diff --git a/tests/unit_tests/test_dataset_checkpointing.py b/tests/unit_tests/test_dataset_checkpointing.py
index 07020a3554..737ea4e561 100644
--- a/tests/unit_tests/test_dataset_checkpointing.py
+++ b/tests/unit_tests/test_dataset_checkpointing.py
@@ -55,6 +55,10 @@ def test_c4_resumption(self):
                         assert torch.equal(
                             input_ids["input"], expected_input_ids["input"]
                         )
+                        assert torch.equal(
+                            input_ids["positions"],
+                            expected_input_ids["positions"],
+                        )
                         assert torch.equal(labels, expected_labels)
 
     def _build_dataloader(self, dataset_name, batch_size, seq_len, world_size, rank):
diff --git a/torchtitan/components/validate.py b/torchtitan/components/validate.py
index df64d83d24..47e5b55afb 100644
--- a/torchtitan/components/validate.py
+++ b/torchtitan/components/validate.py
@@ -185,6 +185,17 @@ def post_dataloading_process(
         # extra_kwargs are.
         extra_kwargs: dict[str, Any] = {}
 
+        # TODO: deduplicate with Trainer.post_dataloading_process which has
+        # the same logic; extract a shared function to prevent further drift.
+        # For causal attention the whole packed sequence is one document,
+        # so sequential RoPE positions (positions=None) are correct.
+        model_config = getattr(model_parts[0], "config", None)
+        layer = getattr(model_config, "layer", None)
+        attn_config = getattr(layer, "attention", None) if layer else None
+        attn_mask_type = getattr(attn_config, "attn_mask_type", "causal")
+        if attn_mask_type != "block_causal":
+            extra_inputs.pop("positions", None)
+
         try:
             # pyrefly: ignore [not-callable]
             extra_kwargs["attention_masks"] = cast(
diff --git a/torchtitan/hf_datasets/text_datasets.py b/torchtitan/hf_datasets/text_datasets.py
index d5545452f1..aec4f15129 100644
--- a/torchtitan/hf_datasets/text_datasets.py
+++ b/torchtitan/hf_datasets/text_datasets.py
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@ def __init__(
         # Variables for checkpointing
         self._sample_idx = 0
         self._token_buffer: list[int] = []
+        self._position_buffer: list[int] = []
 
     def _get_data_iter(self):
         # For map-style datasets, resume by skipping to the correct index
@@ -119,15 +120,27 @@ def __iter__(self):
                     sample_text, add_bos=True, add_eos=True
                 )
                 self._token_buffer.extend(sample_tokens)
+                # Per-document positions reset at document boundaries,
+                # matching inference frameworks (e.g. vLLM) that start
+                # positions at 0 per request.  Positions wrap at seq_len
+                # to stay within the RoPE cache, effectively chunking
+                # long documents into seq_len-sized segments.
+                # TODO: make overflow policy configurable (chunk / truncate / drop).
+                self._position_buffer.extend(
+                    i % self.seq_len for i in range(len(sample_tokens))
+                )
                 self._sample_idx += 1
 
                 while len(self._token_buffer) >= max_buffer_token_len:
                     x = torch.LongTensor(self._token_buffer[:max_buffer_token_len])
-                    # update tokens to the remaining tokens
+                    pos = torch.LongTensor(self._position_buffer[:max_buffer_token_len])
+                    # update buffers to the remaining tokens
                     self._token_buffer = self._token_buffer[max_buffer_token_len:]
+                    self._position_buffer = self._position_buffer[max_buffer_token_len:]
                     input = x[:-1]
                     label = x[1:]
-                    yield {"input": input}, label
+                    positions = pos[:-1]
+                    yield {"input": input, "positions": positions}, label
 
             if not self.infinite:
                 logger.warning(f"Dataset {self.dataset_name} has run out of data")
@@ -145,6 +158,15 @@ def __iter__(self):
 
     def load_state_dict(self, state_dict):
         self._token_buffer = state_dict["token_buffer"]
+        if "position_buffer" not in state_dict:
+            logger.warning(
+                "Checkpoint missing 'position_buffer' key in dataset state. "
+                "Falling back to empty position buffer. This is expected when "
+                "resuming from a checkpoint saved before position tracking was "
+                "added, but may cause incorrect RoPE positions with "
+                "block_causal attention (document packing)."
+            )
+        self._position_buffer = state_dict.get("position_buffer", [])
 
         if isinstance(self._data, Dataset):
             self._sample_idx = state_dict["sample_idx"]
@@ -153,7 +175,10 @@ def load_state_dict(self, state_dict):
             self._data.load_state_dict(state_dict["data"])
 
