Table of Contents:

step.parameters

Parameters are injected into the command by replacing any Valohai parameter placeholders defined further below. Good examples of parameters would be “learning rate” number or “network layout” string.

A parameter in parameters has 2 required and 4 optional properties:

  • name: the parameter name, shown on the user interface
  • type: the parameter type, valid values are float, integer, string and flag
  • pass-as: (optional) how the parameter is passed to the command
  • description: (optional) more detailed human-readable description of the parameter
  • default: (optional) the default value of the parameter
  • optional: (optional) marks that this input is optional and the value can be left undefined

Note

optional has no effect for the flag type. It either exists or doesn’t. If it’s always on, you can type it into the command.

If pass-as is not defined, the parameter is passed as --<PARAMETER_NAME>={v}, you can customize this by specifying {v} in the pass-as e.g. -t {v} where {v} becomes the actual value.

Note

flag type defaults to just --<PARAMETER_NAME> when set to true.

{parameters} placeholder

{parameters} injects all parameters to its position in the commands.

For example:

- step:
    name: train-model
    image: python:3.6
    command:
      - python train.py {parameters}
    parameters:
      - name: max-steps
        type: integer
        description: Number of steps to run the trainer
        default: 300
      - name: learning-rate
        type: float
        pass-as: --lr={v}
        description: Initial learning rate
        default: 0.001
      - name: architecture
        type: string
        pass-as: arc {v}
        default: 10xRELU-SoftMax
        optional: true

The above would generate the following command by default:

python train.py --max-steps=300 --lr=0.001 arc 10xRELU-SoftMax

Note

When a value is undefined, the parameter will appear with its default value, except for the type flag. Flags will only ever appear, if they are defined with value set to true.

{parameter:<NAME>} placeholder

You can also use singular parameters using the {parameter:<NAME>} syntax.

For example:

- step:
    name: preprocess-and-train
    image: python:3.6
    command:
      - python preprocess.py {parameter:train-split}
      - python train.py {parameter:learning-rate}
    parameters:
      - name: train-split
        type: integer
        default: 80
      - name: learning-rate
        pass-as: --lr={v}
        type: float
        default: 0.001

The above would generate the following commands by default:

python preprocess.py --train-split=80
python train.py --lr=0.001

{parameter-value:<NAME>} placeholder

If you wish to ignore pass-as definition, you can use {parameter-value:<NAME>} to pass only the parameter value. This is essentially the same as defining pass-as: "{v}".

For example:

- step:
    name: preprocess
    image: python:3.6
    command:
      - python preprocess.py {parameter-value:train-split} {parameter-value:style}
    parameters:
      - name: train-split
        type: integer
        default: 80
      - name: style
        pass-as: -s={v}
        type: string
        default: nested

The above would generate the following command by default:

python preprocess.py 80 nested

Note

There are no limits how many {parameters}, {parameter:<NAME>} and {parameter-value:<NAME>} placeholders you can have in a set of commands so use them to your heart’s content!