diff --git a/src/levanter/mesh.py b/src/levanter/mesh.py
index 7b11f8e5d..53d803fbe 100644
--- a/src/levanter/mesh.py
+++ b/src/levanter/mesh.py
@@ -20,12 +20,12 @@ def local_devices_mapping(mesh: Mesh, process_index: Optional[int] = None) -> di
     """Returns a mapping from local devices' DP/FSDP group index in global mesh to local indices"""
     local_device_pos = local_device_grid_positions(mesh, process_index)[:2]  # first 2 axes are DP axes.
     result = {}
-    j = 0
-    for i in range(len(local_device_pos[0])):
-        key = local_device_pos[0][i] * mesh.devices.shape[1] + local_device_pos[1][i]
+    uid = 0
+    for local_device_index in range(len(local_device_pos[0])):
+        key = local_device_pos[0][local_device_index] * mesh.devices.shape[1] + local_device_pos[1][local_device_index]
         if key not in result:
-            result[key] = j  # in case of TP=2, local device 0 and 2 will be mapped to same key.
-            j += 1
+            result[key] = uid  # in case of TP=2, local device 0 and 2 will be mapped to same key.
+            uid += 1
     return result
 
 
@@ -36,19 +36,19 @@ def process_mesh_mapping(mesh) -> dict[int, int]:
     """
     devices = mesh.devices
     result = {}  # maps process index to leftmost process index in DP/FSDP group
-    i = 0
+    uid = 0
     leftmost2uid = {}
 
-    for i in range(jax.process_count()):
-        tmp = [np.min(axis) for axis in local_device_grid_positions(mesh, i)]
+    for process_index in range(jax.process_count()):
+        tmp = [np.min(axis) for axis in local_device_grid_positions(mesh, process_index)]
         tmp[-1] = 0  # we want the device with TP group index 0 in the same DP/FSDP group
         upper_left_position = tuple(tmp)  # in order to index into devices
         upper_left_process = devices[upper_left_position].process_index
         # assign uid to each process that has a device with TP group index 0
         if upper_left_process not in leftmost2uid:
-            leftmost2uid[upper_left_process] = i
-            i += 1
+            leftmost2uid[upper_left_process] = uid
+            uid += 1
         uid = leftmost2uid[upper_left_process]
-        result[i] = uid
+        result[process_index] = uid
 
     return result