diff --git a/.buildkite/release-pipeline.yaml b/.buildkite/release-pipeline.yaml
index a9d51557bd9bb..c04bfac6644ca 100644
--- a/.buildkite/release-pipeline.yaml
+++ b/.buildkite/release-pipeline.yaml
@@ -196,3 +196,4 @@ steps:
     env:
       DOCKER_BUILDKIT: "1"
       DOCKERHUB_USERNAME: "vllmbot"
+
diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile b/docker/Dockerfile
index 679ffc4a7df5f..c046f1a556e58 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -54,7 +54,11 @@ ARG PIP_EXTRA_INDEX_URL
 ARG UV_INDEX_URL=${PIP_INDEX_URL}
 ARG UV_EXTRA_INDEX_URL=${PIP_EXTRA_INDEX_URL}
 
+# Flag to install PyTorch nightly instead of stable
+ARG USE_TORCH_NIGHTLY=false
+
 # PyTorch provides its own indexes for standard and nightly builds
+# This will be set conditionally based on USE_TORCH_NIGHTLY in the base stage
 ARG PYTORCH_CUDA_INDEX_BASE_URL=https://download.pytorch.org/whl
 
 # PIP supports multiple authentication schemes, including keyring
@@ -128,15 +132,40 @@ RUN ldconfig /usr/local/cuda-$(echo $CUDA_VERSION | cut -d. -f1,2)/compat/
 # Install PyTorch and core CUDA dependencies
 # This is ~2GB and rarely changes
 ARG PYTORCH_CUDA_INDEX_BASE_URL
+ARG USE_TORCH_NIGHTLY
+
+# Set PyTorch index URL based on USE_TORCH_NIGHTLY
+# We compute the index URL once and reuse it across all stages
+RUN if [ "$USE_TORCH_NIGHTLY" = "true" ]; then \
+        PYTORCH_SUFFIX="/nightly"; \
+    else \
+        PYTORCH_SUFFIX=""; \
+    fi && \
+    echo "PYTORCH_INDEX=${PYTORCH_CUDA_INDEX_BASE_URL}${PYTORCH_SUFFIX}/cu$(echo $CUDA_VERSION | cut -d. -f1,2 | tr -d '.')" >> /etc/environment && \
+    if [ "$USE_TORCH_NIGHTLY" = "true" ]; then \
+        echo "PRERELEASE_FLAG=--prerelease=allow" >> /etc/environment; \
+    else \
+        echo "PRERELEASE_FLAG=" >> /etc/environment; \
+    fi
+
+ENV PYTORCH_INDEX=""
+ENV PRERELEASE_FLAG=""
+RUN . /etc/environment && echo "PYTORCH_INDEX=${PYTORCH_INDEX}" && echo "PRERELEASE_FLAG=${PRERELEASE_FLAG}"
 
 WORKDIR /workspace
 
 # install build and runtime dependencies
 COPY requirements/common.txt requirements/common.txt
 COPY requirements/cuda.txt requirements/cuda.txt
+COPY use_existing_torch.py use_existing_torch.py
 RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/uv \
+    . /etc/environment && \
+    if [ "$USE_TORCH_NIGHTLY" = "true" ]; then \
+        echo ">>> Running use_existing_torch.py to reset torch dependencies for nightly build" && \
+        python3 use_existing_torch.py; \
+    fi && \
     uv pip install --python /opt/venv/bin/python3 -r requirements/cuda.txt \
-    --extra-index-url ${PYTORCH_CUDA_INDEX_BASE_URL}/cu$(echo $CUDA_VERSION | cut -d. -f1,2 | tr -d '.')
+    --extra-index-url ${PYTORCH_INDEX} ${PRERELEASE_FLAG}
 
 # CUDA arch list used by torch
 # Explicitly set the list to avoid issues with torch 2.2
@@ -151,10 +180,10 @@ ARG TARGETPLATFORM
 
 ARG PIP_INDEX_URL UV_INDEX_URL
 ARG PIP_EXTRA_INDEX_URL UV_EXTRA_INDEX_URL
-ARG PYTORCH_CUDA_INDEX_BASE_URL
 
 # install build dependencies
 COPY requirements/build.txt requirements/build.txt
+COPY use_existing_torch.py use_existing_torch.py
 