     def state_dict(self):
-        _state_dict: dict[str, Any] = {"token_buffer": self._token_buffer}
+        _state_dict: dict[str, Any] = {
+            "token_buffer": self._token_buffer,
+            "position_buffer": self._position_buffer,
+        }
 
         if isinstance(self._data, Dataset):
             _state_dict["sample_idx"] = self._sample_idx
diff --git a/torchtitan/models/common/rope.py b/torchtitan/models/common/rope.py
index ed19839252..8933a7900a 100644
--- a/torchtitan/models/common/rope.py
+++ b/torchtitan/models/common/rope.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 from typing import Literal
 
 import torch
+from torch.distributed.tensor import DTensor, Replicate, Shard
 
 from torchtitan.protocols.module import Module
 
@@ -289,6 +290,43 @@ def _rotate_half(x: torch.Tensor) -> torch.Tensor:
     return torch.cat((-x2, x1), dim=-1)
 
 
+def _maybe_wrap_positions(
+    positions: torch.Tensor | None,
+    x: torch.Tensor,
+) -> torch.Tensor | None:
+    """Wrap positions as a DTensor deriving mesh and placements from x (xq/xk).
+
+    TODO: In a full DTensor rewrite, positions should be made a DTensor
+    in/right after dataloading, together with inputs and labels.
+
+    When TP uses use_local_output=False (DeepSeek V3, Qwen3, GPT-OSS),
+    x is a DTensor but positions is a plain tensor. The downstream
+    torch.gather requires both operands to be the same type.
+
+    Positions (bsz, seqlen) has fewer dimensions than x (bsz, seqlen,
+    n_heads, head_dim), so we only preserve Shard placements for shared
+    dimensions. Shard dims beyond positions' rank (e.g. Shard(2) for TP
+    on heads) become Replicate.
+    """
+    if (
+        positions is not None
+        and isinstance(x, DTensor)
+        and not isinstance(positions, DTensor)
+    ):
+        ndim = positions.ndim
+        placements = tuple(
+            p if not isinstance(p, Shard) or p.dim < ndim else Replicate()
+            for p in x.placements
+        )
+        positions = DTensor.from_local(
+            positions,
+            x.device_mesh,
+            placements,
+            run_check=False,
+        )
+    return positions
+
+
 # TODO: consolidate apply_rotary_emb_complex and apply_rotary_emb_single_complex
 def apply_rotary_emb_complex(
     xq: torch.Tensor,
@@ -304,6 +342,7 @@ def apply_rotary_emb_complex(
         freqs_cis: (max_seqlen, head_dim // 2) complex
         positions: optional position indices
     """
+    positions = _maybe_wrap_positions(positions, xq)
     xq_ = torch.view_as_complex(xq.float().reshape(*xq.shape[:-1], -1, 2))
     xk_ = torch.view_as_complex(xk.float().reshape(*xk.shape[:-1], -1, 2))
     freqs_cis = _reshape_for_broadcast_complex(freqs_cis, xq_, positions)
@@ -324,6 +363,7 @@ def apply_rotary_emb_single_complex(
         freqs_cis: (max_seqlen, head_dim // 2) complex
         positions: optional position indices
     """
+    positions = _maybe_wrap_positions(positions, x)
     dtype = x.dtype
     x = torch.view_as_complex(x.float().view(*x.shape[:-1], -1, 2))
     freqs_cis = _reshape_for_broadcast_complex(freqs_cis, x, positions)
@@ -345,6 +385,7 @@ def apply_rotary_emb_cos_sin(
         rope_cache: (max_seqlen, head_dim * 2) with cos and sin concatenated
         positions: optional position indices
     """
+    positions = _maybe_wrap_positions(positions, xq)
     head_dim = xq.shape[-1]
     rope_cache = _reshape_for_broadcast_cos_sin(rope_cache, xq, positions)
     cos = rope_cache[..., :head_dim].to(device=xq.device)
diff --git a/torchtitan/trainer.py b/torchtitan/trainer.py
index 6d0c1b564d..fe15f0271e 100644
--- a/torchtitan/trainer.py
+++ b/torchtitan/trainer.py
@@ -591,9 +591,14 @@ def post_dataloading_process(
         # extra_kwargs are.
         extra_kwargs: dict[str, Any] = {}
 
-        # TODO: improve the logic on obtaining attention masks
+        # For causal attention the whole packed sequence is one document,
+        # so sequential RoPE positions (positions=None) are correct.
         layer = getattr(self.model_config, "layer", None)
         attn_config = getattr(layer, "attention", None) if layer else None
+        attn_mask_type = getattr(attn_config, "attn_mask_type", "causal")
+        if attn_mask_type != "block_causal":
+            extra_inputs.pop("positions", None)
+
         attn_backend = getattr(attn_config, "attn_backend", "sdpa")
         if attn_backend in ["flex", "varlen"]:
             assert (