diff --git a/examples/tutorial/rl/hilserl_example.py b/examples/tutorial/rl/hilserl_example.py
index d367a01ce..1b4bdff04 100644
--- a/examples/tutorial/rl/hilserl_example.py
+++ b/examples/tutorial/rl/hilserl_example.py
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ from pathlib import Path
 from queue import Empty, Full
 
 import torch
-import torch.optim as optim
 
 from lerobot.datasets.feature_utils import hw_to_dataset_features
 from lerobot.datasets.lerobot_dataset import LeRobotDataset
@@ -12,6 +11,7 @@ from lerobot.envs.configs import HILSerlProcessorConfig, HILSerlRobotEnvConfig
 from lerobot.policies.sac.configuration_sac import SACConfig
 from lerobot.policies.sac.modeling_sac import SACPolicy
 from lerobot.policies.sac.reward_model.modeling_classifier import Classifier
+from lerobot.rl.algorithms.sac import SACAlgorithm, SACAlgorithmConfig
 from lerobot.rl.buffer import ReplayBuffer
 from lerobot.rl.gym_manipulator import make_robot_env
 from lerobot.robots.so_follower import SO100FollowerConfig
@@ -40,8 +40,9 @@ def run_learner(
     policy_learner.train()
     policy_learner.to(device)
 
-    # Create Adam optimizer from scratch - simple and clean
-    optimizer = optim.Adam(policy_learner.parameters(), lr=lr)
+    algo_config = SACAlgorithmConfig.from_policy_config(policy_learner.config)
+    algorithm = SACAlgorithm(policy=policy_learner, config=algo_config)
+    algorithm.make_optimizers_and_scheduler()
 
     print(f"[LEARNER] Online buffer capacity: {online_buffer.capacity}")
     print(f"[LEARNER] Offline buffer capacity: {offline_buffer.capacity}")
@@ -83,24 +84,26 @@ def run_learner(
                 else:
                     batch[key] = online_batch[key]
 
-            loss, _ = policy_learner.forward(batch)
+            def batch_iter(b=batch):
+                while True:
+                    yield b
 
-            optimizer.zero_grad()
-            loss.backward()
-            optimizer.step()
+            stats = algorithm.update(batch_iter())
             training_step += 1
 
             if training_step % LOG_EVERY == 0:
+                log_dict = stats.to_log_dict()
                 print(
-                    f"[LEARNER] Training step {training_step}, Loss: {loss.item():.4f}, "
+                    f"[LEARNER] Training step {training_step}, "
+                    f"critic_loss: {log_dict.get('critic', 'N/A'):.4f}, "
                     f"Buffers: Online={len(online_buffer)}, Offline={len(offline_buffer)}"
                 )
 
             # Send updated parameters to actor every 10 training steps
             if training_step % SEND_EVERY == 0:
                 try:
-                    state_dict = {k: v.cpu() for k, v in policy_learner.state_dict().items()}
-                    parameters_queue.put_nowait(state_dict)
+                    weights = algorithm.get_weights()
+                    parameters_queue.put_nowait(weights)
                     print("[LEARNER] Sent updated parameters to actor")
                 except Full:
                     # Missing write due to queue not being consumed (should happen rarely)
@@ -144,15 +147,15 @@ def run_actor(
 
             while step < MAX_STEPS_PER_EPISODE and not shutdown_event.is_set():
                 try:
-                    new_params = parameters_queue.get_nowait()
-                    policy_actor.load_state_dict(new_params)
+                    new_weights = parameters_queue.get_nowait()
+                    policy_actor.load_state_dict(new_weights)
                     print("[ACTOR] Updated policy parameters from learner")
                 except Empty:  # No new updated parameters available from learner, waiting
                     pass
 
-                # Get action from policy
+                # Get action from policy (returns full action: continuous + discrete)
                 policy_obs = make_policy_obs(obs, device=device)
-                action_tensor = policy_actor.select_action(policy_obs)  # predicts a single action
+                action_tensor = policy_actor.select_action(policy_obs)
                 action = action_tensor.squeeze(0).cpu().numpy()
 
                 # Step environment
diff --git a/src/lerobot/configs/train.py b/src/lerobot/configs/train.py
index 8b8aedb26..ccc2070cc 100644
--- a/src/lerobot/configs/train.py
+++ b/src/lerobot/configs/train.py
@@ -214,3 +214,11 @@ class TrainRLServerPipelineConfig(TrainPipelineConfig):
     # NOTE: In RL, we don't need an offline dataset
     # TODO: Make `TrainPipelineConfig.dataset` optional
     dataset: DatasetConfig | None = None  # type: ignore[assignment] # because the parent class has made it's type non-optional
+
+    # Algorithm name registered in RLAlgorithmConfig registry
+    algorithm: str = "sac"
+
+    # Data mixer strategy name. Currently supports "online_offline"
+    mixer: str = "online_offline"
+    # Fraction sampled from online replay when using OnlineOfflineMixer
+    online_ratio: float = 0.5
diff --git a/src/lerobot/policies/sac/modeling_sac.py b/src/lerobot/policies/sac/modeling_sac.py
index d5dd71a48..a9659a5ba 100644
--- a/src/lerobot/policies/sac/modeling_sac.py
+++ b/src/lerobot/policies/sac/modeling_sac.py
@@ -15,16 +15,13 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-import math
 from collections.abc import Callable
 from dataclasses import asdict
-from typing import Literal
+from typing import Any
 
-import einops
 import numpy as np
 import torch
 import torch.nn as nn
-import torch.nn.functional as F  # noqa: N812
 from torch import Tensor
 from torch.distributions import MultivariateNormal, TanhTransform, Transform, TransformedDistribution
 
@@ -39,6 +36,8 @@ DISCRETE_DIMENSION_INDEX = -1  # Gripper is always the last dimension
 class SACPolicy(
     PreTrainedPolicy,
 ):
+    """SAC policy."""
+
     config_class = SACConfig
     name = "sac"
 
@@ -53,9 +52,8 @@ class SACPolicy(
         # Determine action dimension and initialize all components
         continuous_action_dim = config.output_features[ACTION].shape[0]
         self._init_encoders()
-        self._init_critics(continuous_action_dim)
         self._init_actor(continuous_action_dim)
-        self._init_temperature()
+        self.discrete_critic = None
 
     def get_optim_params(self) -> dict:
         optim_params = {
@@ -64,11 +62,7 @@ class SACPolicy(
                 for n, p in self.actor.named_parameters()
                 if not n.startswith("encoder") or not self.shared_encoder
             ],
-            "critic": self.critic_ensemble.parameters(),
-            "temperature": self.log_alpha,
         }
-        if self.config.num_discrete_actions is not None:
-            optim_params["discrete_critic"] = self.discrete_critic.parameters()
         return optim_params
 
     def reset(self):
@@ -91,304 +85,49 @@ class SACPolicy(
         actions, _, _ = self.actor(batch, observations_features)
 
         if self.config.num_discrete_actions is not None:
-            discrete_action_value = self.discrete_critic(batch, observations_features)
-            discrete_action = torch.argmax(discrete_action_value, dim=-1, keepdim=True)
+            if self.discrete_critic is not None:
+                discrete_action_value = self.discrete_critic(batch, observations_features)
+                discrete_action = torch.argmax(discrete_action_value, dim=-1, keepdim=True)
+            else:
+                discrete_action = torch.ones(
+                    (*actions.shape[:-1], 1), device=actions.device, dtype=actions.dtype
+                )
             actions = torch.cat([actions, discrete_action], dim=-1)
 
         return actions
 
-    def critic_forward(
-        self,
-        observations: dict[str, Tensor],
-        actions: Tensor,
-        use_target: bool = False,
-        observation_features: Tensor | None = None,
-    ) -> Tensor:
-        """Forward pass through a critic network ensemble
+    def forward(self, batch: dict[str, Tensor | dict[str, Tensor]]) -> dict[str, Tensor]:
+        """Actor forward pass: sample actions and return log-probabilities.
 
         Args:
-            observations: Dictionary of observations
-            actions: Action tensor
-            use_target: If True, use target critics, otherwise use ensemble critics
+            batch: A flat observation dict, or a training dict containing
+                ``"state"`` (observations) and optionally ``"observation_feature"``
+                (pre-computed encoder features).
 
         Returns:
-            Tensor of Q-values from all critics
+            Dict with ``"action"``, ``"log_prob"``, and ``"action_mean"`` tensors.
         """
+        observations = batch.get("state", batch)
+        observation_features = batch.get("observation_feature") if isinstance(batch, dict) else None
+        actions, log_probs, means = self.actor(observations, observation_features)
+        return {"action": actions, "log_prob": log_probs, "action_mean": means}
 
-        critics = self.critic_target if use_target else self.critic_ensemble
-        q_values = critics(observations, actions, observation_features)
-        return q_values
+    def load_actor_weights(self, state_dicts: dict[str, Any], device: str | torch.device = "cpu") -> None:
+        from lerobot.utils.transition import move_state_dict_to_device
 
-    def discrete_critic_forward(
-        self, observations, use_target=False, observation_features=None
-    ) -> torch.Tensor:
-        """Forward pass through a discrete critic network
+        actor_sd = move_state_dict_to_device(state_dicts["policy"], device=device)
+        self.actor.load_state_dict(actor_sd)
 
-        Args:
-            observations: Dictionary of observations
-            use_target: If True, use target critics, otherwise use ensemble critics
-            observation_features: Optional pre-computed observation features to avoid recomputing encoder output
-
-        Returns:
-            Tensor of Q-values from the discrete critic network
-        """
-        discrete_critic = self.discrete_critic_target if use_target else self.discrete_critic
-        q_values = discrete_critic(observations, observation_features)
-        return q_values
-
-    def forward(
-        self,
-        batch: dict[str, Tensor | dict[str, Tensor]],
-        model: Literal["actor", "critic", "temperature", "discrete_critic"] = "critic",
-    ) -> dict[str, Tensor]:
-        """Compute the loss for the given model
-
-        Args:
-            batch: Dictionary containing:
-                - action: Action tensor
-                - reward: Reward tensor
-                - state: Observations tensor dict
-                - next_state: Next observations tensor dict
-                - done: Done mask tensor
-                - observation_feature: Optional pre-computed observation features
-                - next_observation_feature: Optional pre-computed next observation features
-            model: Which model to compute the loss for ("actor", "critic", "discrete_critic", or "temperature")
-
-        Returns:
-            The computed loss tensor
-        """
-        # Extract common components from batch
-        actions: Tensor = batch[ACTION]
-        observations: dict[str, Tensor] = batch["state"]
-        observation_features: Tensor = batch.get("observation_feature")
-
-        if model == "critic":
-            # Extract critic-specific components
-            rewards: Tensor = batch["reward"]
-            next_observations: dict[str, Tensor] = batch["next_state"]
-            done: Tensor = batch["done"]
-            next_observation_features: Tensor = batch.get("next_observation_feature")
-
-            loss_critic = self.compute_loss_critic(
-                observations=observations,
-                actions=actions,
-                rewards=rewards,
-                next_observations=next_observations,
-                done=done,
-                observation_features=observation_features,
-                next_observation_features=next_observation_features,
-            )
-
-            return {"loss_critic": loss_critic}
-
-        if model == "discrete_critic" and self.config.num_discrete_actions is not None:
-            # Extract critic-specific components
-            rewards: Tensor = batch["reward"]
-            next_observations: dict[str, Tensor] = batch["next_state"]
-            done: Tensor = batch["done"]
-            next_observation_features: Tensor = batch.get("next_observation_feature")
-            complementary_info = batch.get("complementary_info")
-            loss_discrete_critic = self.compute_loss_discrete_critic(
-                observations=observations,
-                actions=actions,
-                rewards=rewards,
-                next_observations=next_observations,
-                done=done,
-                observation_features=observation_features,
-                next_observation_features=next_observation_features,
-                complementary_info=complementary_info,
-            )
-            return {"loss_discrete_critic": loss_discrete_critic}
-        if model == "actor":
-            return {
-                "loss_actor": self.compute_loss_actor(
-                    observations=observations,
-                    observation_features=observation_features,
-                )
-            }
-
-        if model == "temperature":
-            return {
-                "loss_temperature": self.compute_loss_temperature(
-                    observations=observations,
-                    observation_features=observation_features,
-                )
-            }
-
-        raise ValueError(f"Unknown model type: {model}")
-
-    def update_target_networks(self):
-        """Update target networks with exponential moving average"""
-        for target_param, param in zip(
-            self.critic_target.parameters(),
-            self.critic_ensemble.parameters(),
-            strict=True,
-        ):
-            target_param.data.copy_(
-                param.data * self.config.critic_target_update_weight
-                + target_param.data * (1.0 - self.config.critic_target_update_weight)
-            )
-        if self.config.num_discrete_actions is not None:
-            for target_param, param in zip(
-                self.discrete_critic_target.parameters(),
-                self.discrete_critic.parameters(),
-                strict=True,
-            ):
-                target_param.data.copy_(
-                    param.data * self.config.critic_target_update_weight
-                    + target_param.data * (1.0 - self.config.critic_target_update_weight)
-                )
-
-    @property
-    def temperature(self) -> float:
-        """Return the current temperature value, always in sync with log_alpha."""
-        return self.log_alpha.exp().item()
-
-    def compute_loss_critic(
-        self,
-        observations,
-        actions,
-        rewards,
-        next_observations,
-        done,
-        observation_features: Tensor | None = None,
-        next_observation_features: Tensor | None = None,
-    ) -> Tensor:
-        with torch.no_grad():
-            next_action_preds, next_log_probs, _ = self.actor(next_observations, next_observation_features)
-
-            # 2- compute q targets
-            q_targets = self.critic_forward(
-                observations=next_observations,
-                actions=next_action_preds,
-                use_target=True,
-                observation_features=next_observation_features,
-            )
-
-            # subsample critics to prevent overfitting if use high UTD (update to date)
-            # TODO: Get indices before forward pass to avoid unnecessary computation
-            if self.config.num_subsample_critics is not None:
-                indices = torch.randperm(self.config.num_critics)
-                indices = indices[: self.config.num_subsample_critics]
-                q_targets = q_targets[indices]
-
-            # critics subsample size
-            min_q, _ = q_targets.min(dim=0)  # Get values from min operation
-            if self.config.use_backup_entropy:
-                min_q = min_q - (self.temperature * next_log_probs)
-
-            td_target = rewards + (1 - done) * self.config.discount * min_q
-
-        # 3- compute predicted qs
-        if self.config.num_discrete_actions is not None:
-            # NOTE: We only want to keep the continuous action part
-            # In the buffer we have the full action space (continuous + discrete)
-            # We need to split them before concatenating them in the critic forward
-            actions: Tensor = actions[:, :DISCRETE_DIMENSION_INDEX]
-        q_preds = self.critic_forward(
-            observations=observations,
-            actions=actions,
-            use_target=False,
-            observation_features=observation_features,
-        )
-
-        # 4- Calculate loss
-        # Compute state-action value loss (TD loss) for all of the Q functions in the ensemble.
-        td_target_duplicate = einops.repeat(td_target, "b -> e b", e=q_preds.shape[0])
-        # You compute the mean loss of the batch for each critic and then to compute the final loss you sum them up
-        critics_loss = (
-            F.mse_loss(
-                input=q_preds,
-                target=td_target_duplicate,
-                reduction="none",
-            ).mean(dim=1)
-        ).sum()
-        return critics_loss
-
-    def compute_loss_discrete_critic(
-        self,
-        observations,
-        actions,
-        rewards,
-        next_observations,
-        done,
-        observation_features=None,
-        next_observation_features=None,
-        complementary_info=None,
-    ):
-        # NOTE: We only want to keep the discrete action part
-        # In the buffer we have the full action space (continuous + discrete)
-        # We need to split them before concatenating them in the critic forward
-        actions_discrete: Tensor = actions[:, DISCRETE_DIMENSION_INDEX:].clone()
-        actions_discrete = torch.round(actions_discrete)
-        actions_discrete = actions_discrete.long()
-
-        discrete_penalties: Tensor | None = None
-        if complementary_info is not None:
-            discrete_penalties: Tensor | None = complementary_info.get("discrete_penalty")
-
-        with torch.no_grad():
-            # For DQN, select actions using online network, evaluate with target network
-            next_discrete_qs = self.discrete_critic_forward(
-                next_observations, use_target=False, observation_features=next_observation_features
-            )
-            best_next_discrete_action = torch.argmax(next_discrete_qs, dim=-1, keepdim=True)
-
-            # Get target Q-values from target network
-            target_next_discrete_qs = self.discrete_critic_forward(
-                observations=next_observations,
-                use_target=True,
-                observation_features=next_observation_features,
-            )
-
-            # Use gather to select Q-values for best actions
-            target_next_discrete_q = torch.gather(
-                target_next_discrete_qs, dim=1, index=best_next_discrete_action
-            ).squeeze(-1)
-
-            # Compute target Q-value with Bellman equation
-            rewards_discrete = rewards
-            if discrete_penalties is not None:
-                rewards_discrete = rewards + discrete_penalties
-            target_discrete_q = rewards_discrete + (1 - done) * self.config.discount * target_next_discrete_q
-
-        # Get predicted Q-values for current observations
-        predicted_discrete_qs = self.discrete_critic_forward(
-            observations=observations, use_target=False, observation_features=observation_features
-        )
-
-        # Use gather to select Q-values for taken actions
-        predicted_discrete_q = torch.gather(predicted_discrete_qs, dim=1, index=actions_discrete).squeeze(-1)
-
-        # Compute MSE loss between predicted and target Q-values
-        discrete_critic_loss = F.mse_loss(input=predicted_discrete_q, target=target_discrete_q)
-        return discrete_critic_loss
-
-    def compute_loss_temperature(self, observations, observation_features: Tensor | None = None) -> Tensor:
-        """Compute the temperature loss"""
-        # calculate temperature loss
-        with torch.no_grad():
-            _, log_probs, _ = self.actor(observations, observation_features)
-        temperature_loss = (-self.log_alpha.exp() * (log_probs + self.target_entropy)).mean()
-        return temperature_loss
-
-    def compute_loss_actor(
-        self,
-        observations,
-        observation_features: Tensor | None = None,
-    ) -> Tensor:
-        actions_pi, log_probs, _ = self.actor(observations, observation_features)
-
-        q_preds = self.critic_forward(
-            observations=observations,
-            actions=actions_pi,
-            use_target=False,
-            observation_features=observation_features,
-        )
-        min_q_preds = q_preds.min(dim=0)[0]
-
-        actor_loss = ((self.temperature * log_probs) - min_q_preds).mean()
-        return actor_loss
+        if "discrete_critic" in state_dicts:
+            dc_sd = move_state_dict_to_device(state_dicts["discrete_critic"], device=device)
+            if self.discrete_critic is None:
+                self.discrete_critic = DiscreteCritic(
+                    encoder=self.encoder_critic,
+                    input_dim=self.encoder_critic.output_dim,
+                    output_dim=self.config.num_discrete_actions,
+                    **asdict(self.config.discrete_critic_network_kwargs),
+                ).to(device)
+            self.discrete_critic.load_state_dict(dc_sd)
 
     def _init_encoders(self):
         """Initialize shared or separate encoders for actor and critic."""
@@ -398,51 +137,6 @@ class SACPolicy(
             self.encoder_critic if self.shared_encoder else SACObservationEncoder(self.config)
         )
 
