Agent Skill · NVIDIA NIM

tao-train-reid

Person re-identification (ReID). Learns discriminative embeddings to match the same person across different camera views, based on metric learning. Use when training, evaluating, exporting, or running inference for a TAO person re-identification model. Trigger phrases include "train ReID", "person re-identification", "cross-camera person matching", "ReID embeddings", "person re-id".

Provider: NVIDIA NIM Path in repo: skills/tao-train-reid/SKILL.md

Skill body

Re-Identification

Person re-identification. Learns discriminative embeddings to match the same person across different camera views. Metric learning based.

Set model.pretrained_model_path for pretrained weights.

Dataclass Schemas

Generated TAO Core schemas are packaged in schemas/<action>.schema.json, with schemas/manifest.json listing available actions. Each generated schema also emits references/spec_template_<action>.yaml from the schema top-level default field. AutoML enablement is declared at the model layer in references/skill_info.yaml via automl_enabled. Runnable AutoML still requires schemas/train.schema.json and references/spec_template_train.yaml to exist and parse. Use the packaged train schema for automl_default_parameters, automl_disabled_parameters, defaults, min/max bounds, enums, option weights, math conditions, dependencies, and popular parameters. Do not expect ~/tao-core at runtime; maintainers regenerate schemas/templates before packaging the skill bank.

Train Action Policy

This model is AutoML-enabled at the model layer. Before handling any train-stage request, read references/skill_info.yaml and resolve the run override from either an explicit automl_policy value or the user’s workflow request. Use automl_policy: on by default and only expose on / off in new launch prompts. Treat phrases like “turn off AutoML”, “disable AutoML”, “no HPO”, or “plain training” as automl_policy: off for this run only. When automl_policy: on, automl_enabled: true, and both schemas/train.schema.json and references/spec_template_train.yaml are packaged, route the train action through tao-skill-bank:tao-run-automl by default with this model’s skill_dir. Preserve workflow/application overrides for datasets, specs, output directories, GPU/platform settings, parent checkpoints, and automl_policy. Use direct model training only when automl_policy: off or the packaged train schema/template is missing; in the missing-schema case, report that AutoML is enabled but not runnable for this model until schemas are generated.

Non-train actions such as evaluate, inference, export, and deploy flows stay in this model skill. The per-run automl_policy override does not change model metadata.

Supported Actions

The packaged Re-Identification PyT CLI supports train, evaluate, inference, export, and default_specs. This model skill exposes the runnable user actions train, evaluate, inference, and export; resume/retrain is performed through train with train.resume_training_checkpoint_path.

Do not advertise or synthesize dataset_convert, deploy, prune, quantize, gen_trt_engine, or standalone retrain for this model unless the packaged model skill and real CLI add those actions.

Training Requirements

Per-Action Dataset Requirements

Action Spec Key Source Files List?
evaluate evaluate.test_dataset train_datasets sample_test.tar.gz No
evaluate evaluate.query_dataset train_datasets sample_query.tar.gz No
inference inference.test_dataset train_datasets sample_test.tar.gz No
inference inference.query_dataset train_datasets sample_query.tar.gz No
train dataset.train_dataset_dir train_datasets sample_train.tar.gz No
train dataset.test_dataset_dir train_datasets sample_test.tar.gz No
train dataset.query_dataset_dir train_datasets sample_query.tar.gz No

Typical Spec Overrides

Data source overrides are mandatory for every action — the agent MUST construct data source paths from the Per-Action Dataset Requirements table above and include them in spec_overrides.

S3_TRAIN = "s3://bucket/data/train"
CHECKPOINT = "/results/{train_job_id}/results_dir/model_epoch_000_step_00099.pth"

train (mandatory data sources):

{
    "train.num_epochs": 30,
    "train.checkpoint_interval": 10,
    "train.validation_interval": 10,
    "train.num_gpus": 1,
    "dataset.num_classes": 100,
    "dataset.num_workers": 4,
    "dataset.batch_size": 16,
    "dataset.num_instances": 4,
    "dataset.train_dataset_dir": f"{S3_TRAIN}/sample_train.tar.gz",
    "dataset.test_dataset_dir": f"{S3_TRAIN}/sample_test.tar.gz",
    "dataset.query_dataset_dir": f"{S3_TRAIN}/sample_query.tar.gz",
}

resume train (mandatory checkpoint):

{
    "train.num_epochs": 31,
    "train.resume_training_checkpoint_path": CHECKPOINT,
    "dataset.num_classes": 100,
    "dataset.batch_size": 16,
    "dataset.num_instances": 4,
    "dataset.train_dataset_dir": f"{S3_TRAIN}/sample_train.tar.gz",
    "dataset.test_dataset_dir": f"{S3_TRAIN}/sample_test.tar.gz",
    "dataset.query_dataset_dir": f"{S3_TRAIN}/sample_query.tar.gz",
}

evaluate (mandatory data sources and checkpoint):

{
    "evaluate.test_dataset": f"{S3_TRAIN}/sample_test.tar.gz",
    "evaluate.query_dataset": f"{S3_TRAIN}/sample_query.tar.gz",
    "evaluate.checkpoint": CHECKPOINT,
    "evaluate.output_cmc_curve_plot": "/results/{evaluate_job_id}/results_dir/cmc_curve.png",
    "evaluate.output_sampled_matches_plot": "/results/{evaluate_job_id}/results_dir/sampled_matches.png",
}

export (mandatory checkpoint and output):

