gpumesh
Borrow your friends' GPUs. A distributed compute mesh that lets you share GPU power across machines on your network — with one decorator, one CLI command, or a Python API.
╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ gpumesh - GPU Mesh Network ║
║ "like Bluetooth, but for your GPUs" ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
┌─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ┐
│ NETWORK TRAFFIC FLOW │
│ │
│ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ │
│ │ RTX 4090 │◄───►│ RTX 3080 │ │
│ │ Server │ │ Laptop │ │
│ │120.5 G/s │ │ 85.2 G/s │ │
│ └────┬─────┘ └────┬─────┘ │
│ │ │ │
│ ┌────▼────────────────▼─────┐ │
│ │ T4 (12.0) │ │
│ │ running tasks │ │
│ └───────────────────────────┘ │
│ │
│ >>> results collected automatically │
└─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ┘
What is gpumesh?
gpumesh turns multiple machines into a single, unified compute pool. Start a coordinator on one machine, join workers from other machines (laptops, desktops, servers — anything with Python), and run code across all of them as if they were one device.
Use cases:
- Hyperparameter search across multiple GPUs
- Data preprocessing sharded across machines
- Model training on a pool of consumer GPUs
- Any embarrassingly parallel workload
Key features
| Feature | What it does |
|---|---|
@mesh / @accelerate decorators |
Mark a function and it runs on the pool — no job system, no ceremony |
.map() |
Spread one call across every connected machine at once |
| Smart routing | Single calls run on the best local device; batch calls spread across the mesh |
| Graceful fallback | Mesh unreachable? Your code silently runs locally — it never breaks |
| Fault tolerance | Workers survive sleep, WiFi drops, and coordinator restarts; dead workers' tasks are re-queued |
| Benchmark scoring | Every worker gets a 0–100 compute score; the scheduler routes work to the strongest hardware |
| Memory-aware scheduling | VRAM is tracked; tasks with memory hints go to workers with enough free memory |
| Live radar | gpumesh radar discovers nearby devices on your network — no config needed |
| Isolated execution | Every task runs in its own subprocess; a crashing task can't take down a worker |
| Token security | All API calls require a token; rate-limited, timing-safe verification |
| Jupyter support | %%mesh cell magic wraps every function in a cell automatically |
Quick demo
from gpumesh import GPUMesh, accelerate
mesh = GPUMesh("http://coordinator:8000", token="mysecret")
@accelerate(mesh)
def train(lr, epochs):
return {"accuracy": 0.95}
result = train(lr=0.01, epochs=100) # best local device
results = train.map([ # all mesh devices
{"lr": 0.01, "epochs": 100},
{"lr": 0.05, "epochs": 200},
])
Installation
pip install gpumesh
pip install gpumesh[gpu] # GPU detection + CUDA benchmarks
pip install gpumesh[tunnel] # ngrok for public URLs
pip install gpumesh[sysinfo] # System info (psutil)
pip install gpumesh[notebook] # DataFrame support (pandas)
pip install gpumesh[ui] # Setup wizard (rich + questionary)
pip install gpumesh[all] # Everything above
Requires: Python 3.9+, cloudpickle (auto-installed). PyTorch is optional (needed for GPU detection).
Quick start
1. Start a coordinator (one machine)
gpumesh serve --port 8000 --token mysecret
Your own machine automatically joins the pool — your CPU/GPU is used alongside any laptops that connect. No extra setup needed.
Windows: run
gpumesh serveas Administrator so the firewall rules are added automatically.
Prefer a guided wizard? Run gpumesh setup.
2. Join a worker (another machine)
gpumesh join http://coordinator-ip:8000 --token mysecret
gpumesh quickjoin http://coordinator-ip:8000 --token mysecret # one-click: detect GPU + join
Workers never die — they survive laptop sleep, WiFi drops, and coordinator restarts, and automatically reconnect when the coordinator comes back.
3. Code normally
This is the entire point. Once a worker is connected, every machine sees the same pool. Write normal Python and mark the heavy functions:
from gpumesh import mesh # auto-connects from saved config
@mesh
def train(lr, epochs):
return {"accuracy": 0.95}
# Single call — runs on your machine's CPU/GPU
result = train(lr=0.01, epochs=100)
# .map() — spreads across EVERY connected laptop + your machine
results = train.map([{"lr": 0.01}, {"lr": 0.05}, {"lr": 0.1}])
Works in VS Code, Jupyter, PyCharm, or a plain terminal. No job submission, no CLI commands, no ceremony.
Jupyter notebooks
%load_ext gpumesh
%%mesh
def preprocess(chunk_id, rows):
return {"chunk": chunk_id, "rows": rows * rows}
results = preprocess.map([{"chunk_id": i, "rows": 100 + i} for i in range(6)])
Like %%time, the cell's own output displays normally — the %%mesh magic just wraps every function in the cell with @mesh. Also available: %mesh_devices, %mesh_status, and %mesh_connect URL TOKEN.