-    def _init_critics(self, continuous_action_dim):
-        """Build critic ensemble, targets, and optional discrete critic."""
-        heads = [
-            CriticHead(
-                input_dim=self.encoder_critic.output_dim + continuous_action_dim,
-                **asdict(self.config.critic_network_kwargs),
-            )
-            for _ in range(self.config.num_critics)
-        ]
-        self.critic_ensemble = CriticEnsemble(encoder=self.encoder_critic, ensemble=heads)
-        target_heads = [
-            CriticHead(
-                input_dim=self.encoder_critic.output_dim + continuous_action_dim,
-                **asdict(self.config.critic_network_kwargs),
-            )
-            for _ in range(self.config.num_critics)
-        ]
-        self.critic_target = CriticEnsemble(encoder=self.encoder_critic, ensemble=target_heads)
-        self.critic_target.load_state_dict(self.critic_ensemble.state_dict())
-
-        if self.config.use_torch_compile:
-            self.critic_ensemble = torch.compile(self.critic_ensemble)
-            self.critic_target = torch.compile(self.critic_target)
-
-        if self.config.num_discrete_actions is not None:
-            self._init_discrete_critics()
-
-    def _init_discrete_critics(self):
-        """Build discrete discrete critic ensemble and target networks."""
-        self.discrete_critic = DiscreteCritic(
-            encoder=self.encoder_critic,
-            input_dim=self.encoder_critic.output_dim,
-            output_dim=self.config.num_discrete_actions,
-            **asdict(self.config.discrete_critic_network_kwargs),
-        )
-        self.discrete_critic_target = DiscreteCritic(
-            encoder=self.encoder_critic,
-            input_dim=self.encoder_critic.output_dim,
-            output_dim=self.config.num_discrete_actions,
-            **asdict(self.config.discrete_critic_network_kwargs),
-        )
-
-        # TODO: (maractingi, azouitine) Compile the discrete critic
-        self.discrete_critic_target.load_state_dict(self.discrete_critic.state_dict())
-
     def _init_actor(self, continuous_action_dim):
         """Initialize policy actor network and default target entropy."""
         # NOTE: The actor select only the continuous action part
@@ -459,11 +153,6 @@ class SACPolicy(
             dim = continuous_action_dim + (1 if self.config.num_discrete_actions is not None else 0)
             self.target_entropy = -np.prod(dim) / 2
 
-    def _init_temperature(self) -> None:
-        """Set up temperature parameter (log_alpha)."""
-        temp_init = self.config.temperature_init
-        self.log_alpha = nn.Parameter(torch.tensor([math.log(temp_init)]))
-
 
 class SACObservationEncoder(nn.Module):
     """Encode image and/or state vector observations."""
@@ -676,84 +365,6 @@ class MLP(nn.Module):
         return self.net(x)
 
 
-class CriticHead(nn.Module):
-    def __init__(
-        self,
-        input_dim: int,
-        hidden_dims: list[int],
-        activations: Callable[[torch.Tensor], torch.Tensor] | str = nn.SiLU(),
-        activate_final: bool = False,
-        dropout_rate: float | None = None,
-        init_final: float | None = None,
-        final_activation: Callable[[torch.Tensor], torch.Tensor] | str | None = None,
-    ):
-        super().__init__()
-        self.net = MLP(
-            input_dim=input_dim,
-            hidden_dims=hidden_dims,
-            activations=activations,
-            activate_final=activate_final,
-            dropout_rate=dropout_rate,
-            final_activation=final_activation,
-        )
-        self.output_layer = nn.Linear(in_features=hidden_dims[-1], out_features=1)
-        if init_final is not None:
-            nn.init.uniform_(self.output_layer.weight, -init_final, init_final)
-            nn.init.uniform_(self.output_layer.bias, -init_final, init_final)
-        else:
-            orthogonal_init()(self.output_layer.weight)
-
-    def forward(self, x: torch.Tensor) -> torch.Tensor:
-        return self.output_layer(self.net(x))
-
-
-class CriticEnsemble(nn.Module):
-    """
-    CriticEnsemble wraps multiple CriticHead modules into an ensemble.
-
-    Args:
-        encoder (SACObservationEncoder): encoder for observations.
-        ensemble (List[CriticHead]): list of critic heads.
-        init_final (float | None): optional initializer scale for final layers.
-
-    Forward returns a tensor of shape (num_critics, batch_size) containing Q-values.
-    """
-
-    def __init__(
-        self,
-        encoder: SACObservationEncoder,
-        ensemble: list[CriticHead],
-        init_final: float | None = None,
-    ):
-        super().__init__()
-        self.encoder = encoder
-        self.init_final = init_final
-        self.critics = nn.ModuleList(ensemble)
-
-    def forward(
-        self,
-        observations: dict[str, torch.Tensor],
-        actions: torch.Tensor,
-        observation_features: torch.Tensor | None = None,
-    ) -> torch.Tensor:
-        device = get_device_from_parameters(self)
-        # Move each tensor in observations to device
-        observations = {k: v.to(device) for k, v in observations.items()}
-
-        obs_enc = self.encoder(observations, cache=observation_features)
-
-        inputs = torch.cat([obs_enc, actions], dim=-1)
-
-        # Loop through critics and collect outputs
-        q_values = []
-        for critic in self.critics:
-            q_values.append(critic(inputs))
-
-        # Stack outputs to match expected shape [num_critics, batch_size]
-        q_values = torch.stack([q.squeeze(-1) for q in q_values], dim=0)
-        return q_values
-
-
 class DiscreteCritic(nn.Module):
     def __init__(
         self,
diff --git a/src/lerobot/policies/sac/reward_model/configuration_classifier.py b/src/lerobot/policies/sac/reward_model/configuration_classifier.py
index 879e3c1af..9b76b8037 100644
--- a/src/lerobot/policies/sac/reward_model/configuration_classifier.py
+++ b/src/lerobot/policies/sac/reward_model/configuration_classifier.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ class RewardClassifierConfig(PreTrainedConfig):
     latent_dim: int = 256
     image_embedding_pooling_dim: int = 8
     dropout_rate: float = 0.1
-    model_name: str = "helper2424/resnet10"  # TODO: This needs to be updated. The model on the Hub doesn't call self.post_init() in its __init__, which is required by transformers v5 to set all_tied_weights_keys. The from_pretrained call fails when it tries to access this attribute during _finalize_model_loading.
+    model_name: str = "helper2424/resnet10"
     device: str = "cpu"
     model_type: str = "cnn"  # "transformer" or "cnn"
     num_cameras: int = 2
diff --git a/src/lerobot/processor/normalize_processor.py b/src/lerobot/processor/normalize_processor.py
index 8a7a1176a..7ded1b568 100644
--- a/src/lerobot/processor/normalize_processor.py
+++ b/src/lerobot/processor/normalize_processor.py
@@ -131,6 +131,15 @@ class _NormalizationMixin:
         if self.dtype is None:
             self.dtype = torch.float32
         self._tensor_stats = to_tensor(self.stats, device=self.device, dtype=self.dtype)
+        self._reshape_visual_stats()
+
+    def _reshape_visual_stats(self) -> None:
+        """Reshape visual stats from ``[C]`` to ``[C, 1, 1]`` for image broadcasting."""
+        for key, feature in self.features.items():
+            if feature.type == FeatureType.VISUAL and key in self._tensor_stats:
+                for stat_name, stat_tensor in self._tensor_stats[key].items():
+                    if isinstance(stat_tensor, Tensor) and stat_tensor.ndim == 1:
+                        self._tensor_stats[key][stat_name] = stat_tensor.reshape(-1, 1, 1)
 
     def to(
         self, device: torch.device | str | None = None, dtype: torch.dtype | None = None
@@ -149,6 +158,7 @@ class _NormalizationMixin:
         if dtype is not None:
             self.dtype = dtype
         self._tensor_stats = to_tensor(self.stats, device=self.device, dtype=self.dtype)
+        self._reshape_visual_stats()
         return self
 
     def state_dict(self) -> dict[str, Tensor]:
@@ -198,6 +208,7 @@ class _NormalizationMixin:
             # Don't load from state_dict, keep the explicitly provided stats
             # But ensure _tensor_stats is properly initialized
             self._tensor_stats = to_tensor(self.stats, device=self.device, dtype=self.dtype)  # type: ignore[assignment]
+            self._reshape_visual_stats()
             return
 
         # Normal behavior: load stats from state_dict
@@ -208,6 +219,7 @@ class _NormalizationMixin:
             self._tensor_stats.setdefault(key, {})[stat_name] = tensor.to(
                 dtype=torch.float32, device=self.device
             )
+        self._reshape_visual_stats()
 
         # Reconstruct the original stats dict from tensor stats for compatibility with to() method
         # and other functions that rely on self.stats
diff --git a/src/lerobot/rl/__init__.py b/src/lerobot/rl/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..19b2f1409
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lerobot/rl/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+# Copyright 2026 The HuggingFace Inc. team. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
diff --git a/src/lerobot/rl/actor.py b/src/lerobot/rl/actor.py
index 18c0ca1ea..6d73891b6 100644
--- a/src/lerobot/rl/actor.py
+++ b/src/lerobot/rl/actor.py
@@ -60,8 +60,9 @@ from torch.multiprocessing import Event, Queue
 from lerobot.cameras import opencv  # noqa: F401
 from lerobot.configs import parser
 from lerobot.configs.train import TrainRLServerPipelineConfig
-from lerobot.policies.factory import make_policy
-from lerobot.policies.sac.modeling_sac import SACPolicy
+from lerobot.policies.factory import make_policy, make_pre_post_processors
+from lerobot.policies.pretrained import PreTrainedPolicy
+from lerobot.processor import TransitionKey
 from lerobot.rl.process import ProcessSignalHandler
 from lerobot.rl.queue import get_last_item_from_queue
 from lerobot.robots import so_follower  # noqa: F401
@@ -76,13 +77,11 @@ from lerobot.transport.utils import (
     send_bytes_in_chunks,
     transitions_to_bytes,
 )
-from lerobot.types import TransitionKey
 from lerobot.utils.device_utils import get_safe_torch_device
 from lerobot.utils.random_utils import set_seed
 from lerobot.utils.robot_utils import precise_sleep
 from lerobot.utils.transition import (
     Transition,
-    move_state_dict_to_device,
     move_transition_to_device,
 )
 from lerobot.utils.utils import (
@@ -251,13 +250,18 @@ def act_with_policy(
     ### Instantiate the policy in both the actor and learner processes
     ### To avoid sending a SACPolicy object through the port, we create a policy instance
     ### on both sides, the learner sends the updated parameters every n steps to update the actor's parameters
-    policy: SACPolicy = make_policy(
+    policy = make_policy(
         cfg=cfg.policy,
         env_cfg=cfg.env,
     )
-    policy = policy.eval()
+    policy = policy.to(device).eval()
     assert isinstance(policy, nn.Module)
 
+    preprocessor, _postprocessor = make_pre_post_processors(
+        policy_cfg=cfg.policy,
+        dataset_stats=cfg.policy.dataset_stats,
+    )
+
     obs, info = online_env.reset()
     env_processor.reset()
     action_processor.reset()
@@ -288,8 +292,8 @@ def act_with_policy(
 
         # Time policy inference and check if it meets FPS requirement
         with policy_timer:
-            # Extract observation from transition for policy
-            action = policy.select_action(batch=observation)
+            normalized_observation = preprocessor.process_observation(observation)
+            action = policy.select_action(batch=normalized_observation)
         policy_fps = policy_timer.fps_last
 
         log_policy_frequency_issue(policy_fps=policy_fps, cfg=cfg, interaction_step=interaction_step)
@@ -649,7 +653,7 @@ def interactions_stream(
 #  Policy functions
 
 
-def update_policy_parameters(policy: SACPolicy, parameters_queue: Queue, device):
+def update_policy_parameters(policy: PreTrainedPolicy, parameters_queue: Queue, device):
     bytes_state_dict = get_last_item_from_queue(parameters_queue, block=False)
     if bytes_state_dict is not None:
         logging.info("[ACTOR] Load new parameters from Learner.")
@@ -664,18 +668,7 @@ def update_policy_parameters(policy: SACPolicy, parameters_queue: Queue, device)
         # - Send critic's encoder state when shared_encoder=True
         # - Skip encoder params entirely when freeze_vision_encoder=True
         # - Ensure discrete_critic gets correct encoder state (currently uses encoder_critic)
-
-        # Load actor state dict
-        actor_state_dict = move_state_dict_to_device(state_dicts["policy"], device=device)
-        policy.actor.load_state_dict(actor_state_dict)
-
-        # Load discrete critic if present
-        if hasattr(policy, "discrete_critic") and "discrete_critic" in state_dicts:
-            discrete_critic_state_dict = move_state_dict_to_device(
-                state_dicts["discrete_critic"], device=device
-            )
-            policy.discrete_critic.load_state_dict(discrete_critic_state_dict)
-            logging.info("[ACTOR] Loaded discrete critic parameters from Learner.")
+        policy.load_actor_weights(state_dicts, device=device)
 
