/mle-workflow

name: mle-workflow
description: Production machine-learning engineering workflow for data contracts, reproducible training, model evaluation, deployment, monitoring, and rollback. Use when building, reviewing, or hardening ML systems beyond one-off notebooks.
license: MIT
metadata:
  origin: ECC

Machine Learning Engineering Workflow

Use this skill to turn model work into a production ML system with clear data contracts, repeatable training, measurable quality gates, deployable artifacts, and operational monitoring.

When to Activate

• Planning or reviewing a production ML feature, model refresh, ranking system, recommender, classifier, embedding workflow, or forecasting pipeline
• Converting notebook code into a reusable training, evaluation, batch inference, or online inference pipeline
• Designing model promotion criteria, offline/online evals, experiment tracking, or rollback paths
• Debugging failures caused by data drift, label leakage, stale features, artifact mismatch, or inconsistent training and serving logic
• Adding model monitoring, canary rollout, shadow traffic, or post-deploy quality checks

Scope Calibration

Use only the lanes that fit the system in front of you. This skill is useful for ranking, search, recommendations, classifiers, forecasting, embeddings, LLM workflows, anomaly detection, and batch analytics, but it should not force one architecture onto all of them.

• Do not assume every model has supervised labels, online serving, a feature store, PyTorch, GPUs, human review, A/B tests, or real-time feedback.
• Do not add heavyweight MLOps machinery when a data contract, baseline, eval script, and rollback note would make the change reviewable.
• Do make assumptions explicit when the project lacks labels, delayed outcomes, slice definitions, production traffic, or monitoring ownership.
• Treat examples as interchangeable scaffolds. Replace metrics, serving mode, data stores, and rollout mechanics with the project-native equivalents.

Related Skills

• `python-patterns` and `python-testing` for Python implementation and pytest coverage
• `pytorch-patterns` for deep learning models, data loaders, device handling, and training loops
• `eval-harness` and `ai-regression-testing` for promotion gates and agent-assisted regression checks
• `database-migrations`, `postgres-patterns`, and `clickhouse-io` for data storage and analytics surfaces
• `deployment-patterns`, `docker-patterns`, and `security-review` for serving, secrets, containers, and production hardening

Reuse the SWE Surface

Do not treat MLE as separate from software engineering. Most ECC SWE workflows apply directly to ML systems, often with stricter failure modes:

The recommended `minimal --with capability:machine-learning` install keeps the core agent surface available alongside this skill. For skill-only or agent-limited harnesses, pair `skill:mle-workflow` with `agent:mle-reviewer` where the target supports agents.

| SWE surface | MLE use | |-------------|---------| | `product-capability` / `architecture-decision-records` | Turn model work into explicit product contracts and record irreversible data, model, and rollout choices | | `repo-scan` / `codebase-onboarding` / `code-tour` | Find existing training, feature, serving, eval, and monitoring paths before introducing a parallel ML stack | | `plan` / `feature-dev` | Scope model changes as product capabilities with data, eval, serving, and rollback phases | | `tdd-workflow` / `python-testing` | Test feature transforms, split logic, metric calculations, artifact loading, and inference schemas before implementation | | `code-reviewer` / `mle-reviewer` | Review code quality plus ML-specific leakage, reproducibility, promotion, and monitoring risks | | `build-fix` / `pr-test-analyzer` | Diagnose broken CI, flaky evals, missing fixtures, and environment-specific model or dependency failures | | `quality-gate` / `test-coverage` | Require automated evidence for transforms, metrics, inference contracts, promotion gates, and rollback behavior | | `eval-harness` / `verification-loop` | Turn offline metrics, slice checks, latency budgets, and rollback drills into repeatable gates | | `ai-regression-testing` | Preserve every production bug as a regression: missing feature, stale label, bad artifact, schema drift, or serving mismatch | | `api-design` / `backend-patterns` | Design prediction APIs, batch jobs, idempotent retraining endpoints, and response envelopes | | `database-migrations` / `postgres-patterns` / `clickhouse-io` | Version labels, feature snapshots, prediction logs, experiment metrics, and drift analytics | | `deployment-patterns` / `docker-patterns` | Package reproducible training and serving images with health checks, resource limits, and rollback | | `canary-watch` / `dashboard-builder` | Make rollout health visible with model-version, slice, drift, latency, cost, and delayed-label dashboards | | `security-review` / `security-scan` | Check model artifacts, notebooks, prompts, datasets, and logs for secrets, PII, unsafe deserialization, and supply-chain risk | | `e2e-testing` / `browser-qa` / `accessibility` | Test critical product flows that consume predictions, including explainability and fallback UI states | | `benchmark` / `performance-optimizer` | Measure throughput, p95 latency, memory, GPU utilization, and cost per prediction or retrain | | `cost-aware-llm-pipeline` / `token-budget-advisor` | Route LLM/embedding workloads by quality, latency, and budget instead of defaulting to the largest model | | `documentation-lookup` / `search-first` | Verify current library behavior for model serving, feature stores, vector DBs, and eval tooling before coding | | `git-workflow` / `github-ops` / `opensource-pipeline` | Package MLE changes for review with crisp scope, generated artifacts excluded, and reproducible test evidence | | `strategic-compact` / `dmux-workflows` | Split long ML work into parallel tracks: data contract, eva