zarr-developers
diff --git a/‎docs/data_structures.md‎
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diff --git a/‎docs/releases.md‎
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diff --git a/‎virtualizarr/manifests/array_api.py‎
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@@ -94,6 +94,58 @@ lengths = np.asarray([100, 100], dtype=np.uint64)
 manifest = ChunkManifest.from_arrays(paths=paths, offsets=offsets, lengths=lengths)
 ```
 
+### Chunk states
+
+Every position in a `ChunkManifest` is in one of three states, distinguished by the value of `path` in its entry:
+
+| State    | `path`                                | Meaning                                                                                      |
+|----------|---------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
+| Virtual  | a real URI (e.g., `"s3://bucket/foo.nc"`) | Chunk lives at the given byte range in an external file.                                  |
+| Missing  | `""` (`MISSING_CHUNK_PATH`)           | Chunk is absent. Reads return the array's `fill_value`.                                      |
+| Inlined  | `"__inlined__"` (`INLINED_CHUNK_PATH`)| Raw bytes for the chunk are stored in memory in the manifest's `_inlined` dict (see below).  |
+
+Parser authors are free to mix all three states within a single manifest.
+
+### Inlined chunks
+
+So far every chunk in the manifest has pointed to a byte range in some external file.
+A `ChunkManifest` can also hold **inlined chunks**: the raw chunk bytes are carried directly inside the manifest itself, rather than referenced from an external file.
+
+Inlined chunks are useful for small variables — coordinate arrays, dimension labels, scalar metadata — where the overhead of a remote read exceeds the cost of just carrying the bytes along.
+
+Inlined chunks are produced by [parsers](custom_parsers.md), not by end users; there is no way to request them via `loadable_variables`. If you are writing a custom parser for a format that stores small inlined references (e.g., Kerchunk JSON), you can emit them using the constructors below.
+
+Internally, inlined chunks live in a sparse dictionary `_inlined: dict[tuple[int, ...], bytes]` on the `ChunkManifest`, keyed by chunk grid index. The corresponding entry in the paths array is set to the `INLINED_CHUNK_PATH` sentinel.
+
+To create a manifest with inlined chunks, pass entries with a `data` key:
+
+```python
+from virtualizarr.manifests import ChunkManifest
+
+manifest = ChunkManifest(
+    entries={
+        "0.0": {"path": "s3://bucket/foo.nc", "offset": 100, "length": 100},
+        "0.1": {"path": "", "offset": 0, "length": 4, "data": b"\x00\x01\x02\x03"},
+    }
+)
+```
+
+Or via `from_arrays` with the `inlined` parameter:
+
+```python
+import numpy as np
+from virtualizarr.manifests import ChunkManifest
+
+manifest = ChunkManifest.from_arrays(
+    paths=np.asarray(["s3://bucket/foo.nc", ""], dtype=np.dtypes.StringDType()),
+    offsets=np.asarray([100, 0], dtype=np.uint64),
+    lengths=np.asarray([100, 4], dtype=np.uint64),
+    inlined={(1,): b"\x00\x01\x02\x03"},
+)
+```
+
+Inlined chunks participate in all manifest operations: concatenation and stacking shift their indices, broadcasting prepends singleton dimensions to their keys, equality compares the inlined bytes, pickling carries the data along (for Dask/multiprocessing), `ManifestStore` reads return them directly from memory, and `nbytes` includes their size.
+
 ## `ManifestArray` class
 
 A Zarr array is defined not just by the location of its constituent chunk data, but by its array-level attributes such as `shape` and `dtype`.
 
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@
 
 ### New Features
 
+- `ChunkManifest` can now hold inlined chunks — raw chunk bytes carried directly in memory rather than as references to external files. Intended for parser authors (e.g., loading Kerchunk references with inlined data); not exposed via `loadable_variables`.
+  ([#938](https://github.com/zarr-developers/VirtualiZarr/pull/938)).
+  By [Max Jones](https://github.com/maxrjones) and [Tom Nicholas](https://github.com/TomNicholas).
+
 ### Breaking changes
 
 ### Bug fixes
 
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import itertools
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, Callable, Union, cast
 
 import numpy as np
@@ -214,11 +215,23 @@ def _concat_manifests(manifests: list[ChunkManifest], axis: int) -> ChunkManifes
     )
     concatenated_offsets = np.concatenate([m._offsets for m in manifests], axis=axis)
     concatenated_lengths = np.concatenate([m._lengths for m in manifests], axis=axis)
+
+    # merge inlined chunk dicts with index shifting along the concat axis
+    concatenated_inlined: dict[tuple[int, ...], bytes] = {}
+    grid_offset = 0
+    for m in manifests:
+        for key, data in m._inlined.items():
+            shifted = list(key)
+            shifted[axis] += grid_offset
+            concatenated_inlined[tuple(shifted)] = data
+        grid_offset += m._paths.shape[axis]
+
     return ChunkManifest.from_arrays(
         paths=concatenated_paths,
         offsets=concatenated_offsets,
         lengths=concatenated_lengths,
         validate_paths=False,
+        inlined=concatenated_inlined if concatenated_inlined else None,
     )
 
 
@@ -230,11 +243,21 @@ def _stack_manifests(manifests: list[ChunkManifest], axis: int) -> ChunkManifest
     )
     stacked_offsets = np.stack([m._offsets for m in manifests], axis=axis)
     stacked_lengths = np.stack([m._lengths for m in manifests], axis=axis)
+
+    # merge inlined chunk dicts, inserting the new stacked axis
+    stacked_inlined: dict[tuple[int, ...], bytes] = {}
+    for i, m in enumerate(manifests):
+        for key, data in m._inlined.items():
+            shifted = list(key)
+            shifted.insert(axis, i)
+            stacked_inlined[tuple(shifted)] = data
+
     return ChunkManifest.from_arrays(
         paths=stacked_paths,
         offsets=stacked_offsets,
         lengths=stacked_lengths,
         validate_paths=False,
+        inlined=stacked_inlined if stacked_inlined else None,
     )
 
 
@@ -248,11 +271,29 @@ def _broadcast_manifest(
     )
     broadcasted_offsets = np.broadcast_to(manifest._offsets, shape=shape)
     broadcasted_lengths = np.broadcast_to(manifest._lengths, shape=shape)
+
+    # broadcast inlined chunks: prepend singleton dims to each key, then replicate
+    # the entry across every target position along any axis that was size 1 in the
+    # source (matching np.broadcast_to semantics for the paths/offsets/lengths arrays).
+    broadcasted_inlined: dict[tuple[int, ...], bytes] = {}
+    if manifest._inlined:
+        n_prepended = len(shape) - manifest._paths.ndim
+        source_shape_padded = (1,) * n_prepended + manifest._paths.shape
+        for key, data in manifest._inlined.items():
+            padded_key = (0,) * n_prepended + key
+            axis_ranges = [
+                range(shape[i]) if source_shape_padded[i] == 1 else (padded_key[i],)
+                for i in range(len(shape))
+            ]
+            for target_key in itertools.product(*axis_ranges):
+                broadcasted_inlined[target_key] = data
+
     return ChunkManifest.from_arrays(
         paths=broadcasted_paths,
         offsets=broadcasted_offsets,
         lengths=broadcasted_lengths,
         validate_paths=False,
+        inlined=broadcasted_inlined if broadcasted_inlined else None,
     )