 
 #  Utilities functions
diff --git a/src/lerobot/rl/algorithms/__init__.py b/src/lerobot/rl/algorithms/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fe4a51846
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lerobot/rl/algorithms/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# Copyright 2026 The HuggingFace Inc. team. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+from lerobot.rl.algorithms.sac import SACAlgorithm as SACAlgorithm, SACAlgorithmConfig as SACAlgorithmConfig
+
+__all__ = [
+    "SACAlgorithm",
+    "SACAlgorithmConfig",
+]
diff --git a/src/lerobot/rl/algorithms/base.py b/src/lerobot/rl/algorithms/base.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b9f2c908c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lerobot/rl/algorithms/base.py
@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+# Copyright 2026 The HuggingFace Inc. team. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import abc
+from collections.abc import Iterator
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any
+
+import torch
+from torch.optim import Optimizer
+
+from lerobot.rl.algorithms.configs import RLAlgorithmConfig, TrainingStats
+
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from lerobot.rl.data_sources.data_mixer import DataMixer
+
+BatchType = dict[str, Any]
+
+
+class RLAlgorithm(abc.ABC):
+    """Base for all RL algorithms."""
+
+    config_class: type[RLAlgorithmConfig] | None = None
+    name: str | None = None
+
+    def __init_subclass__(cls, **kwargs):
+        super().__init_subclass__(**kwargs)
+        if not getattr(cls, "config_class", None):
+            raise TypeError(f"Class {cls.__name__} must define 'config_class'")
+        if not getattr(cls, "name", None):
+            raise TypeError(f"Class {cls.__name__} must define 'name'")
+
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def update(self, batch_iterator: Iterator[BatchType]) -> TrainingStats:
+        """One complete training step.
+
+        The algorithm calls ``next(batch_iterator)`` as many times as it
+        needs (e.g. ``utd_ratio`` times for SAC) to obtain fresh batches.
+        The iterator is owned by the trainer; the algorithm just consumes
+        from it.
+        """
+        ...
+
+    def configure_data_iterator(
+        self,
+        data_mixer: DataMixer,
+        batch_size: int,
+        *,
+        async_prefetch: bool = True,
+        queue_size: int = 2,
+    ) -> Iterator[BatchType]:
+        """Create the data iterator this algorithm needs.
+
+        The default implementation uses the standard ``data_mixer.get_iterator()``.
+        Algorithms that need specialised sampling should override this method.
+        """
+        return data_mixer.get_iterator(
+            batch_size=batch_size,
+            async_prefetch=async_prefetch,
+            queue_size=queue_size,
+        )
+
+    def make_optimizers_and_scheduler(self) -> dict[str, Optimizer]:
+        """Create, store, and return the optimizers needed for training.
+
+        Called on the **learner** side after construction.  Subclasses must
+        override this with algorithm-specific optimizer setup.
+        """
+        return {}
+
+    def get_optimizers(self) -> dict[str, Optimizer]:
+        """Return optimizers for checkpointing / external scheduling."""
+        return {}
+
+    @property
+    def optimization_step(self) -> int:
+        """Current learner optimization step.
+
+        Part of the stable contract for checkpoint/resume. Algorithms can
+        either use this default storage or override for custom behavior.
+        """
+        return getattr(self, "_optimization_step", 0)
+
+    @optimization_step.setter
+    def optimization_step(self, value: int) -> None:
+        self._optimization_step = int(value)
+
+    def get_weights(self) -> dict[str, Any]:
+        """Policy state-dict to push to actors."""
+        return {}
+
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def load_weights(self, weights: dict[str, Any], device: str | torch.device = "cpu") -> None:
+        """Load policy state-dict received from the learner."""
diff --git a/src/lerobot/rl/algorithms/configs.py b/src/lerobot/rl/algorithms/configs.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..421f7ae09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lerobot/rl/algorithms/configs.py
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+# Copyright 2026 The HuggingFace Inc. team. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from dataclasses import dataclass, field
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any
+
+import draccus
+import torch
+
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from lerobot.rl.algorithms.base import RLAlgorithm
+
+
+@dataclass
+class TrainingStats:
+    """Returned by ``algorithm.update()`` for logging and checkpointing."""
+
+    losses: dict[str, float] = field(default_factory=dict)
+    grad_norms: dict[str, float] = field(default_factory=dict)
+    extra: dict[str, float] = field(default_factory=dict)
+
+    def to_log_dict(self) -> dict[str, float]:
+        """Flatten all stats into a single dict for logging."""
+
+        d: dict[str, float] = {}
+        for name, val in self.losses.items():
+            d[name] = val
+        for name, val in self.grad_norms.items():
+            d[f"{name}_grad_norm"] = val
+        for name, val in self.extra.items():
+            d[name] = val
+        return d
+
+
+@dataclass
+class RLAlgorithmConfig(draccus.ChoiceRegistry):
+    """Registry for algorithm configs."""
+
+    def build_algorithm(self, policy: torch.nn.Module) -> RLAlgorithm:
+        """Construct the :class:`RLAlgorithm` for this config.
+
+        Must be overridden by every registered config subclass.
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError(f"{type(self).__name__} must implement build_algorithm()")
+
+    @classmethod
+    def from_policy_config(cls, policy_cfg: Any) -> RLAlgorithmConfig:
+        """Build an algorithm config from a policy config.
+
+        Must be overridden by every registered config subclass.
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError(f"{cls.__name__} must implement from_policy_config()")
diff --git a/src/lerobot/rl/algorithms/factory.py b/src/lerobot/rl/algorithms/factory.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..70622c5f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lerobot/rl/algorithms/factory.py
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# Copyright 2026 The HuggingFace Inc. team. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import torch
+
+from lerobot.rl.algorithms.base import RLAlgorithm
+from lerobot.rl.algorithms.configs import RLAlgorithmConfig
+
+
+def make_algorithm(
+    policy: torch.nn.Module,
+    policy_cfg,
+    *,
+    algorithm_name: str,
+) -> RLAlgorithm:
+    known = RLAlgorithmConfig.get_known_choices()
+    if algorithm_name not in known:
+        raise ValueError(f"No RLAlgorithmConfig registered for '{algorithm_name}'. Known: {list(known)}")
+
+    config_cls = RLAlgorithmConfig.get_choice_class(algorithm_name)
+    algo_config = config_cls.from_policy_config(policy_cfg)
+    return algo_config.build_algorithm(policy)
diff --git a/src/lerobot/rl/algorithms/sac/__init__.py b/src/lerobot/rl/algorithms/sac/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6e0e76a66
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lerobot/rl/algorithms/sac/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# Copyright 2026 The HuggingFace Inc. team. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+from lerobot.rl.algorithms.sac.configuration_sac import SACAlgorithmConfig
+from lerobot.rl.algorithms.sac.sac_algorithm import SACAlgorithm
+
+__all__ = ["SACAlgorithm", "SACAlgorithmConfig"]
diff --git a/src/lerobot/rl/algorithms/sac/configuration_sac.py b/src/lerobot/rl/algorithms/sac/configuration_sac.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c2aac050b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lerobot/rl/algorithms/sac/configuration_sac.py
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+# Copyright 2026 The HuggingFace Inc. team. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from dataclasses import dataclass, field
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
+
+import torch
+
+from lerobot.policies.sac.configuration_sac import CriticNetworkConfig
+from lerobot.rl.algorithms.configs import RLAlgorithmConfig
+
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from lerobot.rl.algorithms.sac.sac_algorithm import SACAlgorithm
+
+
+@RLAlgorithmConfig.register_subclass("sac")
+@dataclass
+class SACAlgorithmConfig(RLAlgorithmConfig):
+    """SAC-specific hyper-parameters that control the update loop."""
+
+    utd_ratio: int = 1
+    policy_update_freq: int = 1
+    clip_grad_norm: float = 40.0
+    actor_lr: float = 3e-4
+    critic_lr: float = 3e-4
+    temperature_lr: float = 3e-4
+    discount: float = 0.99
+    temperature_init: float = 1.0
+    target_entropy: float | None = None
+    use_backup_entropy: bool = True
+    critic_target_update_weight: float = 0.005
+    num_critics: int = 2
+    num_subsample_critics: int | None = None
+    num_discrete_actions: int | None = None
+    shared_encoder: bool = True
+    critic_network_kwargs: CriticNetworkConfig = field(default_factory=CriticNetworkConfig)
+    discrete_critic_network_kwargs: CriticNetworkConfig = field(default_factory=CriticNetworkConfig)
+    use_torch_compile: bool = True
+
+    @classmethod
+    def from_policy_config(cls, policy_cfg) -> SACAlgorithmConfig:
+        """Build from an existing ``SACConfig`` (cfg.policy) for backwards compat."""
+        return cls(
+            utd_ratio=policy_cfg.utd_ratio,
+            policy_update_freq=policy_cfg.policy_update_freq,
+            clip_grad_norm=policy_cfg.grad_clip_norm,
+            actor_lr=policy_cfg.actor_lr,
+            critic_lr=policy_cfg.critic_lr,
+            temperature_lr=policy_cfg.temperature_lr,
+            discount=policy_cfg.discount,
+            temperature_init=policy_cfg.temperature_init,
+            target_entropy=policy_cfg.target_entropy,
+            use_backup_entropy=policy_cfg.use_backup_entropy,
+            critic_target_update_weight=policy_cfg.critic_target_update_weight,
+            num_critics=policy_cfg.num_critics,
+            num_subsample_critics=policy_cfg.num_subsample_critics,
+            num_discrete_actions=policy_cfg.num_discrete_actions,
+            shared_encoder=policy_cfg.shared_encoder,
+            critic_network_kwargs=policy_cfg.critic_network_kwargs,
+            discrete_critic_network_kwargs=policy_cfg.discrete_critic_network_kwargs,
+            use_torch_compile=policy_cfg.use_torch_compile,
+        )
+
+    def build_algorithm(self, policy: torch.nn.Module) -> SACAlgorithm:
+        from lerobot.rl.algorithms.sac.sac_algorithm import SACAlgorithm
+
+        return SACAlgorithm(policy=policy, config=self)
diff --git a/src/lerobot/rl/algorithms/sac/sac_algorithm.py b/src/lerobot/rl/algorithms/sac/sac_algorithm.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0ce7a6875
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lerobot/rl/algorithms/sac/sac_algorithm.py
@@ -0,0 +1,600 @@
+# Copyright 2026 The HuggingFace Inc. team. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import math
+from collections.abc import Callable, Iterator
+from dataclasses import asdict
+from typing import Any
+
+import einops
+import torch
+import torch.nn as nn
+import torch.nn.functional as F  # noqa: N812
+from torch import Tensor
+from torch.optim import Optimizer
+
+from lerobot.policies.sac.modeling_sac import (
+    DISCRETE_DIMENSION_INDEX,
+    MLP,
+    DiscreteCritic,
+    SACObservationEncoder,
+    SACPolicy,
+    orthogonal_init,
+)
+from lerobot.policies.utils import get_device_from_parameters
+from lerobot.rl.algorithms.base import BatchType, RLAlgorithm
+from lerobot.rl.algorithms.configs import TrainingStats
+from lerobot.rl.algorithms.sac.configuration_sac import SACAlgorithmConfig
+from lerobot.utils.constants import ACTION
+from lerobot.utils.transition import move_state_dict_to_device
+
+
+class SACAlgorithm(RLAlgorithm):
+    """Soft Actor-Critic. Owns critics, targets, temperature, and loss computation."""
+
+    config_class = SACAlgorithmConfig
+    name = "sac"
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        policy: SACPolicy,
+        config: SACAlgorithmConfig,
+    ):
+        self.policy = policy
+        self.config = config
+        self.optimizers: dict[str, Optimizer] = {}
+        self._optimization_step: int = 0
+
+        self._init_critics()
+        self._init_temperature()
+
+        self._device = torch.device(self.policy.config.device)
+        self._move_to_device()
+
+    def _init_critics(self) -> None:
+        """Build critic ensemble, targets."""
+        encoder = self.policy.encoder_critic
+        action_dim = self.policy.config.output_features[ACTION].shape[0]
+
+        heads = [
+            CriticHead(
+                input_dim=encoder.output_dim + action_dim,
+                **asdict(self.config.critic_network_kwargs),
+            )
+            for _ in range(self.config.num_critics)
+        ]
+        self.critic_ensemble = CriticEnsemble(encoder=self.encoder_critic, ensemble=heads)
+        target_heads = [
+            CriticHead(
+                input_dim=encoder.output_dim + action_dim,
+                **asdict(self.config.critic_network_kwargs),
+            )
+            for _ in range(self.config.num_critics)
+        ]
+        self.critic_target = CriticEnsemble(encoder=self.encoder_critic, ensemble=target_heads)
+        self.critic_target.load_state_dict(self.critic_ensemble.state_dict())
+
+        if self.config.use_torch_compile:
+            self.critic_ensemble = torch.compile(self.critic_ensemble)
+            self.critic_target = torch.compile(self.critic_target)
+
+        self.discrete_critic = None
+        self.discrete_critic_target = None
+        if self.config.num_discrete_actions is not None:
+            self.discrete_critic, self.discrete_critic_target = self._init_discrete_critics(encoder)
+            self.policy.discrete_critic = self.discrete_critic
+
+    def _init_discrete_critics(self, encoder: SACObservationEncoder) -> tuple[DiscreteCritic, DiscreteCritic]:
+        """Build discrete discrete critic ensemble and target networks."""
+        discrete_critic = DiscreteCritic(
+            encoder=encoder,
+            input_dim=encoder.output_dim,
+            output_dim=self.config.num_discrete_actions,
+            **asdict(self.config.discrete_critic_network_kwargs),
+        )
+        discrete_critic_target = DiscreteCritic(
+            encoder=encoder,
+            input_dim=encoder.output_dim,
+            output_dim=self.config.num_discrete_actions,
+            **asdict(self.config.discrete_critic_network_kwargs),
+        )
+
+        # TODO: (maractingi, azouitine) Compile the discrete critic
+        discrete_critic_target.load_state_dict(discrete_critic.state_dict())
+        return discrete_critic, discrete_critic_target
+
+    def _init_temperature(self) -> None:
+        """Set up temperature parameter (log_alpha)."""
+        temp_init = self.config.temperature_init
+        self.log_alpha = nn.Parameter(torch.tensor([math.log(temp_init)]))
+
+    def _move_to_device(self) -> None:
+        self.policy.to(self._device)
+        self.critic_ensemble.to(self._device)
+        self.critic_target.to(self._device)
+        self.log_alpha = nn.Parameter(self.log_alpha.data.to(self._device))
+        if self.discrete_critic is not None:
+            self.discrete_critic.to(self._device)
+            self.discrete_critic_target.to(self._device)
+
+    @property
+    def temperature(self) -> float:
+        """Return the current temperature value, always in sync with log_alpha."""
+        return self.log_alpha.exp().item()
+
+    def _critic_forward(
+        self,
+        observations: dict[str, Tensor],
+        actions: Tensor,
+        use_target: bool = False,
+        observation_features: Tensor | None = None,
+    ) -> Tensor:
+        """Forward pass through a critic network ensemble
+
+        Args:
+            observations: Dictionary of observations
+            actions: Action tensor
+            use_target: If True, use target critics, otherwise use ensemble critics
+
+        Returns:
+            Tensor of Q-values from all critics
+        """
+
+        critics = self.critic_target if use_target else self.critic_ensemble
+        q_values = critics(observations, actions, observation_features)
+        return q_values
+
+    def _discrete_critic_forward(
+        self, observations, use_target=False, observation_features=None
+    ) -> torch.Tensor:
+        """Forward pass through a discrete critic network
+
+        Args:
+            observations: Dictionary of observations
+            use_target: If True, use target critics, otherwise use ensemble critics
+            observation_features: Optional pre-computed observation features to avoid recomputing encoder output
+
+        Returns:
+            Tensor of Q-values from the discrete critic network
+        """
+        discrete_critic = self.discrete_critic_target if use_target else self.discrete_critic
+        q_values = discrete_critic(observations, observation_features)
+        return q_values
+
+    def update(self, batch_iterator: Iterator[BatchType]) -> TrainingStats:
+        clip = self.config.clip_grad_norm
+
+        for _ in range(self.config.utd_ratio - 1):
+            batch = next(batch_iterator)
+            fb = self._prepare_forward_batch(batch, include_complementary_info=True)
+
+            loss_critic = self._compute_loss_critic(fb)
+            self.optimizers["critic"].zero_grad()
+            loss_critic.backward()
+            torch.nn.utils.clip_grad_norm_(self.critic_ensemble.parameters(), max_norm=clip)
+            self.optimizers["critic"].step()
+
+            if self.config.num_discrete_actions is not None:
+                loss_dc = self._compute_loss_discrete_critic(fb)
+                self.optimizers["discrete_critic"].zero_grad()
+                loss_dc.backward()
+                torch.nn.utils.clip_grad_norm_(self.discrete_critic.parameters(), max_norm=clip)
+                self.optimizers["discrete_critic"].step()
+
+            self._update_target_networks()
+
+        batch = next(batch_iterator)
+        fb = self._prepare_forward_batch(batch, include_complementary_info=False)
+
+        loss_critic = self._compute_loss_critic(fb)
+        self.optimizers["critic"].zero_grad()
+        loss_critic.backward()
+        critic_grad = torch.nn.utils.clip_grad_norm_(self.critic_ensemble.parameters(), max_norm=clip).item()
+        self.optimizers["critic"].step()
+
+        stats = TrainingStats(
+            losses={"loss_critic": loss_critic.item()},
+            grad_norms={"critic": critic_grad},
+        )
+
+        if self.config.num_discrete_actions is not None:
+            loss_dc = self._compute_loss_discrete_critic(fb)
+            self.optimizers["discrete_critic"].zero_grad()
+            loss_dc.backward()
+            dc_grad = torch.nn.utils.clip_grad_norm_(self.discrete_critic.parameters(), max_norm=clip).item()
+            self.optimizers["discrete_critic"].step()
+            stats.losses["loss_discrete_critic"] = loss_dc.item()
+            stats.grad_norms["discrete_critic"] = dc_grad
+
+        if self._optimization_step % self.config.policy_update_freq == 0:
+            for _ in range(self.config.policy_update_freq):
+                loss_actor = self._compute_loss_actor(fb)
+                self.optimizers["actor"].zero_grad()
+                loss_actor.backward()
+                actor_grad = torch.nn.utils.clip_grad_norm_(
+                    self.policy.actor.parameters(), max_norm=clip
+                ).item()
+                self.optimizers["actor"].step()
+
+                loss_temp = self._compute_loss_temperature(fb)
+                self.optimizers["temperature"].zero_grad()
+                loss_temp.backward()
+                temp_grad = torch.nn.utils.clip_grad_norm_([self.log_alpha], max_norm=clip).item()
+                self.optimizers["temperature"].step()
+
+            stats.losses["loss_actor"] = loss_actor.item()
+            stats.losses["loss_temperature"] = loss_temp.item()
+            stats.grad_norms["actor"] = actor_grad
+            stats.grad_norms["temperature"] = temp_grad
+            stats.extra["temperature"] = self.temperature
+
+        self._update_target_networks()
+        self._optimization_step += 1
+        return stats
+
+    def _compute_loss_critic(self, batch: dict[str, Any]) -> Tensor:
+        observations = batch["state"]
+        actions = batch[ACTION]
+        rewards = batch["reward"]
+        next_observations = batch["next_state"]
+        done = batch["done"]
+        observation_features = batch.get("observation_feature")
+        next_observation_features = batch.get("next_observation_feature")
+
+        with torch.no_grad():
+            next_action_preds, next_log_probs, _ = self.policy.actor(
+                next_observations, next_observation_features
+            )
+
+            # 2- compute q targets
+            q_targets = self._critic_forward(
+                observations=next_observations,
+                actions=next_action_preds,
+                use_target=True,
+                observation_features=next_observation_features,
+            )
+
+            # subsample critics to prevent overfitting if use high UTD (update to date)
+            # TODO: Get indices before forward pass to avoid unnecessary computation
+            if self.config.num_subsample_critics is not None:
+                indices = torch.randperm(self.config.num_critics)
+                indices = indices[: self.config.num_subsample_critics]
+                q_targets = q_targets[indices]
+
+            # critics subsample size
+            min_q, _ = q_targets.min(dim=0)  # Get values from min operation
+            if self.config.use_backup_entropy:
+                min_q = min_q - (self.temperature * next_log_probs)
+
+            td_target = rewards + (1 - done) * self.config.discount * min_q
+
+        # 3- compute predicted qs
+        if self.config.num_discrete_actions is not None:
+            # NOTE: We only want to keep the continuous action part
+            # In the buffer we have the full action space (continuous + discrete)
+            # We need to split them before concatenating them in the critic forward
+            actions: Tensor = actions[:, :DISCRETE_DIMENSION_INDEX]
+        q_preds = self._critic_forward(
+            observations=observations,
+            actions=actions,
+            use_target=False,
+            observation_features=observation_features,
+        )
+
+        # 4- Calculate loss
+        # Compute state-action value loss (TD loss) for all of the Q functions in the ensemble.
+        td_target_duplicate = einops.repeat(td_target, "b -> e b", e=q_preds.shape[0])
+        # You compute the mean loss of the batch for each critic and then to compute the final loss you sum them up
+        critics_loss = (
+            F.mse_loss(
+                input=q_preds,
+                target=td_target_duplicate,
+                reduction="none",
+            ).mean(dim=1)
+        ).sum()
+        return critics_loss
+
+    def _compute_loss_discrete_critic(self, batch: dict[str, Any]) -> Tensor:
+        observations = batch["state"]
+        actions = batch[ACTION]
+        rewards = batch["reward"]
+        next_observations = batch["next_state"]
+        done = batch["done"]
+        observation_features = batch.get("observation_feature")
+        next_observation_features = batch.get("next_observation_feature")
+        complementary_info = batch.get("complementary_info")
+
+        # NOTE: We only want to keep the discrete action part
+        # In the buffer we have the full action space (continuous + discrete)
+        # We need to split them before concatenating them in the critic forward
+        actions_discrete: Tensor = actions[:, DISCRETE_DIMENSION_INDEX:].clone()
+        actions_discrete = torch.round(actions_discrete)
+        actions_discrete = actions_discrete.long()
+
+        discrete_penalties: Tensor | None = None
+        if complementary_info is not None:
+            discrete_penalties = complementary_info.get("discrete_penalty")
+
+        with torch.no_grad():
+            # For DQN, select actions using online network, evaluate with target network
+            next_discrete_qs = self._discrete_critic_forward(
+                next_observations, use_target=False, observation_features=next_observation_features
+            )
+            best_next_discrete_action = torch.argmax(next_discrete_qs, dim=-1, keepdim=True)
+
+            # Get target Q-values from target network
+            target_next_discrete_qs = self._discrete_critic_forward(
+                observations=next_observations,
+                use_target=True,
+                observation_features=next_observation_features,
+            )
+
+            # Use gather to select Q-values for best actions
+            target_next_discrete_q = torch.gather(
+                target_next_discrete_qs, dim=1, index=best_next_discrete_action
+            ).squeeze(-1)
+
+            # Compute target Q-value with Bellman equation
+            rewards_discrete = rewards
+            if discrete_penalties is not None:
+                rewards_discrete = rewards + discrete_penalties
+            target_discrete_q = rewards_discrete + (1 - done) * self.config.discount * target_next_discrete_q
+
+        # Get predicted Q-values for current observations
+        predicted_discrete_qs = self._discrete_critic_forward(
+            observations=observations, use_target=False, observation_features=observation_features
+        )
+
+        # Use gather to select Q-values for taken actions
+        predicted_discrete_q = torch.gather(predicted_discrete_qs, dim=1, index=actions_discrete).squeeze(-1)
+
+        # Compute MSE loss between predicted and target Q-values
+        discrete_critic_loss = F.mse_loss(input=predicted_discrete_q, target=target_discrete_q)
+        return discrete_critic_loss
+
+    def _compute_loss_actor(self, batch: dict[str, Any]) -> Tensor:
+        observations = batch["state"]
+        observation_features = batch.get("observation_feature")
+
+        actions_pi, log_probs, _ = self.policy.actor(observations, observation_features)
+
+        q_preds = self._critic_forward(
+            observations=observations,
+            actions=actions_pi,
+            use_target=False,
+            observation_features=observation_features,
+        )
+        min_q_preds = q_preds.min(dim=0)[0]
+
+        actor_loss = ((self.temperature * log_probs) - min_q_preds).mean()
+        return actor_loss
+
+    def _compute_loss_temperature(self, batch: dict[str, Any]) -> Tensor:
+        """Compute the temperature loss"""
+        observations = batch["state"]
+        observation_features = batch.get("observation_feature")
+
+        # calculate temperature loss
+        with torch.no_grad():
+            _, log_probs, _ = self.policy.actor(observations, observation_features)
+
+        temperature_loss = (-self.log_alpha.exp() * (log_probs + self.policy.target_entropy)).mean()
+        return temperature_loss
+
+    def _update_target_networks(self) -> None:
+        """Update target networks with exponential moving average"""
+        for target_p, p in zip(
+            self.critic_target.parameters(), self.critic_ensemble.parameters(), strict=True
+        ):
+            target_p.data.copy_(
+                p.data * self.config.critic_target_update_weight
+                + target_p.data * (1.0 - self.config.critic_target_update_weight)
+            )
+        if self.config.num_discrete_actions is not None:
+            for target_p, p in zip(
+                self.discrete_critic_target.parameters(),
+                self.discrete_critic.parameters(),
+                strict=True,
+            ):
+                target_p.data.copy_(
+                    p.data * self.config.critic_target_update_weight
+                    + target_p.data * (1.0 - self.config.critic_target_update_weight)
+                )
+
+    def _prepare_forward_batch(
+        self, batch: BatchType, *, include_complementary_info: bool = True
+    ) -> dict[str, Any]:
+        observations = batch["state"]
+        next_observations = batch["next_state"]
+        observation_features, next_observation_features = self.get_observation_features(
+            observations, next_observations
+        )
+        forward_batch: dict[str, Any] = {
+            ACTION: batch[ACTION],
+            "reward": batch["reward"],
+            "state": observations,
+            "next_state": next_observations,
+            "done": batch["done"],
+            "observation_feature": observation_features,
+            "next_observation_feature": next_observation_features,
+        }
+        if include_complementary_info and "complementary_info" in batch:
+            forward_batch["complementary_info"] = batch["complementary_info"]
+        return forward_batch
+
+    def make_optimizers_and_scheduler(self) -> dict[str, Optimizer]:
+        """
+        Creates and returns optimizers for the actor, critic, and temperature components of a reinforcement learning policy.
+
+        This function sets up Adam optimizers for:
+        - The **actor network**, ensuring that only relevant parameters are optimized.
+        - The **critic ensemble**, which evaluates the value function.
+        - The **temperature parameter**, which controls the entropy in soft actor-critic (SAC)-like methods.
+
+        It also initializes a learning rate scheduler, though currently, it is set to `None`.
+
+        NOTE:
+        - If the encoder is shared, its parameters are excluded from the actor's optimization process.
+        - The policy's log temperature (`log_alpha`) is wrapped in a list to ensure proper optimization as a standalone tensor.
+
+        Args:
+            cfg: Configuration object containing hyperparameters.
+            policy (nn.Module): The policy model containing the actor, critic, and temperature components.
+
+        Returns:
+            Tuple[Dict[str, torch.optim.Optimizer], Optional[torch.optim.lr_scheduler._LRScheduler]]:
+            A tuple containing:
+            - `optimizers`: A dictionary mapping component names ("actor", "critic", "temperature") to their respective Adam optimizers.
+            - `lr_scheduler`: Currently set to `None` but can be extended to support learning rate scheduling.
+
+        """
+        actor_params = self.policy.get_optim_params()["actor"]
+        lr_scheduler = None
+        self.optimizers = {
+            "actor": torch.optim.Adam(actor_params, lr=self.config.actor_lr),
+            "critic": torch.optim.Adam(self.critic_ensemble.parameters(), lr=self.config.critic_lr),
+            "temperature": torch.optim.Adam([self.log_alpha], lr=self.config.temperature_lr),
+        }
+        if self.config.num_discrete_actions is not None:
+            self.optimizers["discrete_critic"] = torch.optim.Adam(
+                self.discrete_critic.parameters(), lr=self.config.critic_lr
+            )
+        return self.optimizers, lr_scheduler
+
+    def get_optimizers(self) -> dict[str, Optimizer]:
+        return self.optimizers
+
+    def get_weights(self) -> dict[str, Any]:
+        """Send actor + discrete-critic state dicts."""
+        state_dicts: dict[str, Any] = {
+            "policy": move_state_dict_to_device(self.policy.actor.state_dict(), device="cpu"),
+        }
+        if self.config.num_discrete_actions is not None:
+            state_dicts["discrete_critic"] = move_state_dict_to_device(
+                self.discrete_critic.state_dict(), device="cpu"
+            )
+        return state_dicts
+
+    def load_weights(self, weights: dict[str, Any], device: str | torch.device = "cpu") -> None:
+        actor_sd = move_state_dict_to_device(weights["policy"], device=device)
+        self.policy.actor.load_state_dict(actor_sd)
+        if "discrete_critic" in weights and self.config.num_discrete_actions is not None:
+            dc_sd = move_state_dict_to_device(weights["discrete_critic"], device=device)
+            self.discrete_critic.load_state_dict(dc_sd)
+
+    def get_observation_features(
+        self, observations: Tensor, next_observations: Tensor
+    ) -> tuple[Tensor | None, Tensor | None]:
+        """
+        Get observation features from the policy encoder. It act as cache for the observation features.
+        when the encoder is frozen, the observation features are not updated.
+        We can save compute by caching the observation features.
+
+        Args:
+            policy: The policy model
+            observations: The current observations
+            next_observations: The next observations
+
+        Returns:
+            tuple: observation_features, next_observation_features
+        """
+
+        if self.policy.config.vision_encoder_name is None or not self.policy.config.freeze_vision_encoder:
+            return None, None
+
+        with torch.no_grad():
+            observation_features = self.policy.actor.encoder.get_cached_image_features(observations)
+            next_observation_features = self.policy.actor.encoder.get_cached_image_features(next_observations)
+
+        return observation_features, next_observation_features
+
+
+class CriticHead(nn.Module):
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        input_dim: int,
+        hidden_dims: list[int],
+        activations: Callable[[torch.Tensor], torch.Tensor] | str = nn.SiLU(),
+        activate_final: bool = False,
+        dropout_rate: float | None = None,
+        init_final: float | None = None,
+        final_activation: Callable[[torch.Tensor], torch.Tensor] | str | None = None,
+    ):
+        super().__init__()
+        self.net = MLP(
+            input_dim=input_dim,
+            hidden_dims=hidden_dims,
+            activations=activations,
+            activate_final=activate_final,
+            dropout_rate=dropout_rate,
+            final_activation=final_activation,
+        )
+        self.output_layer = nn.Linear(in_features=hidden_dims[-1], out_features=1)
+        if init_final is not None:
+            nn.init.uniform_(self.output_layer.weight, -init_final, init_final)
+            nn.init.uniform_(self.output_layer.bias, -init_final, init_final)
+        else:
+            orthogonal_init()(self.output_layer.weight)
+
+    def forward(self, x: torch.Tensor) -> torch.Tensor:
+        return self.output_layer(self.net(x))
+
+
+class CriticEnsemble(nn.Module):
+    """
+    CriticEnsemble wraps multiple CriticHead modules into an ensemble.
+
+    Args:
+        encoder (SACObservationEncoder): encoder for observations.
+        ensemble (List[CriticHead]): list of critic heads.
+        init_final (float | None): optional initializer scale for final layers.
+
+    Forward returns a tensor of shape (num_critics, batch_size) containing Q-values.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        encoder: SACObservationEncoder,
+        ensemble: list[CriticHead],
+        init_final: float | None = None,
+    ):
+        super().__init__()
+        self.encoder = encoder
+        self.init_final = init_final
+        self.critics = nn.ModuleList(ensemble)
+
+    def forward(
+        self,
+        observations: dict[str, torch.Tensor],
+        actions: torch.Tensor,
+        observation_features: torch.Tensor | None = None,
+    ) -> torch.Tensor:
+        device = get_device_from_parameters(self)
+        # Move each tensor in observations to device
+        observations = {k: v.to(device) for k, v in observations.items()}
+
+        obs_enc = self.encoder(observations, cache=observation_features)
+
+        inputs = torch.cat([obs_enc, actions], dim=-1)
+
+        # Loop through critics and collect outputs
+        q_values = []
+        for critic in self.critics:
+            q_values.append(critic(inputs))
+
+        # Stack outputs to match expected shape [num_critics, batch_size]
+        q_values = torch.stack([q.squeeze(-1) for q in q_values], dim=0)
+        return q_values
diff --git a/src/lerobot/rl/buffer.py b/src/lerobot/rl/buffer.py
index 81aa29c48..48ea2f3ef 100644
--- a/src/lerobot/rl/buffer.py
+++ b/src/lerobot/rl/buffer.py
@@ -96,8 +96,8 @@ class ReplayBuffer:
         Args:
             capacity (int): Maximum number of transitions to store in the buffer.
             device (str): The device where the tensors will be moved when sampling ("cuda:0" or "cpu").
-            state_keys (List[str]): The list of keys that appear in `state` and `next_state`.
-            image_augmentation_function (Optional[Callable]): A function that takes a batch of images
+            state_keys (list[str]): The list of keys that appear in `state` and `next_state`.
+            image_augmentation_function (Callable | None): A function that takes a batch of images
                 and returns a batch of augmented images. If None, a default augmentation function is used.
             use_drq (bool): Whether to use the default DRQ image augmentation style, when sampling in the buffer.
             storage_device: The device (e.g. "cpu" or "cuda:0") where the data will be stored.
@@ -638,7 +638,7 @@ class ReplayBuffer:
                 If None, you must handle or define default keys.
 