{
    "export.checkpoint": CHECKPOINT,
    "export.onnx_file": "/results/{export_job_id}/results_dir/reid.onnx",
}

inference (mandatory data sources and checkpoint):

{
    "inference.test_dataset": f"{S3_TRAIN}/sample_test.tar.gz",
    "inference.query_dataset": f"{S3_TRAIN}/sample_query.tar.gz",
    "inference.checkpoint": CHECKPOINT,
    "inference.output_file": "/results/{inference_job_id}/results_dir/reid_inference.json",
}

For export and inference, provide explicit file paths for export.onnx_file and inference.output_file. For evaluate, provide explicit file paths for evaluate.output_cmc_curve_plot and evaluate.output_sampled_matches_plot. Keep these as spec values or spec_params mappings; do not declare them as file outputs in skill_info.yaml for local Docker until the runner distinguishes files from folders during output pre-creation.

Eval Dataset

Required. Evaluation requires test and query datasets for retrieval-based metrics (CMC, mAP).

Important Parameters

Multi-GPU / Multi-Node

Launch method: Lightning-managed (single python process, Lightning spawns workers).

Spec Key Description Default
train.num_gpus Number of GPUs 1
train.gpu_ids GPU device indices [0]

Hardware

Minimum 1 GPU(s), recommended 2 GPU(s). 16GB+ VRAM per GPU. Re-ID models are relatively lightweight but benefit from large batch sizes for metric learning.

Error Patterns

num_classes mismatch: Ensure dataset.num_classes equals the number of unique identity folders in the training set.

Invalid triplet batch shape: dataset.batch_size must be compatible with dataset.num_instances so each mini-batch can be reshaped for hard-example mining. For local AutoML smoke runs, keep dataset.batch_size fixed to a known valid multiple such as 16 with dataset.num_instances: 4, and tune train.optim.base_lr instead of unconstrained batch size.

Query/gallery mismatch: Query and test (gallery) datasets must share the same identity namespace.

PyTorch 2.6 checkpoint load failure on checkpoint consumers: Current Re-ID checkpoints include OmegaConf containers. For checkpoints produced by the same trusted TAO train/AutoML workflow, set TORCH_FORCE_NO_WEIGHTS_ONLY_LOAD=1 in downstream resume, evaluate, inference, and export job env vars so Lightning/PyTorch can load the full checkpoint. Do not use this env var for untrusted checkpoints.

AutoML metric extraction: Re-ID train status files report retrieval KPIs such as cmc_rank_1, cmc_rank_5, cmc_rank_10, and mAP, plus train loss. Default AutoML train launches must optimize cmc_rank_1 with direction: maximize; do not use val_loss as the metric for this model.

Checkpoint handoff: Use the checkpoint resolver on the best AutoML child job’s results_dir/train/ folder and select the action-appropriate model_epoch_*.pth checkpoint. Re-ID also writes reid_model_latest.pth, but that is a latest symlink and should only be used when a caller explicitly requests latest. Preserve the same dataset identity count and query/gallery archives for downstream actions.

Default spec generation: The packaged default_specs CLI action does not consume the normal -e <spec.yaml> experiment file for results_dir. Invoke it with a Hydra override such as re_identification default_specs results_dir=/workspace/run/results/default_specs. Passing only -e leaves cfg.results_dir unset and fails with MissingMandatoryValue: results_dir.

Spec Param / Parent Model Inference

Model-specific inference mappings belong in this MD file, not in config.json. Generated runners should read this section and apply the mappings with SDK helpers before create_job(). This mirrors the old microservices infer_params.py flow.

Inference mappings from TAO Core re_identification.config.json:

Action Spec Field Inference Function Meaning
evaluate encryption_key key encryption key
evaluate evaluate.checkpoint parent_model model file inferred from the parent job results folder
evaluate evaluate.output_cmc_curve_plot create_evaluate_cmc_plot_reid ReID CMC plot path
evaluate evaluate.output_sampled_matches_plot create_evaluate_matches_plot_reid ReID sampled matches plot path
evaluate results_dir output_dir current job results directory
export encryption_key key encryption key
export export.checkpoint parent_model model file inferred from the parent job results folder
export export.onnx_file create_onnx_file output ONNX path
export results_dir output_dir current job results directory
inference encryption_key key encryption key
inference inference.checkpoint parent_model model file inferred from the parent job results folder
inference inference.output_file create_inference_result_file_reid ReID inference JSON path
inference results_dir output_dir current job results directory
train encryption_key key encryption key
train model.pretrained_model_path ptm_if_no_resume_model PTM when no resume checkpoint exists
train results_dir output_dir current job results directory
train train.resume_training_checkpoint_path resume_model model file inferred from the current job results folder

For parent_model or parent_model_folder, pass the upstream train/export/AutoML child job id as parent_job_id. The SDK lists the parent result folder, filters checkpoint artifacts, and returns the selected model file or folder. Do not add these mappings back to config.json and do not patch generated runner scripts to guess checkpoint paths.

Skill frontmatter

license: Apache-2.0 compatibility: Requires docker + nvidia-container-toolkit. metadata: {"version" => "0.1.0", "author" => "NVIDIA Corporation"} allowed-tools: Read Bash tags: reidentification