CLI reference
Server & connection
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
gpumesh setup |
Interactive setup wizard (coordinator or worker) |
gpumesh serve |
Start the coordinator (--port, --token, --public, --tailscale, --no-discovery, --safe-mode, --no-self-worker) |
gpumesh join URL |
Join a mesh as a worker (--token, --timeout, --safe-mode) |
gpumesh quickjoin [URL] |
One-click: install, detect GPU, join (--token, --tailscale, --safe-mode) |
gpumesh worker |
Broadcast presence and wait to be claimed (--token, --claim-port) |
gpumesh radar |
Scan for nearby devices (live radar; `--mode coordinator |
gpumesh show-connection |
Show the saved URL + token |
gpumesh disconnect |
Clear the saved connection |
Jobs
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
gpumesh submit SCRIPT --payloads FILE |
Submit a script job (--wait blocks until done, --wait-timeout) |
gpumesh status JOB_ID |
Show job progress and results |
gpumesh cancel JOB_ID |
Cancel a running job |
gpumesh retry JOB_ID |
Re-queue failed/timed-out tasks |
gpumesh kill [--force] |
Kill all tasks (graceful or immediate) |
Monitoring
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
gpumesh workers |
List connected workers and their status |
gpumesh devices |
Show all GPUs/CPUs as one unified pool |
All commands accept --url URL --token TOKEN, or use the connection saved by join/serve, or the GPUMESH_URL / GPUMESH_TOKEN environment variables.
Python API
from gpumesh import GPUMesh
mesh = GPUMesh("http://coordinator:8000", token="mysecret")
Distribute a function
results = mesh.distribute(
function=train_model,
params=[{"lr": 0.01, "epochs": 100}, {"lr": 0.05, "epochs": 200}],
timeout=600,
)
Inspect the pool
workers = mesh.workers() # [{'id', 'device', 'device_name', 'hostname', 'score', 'alive'}]
devices = mesh.devices() # unified pool view
count = mesh.device_count() # total alive GPUs
total = mesh.total_score() # combined compute score
best = mesh.auto_device() # most powerful alive device
Job management
job_id = mesh.submit(name="preprocess", script="process.py",
payloads=[{"file": "data.csv"}])
status = mesh.status(job_id)
df = mesh.results_to_dataframe(results) # requires pandas
From Python, non-blocking
GPUMesh.start_coordinator(port=8000, token="mysecret")
GPUMesh.add_worker("http://coordinator:8000", token="mysecret")
@accelerate patterns
from gpumesh import GPUMesh, accelerate
mesh = GPUMesh("http://coordinator:8000", token="mysecret")
# Basic
@accelerate(mesh)
def preprocess(chunk_id, data_path):
import pandas as pd
df = pd.read_parquet(data_path)
return {"chunk": chunk_id, "rows": len(df)}
# Hardware selection — only run on an A100
@accelerate(mesh, gpu="A100")
def train(model):
return model.cuda().forward(x)
# Resource specs
@accelerate(mesh, cores=8, memory="16GB", timeout=300)
def heavy_computation(data):
return processed
# Batch: spread across every device
results = train.map([{"lr": 0.01}, {"lr": 0.05}])
# Bind to a specific device
gpu_predict = predict.to("cuda")
result = gpu_predict(x)
# Global install — @accelerate with no arguments
accelerate.install(mesh)
@accelerate
def train(lr, epochs):
return {"accuracy": 0.95}
Smart routing
| Scenario | What happens |
|---|---|
func(x) |
Runs on the best LOCAL device (CPU/GPU) |
func.map([...]) |
Spreads across ALL mesh devices |
| Mesh unreachable | Falls back to LOCAL execution silently |
GPUMESH_LOCAL=1 |
Forces local-only (no mesh) |
GPUMESH_VERBOSE=1 |
Prints which device handled each task |
Docker
A prebuilt image is available on Docker Hub (samurai007ak/gpumesh):
# Coordinator
docker run -d --name gpumesh-coordinator \
-p 8732:8732 -p 48900:48900/udp \
-e GPUMESH_TOKEN=mysecret \
samurai007ak/gpumesh:latest \
serve --port 8732 --token mysecret
# Worker
docker run -d --name gpumesh-worker \
-e GPUMESH_URL=http://coordinator-ip:8732 \
-e GPUMESH_TOKEN=mysecret \
samurai007ak/gpumesh:latest \
join http://coordinator-ip:8732 --token mysecret
Or use the included docker-compose.yaml for a coordinator + N workers with healthchecks:
GPUMESH_TOKEN=mysecret docker-compose up -d
docker-compose up -d --scale worker=4 # scale workers
Ports: 8732 (TCP API) and 48900/udp (LAN discovery).