         Returns:
-            transitions (List[Transition]):
+            transitions (list[Transition]):
                 A list of Transition dictionaries with the same length as `dataset`.
         """
         if state_keys is None:
diff --git a/src/lerobot/rl/crop_dataset_roi.py b/src/lerobot/rl/crop_dataset_roi.py
index 4345fed3c..54b4a6f07 100644
--- a/src/lerobot/rl/crop_dataset_roi.py
+++ b/src/lerobot/rl/crop_dataset_roi.py
@@ -176,11 +176,11 @@ def convert_lerobot_dataset_to_cropped_lerobot_dataset(
 
     Args:
         original_dataset (LeRobotDataset): The source dataset.
-        crop_params_dict (Dict[str, Tuple[int, int, int, int]]):
+        crop_params_dict (dict[str, Tuple[int, int, int, int]]):
             A dictionary mapping observation keys to crop parameters (top, left, height, width).
         new_repo_id (str): Repository id for the new dataset.
         new_dataset_root (str): The root directory where the new dataset will be written.
-        resize_size (Tuple[int, int], optional): The target size (height, width) after cropping.
+        resize_size (tuple[int, int], optional): The target size (height, width) after cropping.
             Defaults to (128, 128).
 
     Returns:
diff --git a/src/lerobot/rl/data_sources/__init__.py b/src/lerobot/rl/data_sources/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4ac97ec1b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lerobot/rl/data_sources/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# Copyright 2026 The HuggingFace Inc. team. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+from lerobot.rl.data_sources.data_mixer import BatchType, DataMixer, OnlineOfflineMixer
+
+__all__ = ["BatchType", "DataMixer", "OnlineOfflineMixer"]
diff --git a/src/lerobot/rl/data_sources/data_mixer.py b/src/lerobot/rl/data_sources/data_mixer.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..01c9055be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lerobot/rl/data_sources/data_mixer.py
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+# Copyright 2026 The HuggingFace Inc. team. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import abc
+from typing import Any
+
+from lerobot.rl.buffer import ReplayBuffer, concatenate_batch_transitions
+
+BatchType = dict[str, Any]
+
+
+class DataMixer(abc.ABC):
+    """Abstract interface for all data mixing strategies.
+
+    Subclasses must implement ``sample(batch_size)`` and may override
+    ``get_iterator`` for specialised iteration.
+    """
+
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def sample(self, batch_size: int) -> BatchType:
+        """Draw one batch of ``batch_size`` transitions."""
+        ...
+
+    def get_iterator(
+        self,
+        batch_size: int,
+        async_prefetch: bool = True,
+        queue_size: int = 2,
+    ):
+        """Infinite iterator that yields batches.
+
+        The default implementation repeatedly calls ``self.sample()``.
+        Subclasses with underlying buffer iterators (async prefetch)
+        should override this for better throughput.
+        """
+        while True:
+            yield self.sample(batch_size)
+
+
+class OnlineOfflineMixer(DataMixer):
+    """Mixes transitions from an online and an optional offline replay buffer.
+
+    When both buffers are present, each batch is constructed by sampling
+    ``ceil(batch_size * online_ratio)`` from the online buffer and the
+    remainder from the offline buffer, then concatenating.
+
+    This mixer assumes both online and offline buffers are present.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        online_buffer: ReplayBuffer,
+        offline_buffer: ReplayBuffer | None = None,
+        online_ratio: float = 1.0,
+    ):
+        if not 0.0 <= online_ratio <= 1.0:
+            raise ValueError(f"online_ratio must be in [0, 1], got {online_ratio}")
+        self.online_buffer = online_buffer
+        self.offline_buffer = offline_buffer
+        self.online_ratio = online_ratio
+
+    def sample(self, batch_size: int) -> BatchType:
+        if self.offline_buffer is None:
+            return self.online_buffer.sample(batch_size)
+
+        n_online = max(1, int(batch_size * self.online_ratio))
+        n_offline = batch_size - n_online
+
+        online_batch = self.online_buffer.sample(n_online)
+        offline_batch = self.offline_buffer.sample(n_offline)
+        return concatenate_batch_transitions(online_batch, offline_batch)
+
+    def get_iterator(
+        self,
+        batch_size: int,
+        async_prefetch: bool = True,
+        queue_size: int = 2,
+    ):
+        """Yield batches from online/offline mixed sampling."""
+        while True:
+            yield self.sample(batch_size)
diff --git a/src/lerobot/rl/learner.py b/src/lerobot/rl/learner.py
index 2853fbcb3..39cd70b0b 100644
--- a/src/lerobot/rl/learner.py
+++ b/src/lerobot/rl/learner.py
@@ -64,10 +64,13 @@ from lerobot.configs import parser
 from lerobot.configs.train import TrainRLServerPipelineConfig
 from lerobot.datasets.factory import make_dataset
 from lerobot.datasets.lerobot_dataset import LeRobotDataset
-from lerobot.policies.factory import make_policy
-from lerobot.policies.sac.modeling_sac import SACPolicy
-from lerobot.rl.buffer import ReplayBuffer, concatenate_batch_transitions
+from lerobot.policies.factory import make_policy, make_pre_post_processors
+from lerobot.rl.algorithms.base import RLAlgorithm
+from lerobot.rl.algorithms.factory import make_algorithm
+from lerobot.rl.buffer import ReplayBuffer
+from lerobot.rl.data_sources import OnlineOfflineMixer
 from lerobot.rl.process import ProcessSignalHandler
+from lerobot.rl.trainer import RLTrainer
 from lerobot.rl.wandb_utils import WandBLogger
 from lerobot.robots import so_follower  # noqa: F401
 from lerobot.teleoperators import gamepad, so_leader  # noqa: F401
@@ -94,7 +97,7 @@ from lerobot.utils.train_utils import (
     save_checkpoint,
     update_last_checkpoint,
 )
-from lerobot.utils.transition import move_state_dict_to_device, move_transition_to_device
+from lerobot.utils.transition import move_transition_to_device
 from lerobot.utils.utils import (
     format_big_number,
     init_logging,
@@ -264,8 +267,8 @@ def add_actor_information_and_train(
     - Transfers transitions from the actor to the replay buffer.
     - Logs received interaction messages.
     - Ensures training begins only when the replay buffer has a sufficient number of transitions.
-    - Samples batches from the replay buffer and performs multiple critic updates.
-    - Periodically updates the actor, critic, and temperature optimizers.
+    - Delegates training updates to an ``RLAlgorithm``.
+    - Periodically pushes updated weights to actors.
     - Logs training statistics, including loss values and optimization frequency.
 
     NOTE: This function doesn't have a single responsibility, it should be split into multiple functions
@@ -284,17 +287,13 @@ def add_actor_information_and_train(
     # of 7%
     device = get_safe_torch_device(try_device=cfg.policy.device, log=True)
     storage_device = get_safe_torch_device(try_device=cfg.policy.storage_device)
-    clip_grad_norm_value = cfg.policy.grad_clip_norm
     online_step_before_learning = cfg.policy.online_step_before_learning
-    utd_ratio = cfg.policy.utd_ratio
     fps = cfg.env.fps
     log_freq = cfg.log_freq
     save_freq = cfg.save_freq
-    policy_update_freq = cfg.policy.policy_update_freq
     policy_parameters_push_frequency = cfg.policy.actor_learner_config.policy_parameters_push_frequency
     saving_checkpoint = cfg.save_checkpoint
     online_steps = cfg.policy.online_steps
-    async_prefetch = cfg.policy.async_prefetch
 
     # Initialize logging for multiprocessing
     if not use_threads(cfg):
@@ -306,7 +305,7 @@ def add_actor_information_and_train(
 
     logging.info("Initializing policy")
 
-    policy: SACPolicy = make_policy(
+    policy = make_policy(
         cfg=cfg.policy,
         env_cfg=cfg.env,
     )
@@ -315,15 +314,21 @@ def add_actor_information_and_train(
 
     policy.train()
 
-    push_actor_policy_to_queue(parameters_queue=parameters_queue, policy=policy)
+    algorithm = make_algorithm(
+        policy=policy,
+        policy_cfg=cfg.policy,
+        algorithm_name=cfg.algorithm,
+    )
 
+    preprocessor, postprocessor = make_pre_post_processors(
+        policy_cfg=cfg.policy,
+        dataset_stats=cfg.policy.dataset_stats,
+    )
+
+    # Push initial policy weights to actors
+    push_actor_policy_to_queue(parameters_queue=parameters_queue, algorithm=algorithm)
     last_time_policy_pushed = time.time()
 
-    optimizers, lr_scheduler = make_optimizers_and_scheduler(cfg=cfg, policy=policy)
-
-    # If we are resuming, we need to load the training state
-    resume_optimization_step, resume_interaction_step = load_training_state(cfg=cfg, optimizers=optimizers)
-
     log_training_info(cfg=cfg, policy=policy)
 
     replay_buffer = initialize_replay_buffer(cfg, device, storage_device)
@@ -336,21 +341,35 @@ def add_actor_information_and_train(
             device=device,
             storage_device=storage_device,
         )
-        batch_size: int = batch_size // 2  # We will sample from both replay buffer
+
+    # DataMixer: online-only or online/offline 50-50 mix
+    data_mixer = OnlineOfflineMixer(
+        online_buffer=replay_buffer,
+        offline_buffer=offline_replay_buffer,
+        online_ratio=cfg.online_ratio,
+    )
+    # RLTrainer owns the iterator, preprocessor, and creates optimizers.
+    trainer = RLTrainer(
+        algorithm=algorithm,
+        data_mixer=data_mixer,
+        batch_size=batch_size,
+        preprocessor=preprocessor,
+    )
+
+    # If we are resuming, we need to load the training state
+    optimizers = algorithm.get_optimizers()
+    resume_optimization_step, resume_interaction_step = load_training_state(cfg=cfg, optimizers=optimizers)
 
     logging.info("Starting learner thread")
     interaction_message = None
     optimization_step = resume_optimization_step if resume_optimization_step is not None else 0
+    algorithm.optimization_step = optimization_step
     interaction_step_shift = resume_interaction_step if resume_interaction_step is not None else 0
 
     dataset_repo_id = None
     if cfg.dataset is not None:
         dataset_repo_id = cfg.dataset.repo_id
 