 # This timeout (in seconds) is necessary when installing some dependencies via uv since it's likely to time out
 # Reference: https://github.com/astral-sh/uv/pull/1694
@@ -164,8 +193,13 @@ ENV UV_INDEX_STRATEGY="unsafe-best-match"
 ENV UV_LINK_MODE=copy
 
 RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/uv \
+    . /etc/environment && \
+    if [ "$USE_TORCH_NIGHTLY" = "true" ]; then \
+        echo ">>> Running use_existing_torch.py to reset torch dependencies for nightly build" && \
+        python3 use_existing_torch.py; \
+    fi && \
     uv pip install --python /opt/venv/bin/python3 -r requirements/build.txt \
-    --extra-index-url ${PYTORCH_CUDA_INDEX_BASE_URL}/cu$(echo $CUDA_VERSION | cut -d. -f1,2 | tr -d '.')
+    --extra-index-url ${PYTORCH_INDEX} ${PRERELEASE_FLAG}
 
 WORKDIR /workspace
 
@@ -290,10 +324,10 @@ ARG TARGETPLATFORM
 
 ARG PIP_INDEX_URL UV_INDEX_URL
 ARG PIP_EXTRA_INDEX_URL UV_EXTRA_INDEX_URL
-ARG PYTORCH_CUDA_INDEX_BASE_URL
 
 # install build dependencies
 COPY requirements/build.txt requirements/build.txt
+COPY use_existing_torch.py use_existing_torch.py
 
 # This timeout (in seconds) is necessary when installing some dependencies via uv since it's likely to time out
 # Reference: https://github.com/astral-sh/uv/pull/1694
@@ -303,8 +337,13 @@ ENV UV_INDEX_STRATEGY="unsafe-best-match"
 ENV UV_LINK_MODE=copy
 
 RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/uv \
+    . /etc/environment && \
+    if [ "$USE_TORCH_NIGHTLY" = "true" ]; then \
+        echo ">>> Running use_existing_torch.py to reset torch dependencies for nightly build" && \
+        python3 use_existing_torch.py; \
+    fi && \
     uv pip install --python /opt/venv/bin/python3 -r requirements/build.txt \
-    --extra-index-url ${PYTORCH_CUDA_INDEX_BASE_URL}/cu$(echo $CUDA_VERSION | cut -d. -f1,2 | tr -d '.')
+    --extra-index-url ${PYTORCH_INDEX} ${PRERELEASE_FLAG}
 
