[Anakintano]

Issue

Closes #1581

Summary

Adds SkyPilot as a supported execution backend alongside the existing SLURM launcher.
Users add skypilot: to their YAML and run the same automodel finetune llm -c ... command
— no workflow changes, no new launcher to learn.

Supports all major clouds: AWS, GCP, Azure, Lambda, Kubernetes.
Automatic spot instance management (~80% cost savings).
Multi-node distributed training handled transparently.

User-Facing Change

skypilot:
  cloud: gcp            # aws | gcp | azure | lambda | kubernetes
  accelerators: T4:1    # GPU type:count per node
  use_spot: true        # ~80% cost reduction vs on-demand
  num_nodes: 1
  hf_token: ${HF_TOKEN}

Then run: automodel finetune llm -c config.yaml

Implementation

New files:

• nemo_automodel/components/launcher/skypilot/config.py — SkyPilotConfig dataclass with validation
• nemo_automodel/components/launcher/skypilot/utils.py — submit_skypilot_job(): builds sky.Task, configures resources, calls sky.launch()

Modified files:

• nemo_automodel/_cli/app.py — launch_with_skypilot() function and routing in main() (mirrors SLURM pattern)
• .gitignore — adds slurm_jobs/ and skypilot_jobs/

Docs & Examples:

• docs/launcher/skypilot.md — setup guide, config reference, cloud-specific examples
• examples/llm_finetune/llama3_2/llama3_2_1b_squad_skypilot.yaml — ready-to-run GCP example

Testing

37 new unit tests, zero regressions:

Test File	Count	Status
test_skypilot_config.py	12	✅ pass
test_skypilot_utils.py	15	✅ pass
test_skypilot_app.py	10	✅ pass

All sky calls are mocked — no cloud credentials needed for CI.

Design Notes

• Soft dependency: sky is imported lazily (only when SkyPilot backend is used). Users without SkyPilot installed won't see import errors.
• Backward compatible: No skypilot: key = existing behaviour unchanged.
• Follows existing patterns: Implementation mirrors the SLURM launcher (modular, optional, clean routing).

Next Steps

Ready for review and the cloud validation on SkyPilot infrastructure.

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[akoumpa]

Thanks a lot @Anakintano for knocking this one out so quickly. I'll trigger the CI today.

I also wanted to ask you if you know how to make something like https://github.com/skypilot-org/skypilot/blob/fa2fb208199465bd126e81466599fc2cfd0f4cb9/llm/nemorl/nemorl.sky.yaml#L27 to include automodel in the skypilot repo as well? Please let me know if you already know, otherwise I'll add it to my queue 😅

Thanks a lot again, this looks great!

[akoumpa]

/ok to test e407209

[jgerh]

Completed a tech pubs review, provided copyedits, converted procedure headings into steps, revised one heading title, and flagged use of horizontal lines for removal

[jgerh]

Delete horizontal line --- and close up blank lines

[jgerh]

Delete horizontal line --- and close up blank lines

[jgerh]

Delete horizontal line --- and close up blank lines

[jgerh]

Delete horizontal line --- and close up blank lines

[jgerh]

Delete horizontal line --- and close up blank lines

[akoumpa]

/ok to test 49af132

[romilbhardwaj]

Thanks a lot @Anakintano for knocking this one out so quickly. I'll trigger the CI today.

I also wanted to ask you if you know how to make something like https://github.com/skypilot-org/skypilot/blob/fa2fb208199465bd126e81466599fc2cfd0f4cb9/llm/nemorl/nemorl.sky.yaml#L27 to include automodel in the skypilot repo as well? Please let me know if you already know, otherwise I'll add it to my queue 😅

Thanks a lot again, this looks great!

We (SkyPilot) would love to welcome a PR adding a automodel example! :)

[akoumpa]

/ok to test 073a18d

[akoumpa]

Hi @romilbhardwaj, thank you for being open to contributions and for building Skypilot 🙇 I'll wait for @Anakintano 's response and proceed from there. Best to all.

[Anakintano]

Thanks for the offer! 😀 @akoumpa & @romilbhardwaj I'm definitely interested in adding the AutoModel
example to SkyPilot. Feel free to go ahead if it's urgent on your end,
otherwise I can handle it soon. Happy either way!

[akoumpa]

Awesome @Anakintano , please go ahead when you get the chance 🙇 thanks a lot for landing this and offering to add it to the Skypilot repo as well!

[akoumpa]

/ok to test bcc7dc4

[akoumpa]

/ok to test f099c42

[akoumpa]

/ok to test b47ed50