runplz 1.2.0

Tiny Modal-shaped job harness — one declaration, multiple backends (local Docker / Brev / Modal)

runplz

Tiny Modal-shaped job harness — one Python decoration, multiple backends.

from runplz import App, BrevConfig, Image

app = App("my-job", brev=BrevConfig(instance_type="g2-standard-4:nvidia-l4:1"))

image = (
    Image.from_registry("pytorch/pytorch:2.4.0-cuda12.1-cudnn9-runtime")
    .apt_install("rsync", "build-essential")
    .pip_install("pandas>=2.0", "scikit-learn")
    .pip_install_local_dir(".", editable=True)
)

@app.function(
    image=image,
    gpu="T4",
    min_cpu=4, min_memory=26, min_gpu_memory=16, min_disk=100,
    timeout=60 * 60,
)
def train():
    import subprocess
    subprocess.run(["bash", "scripts/train.sh"], check=True)

@app.local_entrypoint()
def main():
    train.remote()

Run on whichever backend you like:

runplz local  path/to/job.py
runplz brev   --instance my-box path/to/job.py
runplz modal  path/to/job.py

What it does

• User-facing API mirrors modal.Image + @app.function + .remote(). Learn it once; it works on all backends.
• Image DSL: from_registry(...) → apt_install(...) → pip_install(...) → pip_install_local_dir(...) → run_commands(...). Translates to Modal's Image chain, a synthesized Dockerfile, or inline install commands over ssh depending on the backend.
• Resource requests in GB: gpu="T4", min_cpu=4, min_memory=26, min_gpu_memory=16, min_disk=100. Forwarded directly to Modal; on Brev, drives brev search --gpu-name X --min-vcpu Y ... --sort price to pick the cheapest matching instance.
• Three backends:
  • local — docker build + docker run. Auto-detects NVIDIA runtime via docker info.
  • brev — brev create + rsync + ssh'd docker build/docker run OR inline install ("container mode"). Supports both mode="vm" and mode="container" on BrevConfig.
  • modal — generates a module-scope modal.App file and shells to modal run. Skips serialized=True so local/remote Python versions don't have to match.

Install

pip install runplz                 # core only (local + brev backends)
pip install 'runplz[modal]'        # add Modal support

The core dependency set is empty. Backends shell out to system CLIs:

• local → docker
• brev → brev, docker, ssh, rsync
• modal → modal>=1.1,<2 Python package

Design notes

• .remote() args must be JSON-serializable. No closures, no custom objects. Deliberate: it keeps the remote dispatch mechanism small and portable (env vars + a path to the user's script).
• Function bodies are imported by path, not installed. The in-container runplz._bootstrap reads RUNPLZ_SCRIPT/RUNPLZ_FUNCTION from env and imports the user's file with importlib.util.spec_from_file_location. So your job files can live anywhere in the repo and don't need to be a Python package.
• Backend-agnostic output convention. Write to $RUNPLZ_OUT inside the container; the runner collects that directory back to ./out/ on the host.

Common gotchas

• Brev GPU + docker --gpus all has been flaky in the past (see docs/brev-notes.md). If a run stalls, try BrevConfig(mode="container", ...) — that path bypasses Brev's VM docker runtime entirely.
• Modal function return values max at ~256 MB. runplz's modal backend tar-returns /out; if your run writes more than that you'll hit the cap. (TODO: switch to modal.Volume.)

Example

See examples/simple_job.py for the smallest working thing.

Tests

pytest tests/

25 offline tests — DSL rendering, BrevConfig validation, Modal → Brev GPU label translation, instance picker with mocked subprocess, CLI guards.

License

Apache 2.0 — see LICENSE.