 WORKDIR /workspace
 
@@ -352,7 +391,6 @@ FROM base AS dev
 
 ARG PIP_INDEX_URL UV_INDEX_URL
 ARG PIP_EXTRA_INDEX_URL UV_EXTRA_INDEX_URL
-ARG PYTORCH_CUDA_INDEX_BASE_URL
 
 # This timeout (in seconds) is necessary when installing some dependencies via uv since it's likely to time out
 # Reference: https://github.com/astral-sh/uv/pull/1694
@@ -367,8 +405,9 @@ COPY requirements/lint.txt requirements/lint.txt
 COPY requirements/test.txt requirements/test.txt
 COPY requirements/dev.txt requirements/dev.txt
 RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/uv \
+    . /etc/environment && \
     uv pip install --python /opt/venv/bin/python3 -r requirements/dev.txt \
-    --extra-index-url ${PYTORCH_CUDA_INDEX_BASE_URL}/cu$(echo $CUDA_VERSION | cut -d. -f1,2 | tr -d '.')
+    --extra-index-url ${PYTORCH_INDEX} ${PRERELEASE_FLAG}
 #################### DEV IMAGE ####################
 #################### vLLM installation IMAGE ####################
 # image with vLLM installed
@@ -462,12 +501,37 @@ RUN ldconfig /usr/local/cuda-$(echo $CUDA_VERSION | cut -d. -f1,2)/compat/
 # Install PyTorch and core CUDA dependencies
 # This is ~2GB and rarely changes
 ARG PYTORCH_CUDA_INDEX_BASE_URL
+ARG USE_TORCH_NIGHTLY
+
+# Set PyTorch index URL based on USE_TORCH_NIGHTLY
+# We compute the index URL once and reuse it across all stages
+RUN if [ "$USE_TORCH_NIGHTLY" = "true" ]; then \
+        PYTORCH_SUFFIX="/nightly"; \
+    else \
+        PYTORCH_SUFFIX=""; \
+    fi && \
+    echo "PYTORCH_INDEX=${PYTORCH_CUDA_INDEX_BASE_URL}${PYTORCH_SUFFIX}/cu$(echo $CUDA_VERSION | cut -d. -f1,2 | tr -d '.')" >> /etc/environment && \
+    if [ "$USE_TORCH_NIGHTLY" = "true" ]; then \
+        echo "PRERELEASE_FLAG=--prerelease=allow" >> /etc/environment; \
+    else \
+        echo "PRERELEASE_FLAG=" >> /etc/environment; \
+    fi
+
+ENV PYTORCH_INDEX=""
+ENV PRERELEASE_FLAG=""
+
 COPY requirements/common.txt /tmp/common.txt
 COPY requirements/cuda.txt /tmp/requirements-cuda.txt
+COPY use_existing_torch.py /tmp/use_existing_torch.py
 RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/uv \
+    . /etc/environment && \
+    if [ "$USE_TORCH_NIGHTLY" = "true" ]; then \
+        echo ">>> Running use_existing_torch.py to reset torch dependencies for nightly build" && \
+        cd /tmp && python3 use_existing_torch.py; \
+    fi && \
     uv pip install --system -r /tmp/requirements-cuda.txt \
-        --extra-index-url ${PYTORCH_CUDA_INDEX_BASE_URL}/cu$(echo $CUDA_VERSION | cut -d. -f1,2 | tr -d '.') && \
-    rm /tmp/requirements-cuda.txt /tmp/common.txt
+        --extra-index-url ${PYTORCH_INDEX} ${PRERELEASE_FLAG} && \
+    rm /tmp/requirements-cuda.txt /tmp/common.txt /tmp/use_existing_torch.py
 
 # Install FlashInfer pre-compiled kernel cache and binaries
 # This is ~1.1GB and only changes when FlashInfer version bumps
@@ -518,12 +582,14 @@ ARG PIP_INDEX_URL UV_INDEX_URL
 ARG PIP_EXTRA_INDEX_URL UV_EXTRA_INDEX_URL
 ARG PYTORCH_CUDA_INDEX_BASE_URL
 ARG PIP_KEYRING_PROVIDER UV_KEYRING_PROVIDER
+ARG USE_TORCH_NIGHTLY
 
 # Install vllm wheel first, so that torch etc will be installed.
 RUN --mount=type=bind,from=build,src=/workspace/dist,target=/vllm-workspace/dist \
     --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/uv \
+    . /etc/environment && \
     uv pip install --system dist/*.whl --verbose \
-        --extra-index-url ${PYTORCH_CUDA_INDEX_BASE_URL}/cu$(echo $CUDA_VERSION | cut -d. -f1,2 | tr -d '.')
+        --extra-index-url ${PYTORCH_INDEX} ${PRERELEASE_FLAG}
 
 RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/uv \
 . /etc/environment && \
@@ -544,8 +610,9 @@ ENV LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/cuda/lib64:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
 # Install EP kernels wheels (pplx-kernels and DeepEP) that have been built in the `build` stage
 RUN --mount=type=bind,from=build,src=/tmp/ep_kernels_workspace/dist,target=/vllm-workspace/ep_kernels/dist \
     --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/uv \
+    . /etc/environment && \
     uv pip install --system ep_kernels/dist/*.whl --verbose \
-        --extra-index-url ${PYTORCH_CUDA_INDEX_BASE_URL}/cu$(echo $CUDA_VERSION | cut -d. -f1,2 | tr -d '.')
+        --extra-index-url ${PYTORCH_INDEX} ${PRERELEASE_FLAG}
 
 # CUDA image changed from /usr/local/nvidia to /usr/local/cuda in 12.8 but will
 # return to /usr/local/nvidia in 13.0 to allow container providers to mount drivers
@@ -569,7 +636,6 @@ ARG PYTHON_VERSION
 
