_64' and sys_platform == 'linux'",
 ]
 
+[project.optional-dependencies]
+executorch = [
+    "executorch==1.0.1",
+]
+
 [build-system]
 requires = ["setuptools"]
 build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
diff --git a/src/chop/passes/graph/transforms/pruning/prune.py b/src/chop/passes/graph/transforms/pruning/prune.py
index 373249706..9770d7ce8 100644
--- a/src/chop/passes/graph/transforms/pruning/prune.py
+++ b/src/chop/passes/graph/transforms/pruning/prune.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import torch
+from torch._subclasses.fake_tensor import DataDependentOutputException
 
 from chop.tools import get_logger
 
@@ -43,7 +44,14 @@ def sparsify_input(module, args):
                 f"{module.__class__.__name__} takes more than 1 argument at inference, the current sparsiy_input pre forward hook only allows one!"
             )
         x = args[0]
-        mask = a_rank_fn(x, info, a_sparsity)
+        # torch.export / fake-tensor tracing: L1/random activation masks use ops like
+        # torch.quantile that are data-dependent and cannot appear in an ExportedProgram.
+        # Weight pruning (parametrization) stays in the graph; dynamic activation sparsity
+        # is skipped for export only — the deployed .pte has dense activations.
+        try:
+            mask = a_rank_fn(x, info, a_sparsity)
+        except DataDependentOutputException:
+            return x
         module.activation_mask = mask
         # it seems like the output of this can be a non-tuple thing??
         return x * mask
diff --git a/src/chop/passes/graph/transforms/pruning/pruning_methods.py b/src/chop/passes/graph/transforms/pruning/pruning_methods.py
index 665abc17e..63441f79d 100644
--- a/src/chop/passes/graph/transforms/pruning/pruning_methods.py
+++ b/src/chop/passes/graph/transforms/pruning/pruning_methods.py
@@ -22,6 +22,37 @@
 """
 
 
+def _under_fake_or_export_trace(tensor: torch.Tensor) -> bool:
+    """Avoid data-dependent ops (quantile, rand) when PT2 fake mode is active so they are
+    not embedded in the graph; export may succeed while to_edge decomps would raise."""
+    try:
+        if torch._guards.detect_fake_mode() is not None:
+            return True
+    except Exception:
+        pass
+    try:
+        from torch._subclasses.fake_tensor import FakeTensor
+
+        if isinstance(tensor, FakeTensor):
+            return True
+    except Exception:
+        pass
+    try:
+        from torch.fx.experimental.proxy_tensor import _ProxyTensor
+
+        if isinstance(tensor, _ProxyTensor):
+            return True
+    except Exception:
+        pass
+    if type(tensor).__name__ == "FunctionalTensor":
+        return True
+    return False
+
+
+def _dense_bool_mask_like(tensor: torch.Tensor) -> torch.Tensor:
+    return torch.ones(tensor.shape, dtype=torch.bool, device=tensor.device)
+
+
 def random(tensor: torch.Tensor, info: dict, sparsity: float) -> torch.Tensor:
     """set sparsity percentage of values
     in the mask to False (i.e. 0) randomly
@@ -34,6 +65,8 @@ def random(tensor: torch.Tensor, info: dict, sparsity: float) -> torch.Tensor:
     :return: a random sparsity mask generated based on the sparsity value
     :rtype: torch.Tensor
     """
+    if _under_fake_or_export_trace(tensor):
+        return _dense_bool_mask_like(tensor)
     mask = torch.ones(tensor.size(), dtype=torch.bool, device=tensor.device)
     mask[torch.rand(tensor.size()) < sparsity] = False
     return mask
@@ -52,12 +85,16 @@ def l1(tensor: torch.Tensor, info: dict, sparsity: float) -> torch.Tensor:
     :return: a sparsity mask
     :rtype: torch.Tensor
     """
+    if _under_fake_or_export_trace(tensor):
+        return _dense_bool_mask_like(tensor)
     threshold = torch.quantile(tensor.abs().flatten(), sparsity)
     mask = (tensor.abs() > threshold).to(torch.bool).to(tensor.device)
     return mask
 
 
 def global_weight_l1(tensor: torch.Tensor, info: dict, sparsity: float):
+    if _under_fake_or_export_trace(tensor):
+        return _dense_bool_mask_like(tensor)
     tensors = [v["weight_value"] for _, v in info.items() if v is not None]
     flattened_tensors = [t.abs().flatten() for t in tensors]
     threshold = torch.quantile(torch.cat(flattened_tensors, dim=0), sparsity)
@@ -66,6 +103,8 @@ def global_weight_l1(tensor: torch.Tensor, info: dict, sparsity: float):
 
 
 def global_activation_l1(tensor: torch.Tensor, info: dict, sparsity: float):
+    if _under_fake_or_export_trace(tensor):
+        return _dense_bool_mask_like(tensor)
     tensors = [v["activation_value"] for _, v in info.items() if v is not None]
     flattened_tensors = [t.abs().flatten() for t in tensors]
     threshold = torch.quantile(torch.cat(flattened_tensors, dim=0), sparsity)