diff --git a/example/ck_tile/42_unified_attention/example_unified_attention.cpp b/example/ck_tile/42_unified_attention/example_unified_attention.cpp
index 03e5697ba0..95508f8a42 100644
--- a/example/ck_tile/42_unified_attention/example_unified_attention.cpp
+++ b/example/ck_tile/42_unified_attention/example_unified_attention.cpp
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
 // Copyright (c) 2018-2025, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. All rights reserved.
 
+#include <algorithm>
 #include <iomanip>
 #include <iostream>
 #include <optional>
@@ -52,7 +53,16 @@ auto parse_cmd_args(int argc, char* argv[]) -> std::pair<bool, ck_tile::ArgParse
                 "permute input\n"
                 "if true, will be b*h*s*d, else b*s*h*d")
         .insert("operm", "0", "permute output")
-        .insert("causal", "0", "0: no mask, 1: causal mask")
+        .insert("mask",
+                "b",
+                "attention mask. accepts the same syntax as 01_fmha:\n"
+                "  '0'             : no mask\n"
+                "  '1' or 't'      : causal mask from top-left\n"
+                "  '2' or 'b'      : causal mask from bottom-right (default)\n"
+                "  'xt:N'/'xb:N'   : xformer-style window_size N from top-left/bottom-right\n"
+                "                    N<0 means causal, N>0 means sliding-window attention\n"
+                "  't:l,r'/'b:l,r' : FA-style left/right window from top-left/bottom-right\n"
+                "  'g:y,x'         : generic mask coordinate")
         .insert("verify", "1", "0:no verify, 1:verify")
         .insert("varlen", "1", "0: fixed length, 1: variable length")
         .insert("seed",
@@ -169,6 +179,20 @@ struct Problem
         {
             num_tokens += len;
         }
+
+        mask_str = args.get_str("mask");
+        // Decode once with the maximum batch shape for top-level reporting and
+        // for the kernel-side mask_type. The host reference re-decodes per-batch
+        // with each batch's effective seqlens (varlen-aware) inside run_impl.
+        const ck_tile::index_t report_seqlen_q =
+            query_lens.empty()
+                ? max_seqlen_q
+                : *std::max_element(query_lens.begin(), query_lens.end());
+        const ck_tile::index_t report_seqlen_kv =
+            kv_lens.empty()
+                ? max_seqlen_kv
+                : *std::max_element(kv_lens.begin(), kv_lens.end());
+        mask = mask_info::decode(mask_str, report_seqlen_q, report_seqlen_kv);
     }
 
     std::vector<ck_tile::index_t> get_query_shape() const { return {num_tokens, nhead_q, hdim}; }
@@ -198,6 +222,7 @@ struct Problem
     float scale;
     float scale_k;
     float scale_v;
+    std::string mask_str;
     mask_info mask;
     std::vector<int> query_lens;
     std::vector<int> kv_lens;
@@ -256,7 +281,7 @@ template <typename AccDataType,
 CK_TILE_HOST void fmha_fwd(const ck_tile::HostTensor<QDataType>& q_bshd,
                            const ck_tile::HostTensor<KDataType>& k_bshd,
                            const ck_tile::HostTensor<VDataType>& v_bshd,
-                           // const mask_info& mask,
+                           const mask_info& mask,
                            ck_tile::HostTensor<ODataType>& o_bshd,
                            const QElementOp& q_element_op        = {},
                            const KElementOp& k_element_op        = {},
@@ -295,10 +320,19 @@ CK_TILE_HOST void fmha_fwd(const ck_tile::HostTensor<QDataType>& q_bshd,
         ck_tile::reference_batched_gemm<QDataType, KDataType, AccDataType>(
             q_host_ref, k_host_ref, s_host_ref, q_element_op, k_element_op, s_acc_element_op);
 
