---
name: axolotl
description: Provides guidance for fine-tuning large language models with Axolotl, covering YAML training configs, LoRA and QLoRA, preference training with DPO, KTO, ORPO and GRPO, multimodal models, FSDP and multi-GPU setups, sequence (context) parallelism, NCCL bandwidth tests, dataset formats, compressed model saving for vLLM and llmcompressor, and custom integrations. Use when writing or debugging an Axolotl YAML config, choosing a dataset format for a fine-tuning run, setting up FSDP or context_parallel_size across GPUs, or running DPO, KTO, ORPO or GRPO training. Use when saving a compressed model for vLLM inference, or when writing a custom Axolotl plugin or integration. Not for inference serving or general Hugging Face Trainer scripts outside Axolotl.
license: MIT
metadata:
  version: 1.0.0
  category: ml-training
  maintainer: Kalaris Labs
  tags: Fine-Tuning, Axolotl, LLM, LoRA, QLoRA, DPO, KTO, ORPO, GRPO, YAML, HuggingFace, DeepSpeed, Multimodal
  dependencies: axolotl, torch, transformers, datasets, peft, accelerate, deepspeed
---

# Axolotl Skill

Comprehensive assistance with axolotl development, generated from official documentation.

## When to Use This Skill

This skill should be triggered when:
- Working with axolotl
- Asking about axolotl features or APIs
- Implementing axolotl solutions
- Debugging axolotl code
- Learning axolotl best practices

## Quick Reference

### Common Patterns

**Pattern 1:** To validate that acceptable data transfer speeds exist for your training job, running NCCL Tests can help pinpoint bottlenecks, for example:

```
./build/all_reduce_perf -b 8 -e 128M -f 2 -g 3
```

**Pattern 2:** Configure your model to use FSDP in the Axolotl yaml. For example:

```
fsdp_version: 2
fsdp_config:
  offload_params: true
  state_dict_type: FULL_STATE_DICT
  auto_wrap_policy: TRANSFORMER_BASED_WRAP
  transformer_layer_cls_to_wrap: LlamaDecoderLayer
  reshard_after_forward: true
```

**Pattern 3:** The context_parallel_size should be a divisor of the total number of GPUs. For example:

```
context_parallel_size
```

**Pattern 4:** For example: - With 8 GPUs and no sequence parallelism: 8 different batches processed per step - With 8 GPUs and context_parallel_size=4: Only 2 different batches processed per step (each split across 4 GPUs) - If your per-GPU micro_batch_size is 2, the global batch size decreases from 16 to 4

```
context_parallel_size=4
```

**Pattern 5:** Setting save_compressed: true in your configuration enables saving models in a compressed format, which: - Reduces disk space usage by approximately 40% - Maintains compatibility with vLLM for accelerated inference - Maintains compatibility with llmcompressor for further optimization (example: quantization)

```
save_compressed: true
```

**Pattern 6:** Note It is not necessary to place your integration in the integrations folder. It can be in any location, so long as it’s installed in a package in your python env. See this repo for an example: https://github.com/axolotl-ai-cloud/diff-transformer

```
integrations
```

**Pattern 7:** Handle both single-example and batched data. - single example: sample[‘input_ids’] is a list[int] - batched data: sample[‘input_ids’] is a list[list[int]]

```
utils.trainer.drop_long_seq(sample, sequence_len=2048, min_sequence_len=2)
```

### Example Code Patterns

**Example 1** (python):
```python
cli.cloud.modal_.ModalCloud(config, app=None)
```

**Example 2** (python):
```python
cli.cloud.modal_.run_cmd(cmd, run_folder, volumes=None)
```

**Example 3** (python):
```python
core.trainers.base.AxolotlTrainer(
    *_args,
    bench_data_collator=None,
    eval_data_collator=None,
    dataset_tags=None,
    **kwargs,
)
```

**Example 4** (python):
```python
core.trainers.base.AxolotlTrainer.log(logs, start_time=None)
```

**Example 5** (python):
```python
prompt_strategies.input_output.RawInputOutputPrompter()
```

## Reference Files

This skill includes comprehensive documentation in `references/`:

- **api.md** - Api documentation
- **dataset-formats.md** - Dataset-Formats documentation
- **other.md** - Other documentation

Use `view` to read specific reference files when detailed information is needed.

## Working with This Skill

### For Beginners
Start with the getting_started or tutorials reference files for foundational concepts.

### For Specific Features
Use the appropriate category reference file (api, guides, etc.) for detailed information.

### For Code Examples
The quick reference section above contains common patterns extracted from the official docs.

## Resources

### references/
Organized documentation extracted from official sources. These files contain:
- Detailed explanations
- Code examples with language annotations
- Links to original documentation
- Table of contents for quick navigation

### scripts/
Add helper scripts here for common automation tasks.

### assets/
Add templates, boilerplate, or example projects here.

## Notes

- This skill was automatically generated from official documentation
- Reference files preserve the structure and examples from source docs
- Code examples include language detection for better syntax highlighting
- Quick reference patterns are extracted from common usage examples in the docs

## Updating

To refresh this skill with updated documentation:
1. Re-run the scraper with the same configuration
2. The skill will be rebuilt with the latest information

## Agent operating procedure

1. **Check the environment.** Check GPU type, memory and driver/CUDA versions (`nvidia-smi`), framework versions, and dataset location and size.
2. **Pin down the inputs.** Confirm formats, identifiers and parameters from the data or the user. Ask rather than guess any value that changes the result.
3. **Run a small version first.** Do a smoke run: tiny model or subset, few steps, and confirm loss decreases and checkpoints save.
4. **Execute the full task** using the instructions and references above.
5. **Validate the result.** Track metrics on held-out data, compare against a baseline, and record seeds, configs and hardware.
6. **Report.** State what was run (versions, commands, parameters), what was checked, and what is still uncertain.

| If this happens | Do this |
|---|---|
| CUDA out-of-memory | Reduce batch size, enable gradient accumulation/checkpointing or mixed precision, or shard the model. |
| Loss is NaN or diverges | Lower the learning rate, check data for invalid values, and enable gradient clipping. |
| A function, flag or endpoint in these instructions is missing in the installed version | Check the installed version's own documentation (`help()`, `--help`, official docs), adapt, and tell the user. Never invent an API. |
| A required input, identifier or parameter is ambiguous | Ask the user, or state the assumption explicitly before running. |

**Integrity rules**

- Never fabricate results, parameters, identifiers, citations or statistics. If something cannot be run or verified, say so plainly.
- Never claim training results without logs; estimate compute cost before launching large jobs.
- Treat version-specific details here as possibly outdated: confirm them against the official documentation for the installed version.
- Ask before actions that cost money, consume shared GPUs or cloud quota, touch personal or patient data, or cannot be undone.

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