npx skills add ...
npx skills add firecrawl/ai-research-skills --skill ray-train
npx skills add firecrawl/ai-research-skills --skill ray-train
Distributed training orchestration across clusters. Scales PyTorch/TensorFlow/HuggingFace from laptop to 1000s of nodes. Built-in hyperparameter tuning with Ray Tune, fault tolerance, elastic scaling. Use when training massive models across multiple machines or running distributed hyperparameter sweeps.
Ray Train scales machine learning training from single GPU to multi-node clusters with minimal code changes.
Installation:
Basic PyTorch training (single node):
That's it! Ray handles:
Original single-GPU code:
Ray Train version (scales to multi-GPU/multi-node):
Benefits: Same code runs on 1 GPU or 1000 GPUs
Result: Distributed hyperparameter search across cluster
Launch Ray cluster:
Use Ray Train when:
Key advantages:
Use alternatives instead:
Issue: Ray cluster not connecting
Check ray status:
If not connected:
Issue: Out of memory
Reduce workers or use gradient accumulation:
Issue: Slow training
Check if data loading is bottleneck:
If data loading is slow, increase workers:
Multi-node setup: See references/multi-node.md for Ray cluster deployment on AWS, GCP, Kubernetes, and SLURM.
Hyperparameter tuning: See references/hyperparameter-tuning.md for Ray Tune integration, search algorithms (Optuna, HyperOpt), and population-based training.
Custom training loops: See references/custom-loops.md for advanced Ray Train usage, custom backends, and integration with other frameworks.
Supported accelerators:
model = MyModel().cuda()
optimizer = torch.optim.Adam(model.parameters())
for epoch in range(epochs):
for batch in dataloader:
loss = model(batch)
loss.backward()
optimizer.step()from ray.train.torch import TorchTrainer
from ray import train
def train_func(config):
model = MyModel()
optimizer = torch.optim.Adam(model.parameters())
# Prepare for distributed (automatic device placement)
model = train.torch.prepare_model(model)
dataloader = train.torch.prepare_data_loader(dataloader)
for epoch in range(epochs):
for batch in dataloader:
loss = model(batch)
loss.backward()
optimizer.step()
# Report metrics
train.report({"loss": loss.item()})
# Scale to 8 GPUs
trainer = TorchTrainer(
train_func,
scaling_config=ScalingConfig(num_workers=8, use_gpu=True)
)
trainer.fit()from ray.train.huggingface import TransformersTrainer
from transformers import AutoModelForCausalLM, AutoTokenizer, TrainingArguments
def train_func(config):
# Load model and tokenizer
model = AutoModelForCausalLM.from_pretrained("gpt2")
tokenizer = AutoTokenizer.from_pretrained("gpt2")
# Training arguments (HuggingFace API)
training_args = TrainingArguments(
output_dir="./output",
num_train_epochs=3,
per_device_train_batch_size=8,
learning_rate=2e-5,
)
# Ray automatically handles distributed training
from transformers import Trainer
trainer = Trainer(
model=model,
args=training_args,
train_dataset=train_dataset,
)
trainer.train()
# Scale to multi-node (2 nodes × 8 GPUs = 16 workers)
trainer = TransformersTrainer(
train_func,
scaling_config=ScalingConfig(
num_workers=16,
use_gpu=True,
resources_per_worker={"GPU": 1}
)
)
result = trainer.fit()from ray import tune
from ray.train.torch import TorchTrainer
from ray.tune.schedulers import ASHAScheduler
def train_func(config):
# Use hyperparameters from config
lr = config["lr"]
batch_size = config["batch_size"]
model = MyModel()
optimizer = torch.optim.Adam(model.parameters(), lr=lr)
model = train.torch.prepare_model(model)
for epoch in range(10):
# Training loop
loss = train_epoch(model, optimizer, batch_size)
train.report({"loss": loss, "epoch": epoch})
# Define search space
param_space = {
"lr": tune.loguniform(1e-5, 1e-2),
"batch_size": tune.choice([16, 32, 64, 128])
}
# Run 20 trials with early stopping
tuner = tune.Tuner(
TorchTrainer(
train_func,
scaling_config=ScalingConfig(num_workers=4, use_gpu=True)
),
param_space=param_space,
tune_config=tune.TuneConfig(
num_samples=20,
scheduler=ASHAScheduler(metric="loss", mode="min")
)
)
results = tuner.fit()
best = results.get_best_result(metric="loss", mode="min")
print(f"Best hyperparameters: {best.config}")from ray import train
from ray.train import Checkpoint
def train_func(config):
model = MyModel()
optimizer = torch.optim.Adam(model.parameters())
# Try to resume from checkpoint
checkpoint = train.get_checkpoint()
if checkpoint:
with checkpoint.as_directory() as checkpoint_dir:
state = torch.load(f"{checkpoint_dir}/model.pt")
model.load_state_dict(state["model"])
optimizer.load_state_dict(state["optimizer"])
start_epoch = state["epoch"]
else:
start_epoch = 0
model = train.torch.prepare_model(model)
for epoch in range(start_epoch, 100):
loss = train_epoch(model, optimizer)
# Save checkpoint every 10 epochs
if epoch % 10 == 0:
checkpoint = Checkpoint.from_directory(
train.get_context().get_trial_dir()
)
torch.save({
"model": model.state_dict(),
"optimizer": optimizer.state_dict(),
"epoch": epoch
}, checkpoint.path / "model.pt")
train.report({"loss": loss}, checkpoint=checkpoint)
trainer = TorchTrainer(
train_func,
scaling_config=ScalingConfig(num_workers=8, use_gpu=True)
)
# Automatically resumes from checkpoint if training fails
result = trainer.fit()from ray.train import ScalingConfig
# Connect to Ray cluster
ray.init(address="auto") # Or ray.init("ray://head-node:10001")
# Train across 4 nodes × 8 GPUs = 32 workers
trainer = TorchTrainer(
train_func,
scaling_config=ScalingConfig(
num_workers=32,
use_gpu=True,
resources_per_worker={"GPU": 1, "CPU": 4},
placement_strategy="SPREAD" # Spread across nodes
)
)
result = trainer.fit()# On head node
ray start --head --port=6379
# On worker nodes
ray start --address=<head-node-ip>:6379ray status
# Should show:
# - Nodes: 4
# - GPUs: 32
# - Workers: Ready# Restart head node
ray stop
ray start --head --port=6379 --dashboard-host=0.0.0.0
# Restart worker nodes
ray stop
ray start --address=<head-ip>:6379scaling_config=ScalingConfig(
num_workers=4, # Reduce from 8
use_gpu=True
)
# In train_func, accumulate gradients
for i, batch in enumerate(dataloader):
loss = model(batch) / accumulation_steps
loss.backward()
if (i + 1) % accumulation_steps == 0:
optimizer.step()
optimizer.zero_grad()import time
def train_func(config):
for epoch in range(epochs):
start = time.time()
for batch in dataloader:
data_time = time.time() - start
# Train...
start = time.time()
print(f"Data loading: {data_time:.3f}s")dataloader = DataLoader(dataset, num_workers=8)