/skypilot

name: skypilot
description: "Use when launching cloud VMs, Kubernetes pods, or Slurm jobs for GPU/TPU/CPU workloads, training or fine-tuning models on cloud GPUs, deploying inference servers (vllm, TGI, etc.) with autoscaling, writing or debugging SkyPilot task YAML files, using spot/preemptible instances for cost savings, comparing GPU prices across clouds, managing compute across 25+ clouds, Kubernetes, Slurm, and on-prem clusters with failover between them, troubleshooting resource availability or SkyPilot errors, optimizing cost and GPU availability, or migrating an existing Slurm workload (converting sbatch scripts, salloc sessions, job arrays or srun invocations into SkyPilot task YAMLs, and mapping Slurm commands, directives and SLURM_* environment variables to their SkyPilot equivalents)."

SkyPilot Skill

SkyPilot is a unified framework to run AI workloads on any cloud, Slurm or Kubernetes. It provides a single interface to launch clusters, run jobs, and serve models across 25+ clouds (AWS, GCP, Azure, Coreweave, Nebius, Lambda, Together AI, RunPod, and more), Kubernetes clusters, and Slurm clusters.

When to Use SkyPilot

**Use SkyPilot when you need to:**

• Manage compute resources on any cloud, Slurm, or Kubernetes cluster
• Launch CPU/GPU/TPU (GB300, GB200, B200, H200, H100, etc.) on any cloud, Kubernetes or Slurm
• Run training, fine-tuning, or batch inference jobs
• Serve models with autoscaling and multi-cloud replicas (SkyServe)
• Run long-running jobs with automatic lifecycle management and recovery (managed jobs)
• Find the cheapest or most available GPU across clouds

**Don't use SkyPilot for:**

• Local-only workloads (use Docker/conda directly)

Capabilities: When to Use What

SkyPilot has three core abstractions. Use the right one for each stage of your workflow:

**1. SkyPilot Clusters** (`sky launch` / `sky exec`) — Interactive development and debugging

• Use during initial development, debugging, and experimentation
• Launch a cluster, SSH in or connect VSCode/Cursor (`code --remote ssh-remote+CLUSTER`), iterate quickly
• Cluster stays up until you stop/down it or autostop triggers
• Best for: prototyping, debugging, short experiments

**2. Managed Jobs** (`sky jobs launch`) — Long-running training and batch jobs

• Use when submitting long-running jobs that should run unattended
• Manages the full lifecycle: provisioning, execution, recovery, and teardown
• Automatically recovers from spot preemptions, quota limits, and transient failures
• Works across clouds, Kubernetes, and Slurm (handles preemptions and quota)
• Best for: training runs, fine-tuning, hyperparameter sweeps, batch inference

**3. SkyServe** (`sky serve up`) — Production model serving

• Use when serving models at scale with autoscaling
• Start with `sky launch` + open port to test your serving setup, then use `sky serve up` to scale
• Provides load balancing, autoscaling, and multi-cloud replicas
• Best for: model serving endpoints, API services

Before You Start (Agent Bootstrap)

Bootstrap to confirm SkyPilot is installed, connected to an API server, and has cloud credentials. Once confirmed, skip straight to the user's task.

**Step 1: Check installation and API server connectivity**

sky api info

| Output contains | Meaning | Next action | |-----------------|---------|-------------| | Server version and status | Server is running and connected | **Bootstrap done.** Skip to user's task. | | `No SkyPilot API server is connected` | No server connected | Go to "Start or connect a server" below. | | `Could not connect to SkyPilot API server` | Remote server unreachable or auth expired | Tell the user and suggest `sky api login --relogin -e <endpoint>` to reconnect. | | `command not found: sky` | SkyPilot not installed | Go to "Install SkyPilot" below. |

**Install SkyPilot** (only if `sky` command not found):

pip install "skypilot[aws,gcp,kubernetes]"  # Pick clouds the user needs

Ask the user which clouds they need if unclear, then re-run `sky api info`.

**Start or connect a server** (only if "not running"):

Ask the user: > Do you have an existing SkyPilot API server to connect to, or should I start one locally?

• **Connect to existing server:** `sky api login -e <API_SERVER_URL>` — get the URL from the user.
• **Start locally:** `sky api start`

After either path, re-run `sky api info` to confirm the server is reachable.

**Step 2: Check cloud credentials** (only for fresh setups — skip if the server was already running)

sky check -o json

This shows which clouds are enabled or disabled. If the user's target cloud is not enabled, guide them through credential setup (see [Troubleshooting](references/troubleshooting.md#1-installation-and-credentials)).

Essential Commands

Use `-o json` with status/query commands to get structured JSON output instead of tables.

**Clusters** — interactive development and debugging:

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | `sky launch -c NAME task.yaml` | Launch a cluster or run a task | | `sky exec NAME task.yaml` | Run task on existing cluster (skips provisioning); syncs workdir each time | | `sky exec NAME task.yaml -d` | Same, but detach immediately (don't stream logs) | | `sky status -o json` | Show all clusters | | `sky logs NAME` | Stream job logs from a cluster | | `sky logs NAME --no-follow` | Print existing logs and exit immediately | | `sky logs NAME --tail 50` | Print last 50 lines of logs and exit | | `sky logs NAME --status` | Exit with code 0=succeeded, 100=failed, 101=not finished, 102=not found, 103=cancelled | | `sky queue NAME -o json` | List jobs on a cluster with status (structured JSON) | | `sky stop NAME` / `sky start NAME` | Stop/restart to save costs (preserves disk) | | `sky down NAME` | Tear down a cluster completely | | `sky gpus list -o json` | List available GPU types across clouds |

**Managed Jobs** — long-running unattended workloads:

| Command | Description