-    # Initialize iterators
-    online_iterator = None
-    offline_iterator = None
-
     # NOTE: THIS IS THE MAIN LOOP OF THE LEARNER
     while True:
         # Exit the training loop if shutdown is requested
@@ -380,180 +399,20 @@ def add_actor_information_and_train(
         if len(replay_buffer) < online_step_before_learning:
             continue
 
-        if online_iterator is None:
-            online_iterator = replay_buffer.get_iterator(
-                batch_size=batch_size, async_prefetch=async_prefetch, queue_size=2
-            )
-
-        if offline_replay_buffer is not None and offline_iterator is None:
-            offline_iterator = offline_replay_buffer.get_iterator(
-                batch_size=batch_size, async_prefetch=async_prefetch, queue_size=2
-            )
-
         time_for_one_optimization_step = time.time()
-        for _ in range(utd_ratio - 1):
-            # Sample from the iterators
-            batch = next(online_iterator)
 
-            if dataset_repo_id is not None:
-                batch_offline = next(offline_iterator)
-                batch = concatenate_batch_transitions(
-                    left_batch_transitions=batch, right_batch_transition=batch_offline
-                )
-
-            actions = batch[ACTION]
-            rewards = batch["reward"]
-            observations = batch["state"]
-            next_observations = batch["next_state"]
-            done = batch["done"]
-            check_nan_in_transition(observations=observations, actions=actions, next_state=next_observations)
-
-            observation_features, next_observation_features = get_observation_features(
-                policy=policy, observations=observations, next_observations=next_observations
-            )
-
-            # Create a batch dictionary with all required elements for the forward method
-            forward_batch = {
-                ACTION: actions,
-                "reward": rewards,
-                "state": observations,
-                "next_state": next_observations,
-                "done": done,
-                "observation_feature": observation_features,
-                "next_observation_feature": next_observation_features,
-                "complementary_info": batch["complementary_info"],
-            }
-
-            # Use the forward method for critic loss
-            critic_output = policy.forward(forward_batch, model="critic")
-
-            # Main critic optimization
-            loss_critic = critic_output["loss_critic"]
-            optimizers["critic"].zero_grad()
-            loss_critic.backward()
-            critic_grad_norm = torch.nn.utils.clip_grad_norm_(
-                parameters=policy.critic_ensemble.parameters(), max_norm=clip_grad_norm_value
-            )
-            optimizers["critic"].step()
-
-            # Discrete critic optimization (if available)
-            if policy.config.num_discrete_actions is not None:
-                discrete_critic_output = policy.forward(forward_batch, model="discrete_critic")
-                loss_discrete_critic = discrete_critic_output["loss_discrete_critic"]
-                optimizers["discrete_critic"].zero_grad()
-                loss_discrete_critic.backward()
-                discrete_critic_grad_norm = torch.nn.utils.clip_grad_norm_(
-                    parameters=policy.discrete_critic.parameters(), max_norm=clip_grad_norm_value
-                )
-                optimizers["discrete_critic"].step()
-
-            # Update target networks (main and discrete)
-            policy.update_target_networks()
-
-        # Sample for the last update in the UTD ratio
-        batch = next(online_iterator)
-
-        if dataset_repo_id is not None:
-            batch_offline = next(offline_iterator)
-            batch = concatenate_batch_transitions(
-                left_batch_transitions=batch, right_batch_transition=batch_offline
-            )
-
-        actions = batch[ACTION]
-        rewards = batch["reward"]
-        observations = batch["state"]
-        next_observations = batch["next_state"]
-        done = batch["done"]
-
-        check_nan_in_transition(observations=observations, actions=actions, next_state=next_observations)
-
-        observation_features, next_observation_features = get_observation_features(
-            policy=policy, observations=observations, next_observations=next_observations
-        )
-
-        # Create a batch dictionary with all required elements for the forward method
-        forward_batch = {
-            ACTION: actions,
-            "reward": rewards,
-            "state": observations,
-            "next_state": next_observations,
-            "done": done,
-            "observation_feature": observation_features,
-            "next_observation_feature": next_observation_features,
-        }
-
-        critic_output = policy.forward(forward_batch, model="critic")
-
-        loss_critic = critic_output["loss_critic"]
-        optimizers["critic"].zero_grad()
-        loss_critic.backward()
-        critic_grad_norm = torch.nn.utils.clip_grad_norm_(
-            parameters=policy.critic_ensemble.parameters(), max_norm=clip_grad_norm_value
-        ).item()
-        optimizers["critic"].step()
-
-        # Initialize training info dictionary
-        training_infos = {
-            "loss_critic": loss_critic.item(),
-            "critic_grad_norm": critic_grad_norm,
-        }
-
-        # Discrete critic optimization (if available)
-        if policy.config.num_discrete_actions is not None:
-            discrete_critic_output = policy.forward(forward_batch, model="discrete_critic")
-            loss_discrete_critic = discrete_critic_output["loss_discrete_critic"]
-            optimizers["discrete_critic"].zero_grad()
-            loss_discrete_critic.backward()
-            discrete_critic_grad_norm = torch.nn.utils.clip_grad_norm_(
-                parameters=policy.discrete_critic.parameters(), max_norm=clip_grad_norm_value
-            ).item()
-            optimizers["discrete_critic"].step()
-
-            # Add discrete critic info to training info
-            training_infos["loss_discrete_critic"] = loss_discrete_critic.item()
-            training_infos["discrete_critic_grad_norm"] = discrete_critic_grad_norm
-
-        # Actor and temperature optimization (at specified frequency)
-        if optimization_step % policy_update_freq == 0:
-            for _ in range(policy_update_freq):
-                # Actor optimization
-                actor_output = policy.forward(forward_batch, model="actor")
-                loss_actor = actor_output["loss_actor"]
-                optimizers["actor"].zero_grad()
-                loss_actor.backward()
-                actor_grad_norm = torch.nn.utils.clip_grad_norm_(
-                    parameters=policy.actor.parameters(), max_norm=clip_grad_norm_value
-                ).item()
-                optimizers["actor"].step()
-
-                # Add actor info to training info
-                training_infos["loss_actor"] = loss_actor.item()
-                training_infos["actor_grad_norm"] = actor_grad_norm
-
-                # Temperature optimization
-                temperature_output = policy.forward(forward_batch, model="temperature")
-                loss_temperature = temperature_output["loss_temperature"]
-                optimizers["temperature"].zero_grad()
-                loss_temperature.backward()
-                temp_grad_norm = torch.nn.utils.clip_grad_norm_(
-                    parameters=[policy.log_alpha], max_norm=clip_grad_norm_value
-                ).item()
-                optimizers["temperature"].step()
-
-                # Add temperature info to training info
-                training_infos["loss_temperature"] = loss_temperature.item()
-                training_infos["temperature_grad_norm"] = temp_grad_norm
-                training_infos["temperature"] = policy.temperature
+        # One training step (trainer owns data_mixer iterator; algorithm owns UTD loop)
+        stats = trainer.training_step()
 
         # Push policy to actors if needed
         if time.time() - last_time_policy_pushed > policy_parameters_push_frequency:
-            push_actor_policy_to_queue(parameters_queue=parameters_queue, policy=policy)
+            push_actor_policy_to_queue(parameters_queue=parameters_queue, algorithm=algorithm)
             last_time_policy_pushed = time.time()
 
-        # Update target networks (main and discrete)
-        policy.update_target_networks()
+        training_infos = stats.to_log_dict()
 
         # Log training metrics at specified intervals
+        optimization_step = algorithm.optimization_step
         if optimization_step % log_freq == 0:
             training_infos["replay_buffer_size"] = len(replay_buffer)
             if offline_replay_buffer is not None:
@@ -581,7 +440,6 @@ def add_actor_information_and_train(
                 custom_step_key="Optimization step",
             )
 
-        optimization_step += 1
         if optimization_step % log_freq == 0:
             logging.info(f"[LEARNER] Number of optimization step: {optimization_step}")
 
@@ -598,6 +456,8 @@ def add_actor_information_and_train(
                 offline_replay_buffer=offline_replay_buffer,
                 dataset_repo_id=dataset_repo_id,
                 fps=fps,
+                preprocessor=preprocessor,
+                postprocessor=postprocessor,
             )
 
 
@@ -682,6 +542,8 @@ def save_training_checkpoint(
     offline_replay_buffer: ReplayBuffer | None = None,
     dataset_repo_id: str | None = None,
     fps: int = 30,
+    preprocessor=None,
+    postprocessor=None,
 ) -> None:
     """
     Save training checkpoint and associated data.
@@ -705,6 +567,8 @@ def save_training_checkpoint(
         offline_replay_buffer: Optional offline replay buffer to save
         dataset_repo_id: Repository ID for dataset
         fps: Frames per second for dataset
+        preprocessor: Optional preprocessor pipeline to save
+        postprocessor: Optional postprocessor pipeline to save
     """
     logging.info(f"Checkpoint policy after step {optimization_step}")
     _num_digits = max(6, len(str(online_steps)))
@@ -721,6 +585,8 @@ def save_training_checkpoint(
         policy=policy,
         optimizer=optimizers,
         scheduler=None,
+        preprocessor=preprocessor,
+        postprocessor=postprocessor,
     )
 
     # Save interaction step manually
@@ -758,58 +624,6 @@ def save_training_checkpoint(
     logging.info("Resume training")
 
 
-def make_optimizers_and_scheduler(cfg: TrainRLServerPipelineConfig, policy: nn.Module):
-    """
-    Creates and returns optimizers for the actor, critic, and temperature components of a reinforcement learning policy.
-
-    This function sets up Adam optimizers for:
-    - The **actor network**, ensuring that only relevant parameters are optimized.
-    - The **critic ensemble**, which evaluates the value function.
-    - The **temperature parameter**, which controls the entropy in soft actor-critic (SAC)-like methods.
-
-    It also initializes a learning rate scheduler, though currently, it is set to `None`.
-
-    NOTE:
-    - If the encoder is shared, its parameters are excluded from the actor's optimization process.
-    - The policy's log temperature (`log_alpha`) is wrapped in a list to ensure proper optimization as a standalone tensor.
-
-    Args:
-        cfg: Configuration object containing hyperparameters.
-        policy (nn.Module): The policy model containing the actor, critic, and temperature components.
-
-    Returns:
-        Tuple[Dict[str, torch.optim.Optimizer], Optional[torch.optim.lr_scheduler._LRScheduler]]:
-        A tuple containing:
-        - `optimizers`: A dictionary mapping component names ("actor", "critic", "temperature") to their respective Adam optimizers.
-        - `lr_scheduler`: Currently set to `None` but can be extended to support learning rate scheduling.
-
-    """
-    optimizer_actor = torch.optim.Adam(
-        params=[
-            p
-            for n, p in policy.actor.named_parameters()
-            if not policy.config.shared_encoder or not n.startswith("encoder")
-        ],
-        lr=cfg.policy.actor_lr,
-    )
-    optimizer_critic = torch.optim.Adam(params=policy.critic_ensemble.parameters(), lr=cfg.policy.critic_lr)
-
-    if cfg.policy.num_discrete_actions is not None:
-        optimizer_discrete_critic = torch.optim.Adam(
-            params=policy.discrete_critic.parameters(), lr=cfg.policy.critic_lr
-        )
-    optimizer_temperature = torch.optim.Adam(params=[policy.log_alpha], lr=cfg.policy.critic_lr)
-    lr_scheduler = None
-    optimizers = {
-        "actor": optimizer_actor,
-        "critic": optimizer_critic,
-        "temperature": optimizer_temperature,
-    }
-    if cfg.policy.num_discrete_actions is not None:
-        optimizers["discrete_critic"] = optimizer_discrete_critic
-    return optimizers, lr_scheduler
-
-
 # Training setup functions
 
 
@@ -1014,33 +828,6 @@ def initialize_offline_replay_buffer(
 # Utilities/Helpers functions
 
 
-def get_observation_features(
-    policy: SACPolicy, observations: torch.Tensor, next_observations: torch.Tensor
-) -> tuple[torch.Tensor | None, torch.Tensor | None]:
-    """
-    Get observation features from the policy encoder. It act as cache for the observation features.
-    when the encoder is frozen, the observation features are not updated.
-    We can save compute by caching the observation features.
-
-    Args:
-        policy: The policy model
-        observations: The current observations
-        next_observations: The next observations
-
-    Returns:
-        tuple: observation_features, next_observation_features
-    """
-
-    if policy.config.vision_encoder_name is None or not policy.config.freeze_vision_encoder:
-        return None, None
-
-    with torch.no_grad():
-        observation_features = policy.actor.encoder.get_cached_image_features(observations)
-        next_observation_features = policy.actor.encoder.get_cached_image_features(next_observations)
-
-    return observation_features, next_observation_features
-
-
 def use_threads(cfg: TrainRLServerPipelineConfig) -> bool:
     return cfg.policy.concurrency.learner == "threads"
 
@@ -1091,19 +878,11 @@ def check_nan_in_transition(
     return nan_detected
 
 
-def push_actor_policy_to_queue(parameters_queue: Queue, policy: nn.Module):
+def push_actor_policy_to_queue(parameters_queue: Queue, algorithm: RLAlgorithm) -> None:
     logging.debug("[LEARNER] Pushing actor policy to the queue")
 
     # Create a dictionary to hold all the state dicts
-    state_dicts = {"policy": move_state_dict_to_device(policy.actor.state_dict(), device="cpu")}
-
-    # Add discrete critic if it exists
-    if hasattr(policy, "discrete_critic") and policy.discrete_critic is not None:
-        state_dicts["discrete_critic"] = move_state_dict_to_device(
-            policy.discrete_critic.state_dict(), device="cpu"
-        )
-        logging.debug("[LEARNER] Including discrete critic in state dict push")
-
+    state_dicts = algorithm.get_weights()
     state_bytes = state_to_bytes(state_dicts)
     parameters_queue.put(state_bytes)
 
diff --git a/src/lerobot/rl/trainer.py b/src/lerobot/rl/trainer.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..948ea9d5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lerobot/rl/trainer.py
@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+# Copyright 2026 The HuggingFace Inc. team. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from collections.abc import Iterator
+from typing import Any
+
+from lerobot.rl.algorithms.base import BatchType, RLAlgorithm
+from lerobot.rl.algorithms.configs import TrainingStats
+from lerobot.rl.data_sources.data_mixer import DataMixer
+
+
+class RLTrainer:
+    """Unified training step orchestrator.
+
+    Holds the algorithm, a DataMixer, and an optional preprocessor.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        algorithm: RLAlgorithm,
+        data_mixer: DataMixer,
+        batch_size: int,
+        *,
+        preprocessor: Any | None = None,
+    ):
+        self.algorithm = algorithm
+        self.data_mixer = data_mixer
+        self.batch_size = batch_size
+        self._preprocessor = preprocessor
+
+        self._iterator: Iterator[BatchType] | None = None
+
+        self.algorithm.make_optimizers_and_scheduler()
+
+    def _build_data_iterator(self) -> Iterator[BatchType]:
+        """Create a fresh algorithm-configured iterator (optionally preprocessed)."""
+        raw = self.algorithm.configure_data_iterator(
+            data_mixer=self.data_mixer,
+            batch_size=self.batch_size,
+        )
+        if self._preprocessor is not None:
+            return _PreprocessedIterator(raw, self._preprocessor)
+        return raw
+
+    def reset_data_iterator(self) -> None:
+        """Discard the current iterator so it will be rebuilt lazily next step."""
+        self._iterator = None
+
+    def set_data_mixer(self, data_mixer: DataMixer, *, reset: bool = True) -> None:
+        """Swap the active data mixer, optionally resetting the iterator."""
+        self.data_mixer = data_mixer
+        if reset:
+            self.reset_data_iterator()
+
+    def training_step(self) -> TrainingStats:
+        """Run one training step (algorithm-agnostic)."""
+        if self._iterator is None:
+            self._iterator = self._build_data_iterator()
+        return self.algorithm.update(self._iterator)
+
+
+def preprocess_rl_batch(preprocessor: Any, batch: BatchType) -> BatchType:
+    """Apply policy preprocessing to RL observations only.
+
+    This mirrors the pre-refactor SAC learner behavior where actions are left
+    unchanged and only state/next_state observations are normalized.
+    """
+    observations = batch["state"]
+    next_observations = batch["next_state"]
+    batch["state"] = preprocessor.process_observation(observations)
+    batch["next_state"] = preprocessor.process_observation(next_observations)
+
+    return batch
+
+
+class _PreprocessedIterator:
+    """Iterator wrapper that preprocesses each sampled RL batch."""
+
+    __slots__ = ("_raw", "_preprocessor")
+
+    def __init__(self, raw_iterator: Iterator[BatchType], preprocessor: Any) -> None:
+        self._raw = raw_iterator
+        self._preprocessor = preprocessor
+
+    def __iter__(self) -> _PreprocessedIterator:
+        return self
+
+    def __next__(self) -> BatchType:
+        batch = next(self._raw)
+        return preprocess_rl_batch(self._preprocessor, batch)
diff --git a/src/lerobot/utils/train_utils.py b/src/lerobot/utils/train_utils.py
index 02f6aebb3..dbf32e95d 100644
--- a/src/lerobot/utils/train_utils.py
+++ b/src/lerobot/utils/train_utils.py
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ def save_checkpoint(
         optimizer (Optimizer | None, optional): The optimizer to save the state from. Defaults to None.
         scheduler (LRScheduler | None, optional): The scheduler to save the state from. Defaults to None.
         preprocessor: The preprocessor/pipeline to save. Defaults to None.
+        postprocessor: The postprocessor/pipeline to save. Defaults to None.
     """
     pretrained_dir = checkpoint_dir / PRETRAINED_MODEL_DIR
     policy.save_pretrained(pretrained_dir)
diff --git a/tests/policies/hilserl/test_modeling_classifier.py b/tests/policies/hilserl/test_modeling_classifier.py
index a62ef3ebb..a572ea9e1 100644
--- a/tests/policies/hilserl/test_modeling_classifier.py
+++ b/tests/policies/hilserl/test_modeling_classifier.py
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-import pytest
 import torch
 
 from lerobot.configs.types import FeatureType, NormalizationMode, PolicyFeature
@@ -38,9 +37,6 @@ def test_classifier_output():
 
 
 @require_package("transformers")
-@pytest.mark.skip(
-    reason="helper2424/resnet10 needs to be updated to work with the latest version of transformers"
-)
 def test_binary_classifier_with_default_params():
     from lerobot.policies.sac.reward_model.modeling_classifier import Classifier
 
@@ -82,9 +78,6 @@ def test_binary_classifier_with_default_params():
 
 
 @require_package("transformers")
-@pytest.mark.skip(
-    reason="helper2424/resnet10 needs to be updated to work with the latest version of transformers"
-)
 def test_multiclass_classifier():
     from lerobot.policies.sac.reward_model.modeling_classifier import Classifier
 