-        ck_tile::reference_batched_masking(
-            s_host_ref,
-            ck_tile::make_generic_attention_mask_from_lr_window<UnifiedAttentionMasks::CausalMask>(
-                -1, 0, seqlen_q, seqlen_kv, 1, false));
+        if(mask.type != mask_enum::no_mask)
+        {
+            // Always use the GenericMask (IsLocal=true) path so both classical causal
+            // (left=-1, right=0) and sliding-window (left>=0) flow through the same
+            // codepath. The helper translates left/right into y/x mask coordinates
+            // and is_top_left selects the corner.
+            const bool is_top_left = (mask.type == mask_enum::mask_top_left);
+            ck_tile::reference_batched_masking(
+                s_host_ref,
+                ck_tile::make_generic_attention_mask_from_lr_window<
+                    UnifiedAttentionMasks::GenericMask>(
+                    mask.left, mask.right, seqlen_q, seqlen_kv, /*repeat_idx=*/1, is_top_left));
+        }
         ck_tile::reference_batched_softmax<AccDataType, AccDataType>(
             s_host_ref, p_host_ref, ck_tile::identity{});
         ck_tile::reference_batched_gemm<PDataType, VDataType, AccDataType>(
@@ -336,7 +370,7 @@ bool run_impl(const Problem& problem, const RunConfig& run_config)
     args.num_head_q         = problem.nhead_q;
     args.num_queries_per_kv = problem.num_queries_per_kv;
     args.page_blk_size      = problem.page_blk_size;
-    args.mask_type          = 2;
+    args.mask_type          = static_cast<int>(problem.mask.type);
     args.hdim               = problem.hdim;
 
     args.num_blks = problem.num_blks;
@@ -514,7 +548,7 @@ bool run_impl(const Problem& problem, const RunConfig& run_config)
         if(i < problem.kv_lens.size() - 1)
             std::cout << ",";
     }
-    std::cout << "], mask:" << "causal mask" << std::fixed << ", " << std::setprecision(8) << time
+    std::cout << "], mask:" << problem.mask << std::fixed << ", " << std::setprecision(8) << time
               << " ms, " << std::setprecision(2) << tflops << " TFlops, " << std::setprecision(2)
               << (static_cast<double>(mem) / 1e12 / (time / 1e3)) << " TB/s" << std::endl;
 
@@ -566,11 +600,15 @@ bool run_impl(const Problem& problem, const RunConfig& run_config)
         });
         // v_b.ForEach([&](auto& self, auto idx) { self(idx) = v(b, idx[1], idx[2], idx[3]); });
 
+        // Decode the mask freshly with this batch's effective seqlens so the host
+        // reference matches the per-batch attention shape (varlen-aware).
+        const auto batch_mask = mask_info::decode(problem.mask_str, seqlen_q_eff, seqlen_kv_eff);
+
         // Compute reference for this batch segment (host::fmha_fwd expects bshd tensors)
         host::fmha_fwd<float, DataType>(q_b,
                                         k_b,
                                         v_b,
-                                        // problem.mask,
+                                        batch_mask,
                                         o_b,
                                         ck_tile::identity{},
                                         ck_tile::identity{},
diff --git a/include/ck_tile/ops/unified_attention/block/block_masking.hpp b/include/ck_tile/ops/unified_attention/block/block_masking.hpp
index dd735c7689..8e02fcbc30 100644
--- a/include/ck_tile/ops/unified_attention/block/block_masking.hpp
+++ b/include/ck_tile/ops/unified_attention/block/block_masking.hpp
@@ -207,6 +207,15 @@ struct GenericAttentionMask
         }
     }
 
+    // Attention-sink aware variant. The unified-attention kernel does not yet
+    // implement sink tokens, so for now this is an alias for IsOutOfBound.
+    // Host reference code (reference_batched_masking) calls this; keeping the
+    // alias decouples that call site from future sink support.
+    CK_TILE_HOST_DEVICE constexpr auto IsOutOfSinkBound(index_t i_y, index_t i_x) const
+    {
+        return IsOutOfBound(i_y, i_x);
+    }
+
     // if current tile is at the edge, means need per-pixel mask check.
     // otherwise no need to check per-pixel
     // Attention! assume the index passed in this function is within range of GetTileRangeAlongX/Y()