diff --git a/examples/modernbert/main.zig b/examples/modernbert/main.zig
index 1206eb9..0df16b3 100644
--- a/examples/modernbert/main.zig
+++ b/examples/modernbert/main.zig
@@ -216,27 +216,26 @@ pub fn unmask(
 }
 
 pub fn tokenize(allocator: std.mem.Allocator, tokenizer: zml.tokenizer.Tokenizer, prompt: []const u8) ![]const u32 {
-    var tokens = std.array_list.Managed(u32).init(allocator);
     var encoder = try tokenizer.encoder();
     defer encoder.deinit();
 
     const bos = tokenizer.tokenToId("[CLS]") orelse return error.NoSuchToken;
     const eos = tokenizer.tokenToId("[SEP]") orelse return error.NoSuchToken;
 
-    try tokens.append(bos);
-    try tokens.appendSlice(try encoder.encode(prompt));
-    try tokens.append(eos);
+    var tokens: std.ArrayList(u32) = try .initCapacity(allocator, prompt.len);
+    try tokens.append(allocator, bos);
+    try tokens.appendSlice(allocator, try encoder.encode(prompt));
+    try tokens.append(allocator, eos);
 
-    return tokens.toOwnedSlice();
+    return tokens.toOwnedSlice(allocator);
 }
 
 fn findMaskPositions(allocator: std.mem.Allocator, tokens: []const u32, mask_token: u32) ![]usize {
-    var mask_positions = std.array_list.Managed(usize).init(allocator);
-    defer mask_positions.deinit();
+    var mask_positions: std.ArrayList(usize) = .empty;
 
     for (tokens, 0..) |token, i| {
         if (token == mask_token) {
-            try mask_positions.append(i);
+            try mask_positions.append(allocator, i);
         }
     }
 
@@ -247,7 +246,7 @@ fn findMaskPositions(allocator: std.mem.Allocator, tokens: []const u32, mask_tok
 
     if (mask_positions.items.len > 1) log.warn("Currently only supporting one [MASK] per input", .{});
 
-    return mask_positions.toOwnedSlice();
+    return mask_positions.toOwnedSlice(allocator);
 }
 
 fn prepareTensorInputs(