@@ -124,9 +117,6 @@ def test_multiclass_classifier():
 
 
 @require_package("transformers")
-@pytest.mark.skip(
-    reason="helper2424/resnet10 needs to be updated to work with the latest version of transformers"
-)
 def test_default_device():
     from lerobot.policies.sac.reward_model.modeling_classifier import Classifier
 
@@ -139,9 +129,6 @@ def test_default_device():
 
 
 @require_package("transformers")
-@pytest.mark.skip(
-    reason="helper2424/resnet10 needs to be updated to work with the latest version of transformers"
-)
 def test_explicit_device_setup():
     from lerobot.policies.sac.reward_model.modeling_classifier import Classifier
 
diff --git a/tests/policies/test_sac_policy.py b/tests/policies/test_sac_policy.py
index 11499ce30..784ec2fc8 100644
--- a/tests/policies/test_sac_policy.py
+++ b/tests/policies/test_sac_policy.py
@@ -14,8 +14,6 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-import math
-
 import pytest
 import torch
 from torch import Tensor, nn
@@ -23,6 +21,7 @@ from torch import Tensor, nn
 from lerobot.configs.types import FeatureType, PolicyFeature
 from lerobot.policies.sac.configuration_sac import SACConfig
 from lerobot.policies.sac.modeling_sac import MLP, SACPolicy
+from lerobot.rl.algorithms.sac import SACAlgorithm, SACAlgorithmConfig
 from lerobot.utils.constants import ACTION, OBS_IMAGE, OBS_STATE
 from lerobot.utils.random_utils import seeded_context, set_seed
 
@@ -138,41 +137,6 @@ def create_observation_batch_with_visual_input(batch_size: int = 8, state_dim: i
     }
 
 
-def make_optimizers(policy: SACPolicy, has_discrete_action: bool = False) -> dict[str, torch.optim.Optimizer]:
-    """Create optimizers for the SAC policy."""
-    optimizer_actor = torch.optim.Adam(
-        # Handle the case of shared encoder where the encoder weights are not optimized with the actor gradient
-        params=[
-            p
-            for n, p in policy.actor.named_parameters()
-            if not policy.config.shared_encoder or not n.startswith("encoder")
-        ],
-        lr=policy.config.actor_lr,
-    )
-    optimizer_critic = torch.optim.Adam(
-        params=policy.critic_ensemble.parameters(),
-        lr=policy.config.critic_lr,
-    )
-    optimizer_temperature = torch.optim.Adam(
-        params=[policy.log_alpha],
-        lr=policy.config.critic_lr,
-    )
-
-    optimizers = {
-        "actor": optimizer_actor,
-        "critic": optimizer_critic,
-        "temperature": optimizer_temperature,
-    }
-
-    if has_discrete_action:
-        optimizers["discrete_critic"] = torch.optim.Adam(
-            params=policy.discrete_critic.parameters(),
-            lr=policy.config.critic_lr,
-        )
-
-    return optimizers
-
-
 def create_default_config(
     state_dim: int, continuous_action_dim: int, has_discrete_action: bool = False
 ) -> SACConfig:
@@ -212,7 +176,6 @@ def create_config_with_visual_input(
         "std": torch.randn(3, 1, 1),
     }
 
-    # Let make tests a little bit faster
     config.state_encoder_hidden_dim = 32
     config.latent_dim = 32
 
@@ -220,75 +183,112 @@ def create_config_with_visual_input(
     return config
 
 
-@pytest.mark.parametrize("batch_size,state_dim,action_dim", [(2, 6, 6), (1, 10, 10)])
-def test_sac_policy_with_default_config(batch_size: int, state_dim: int, action_dim: int):
-    batch = create_default_train_batch(batch_size=batch_size, action_dim=action_dim, state_dim=state_dim)
-    config = create_default_config(state_dim=state_dim, continuous_action_dim=action_dim)
-
+def _make_algorithm(config: SACConfig) -> tuple[SACAlgorithm, SACPolicy]:
+    """Helper to create policy + algorithm pair for tests that need critics."""
     policy = SACPolicy(config=config)
     policy.train()
+    algo_config = SACAlgorithmConfig.from_policy_config(config)
+    algorithm = SACAlgorithm(policy=policy, config=algo_config)
+    algorithm.make_optimizers_and_scheduler()
+    return algorithm, policy
 
-    optimizers = make_optimizers(policy)
-
-    cirtic_loss = policy.forward(batch, model="critic")["loss_critic"]
-    assert cirtic_loss.item() is not None
-    assert cirtic_loss.shape == ()
-    cirtic_loss.backward()
-    optimizers["critic"].step()
-
-    actor_loss = policy.forward(batch, model="actor")["loss_actor"]
-    assert actor_loss.item() is not None
-    assert actor_loss.shape == ()
-
-    actor_loss.backward()
-    optimizers["actor"].step()
-
-    temperature_loss = policy.forward(batch, model="temperature")["loss_temperature"]
-    assert temperature_loss.item() is not None
-    assert temperature_loss.shape == ()
-
-    temperature_loss.backward()
-    optimizers["temperature"].step()
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("batch_size,state_dim,action_dim", [(2, 6, 6), (1, 10, 10)])
+def test_sac_policy_select_action(batch_size: int, state_dim: int, action_dim: int):
+    config = create_default_config(state_dim=state_dim, continuous_action_dim=action_dim)
+    policy = SACPolicy(config=config)
     policy.eval()
+
     with torch.no_grad():
         observation_batch = create_observation_batch(batch_size=batch_size, state_dim=state_dim)
         selected_action = policy.select_action(observation_batch)
-        assert selected_action.shape == (batch_size, action_dim)
+        # squeeze(0) removes batch dim when batch_size==1
+        assert selected_action.shape[-1] == action_dim
+
+
+def test_sac_policy_select_action_with_discrete():
+    """select_action should return continuous + discrete actions."""
+    config = create_default_config(state_dim=10, continuous_action_dim=6)
+    config.num_discrete_actions = 3
+    policy = SACPolicy(config=config)
+    policy.eval()
+
+    with torch.no_grad():
+        observation_batch = create_observation_batch(batch_size=1, state_dim=10)
+        # Squeeze to unbatched (single observation)
+        observation_batch = {k: v.squeeze(0) for k, v in observation_batch.items()}
+        selected_action = policy.select_action(observation_batch)
+        assert selected_action.shape[-1] == 7  # 6 continuous + 1 discrete
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("batch_size,state_dim,action_dim", [(2, 6, 6), (1, 10, 10)])
-def test_sac_policy_with_visual_input(batch_size: int, state_dim: int, action_dim: int):
-    config = create_config_with_visual_input(state_dim=state_dim, continuous_action_dim=action_dim)
+def test_sac_policy_forward(batch_size: int, state_dim: int, action_dim: int):
+    config = create_default_config(state_dim=state_dim, continuous_action_dim=action_dim)
     policy = SACPolicy(config=config)
+    policy.eval()
+
+    batch = create_default_train_batch(batch_size=batch_size, action_dim=action_dim, state_dim=state_dim)
+    with torch.no_grad():
+        output = policy.forward(batch)
+        assert "action" in output
+        assert "log_prob" in output
+        assert "action_mean" in output
+        assert output["action"].shape == (batch_size, action_dim)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("batch_size,state_dim,action_dim", [(2, 6, 6), (1, 10, 10)])
+def test_sac_training_through_algorithm(batch_size: int, state_dim: int, action_dim: int):
+    config = create_default_config(state_dim=state_dim, continuous_action_dim=action_dim)
+    algorithm, policy = _make_algorithm(config)
+
+    batch = create_default_train_batch(batch_size=batch_size, action_dim=action_dim, state_dim=state_dim)
+    forward_batch = algorithm._prepare_forward_batch(batch)
+
+    critic_loss = algorithm._compute_loss_critic(forward_batch)
+    assert critic_loss.item() is not None
+    assert critic_loss.shape == ()
+    algorithm.optimizers["critic"].zero_grad()
+    critic_loss.backward()
+    algorithm.optimizers["critic"].step()
+
+    actor_loss = algorithm._compute_loss_actor(forward_batch)
+    assert actor_loss.item() is not None
+    assert actor_loss.shape == ()
+    algorithm.optimizers["actor"].zero_grad()
+    actor_loss.backward()
+    algorithm.optimizers["actor"].step()
+
+    temp_loss = algorithm._compute_loss_temperature(forward_batch)
+    assert temp_loss.item() is not None
+    assert temp_loss.shape == ()
+    algorithm.optimizers["temperature"].zero_grad()
+    temp_loss.backward()
+    algorithm.optimizers["temperature"].step()
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("batch_size,state_dim,action_dim", [(2, 6, 6), (1, 10, 10)])
+def test_sac_training_with_visual_input(batch_size: int, state_dim: int, action_dim: int):
+    config = create_config_with_visual_input(state_dim=state_dim, continuous_action_dim=action_dim)
+    algorithm, policy = _make_algorithm(config)
 
     batch = create_train_batch_with_visual_input(
         batch_size=batch_size, state_dim=state_dim, action_dim=action_dim
     )
+    forward_batch = algorithm._prepare_forward_batch(batch)
 
-    policy.train()
+    critic_loss = algorithm._compute_loss_critic(forward_batch)
+    assert critic_loss.item() is not None
+    assert critic_loss.shape == ()
+    algorithm.optimizers["critic"].zero_grad()
+    critic_loss.backward()
+    algorithm.optimizers["critic"].step()
 
-    optimizers = make_optimizers(policy)
-
-    cirtic_loss = policy.forward(batch, model="critic")["loss_critic"]
-    assert cirtic_loss.item() is not None
-    assert cirtic_loss.shape == ()
-    cirtic_loss.backward()
-    optimizers["critic"].step()
-
-    actor_loss = policy.forward(batch, model="actor")["loss_actor"]
+    actor_loss = algorithm._compute_loss_actor(forward_batch)
     assert actor_loss.item() is not None
     assert actor_loss.shape == ()
-
+    algorithm.optimizers["actor"].zero_grad()
     actor_loss.backward()
-    optimizers["actor"].step()
-
-    temperature_loss = policy.forward(batch, model="temperature")["loss_temperature"]
-    assert temperature_loss.item() is not None
-    assert temperature_loss.shape == ()
-
-    temperature_loss.backward()
-    optimizers["temperature"].step()
+    algorithm.optimizers["actor"].step()
 
     policy.eval()
     with torch.no_grad():
@@ -296,210 +296,181 @@ def test_sac_policy_with_visual_input(batch_size: int, state_dim: int, action_di
             batch_size=batch_size, state_dim=state_dim
         )
         selected_action = policy.select_action(observation_batch)
-        assert selected_action.shape == (batch_size, action_dim)
+        assert selected_action.shape[-1] == action_dim
 
 
-# Let's check best candidates for pretrained encoders
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     "batch_size,state_dim,action_dim,vision_encoder_name",
     [(1, 6, 6, "helper2424/resnet10"), (1, 6, 6, "facebook/convnext-base-224")],
 )
 @pytest.mark.skipif(not TRANSFORMERS_AVAILABLE, reason="Transformers are not installed")
-@pytest.mark.skip(
-    reason="helper2424/resnet10 needs to be updated to work with the latest version of transformers"
-)
 def test_sac_policy_with_pretrained_encoder(
     batch_size: int, state_dim: int, action_dim: int, vision_encoder_name: str
 ):
     config = create_config_with_visual_input(state_dim=state_dim, continuous_action_dim=action_dim)
     config.vision_encoder_name = vision_encoder_name
-    policy = SACPolicy(config=config)
-    policy.train()
+    algorithm, policy = _make_algorithm(config)
 
     batch = create_train_batch_with_visual_input(
         batch_size=batch_size, state_dim=state_dim, action_dim=action_dim
     )
+    forward_batch = algorithm._prepare_forward_batch(batch)
 
-    optimizers = make_optimizers(policy)
+    critic_loss = algorithm._compute_loss_critic(forward_batch)
+    assert critic_loss.item() is not None
+    assert critic_loss.shape == ()
+    algorithm.optimizers["critic"].zero_grad()
+    critic_loss.backward()
+    algorithm.optimizers["critic"].step()
 
-    cirtic_loss = policy.forward(batch, model="critic")["loss_critic"]
-    assert cirtic_loss.item() is not None
-    assert cirtic_loss.shape == ()
-    cirtic_loss.backward()
-    optimizers["critic"].step()
-
-    actor_loss = policy.forward(batch, model="actor")["loss_actor"]
+    actor_loss = algorithm._compute_loss_actor(forward_batch)
     assert actor_loss.item() is not None
     assert actor_loss.shape == ()
 
 
-def test_sac_policy_with_shared_encoder():
+def test_sac_training_with_shared_encoder():
     batch_size = 2
     action_dim = 10
     state_dim = 10
     config = create_config_with_visual_input(state_dim=state_dim, continuous_action_dim=action_dim)
     config.shared_encoder = True
 
-    policy = SACPolicy(config=config)
-    policy.train()
+    algorithm, policy = _make_algorithm(config)
 
     batch = create_train_batch_with_visual_input(
         batch_size=batch_size, state_dim=state_dim, action_dim=action_dim
     )
+    forward_batch = algorithm._prepare_forward_batch(batch)
 
-    policy.train()
+    critic_loss = algorithm._compute_loss_critic(forward_batch)
+    assert critic_loss.shape == ()
+    algorithm.optimizers["critic"].zero_grad()
+    critic_loss.backward()
+    algorithm.optimizers["critic"].step()
 
-    optimizers = make_optimizers(policy)
-
-    cirtic_loss = policy.forward(batch, model="critic")["loss_critic"]
-    assert cirtic_loss.item() is not None
-    assert cirtic_loss.shape == ()
-    cirtic_loss.backward()
-    optimizers["critic"].step()
-
-    actor_loss = policy.forward(batch, model="actor")["loss_actor"]
-    assert actor_loss.item() is not None
+    actor_loss = algorithm._compute_loss_actor(forward_batch)
     assert actor_loss.shape == ()
-
+    algorithm.optimizers["actor"].zero_grad()
     actor_loss.backward()
-    optimizers["actor"].step()
+    algorithm.optimizers["actor"].step()
 
 
-def test_sac_policy_with_discrete_critic():
+def test_sac_training_with_discrete_critic():
     batch_size = 2
     continuous_action_dim = 9
-    full_action_dim = continuous_action_dim + 1  # the last action is discrete
+    full_action_dim = continuous_action_dim + 1
     state_dim = 10
     config = create_config_with_visual_input(
         state_dim=state_dim, continuous_action_dim=continuous_action_dim, has_discrete_action=True
     )
+    config.num_discrete_actions = 5
 
-    num_discrete_actions = 5
-    config.num_discrete_actions = num_discrete_actions
-
-    policy = SACPolicy(config=config)
-    policy.train()
+    algorithm, policy = _make_algorithm(config)
 
     batch = create_train_batch_with_visual_input(
         batch_size=batch_size, state_dim=state_dim, action_dim=full_action_dim
     )
+    forward_batch = algorithm._prepare_forward_batch(batch)
 
-    policy.train()
+    critic_loss = algorithm._compute_loss_critic(forward_batch)
+    assert critic_loss.shape == ()
+    algorithm.optimizers["critic"].zero_grad()
+    critic_loss.backward()
+    algorithm.optimizers["critic"].step()
 
-    optimizers = make_optimizers(policy, has_discrete_action=True)
-
-    cirtic_loss = policy.forward(batch, model="critic")["loss_critic"]
-    assert cirtic_loss.item() is not None
-    assert cirtic_loss.shape == ()
-    cirtic_loss.backward()
-    optimizers["critic"].step()
-
-    discrete_critic_loss = policy.forward(batch, model="discrete_critic")["loss_discrete_critic"]
-    assert discrete_critic_loss.item() is not None
+    discrete_critic_loss = algorithm._compute_loss_discrete_critic(forward_batch)
     assert discrete_critic_loss.shape == ()
+    algorithm.optimizers["discrete_critic"].zero_grad()
     discrete_critic_loss.backward()
-    optimizers["discrete_critic"].step()
+    algorithm.optimizers["discrete_critic"].step()
 
-    actor_loss = policy.forward(batch, model="actor")["loss_actor"]
-    assert actor_loss.item() is not None
+    actor_loss = algorithm._compute_loss_actor(forward_batch)
     assert actor_loss.shape == ()
-
+    algorithm.optimizers["actor"].zero_grad()
     actor_loss.backward()
-    optimizers["actor"].step()
+    algorithm.optimizers["actor"].step()
 
     policy.eval()
     with torch.no_grad():
         observation_batch = create_observation_batch_with_visual_input(
             batch_size=batch_size, state_dim=state_dim
         )
-        selected_action = policy.select_action(observation_batch)
-        assert selected_action.shape == (batch_size, full_action_dim)
-
-        discrete_actions = selected_action[:, -1].long()
-        discrete_action_values = set(discrete_actions.tolist())
-
-        assert all(action in range(num_discrete_actions) for action in discrete_action_values), (
-            f"Discrete action {discrete_action_values} is not in range({num_discrete_actions})"
-        )
+        # Policy.select_action now handles both continuous + discrete
+        selected_action = policy.select_action({k: v.squeeze(0) for k, v in observation_batch.items()})
+        assert selected_action.shape[-1] == continuous_action_dim + 1
 
 
-def test_sac_policy_with_default_entropy():
+def test_sac_algorithm_target_entropy():
     config = create_default_config(continuous_action_dim=10, state_dim=10)
-    policy = SACPolicy(config=config)
-    assert policy.target_entropy == -5.0
+    _, policy = _make_algorithm(config)
+    algo_config = SACAlgorithmConfig.from_policy_config(config)
+    algorithm = SACAlgorithm(policy=policy, config=algo_config)
+    assert algorithm.target_entropy == -5.0
 
 
-def test_sac_policy_default_target_entropy_with_discrete_action():
+def test_sac_algorithm_target_entropy_with_discrete_action():
     config = create_config_with_visual_input(state_dim=10, continuous_action_dim=6, has_discrete_action=True)
+    config.num_discrete_actions = 5
+    algo_config = SACAlgorithmConfig.from_policy_config(config)
     policy = SACPolicy(config=config)
-    assert policy.target_entropy == -3.0
+    algorithm = SACAlgorithm(policy=policy, config=algo_config)
+    assert algorithm.target_entropy == -3.5
 
 
-def test_sac_policy_with_predefined_entropy():
-    config = create_default_config(state_dim=10, continuous_action_dim=6)
-    config.target_entropy = -3.5
+def test_sac_algorithm_temperature():
+    import math
 
-    policy = SACPolicy(config=config)
-    assert policy.target_entropy == pytest.approx(-3.5)
-
-
-def test_sac_policy_update_temperature():
-    """Test that temperature property is always in sync with log_alpha."""
     config = create_default_config(continuous_action_dim=10, state_dim=10)
+    algo_config = SACAlgorithmConfig.from_policy_config(config)
     policy = SACPolicy(config=config)
+    algorithm = SACAlgorithm(policy=policy, config=algo_config)
 