Network options
| Method | Setup | Best for | Encrypted |
|---|---|---|---|
| LAN | None | Same Wi-Fi, fastest | No |
| Tailscale | Install Tailscale | Remote teams | Yes |
| ngrok | pip install gpumesh[tunnel] |
Public access, demos | Yes |
- LAN (default): workers discover the coordinator automatically via UDP broadcast.
gpumesh serve+gpumesh join http://192.168.1.10:8000 --token mysecret. - Tailscale:
gpumesh serve --port 8000 --tailscale, then join via the Tailscale IP. - ngrok:
gpumesh serve --port 8000 --publicprints a publichttps://...URL that workers anywhere can join.
Architecture
COORDINATOR
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ │
│ │ Job Queue │ │ Task DB │ │ Worker │ │
│ │ (memory) │ │ (SQLite) │ │ Registry │ │
│ └────┬─────┘ └──────────┘ └──────┬───────┘ │
│ │ │ │
│ └──────────┬───────────────────┘ │
│ │ │
│ HTTP API :8000 │
└──────────────────┼──────────────────────────────┘
│
┌────────────┼────────────┐
│ │ │
┌─────▼────┐ ┌────▼────┐ ┌────▼────┐
│ Worker 1 │ │Worker 2 │ │Worker 3 │
│ RTX 4090 │ │RTX 3080 │ │ T4 │
│Score: 120│ │Score: 85│ │Score: 12│
└──────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘
│ │ │
└────────────┼────────────┘
│
┌──────▼──────┐
│ Results │
│ Collected │
└─────────────┘
JOB FLOW: Submit ─► Queue ─► Claim ─► Execute ─► Report ─► Collect
How it works: jobs are stored in SQLite, workers pull tasks over HTTP with a lease (so a crashed worker's task is automatically re-queued), run each task in an isolated subprocess, and post results back. Workers are scored by a benchmark and the scheduler assigns heavier tasks to stronger workers.
Security
| Feature | Status |
|---|---|
| Token authentication | All API requests |
| Timing-safe comparison | HMAC compare_digest |
| Rate limiting | 5 failures -> blocked |
| Process isolation | Tasks in subprocesses |
| File permissions | 0o600 on token files |
| Token hashing | SHA-256 + salt |
Workers execute code from the coordinator. Only share your URL and token with people you trust. gpumesh is designed for trusted networks (home labs, team clusters).
Benchmark scoring
Each worker runs a benchmark on join and gets a 0–100 score:
| Score | Typical hardware | Use case |
|---|---|---|
| 80–100 | RTX 4090, A100 | Heavy training, large models |
| 50–80 | RTX 3080, 3090 | Medium training, inference |
| 20–50 | RTX 3060, T4 | Light tasks, preprocessing |
| 0–20 | CPU only | Very light tasks |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
command not found: gpumesh |
Use python -m gpumesh or check your PATH |
401 bad token |
Use the same token on coordinator and worker |
| Coordinator unreachable | Check firewall; is the coordinator running? |
| Task timed out | Increase --timeout or split tasks |
| Windows connection error | Run gpumesh serve as Administrator for firewall rules |
| Worker not showing up | Both on the same network? Try gpumesh radar |
ModuleNotFoundError: torch |
pip install gpumesh[gpu] |
| UDP broadcast not working | Use gpumesh join URL directly |
Verbose logging: GPUMESH_VERBOSE=1 gpumesh serve — force local-only: GPUMESH_LOCAL=1 python my_script.py
Development
git clone https://github.com/Samurai007AK/gpumesh.git
cd gpumesh
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest # 565 tests
python -m build # build wheel + sdist
Limitations
- Python only — tasks must be Python functions or scripts
- No GPU memory sharing — each task gets its own process
- No model sharding — each task runs on one machine at a time
- Single coordinator — single point of failure (use Tailscale for reliability)
- No built-in encryption — use Tailscale for encrypted tunnels
License
MIT License. See LICENSE for details.
Release files for gpumesh 1.1.0
For a detailed explanation of source distributions (sdists) and built distributions (wheels), please see the package formats documentation.
Source distribution (sdist)
| File | Size | Uploaded | |
|---|---|---|---|
| gpumesh-1.1.0.tar.gz | 158.1 kB | Details |
Built distribution (wheel)
| File | Interpreter | ABI | Platform | Reset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| gpumesh-1.1.0-py3-none-any.whl | Python 3 | none | any | Details |
Total release size: 259.5 kB
Release files / gpumesh-1.1.0.tar.gz
| Download URL | gpumesh-1.1.0.tar.gz |
|---|---|
| Size | 158.1 kB |
| Tags | Source |
|
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Release files / gpumesh-1.1.0-py3-none-any.whl
| Download URL | gpumesh-1.1.0-py3-none-any.whl |
|---|---|
| Size | 101.5 kB |
| Tags | Python 3 |
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