 ARG PIP_INDEX_URL UV_INDEX_URL
 ARG PIP_EXTRA_INDEX_URL UV_EXTRA_INDEX_URL
-ARG PYTORCH_CUDA_INDEX_BASE_URL
 
 # This timeout (in seconds) is necessary when installing some dependencies via uv since it's likely to time out
 # Reference: https://github.com/astral-sh/uv/pull/1694
@@ -587,8 +653,9 @@ RUN echo 'tzdata tzdata/Areas select America' | debconf-set-selections \
 RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/uv \
     CUDA_MAJOR="${CUDA_VERSION%%.*}"; \
     if [ "$CUDA_MAJOR" -ge 12 ]; then \
+        . /etc/environment && \
         uv pip install --system -r requirements/dev.txt \
-        --extra-index-url ${PYTORCH_CUDA_INDEX_BASE_URL}/cu$(echo $CUDA_VERSION | cut -d. -f1,2 | tr -d '.'); \
+        --extra-index-url ${PYTORCH_INDEX} ${PRERELEASE_FLAG}; \
     fi
 
 # install development dependencies (for testing)
diff --git a/use_existing_torch.py b/use_existing_torch.py
index e2d3f2ec81956..93274de8ce99a 100644
--- a/use_existing_torch.py
+++ b/use_existing_torch.py
@@ -2,17 +2,85 @@
 # SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright contributors to the vLLM project
 
 import glob
+import os
+import re
+
+# Collect all files to process
+files_to_process = list(glob.glob("requirements/*.txt"))
+
+# Add pyproject.toml if it exists
+if os.path.exists("pyproject.toml"):
+    files_to_process.append("pyproject.toml")
+
+# Pattern to match torch package names we want to unpin
+TORCH_PACKAGES = ['torch', 'torchaudio', 'torchvision', 'triton']
+
+def unpin_torch_dependency(line):
+    """Remove version pinning from torch-related packages, keep the package name."""
+    original_line = line
+    line_stripped = line.strip()
+
+    # Skip empty lines
+    if not line_stripped:
+        return line
+
+    # Skip full comment lines
+    if line_stripped.startswith('#'):
+        return line
+
+    # Check if this line contains a torch package
+    for pkg in TORCH_PACKAGES:
+        # Check if line starts with the package name (case insensitive)
+        if line_stripped.lower().startswith(pkg):
+            # Extract inline comment if present
+            comment = ''
+            if '#' in line:
+                pkg_and_version, comment = line.split('#', 1)
+                comment = '  #' + comment.rstrip('\n')
+            else:
+                pkg_and_version = line
+
+            # Check if there's a version specifier
+            # Matches any version constraint operators: ==, >=, <=, >, <, !=, ~=
+            if re.search(r'[=<>!~]', pkg_and_version):
+                # Get original capitalization of package name from the original line
+                orig_pkg = line_stripped.split()[0] if line_stripped.split() else pkg
+                # Extract just the package name without any version info
+                orig_pkg = re.split(r'[=<>!~]', orig_pkg)[0]
+
+                result = f"{orig_pkg}{comment}\n" if comment else f"{orig_pkg}\n"
+                print(f"  unpinned: {line.strip()} -> {result.strip()}")
+                return result
+
+    return line
+
+for file in files_to_process:
+    if not os.path.exists(file):
+        print(f">>> skipping {file} (does not exist)")
+        continue
 
-for file in (*glob.glob("requirements/*.txt"), "pyproject.toml"):
     print(f">>> cleaning {file}")
-    with open(file) as f:
-        lines = f.readlines()
-    if "torch" in "".join(lines).lower():
-        print("removed:")
-        with open(file, "w") as f:
-            for line in lines:
-                if "torch" not in line.lower():
-                    f.write(line)
-                else:
-                    print(line.strip())
+    try:
+        with open(file) as f:
+            lines = f.readlines()
+    except Exception as e:
+        print(f"!!! error reading {file}: {e}")
+        continue
+
+    # Check if we need to process this file
+    has_torch = any(any(pkg in line.lower() for pkg in TORCH_PACKAGES) for line in lines)
+
+    if has_torch:
+        print("unpinning torch dependencies:")
+        try:
+            with open(file, "w") as f:
+                for line in lines:
+                    new_line = unpin_torch_dependency(line)
+                    f.write(new_line)
+        except Exception as e:
+            print(f"!!! error writing {file}: {e}")
+            continue
+    else:
+        print("  (no torch dependencies found)")
+
     print(f"<<< done cleaning {file}\n")