[AutoModel] Allow registering auto_map to model config

docs/source/en/using-diffusers/automodel.md

@@ -97,5 +97,32 @@ If the custom model inherits from the [`ModelMixin`] class, it gets access to th
 > )
 > ```
 
+### Saving custom models
+
+Use [`~ConfigMixin.register_for_auto_class`] to add the `auto_map` entry to `config.json` automatically when saving. This avoids having to manually edit the config file.
+
+```py
+# my_model.py
+from diffusers import ModelMixin, ConfigMixin
+
+class MyCustomModel(ModelMixin, ConfigMixin):
+    ...
+
+MyCustomModel.register_for_auto_class("AutoModel")
+
+model = MyCustomModel(...)
+model.save_pretrained("./my_model")
+```
+
+The saved `config.json` will include the `auto_map` field.
+
+```json
+{
+  "auto_map": {
+    "AutoModel": "my_model.MyCustomModel"
+  }
+}
+```
+
 > [!NOTE]
 > Learn more about implementing custom models in the [Community components](../using-diffusers/custom_pipeline_overview#community-components) guide.

src/diffusers/configuration_utils.py

@@ -107,6 +107,38 @@ class ConfigMixin:
     has_compatibles = False
 
     _deprecated_kwargs = []
+    _auto_class = None
+
+    @classmethod
+    def register_for_auto_class(cls, auto_class="AutoModel"):
+        """
+        Register this class with the given auto class so that it can be loaded with `AutoModel.from_pretrained(...,
+        trust_remote_code=True)`.
+
+        When the config is saved, the resulting `config.json` will include an `auto_map` entry mapping the auto class
+        to this class's module and class name.
+
+        Args:
+            auto_class (`str` or type, *optional*, defaults to `"AutoModel"`):
+                The auto class to register this class with. Can be a string (e.g. `"AutoModel"`) or the class itself.
+                Currently only `"AutoModel"` is supported.
+
+        Example:
+
+        ```python
+        from diffusers import ModelMixin, ConfigMixin
+
+
+        class MyCustomModel(ModelMixin, ConfigMixin): ...
+
+
+        MyCustomModel.register_for_auto_class("AutoModel")
+        ```
+        """
+        if auto_class != "AutoModel":
+            raise ValueError(f"Only 'AutoModel' is supported, got '{auto_class}'.")
+
+        cls._auto_class = auto_class
 
     def register_to_config(self, **kwargs):
         if self.config_name is None:
@@ -621,6 +653,12 @@ def to_json_saveable(value):
         # pop the `_pre_quantization_dtype` as torch.dtypes are not serializable.
         _ = config_dict.pop("_pre_quantization_dtype", None)
 
+        if getattr(self, "_auto_class", None) is not None:
+            module = self.__class__.__module__.split(".")[-1]
+            auto_map = config_dict.get("auto_map", {})
+            auto_map[self._auto_class] = f"{module}.{self.__class__.__name__}"
+            config_dict["auto_map"] = auto_map
+
         return json.dumps(config_dict, indent=2, sort_keys=True) + "\n"
 
     def to_json_file(self, json_file_path: str | os.PathLike):

tests/models/test_models_auto.py

@@ -1,9 +1,14 @@
+import json
+import os
+import tempfile
 import unittest
 from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
 
 from transformers import CLIPTextModel, LongformerModel
 
+from diffusers import ConfigMixin
 from diffusers.models import AutoModel, UNet2DConditionModel
+from diffusers.models.modeling_utils import ModelMixin
 
 
 class TestAutoModel(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -100,3 +105,51 @@ def test_from_config_with_model_type_routes_to_transformers(self, mock_get_class
     def test_from_config_raises_on_none(self):
         with self.assertRaises(ValueError, msg="Please provide a `pretrained_model_name_or_path_or_dict`"):
             AutoModel.from_config(None)
+
+
+class TestRegisterForAutoClass(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_register_for_auto_class_sets_attribute(self):
+        class DummyModel(ModelMixin, ConfigMixin):
+            config_name = "config.json"
+
+        DummyModel.register_for_auto_class("AutoModel")
+        self.assertEqual(DummyModel._auto_class, "AutoModel")
+
+    def test_register_for_auto_class_rejects_unsupported(self):
+        class DummyModel(ModelMixin, ConfigMixin):
+            config_name = "config.json"
+
+        with self.assertRaises(ValueError, msg="Only 'AutoModel' is supported"):
+            DummyModel.register_for_auto_class("AutoPipeline")
+
+    def test_auto_map_in_saved_config(self):
+        class DummyModel(ModelMixin, ConfigMixin):
+            config_name = "config.json"
+
+        DummyModel.register_for_auto_class("AutoModel")
+        model = DummyModel()
+
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmpdir:
+            model.save_config(tmpdir)
+            config_path = os.path.join(tmpdir, "config.json")
+            with open(config_path, "r") as f:
+                config = json.load(f)
+
+        self.assertIn("auto_map", config)
+        self.assertIn("AutoModel", config["auto_map"])
+        module_name = DummyModel.__module__.split(".")[-1]
+        self.assertEqual(config["auto_map"]["AutoModel"], f"{module_name}.DummyModel")
+
+    def test_no_auto_map_without_register(self):
+        class DummyModel(ModelMixin, ConfigMixin):
+            config_name = "config.json"
+
+        model = DummyModel()
+
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmpdir:
+            model.save_config(tmpdir)
+            config_path = os.path.join(tmpdir, "config.json")
+            with open(config_path, "r") as f:
+                config = json.load(f)
+
+        self.assertNotIn("auto_map", config)