-    assert policy.temperature == pytest.approx(1.0)
-    policy.log_alpha.data = torch.tensor([math.log(0.1)])
-    # Temperature property automatically reflects log_alpha changes
-    assert policy.temperature == pytest.approx(0.1)
+    assert algorithm.temperature == pytest.approx(1.0)
+    algorithm.log_alpha.data = torch.tensor([math.log(0.1)])
+    assert algorithm.temperature == pytest.approx(0.1)
 
 
-def test_sac_policy_update_target_network():
+def test_sac_algorithm_update_target_network():
     config = create_default_config(state_dim=10, continuous_action_dim=6)
     config.critic_target_update_weight = 1.0
-
+    algo_config = SACAlgorithmConfig.from_policy_config(config)
     policy = SACPolicy(config=config)
-    policy.train()
+    algorithm = SACAlgorithm(policy=policy, config=algo_config)
 
-    for p in policy.critic_ensemble.parameters():
+    for p in algorithm.critic_ensemble.parameters():
         p.data = torch.ones_like(p.data)
 
-    policy.update_target_networks()
-    for p in policy.critic_target.parameters():
-        assert torch.allclose(p.data, torch.ones_like(p.data)), (
-            f"Target network {p.data} is not equal to {torch.ones_like(p.data)}"
-        )
+    algorithm._update_target_networks()
+    for p in algorithm.critic_target.parameters():
+        assert torch.allclose(p.data, torch.ones_like(p.data))
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("num_critics", [1, 3])
-def test_sac_policy_with_critics_number_of_heads(num_critics: int):
+def test_sac_algorithm_with_critics_number_of_heads(num_critics: int):
     batch_size = 2
     action_dim = 10
     state_dim = 10
     config = create_config_with_visual_input(state_dim=state_dim, continuous_action_dim=action_dim)
     config.num_critics = num_critics
 
-    policy = SACPolicy(config=config)
-    policy.train()
+    algorithm, policy = _make_algorithm(config)
 
-    assert len(policy.critic_ensemble.critics) == num_critics
+    assert len(algorithm.critic_ensemble.critics) == num_critics
 
     batch = create_train_batch_with_visual_input(
         batch_size=batch_size, state_dim=state_dim, action_dim=action_dim
     )
+    forward_batch = algorithm._prepare_forward_batch(batch)
 
-    policy.train()
-
-    optimizers = make_optimizers(policy)
-
-    cirtic_loss = policy.forward(batch, model="critic")["loss_critic"]
-    assert cirtic_loss.item() is not None
-    assert cirtic_loss.shape == ()
-    cirtic_loss.backward()
-    optimizers["critic"].step()
+    critic_loss = algorithm._compute_loss_critic(forward_batch)
+    assert critic_loss.shape == ()
+    algorithm.optimizers["critic"].zero_grad()
+    critic_loss.backward()
+    algorithm.optimizers["critic"].step()
 
 
 def test_sac_policy_save_and_load(tmp_path):
+    """Test that the policy can be saved and loaded from pretrained."""
     root = tmp_path / "test_sac_save_and_load"
 
     state_dim = 10
@@ -513,34 +484,41 @@ def test_sac_policy_save_and_load(tmp_path):
     loaded_policy = SACPolicy.from_pretrained(root, config=config)
     loaded_policy.eval()
 
-    batch = create_default_train_batch(batch_size=1, state_dim=10, action_dim=10)
+    assert policy.state_dict().keys() == loaded_policy.state_dict().keys()
+    for k in policy.state_dict():
+        assert torch.allclose(policy.state_dict()[k], loaded_policy.state_dict()[k], atol=1e-6)
 
     with torch.no_grad():
         with seeded_context(12):
-            # Collect policy values before saving
-            cirtic_loss = policy.forward(batch, model="critic")["loss_critic"]
-            actor_loss = policy.forward(batch, model="actor")["loss_actor"]
-            temperature_loss = policy.forward(batch, model="temperature")["loss_temperature"]
-
             observation_batch = create_observation_batch(batch_size=batch_size, state_dim=state_dim)
             actions = policy.select_action(observation_batch)
 
         with seeded_context(12):
-            # Collect policy values after loading
-            loaded_cirtic_loss = loaded_policy.forward(batch, model="critic")["loss_critic"]
-            loaded_actor_loss = loaded_policy.forward(batch, model="actor")["loss_actor"]
-            loaded_temperature_loss = loaded_policy.forward(batch, model="temperature")["loss_temperature"]
-
             loaded_observation_batch = create_observation_batch(batch_size=batch_size, state_dim=state_dim)
             loaded_actions = loaded_policy.select_action(loaded_observation_batch)
 
-        assert policy.state_dict().keys() == loaded_policy.state_dict().keys()
-        for k in policy.state_dict():
-            assert torch.allclose(policy.state_dict()[k], loaded_policy.state_dict()[k], atol=1e-6)
-
-        # Compare values before and after saving and loading
-        # They should be the same
-        assert torch.allclose(cirtic_loss, loaded_cirtic_loss)
-        assert torch.allclose(actor_loss, loaded_actor_loss)
-        assert torch.allclose(temperature_loss, loaded_temperature_loss)
         assert torch.allclose(actions, loaded_actions)
+
+
+def test_sac_policy_save_and_load_with_discrete_critic(tmp_path):
+    """Discrete critic should be saved/loaded as part of the policy."""
+    root = tmp_path / "test_sac_save_and_load_discrete"
+
+    state_dim = 10
+    action_dim = 6
+
+    config = create_default_config(state_dim=state_dim, continuous_action_dim=action_dim)
+    config.num_discrete_actions = 3
+    policy = SACPolicy(config=config)
+    policy.eval()
+    policy.save_pretrained(root)
+
+    loaded_policy = SACPolicy.from_pretrained(root, config=config)
+    loaded_policy.eval()
+
+    assert loaded_policy.discrete_critic is not None
+    dc_keys = [k for k in loaded_policy.state_dict() if k.startswith("discrete_critic.")]
+    assert len(dc_keys) > 0
+
+    for k in policy.state_dict():
+        assert torch.allclose(policy.state_dict()[k], loaded_policy.state_dict()[k], atol=1e-6)
diff --git a/tests/rl/test_actor_learner.py b/tests/rl/test_actor_learner.py
index e13862d82..95d82db82 100644
--- a/tests/rl/test_actor_learner.py
+++ b/tests/rl/test_actor_learner.py
@@ -23,8 +23,9 @@ import torch
 from torch.multiprocessing import Event, Queue
 
 from lerobot.configs.train import TrainRLServerPipelineConfig
+from lerobot.configs.types import FeatureType, PolicyFeature
 from lerobot.policies.sac.configuration_sac import SACConfig
-from lerobot.utils.constants import OBS_STR
+from lerobot.utils.constants import ACTION, OBS_STATE, OBS_STR
 from lerobot.utils.transition import Transition
 from tests.utils import require_package
 
@@ -296,3 +297,171 @@ def test_end_to_end_parameters_flow(cfg, data_size):
     assert received_params.keys() == input_params.keys()
     for key in input_params:
         assert torch.allclose(received_params[key], input_params[key])
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Regression test: learner algorithm integration (no gRPC required)
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def test_learner_algorithm_wiring():
+    """Verify that make_algorithm constructs an SACAlgorithm from config,
+    make_optimizers_and_scheduler() creates the right optimizers, update() works, and
+    get_weights() output is serializable."""
+    from lerobot.policies.sac.modeling_sac import SACPolicy
+    from lerobot.rl.algorithms.factory import make_algorithm
+    from lerobot.rl.algorithms.sac import SACAlgorithm
+    from lerobot.transport.utils import state_to_bytes
+
+    state_dim = 10
+    action_dim = 6
+
+    sac_cfg = SACConfig(
+        input_features={OBS_STATE: PolicyFeature(type=FeatureType.STATE, shape=(state_dim,))},
+        output_features={ACTION: PolicyFeature(type=FeatureType.ACTION, shape=(action_dim,))},
+        dataset_stats={
+            OBS_STATE: {"min": [0.0] * state_dim, "max": [1.0] * state_dim},
+            ACTION: {"min": [0.0] * action_dim, "max": [1.0] * action_dim},
+        },
+        use_torch_compile=False,
+    )
+    sac_cfg.validate_features()
+
+    policy = SACPolicy(config=sac_cfg)
+    policy.train()
+
+    algorithm = make_algorithm(policy=policy, policy_cfg=sac_cfg, algorithm_name="sac")
+    assert isinstance(algorithm, SACAlgorithm)
+
+    optimizers = algorithm.make_optimizers_and_scheduler()
+    assert "actor" in optimizers
+    assert "critic" in optimizers
+    assert "temperature" in optimizers
+
+    batch_size = 4
+
+    def batch_iterator():
+        while True:
+            yield {
+                ACTION: torch.randn(batch_size, action_dim),
+                "reward": torch.randn(batch_size),
+                "state": {OBS_STATE: torch.randn(batch_size, state_dim)},
+                "next_state": {OBS_STATE: torch.randn(batch_size, state_dim)},
+                "done": torch.zeros(batch_size),
+                "complementary_info": {},
+            }
+
+    stats = algorithm.update(batch_iterator())
+    assert "critic" in stats.losses
+
+    # get_weights -> state_to_bytes round-trip
+    weights = algorithm.get_weights()
+    assert len(weights) > 0
+    serialized = state_to_bytes(weights)
+    assert isinstance(serialized, bytes)
+    assert len(serialized) > 0
+
+    # RLTrainer with DataMixer
+    from lerobot.rl.buffer import ReplayBuffer
+    from lerobot.rl.data_sources import OnlineOfflineMixer
+    from lerobot.rl.trainer import RLTrainer
+
+    replay_buffer = ReplayBuffer(
+        capacity=50,
+        device="cpu",
+        state_keys=[OBS_STATE],
+        storage_device="cpu",
+        use_drq=False,
+    )
+    for _ in range(50):
+        replay_buffer.add(
+            state={OBS_STATE: torch.randn(state_dim)},
+            action=torch.randn(action_dim),
+            reward=1.0,
+            next_state={OBS_STATE: torch.randn(state_dim)},
+            done=False,
+            truncated=False,
+        )
+    data_mixer = OnlineOfflineMixer(online_buffer=replay_buffer, offline_buffer=None)
+    trainer = RLTrainer(
+        algorithm=algorithm,
+        data_mixer=data_mixer,
+        batch_size=batch_size,
+    )
+    trainer_stats = trainer.training_step()
+    assert "critic" in trainer_stats.losses
+
+
+def test_initial_and_periodic_weight_push_consistency():
+    """Both initial and periodic weight pushes should use algorithm.get_weights()
+    and produce identical structures."""
+    from lerobot.policies.sac.modeling_sac import SACPolicy
+    from lerobot.rl.algorithms.factory import make_algorithm
+    from lerobot.transport.utils import bytes_to_state_dict, state_to_bytes
+
+    state_dim = 10
+    action_dim = 6
+    sac_cfg = SACConfig(
+        input_features={OBS_STATE: PolicyFeature(type=FeatureType.STATE, shape=(state_dim,))},
+        output_features={ACTION: PolicyFeature(type=FeatureType.ACTION, shape=(action_dim,))},
+        dataset_stats={
+            OBS_STATE: {"min": [0.0] * state_dim, "max": [1.0] * state_dim},
+            ACTION: {"min": [0.0] * action_dim, "max": [1.0] * action_dim},
+        },
+        use_torch_compile=False,
+    )
+    sac_cfg.validate_features()
+
+    policy = SACPolicy(config=sac_cfg)
+    policy.train()
+    algorithm = make_algorithm(policy=policy, policy_cfg=sac_cfg, algorithm_name="sac")
+    algorithm.make_optimizers_and_scheduler()
+
+    # Simulate initial push (same code path the learner now uses)
+    initial_weights = algorithm.get_weights()
+    initial_bytes = state_to_bytes(initial_weights)
+
+    # Simulate periodic push
+    periodic_weights = algorithm.get_weights()
+    periodic_bytes = state_to_bytes(periodic_weights)
+
+    initial_decoded = bytes_to_state_dict(initial_bytes)
+    periodic_decoded = bytes_to_state_dict(periodic_bytes)
+
+    assert initial_decoded.keys() == periodic_decoded.keys()
+
+
+def test_actor_side_algorithm_select_action_and_load_weights():
+    """Simulate actor: create algorithm without optimizers, select_action, load_weights."""
+    from lerobot.policies.sac.modeling_sac import SACPolicy
+    from lerobot.rl.algorithms.factory import make_algorithm
+    from lerobot.rl.algorithms.sac import SACAlgorithm
+
+    state_dim = 10
+    action_dim = 6
+    sac_cfg = SACConfig(
+        input_features={OBS_STATE: PolicyFeature(type=FeatureType.STATE, shape=(state_dim,))},
+        output_features={ACTION: PolicyFeature(type=FeatureType.ACTION, shape=(action_dim,))},
+        dataset_stats={
+            OBS_STATE: {"min": [0.0] * state_dim, "max": [1.0] * state_dim},
+            ACTION: {"min": [0.0] * action_dim, "max": [1.0] * action_dim},
+        },
+        use_torch_compile=False,
+    )
+    sac_cfg.validate_features()
+
+    # Actor side: no optimizers
+    policy = SACPolicy(config=sac_cfg)
+    policy.eval()
+    algorithm = make_algorithm(policy=policy, policy_cfg=sac_cfg, algorithm_name="sac")
+    assert isinstance(algorithm, SACAlgorithm)
+    assert algorithm.optimizers == {}
+
+    # select_action should work
+    obs = {OBS_STATE: torch.randn(state_dim)}
+    action = policy.select_action(obs)
+    assert action.shape == (action_dim,)
+
+    # Simulate receiving weights from learner
+    fake_weights = algorithm.get_weights()
+    algorithm.load_weights(fake_weights, device="cpu")
diff --git a/tests/rl/test_data_mixer.py b/tests/rl/test_data_mixer.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..90e9e492f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/rl/test_data_mixer.py
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+# Copyright 2025 The HuggingFace Inc. team. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+"""Tests for RL data mixing (DataMixer, OnlineOfflineMixer)."""
+
+import torch
+
+from lerobot.rl.buffer import ReplayBuffer
+from lerobot.rl.data_sources import OnlineOfflineMixer
+from lerobot.utils.constants import OBS_STATE
+
+
+def _make_buffer(capacity: int = 100, state_dim: int = 4) -> ReplayBuffer:
+    buf = ReplayBuffer(
+        capacity=capacity,
+        device="cpu",
+        state_keys=[OBS_STATE],
+        storage_device="cpu",
+        use_drq=False,
+    )
+    for i in range(capacity):
+        buf.add(
+            state={OBS_STATE: torch.randn(state_dim)},
+            action=torch.randn(2),
+            reward=1.0,
+            next_state={OBS_STATE: torch.randn(state_dim)},
+            done=bool(i % 10 == 9),
+            truncated=False,
+        )
+    return buf
+
+
+def test_online_only_mixer_sample():
+    """OnlineOfflineMixer with no offline buffer returns online-only batches."""
+    buf = _make_buffer(capacity=50)
+    mixer = OnlineOfflineMixer(online_buffer=buf, offline_buffer=None, online_ratio=0.5)
+    batch = mixer.sample(batch_size=8)
+    assert batch["state"][OBS_STATE].shape[0] == 8
+    assert batch["action"].shape[0] == 8
+    assert batch["reward"].shape[0] == 8
+
+
+def test_online_only_mixer_ratio_one():
+    """OnlineOfflineMixer with online_ratio=1.0 and no offline is equivalent to online-only."""
+    buf = _make_buffer(capacity=50)
+    mixer = OnlineOfflineMixer(online_buffer=buf, offline_buffer=None, online_ratio=1.0)
+    batch = mixer.sample(batch_size=10)
+    assert batch["state"][OBS_STATE].shape[0] == 10
+
+
+def test_online_offline_mixer_sample():
+    """OnlineOfflineMixer with two buffers returns concatenated batches."""
+    online = _make_buffer(capacity=50)
+    offline = _make_buffer(capacity=50)
+    mixer = OnlineOfflineMixer(
+        online_buffer=online,
+        offline_buffer=offline,
+        online_ratio=0.5,
+    )
+    batch = mixer.sample(batch_size=10)
+    assert batch["state"][OBS_STATE].shape[0] == 10
+    assert batch["action"].shape[0] == 10
+    # 5 from online, 5 from offline (approx)
+    assert batch["reward"].shape[0] == 10
+
+
+def test_online_offline_mixer_iterator():
+    """get_iterator yields batches of the requested size."""
+    buf = _make_buffer(capacity=50)
+    mixer = OnlineOfflineMixer(online_buffer=buf, offline_buffer=None)
+    it = mixer.get_iterator(batch_size=4, async_prefetch=False)
+    batch1 = next(it)
+    batch2 = next(it)
+    assert batch1["state"][OBS_STATE].shape[0] == 4
+    assert batch2["state"][OBS_STATE].shape[0] == 4
diff --git a/tests/rl/test_sac_algorithm.py b/tests/rl/test_sac_algorithm.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..325c9727b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/rl/test_sac_algorithm.py
@@ -0,0 +1,477 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+
+# Copyright 2025 The HuggingFace Inc. team. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+"""Tests for the RL algorithm abstraction and SACAlgorithm implementation."""
+
+import pytest
+import torch
+
+from lerobot.configs.types import FeatureType, PolicyFeature
+from lerobot.policies.sac.configuration_sac import SACConfig
+from lerobot.policies.sac.modeling_sac import SACPolicy
+from lerobot.rl.algorithms.configs import RLAlgorithmConfig, TrainingStats
+from lerobot.rl.algorithms.factory import make_algorithm
+from lerobot.rl.algorithms.sac import SACAlgorithm, SACAlgorithmConfig
+from lerobot.utils.constants import ACTION, OBS_IMAGE, OBS_STATE
+from lerobot.utils.random_utils import set_seed
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Helpers (reuse patterns from tests/policies/test_sac_policy.py)
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
+def set_random_seed():
+    set_seed(42)
+
+
+def _make_sac_config(
+    state_dim: int = 10,
+    action_dim: int = 6,
+    num_discrete_actions: int | None = None,
+    utd_ratio: int = 1,
+    policy_update_freq: int = 1,
+    with_images: bool = False,
+) -> SACConfig:
+    config = SACConfig(
+        input_features={OBS_STATE: PolicyFeature(type=FeatureType.STATE, shape=(state_dim,))},
+        output_features={ACTION: PolicyFeature(type=FeatureType.ACTION, shape=(action_dim,))},
+        dataset_stats={
+            OBS_STATE: {"min": [0.0] * state_dim, "max": [1.0] * state_dim},
+            ACTION: {"min": [0.0] * action_dim, "max": [1.0] * action_dim},
+        },
+        utd_ratio=utd_ratio,
+        policy_update_freq=policy_update_freq,
+        num_discrete_actions=num_discrete_actions,
+        use_torch_compile=False,
+    )
+    if with_images:
+        config.input_features[OBS_IMAGE] = PolicyFeature(type=FeatureType.VISUAL, shape=(3, 84, 84))
+        config.dataset_stats[OBS_IMAGE] = {
+            "mean": torch.randn(3, 1, 1).tolist(),
+            "std": torch.randn(3, 1, 1).abs().tolist(),
+        }
+        config.latent_dim = 32
+        config.state_encoder_hidden_dim = 32
+    config.validate_features()
+    return config
+
+
+def _make_algorithm(
+    state_dim: int = 10,
+    action_dim: int = 6,
+    utd_ratio: int = 1,
+    policy_update_freq: int = 1,
+    num_discrete_actions: int | None = None,
+    with_images: bool = False,
+) -> tuple[SACAlgorithm, SACPolicy]:
+    sac_cfg = _make_sac_config(
+        state_dim=state_dim,
+        action_dim=action_dim,
+        utd_ratio=utd_ratio,
+        policy_update_freq=policy_update_freq,
+        num_discrete_actions=num_discrete_actions,
+        with_images=with_images,
+    )
+    policy = SACPolicy(config=sac_cfg)
+    policy.train()
+    algo_config = SACAlgorithmConfig.from_policy_config(sac_cfg)
+    algorithm = SACAlgorithm(policy=policy, config=algo_config)
+    algorithm.make_optimizers_and_scheduler()
+    return algorithm, policy
+
+
+def _make_batch(
+    batch_size: int = 4,
+    state_dim: int = 10,
+    action_dim: int = 6,
+    with_images: bool = False,
+) -> dict:
+    obs = {OBS_STATE: torch.randn(batch_size, state_dim)}
+    next_obs = {OBS_STATE: torch.randn(batch_size, state_dim)}
+    if with_images:
+        obs[OBS_IMAGE] = torch.randn(batch_size, 3, 84, 84)
+        next_obs[OBS_IMAGE] = torch.randn(batch_size, 3, 84, 84)
+    return {
+        ACTION: torch.randn(batch_size, action_dim),
+        "reward": torch.randn(batch_size),
+        "state": obs,
+        "next_state": next_obs,
+        "done": torch.zeros(batch_size),
+        "complementary_info": {},
+    }
+
+
+def _batch_iterator(**batch_kwargs):
+    """Infinite iterator that yields fresh batches (mirrors a real DataMixer iterator)."""
+    while True:
+        yield _make_batch(**batch_kwargs)
+
+
+# ===========================================================================
+# Registry / config tests
+# ===========================================================================
+
+
+def test_sac_algorithm_config_registered():
+    """SACAlgorithmConfig should be discoverable through the registry."""
+    assert "sac" in RLAlgorithmConfig.get_known_choices()
+    cls = RLAlgorithmConfig.get_choice_class("sac")
+    assert cls is SACAlgorithmConfig
+
+
+def test_sac_algorithm_config_from_policy_config():
+    """from_policy_config should copy relevant fields."""
+    sac_cfg = _make_sac_config(utd_ratio=4, policy_update_freq=2)
+    algo_cfg = SACAlgorithmConfig.from_policy_config(sac_cfg)
+    assert algo_cfg.utd_ratio == 4
+    assert algo_cfg.policy_update_freq == 2
+    assert algo_cfg.clip_grad_norm == sac_cfg.grad_clip_norm
+
+
+# ===========================================================================
+# TrainingStats tests
+# ===========================================================================
+
+
+def test_training_stats_defaults():
+    stats = TrainingStats()
+    assert stats.losses == {}
+    assert stats.grad_norms == {}
+    assert stats.extra == {}
+
+
+# ===========================================================================
+# get_weights
+# ===========================================================================
+
+
+def test_get_weights_returns_policy_state_dict():
+    algorithm, policy = _make_algorithm()
+    weights = algorithm.get_weights()
+    for key in policy.state_dict():
+        assert key in weights
+        assert torch.equal(weights[key].cpu(), policy.state_dict()[key].cpu())
+
+
+def test_get_weights_includes_discrete_critic_when_present():
+    algorithm, policy = _make_algorithm(num_discrete_actions=3, action_dim=6)
+    weights = algorithm.get_weights()
+    dc_keys = [k for k in weights if k.startswith("discrete_critic.")]
+    assert len(dc_keys) > 0
+
+
+def test_get_weights_excludes_discrete_critic_when_absent():
+    algorithm, _ = _make_algorithm()
+    weights = algorithm.get_weights()
+    dc_keys = [k for k in weights if k.startswith("discrete_critic.")]
+    assert len(dc_keys) == 0
+
+
+def test_get_weights_are_on_cpu():
+    algorithm, _ = _make_algorithm()
+    weights = algorithm.get_weights()
+    for key, tensor in weights.items():
+        assert tensor.device == torch.device("cpu"), f"{key} is not on CPU"
+
+
+# ===========================================================================
+# select_action (lives on the policy, not the algorithm)
+# ===========================================================================
+
+
+def test_select_action_returns_correct_shape():
+    action_dim = 6
+    _, policy = _make_algorithm(state_dim=10, action_dim=action_dim)
+    policy.eval()
+    obs = {OBS_STATE: torch.randn(10)}
+    action = policy.select_action(obs)
+    assert action.shape == (action_dim,)
+
+
+def test_select_action_with_discrete_critic():
+    continuous_dim = 5
+    _, policy = _make_algorithm(state_dim=10, action_dim=continuous_dim, num_discrete_actions=3)
+    policy.eval()
+    obs = {OBS_STATE: torch.randn(10)}
+    action = policy.select_action(obs)
+    assert action.shape == (continuous_dim + 1,)
+
+
+# ===========================================================================
+# update (single batch, utd_ratio=1)
+# ===========================================================================
+
+
+def test_update_returns_training_stats():
+    algorithm, _ = _make_algorithm()
+    stats = algorithm.update(_batch_iterator())
+    assert isinstance(stats, TrainingStats)
+    assert "critic" in stats.losses
+    assert isinstance(stats.losses["critic"], float)
+
+
+def test_update_populates_actor_and_temperature_losses():
+    """With policy_update_freq=1 and step 0, actor/temperature should be updated."""
+    algorithm, _ = _make_algorithm(policy_update_freq=1)
+    stats = algorithm.update(_batch_iterator())
+    assert "actor" in stats.losses
+    assert "temperature" in stats.losses
+    assert "temperature" in stats.extra
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("policy_update_freq", [2, 3])
+def test_update_skips_actor_at_non_update_steps(policy_update_freq):
+    """Actor/temperature should only update when optimization_step % freq == 0."""
+    algorithm, _ = _make_algorithm(policy_update_freq=policy_update_freq)
+    it = _batch_iterator()
+
+    # Step 0: should update actor
+    stats_0 = algorithm.update(it)
+    assert "actor" in stats_0.losses
+
+    # Step 1: should NOT update actor
+    stats_1 = algorithm.update(it)
+    assert "actor" not in stats_1.losses
+
+
+def test_update_increments_optimization_step():
+    algorithm, _ = _make_algorithm()
+    it = _batch_iterator()
+    assert algorithm.optimization_step == 0
+    algorithm.update(it)
+    assert algorithm.optimization_step == 1
+    algorithm.update(it)
+    assert algorithm.optimization_step == 2
+
+
+def test_update_with_discrete_critic():
+    algorithm, _ = _make_algorithm(num_discrete_actions=3, action_dim=6)
+    stats = algorithm.update(_batch_iterator(action_dim=7))  # continuous + 1 discrete
+    assert "discrete_critic" in stats.losses
+    assert "discrete_critic" in stats.grad_norms
+
+
+# ===========================================================================
+# update with UTD ratio > 1
+# ===========================================================================
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("utd_ratio", [2, 4])
+def test_update_with_utd_ratio(utd_ratio):
+    algorithm, _ = _make_algorithm(utd_ratio=utd_ratio)
+    stats = algorithm.update(_batch_iterator())
+    assert isinstance(stats, TrainingStats)
+    assert "critic" in stats.losses
+    assert algorithm.optimization_step == 1
+
+
+def test_update_utd_ratio_pulls_utd_batches():
+    """next(batch_iterator) should be called exactly utd_ratio times."""
+    utd_ratio = 3
+    algorithm, _ = _make_algorithm(utd_ratio=utd_ratio)
+
+    call_count = 0
+
+    def counting_iterator():
+        nonlocal call_count
+        while True:
+            call_count += 1
+            yield _make_batch()
+
+    algorithm.update(counting_iterator())
+    assert call_count == utd_ratio
+
+
+def test_update_utd_ratio_3_critic_warmup_changes_weights():
+    """With utd_ratio=3, critic weights should change after update (3 critic steps)."""
+    algorithm, policy = _make_algorithm(utd_ratio=3)
+
+    critic_params_before = {n: p.clone() for n, p in algorithm.critic_ensemble.named_parameters()}
+
+    algorithm.update(_batch_iterator())
+
+    changed = False
+    for n, p in algorithm.critic_ensemble.named_parameters():
+        if not torch.equal(p, critic_params_before[n]):
+            changed = True
+            break
+    assert changed, "Critic weights should have changed after UTD update"
+
+
+# ===========================================================================
+# get_observation_features
+# ===========================================================================
+
+
+def test_get_observation_features_returns_none_without_frozen_encoder():
+    algorithm, _ = _make_algorithm(with_images=False)
+    obs = {OBS_STATE: torch.randn(4, 10)}
+    next_obs = {OBS_STATE: torch.randn(4, 10)}
+    feat, next_feat = algorithm.get_observation_features(obs, next_obs)
+    assert feat is None
+    assert next_feat is None
+
+
+# ===========================================================================
+# optimization_step setter
+# ===========================================================================
+
+
+def test_optimization_step_can_be_set_for_resume():
+    algorithm, _ = _make_algorithm()
+    algorithm.optimization_step = 100
+    assert algorithm.optimization_step == 100
+
+
+# ===========================================================================
+# make_algorithm factory
+# ===========================================================================
+
+
+def test_make_algorithm_returns_sac_for_sac_policy():
+    sac_cfg = _make_sac_config()
+    policy = SACPolicy(config=sac_cfg)
+    algorithm = make_algorithm(policy=policy, policy_cfg=sac_cfg, algorithm_name="sac")
+    assert isinstance(algorithm, SACAlgorithm)
+    assert algorithm.optimizers == {}
+
+
+def test_make_optimizers_creates_expected_keys():
+    """make_optimizers_and_scheduler() should populate the algorithm with Adam optimizers."""
+    sac_cfg = _make_sac_config()
+    policy = SACPolicy(config=sac_cfg)
+    algorithm = make_algorithm(policy=policy, policy_cfg=sac_cfg, algorithm_name="sac")
+    optimizers = algorithm.make_optimizers_and_scheduler()
+    assert "actor" in optimizers
+    assert "critic" in optimizers
+    assert "temperature" in optimizers
+    assert all(isinstance(v, torch.optim.Adam) for v in optimizers.values())
+    assert algorithm.get_optimizers() is optimizers
+
+
+def test_actor_side_no_optimizers():
+    """Actor-side usage: no optimizers needed, make_optimizers_and_scheduler is not called."""
+    sac_cfg = _make_sac_config()
+    policy = SACPolicy(config=sac_cfg)
+    algorithm = make_algorithm(policy=policy, policy_cfg=sac_cfg, algorithm_name="sac")
+    assert isinstance(algorithm, SACAlgorithm)
+    assert algorithm.optimizers == {}
+
+
+def test_make_algorithm_copies_config_fields():
+    sac_cfg = _make_sac_config(utd_ratio=5, policy_update_freq=3)
+    policy = SACPolicy(config=sac_cfg)
+    algorithm = make_algorithm(policy=policy, policy_cfg=sac_cfg, algorithm_name="sac")
+    assert algorithm.config.utd_ratio == 5
+    assert algorithm.config.policy_update_freq == 3
+
+
+def test_make_algorithm_raises_for_unknown_type():
+    class FakeConfig:
+        type = "unknown_algo"
+
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="No RLAlgorithmConfig"):
+        make_algorithm(policy=None, policy_cfg=FakeConfig(), algorithm_name="unknown_algo")
+
+
+# ===========================================================================
+# load_weights (round-trip with get_weights)
+# ===========================================================================
+
+
+def test_load_weights_round_trip():
+    """get_weights -> load_weights should restore identical parameters on a fresh policy."""
+    algo_src, _ = _make_algorithm(state_dim=10, action_dim=6)
+    algo_src.update(_batch_iterator())
+
+    sac_cfg = _make_sac_config(state_dim=10, action_dim=6)
+    policy_dst = SACPolicy(config=sac_cfg)
+    algo_dst = SACAlgorithm(policy=policy_dst, config=algo_src.config)
+
+    weights = algo_src.get_weights()
+    algo_dst.load_weights(weights, device="cpu")
+
+    for key in weights:
+        assert torch.equal(
+            algo_dst.policy.state_dict()[key].cpu(),
+            weights[key].cpu(),
+        ), f"Policy param '{key}' mismatch after load_weights"
+
+
+def test_load_weights_round_trip_with_discrete_critic():
+    algo_src, _ = _make_algorithm(num_discrete_actions=3, action_dim=6)
+    algo_src.update(_batch_iterator(action_dim=7))
+
+    sac_cfg = _make_sac_config(num_discrete_actions=3, action_dim=6)
+    policy_dst = SACPolicy(config=sac_cfg)
+    algo_dst = SACAlgorithm(policy=policy_dst, config=algo_src.config)
+
+    weights = algo_src.get_weights()
+    algo_dst.load_weights(weights, device="cpu")
+
+    dc_keys = [k for k in weights if k.startswith("discrete_critic.")]
+    assert len(dc_keys) > 0
+    for key in dc_keys:
+        assert torch.equal(
+            algo_dst.policy.state_dict()[key].cpu(),
+            weights[key].cpu(),
+        ), f"Discrete critic param '{key}' mismatch after load_weights"
+
+
+def test_load_weights_ignores_missing_discrete_critic():
+    """load_weights should not fail when weights lack discrete_critic on a non-discrete policy."""
+    algorithm, _ = _make_algorithm()
+    weights = algorithm.get_weights()
+    algorithm.load_weights(weights, device="cpu")
+
+
+# ===========================================================================
+# TrainingStats generic losses dict
+# ===========================================================================
+
+
+def test_training_stats_generic_losses():
+    stats = TrainingStats(
+        losses={"loss_bc": 0.5, "loss_q": 1.2},
+        extra={"temperature": 0.1},
+    )
+    assert stats.losses["loss_bc"] == 0.5
+    assert stats.losses["loss_q"] == 1.2
+    assert stats.extra["temperature"] == 0.1
+
+
+# ===========================================================================
+# Registry-driven build_algorithm
+# ===========================================================================
+
+
+def test_build_algorithm_via_config():
+    """SACAlgorithmConfig.build_algorithm should produce a working SACAlgorithm."""
+    sac_cfg = _make_sac_config(utd_ratio=2)
+    algo_config = SACAlgorithmConfig.from_policy_config(sac_cfg)
+    policy = SACPolicy(config=sac_cfg)
+
+    algorithm = algo_config.build_algorithm(policy)
+    assert isinstance(algorithm, SACAlgorithm)
+    assert algorithm.config.utd_ratio == 2
+
+
+def test_make_algorithm_uses_build_algorithm():
+    """make_algorithm should delegate to config.build_algorithm (no hardcoded if/else)."""
+    sac_cfg = _make_sac_config()
+    policy = SACPolicy(config=sac_cfg)
+    algorithm = make_algorithm(policy=policy, policy_cfg=sac_cfg, algorithm_name="sac")
+    assert isinstance(algorithm, SACAlgorithm)
diff --git a/tests/rl/test_trainer.py b/tests/rl/test_trainer.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..47eaf6ad3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/rl/test_trainer.py
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+
+# Copyright 2026 The HuggingFace Inc. team. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+import torch
+from torch import Tensor
+
+from lerobot.rl.algorithms.base import RLAlgorithm
+from lerobot.rl.algorithms.configs import TrainingStats
+from lerobot.rl.trainer import RLTrainer
+from lerobot.utils.constants import ACTION, OBS_STATE
+
+
+class _DummyRLAlgorithmConfig:
+    """Dummy config for testing."""
+
+
+class _DummyRLAlgorithm(RLAlgorithm):
+    config_class = _DummyRLAlgorithmConfig
+    name = "dummy_rl_algorithm"
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.configure_calls = 0
+        self.update_calls = 0
+
+    def select_action(self, observation: dict[str, Tensor]) -> Tensor:
+        return torch.zeros(1)
+
+    def configure_data_iterator(
+        self,
+        data_mixer,
+        batch_size: int,
+        *,
+        async_prefetch: bool = True,
+        queue_size: int = 2,
+    ):
+        self.configure_calls += 1
+        return data_mixer.get_iterator(
+            batch_size=batch_size,
+            async_prefetch=async_prefetch,
+            queue_size=queue_size,
+        )
+
+    def make_optimizers_and_scheduler(self):
+        return {}
+
+    def update(self, batch_iterator):
+        self.update_calls += 1
+        _ = next(batch_iterator)
+        return TrainingStats(losses={"dummy": 1.0})
+
+    def load_weights(self, weights, device="cpu") -> None:
+        _ = (weights, device)
+
+
+class _SimpleMixer:
+    def get_iterator(self, batch_size: int, async_prefetch: bool = True, queue_size: int = 2):
+        _ = (async_prefetch, queue_size)
+        while True:
+            yield {
+                "state": {OBS_STATE: torch.randn(batch_size, 3)},
+                ACTION: torch.randn(batch_size, 2),
+                "reward": torch.randn(batch_size),
+                "next_state": {OBS_STATE: torch.randn(batch_size, 3)},
+                "done": torch.zeros(batch_size),
+                "truncated": torch.zeros(batch_size),
+                "complementary_info": None,
+            }
+
+
+def test_trainer_lazy_iterator_lifecycle_and_reset():
+    algo = _DummyRLAlgorithm()
+    mixer = _SimpleMixer()
+    trainer = RLTrainer(algorithm=algo, data_mixer=mixer, batch_size=4)
+
+    # First call builds iterator once.
+    trainer.training_step()
+    assert algo.configure_calls == 1
+    assert algo.update_calls == 1
+
+    # Second call reuses existing iterator.
+    trainer.training_step()
+    assert algo.configure_calls == 1
+    assert algo.update_calls == 2
+
+    # Explicit reset forces lazy rebuild on next step.
+    trainer.reset_data_iterator()
+    trainer.training_step()
+    assert algo.configure_calls == 2
+    assert algo.update_calls == 3
+
+
+def test_trainer_set_data_mixer_resets_by_default():
+    algo = _DummyRLAlgorithm()
+    mixer_a = _SimpleMixer()
+    mixer_b = _SimpleMixer()
+    trainer = RLTrainer(algorithm=algo, data_mixer=mixer_a, batch_size=2)
+
+    trainer.training_step()
+    assert algo.configure_calls == 1
+
+    trainer.set_data_mixer(mixer_b, reset=True)
+    trainer.training_step()
+    assert algo.configure_calls == 2
+
+
+def test_algorithm_optimization_step_contract_defaults():
+    algo = _DummyRLAlgorithm()
+    assert algo.optimization_step == 0
+    algo.optimization_step = 11
+    assert algo.optimization_step == 11