Creating Auto Pilot Templates¶

An Auto Pilot template is a JSON file that describes a sequence of optimization steps.

Each template starts with a root object named "cookbook", followed by a "recipe" step. Each recipe step describes the recipe type, build flow properties, as well as criteria for selecting the next step. All templates must be placed in the folder <user_home>/.plunify/auto_pilot_templates/.

Below is an example.

{
  "cookbook": [
    {
      "id": "1",
      "name": "InTime Default",
      "recipe_name": "intime_default",
      "flow": {
        "run_target": "local",
        "strategy_max_runtime": "12",
        "runs_per_round": "5",
        "rounds": "1",
        "concurrent_runs": "1",
        "goal": "speed_tns",
        "goal_based_target": "0",
        "control_stop_when_goal_met": "false"
      },
      "decisions": [
        {
          "next_recipe_id": "3",
          "criteria": "TNS < -79.72"
        },
        {
          "next_recipe_id": "2",
          "criteria": "WNS < -0.27"
        },
      ],
      "max_same_recipe_attempts": "99",
      "max_retry_if_fail": "10"
    },
    ...
    ...
  }
  ],
  "recipe_start_id": "1"
}

Key Components¶

There are 3 parts to each recipe step.

1. Basic descriptors such as recipe ID, name and number of retries.
2. Flow properties which describes the maximum runtime, rounds, goals etc, of the recipe.
3. Decisions are how Auto Pilot determines the next recipe to execute, based on user-defined criteria.

Basic Descriptors¶

Flow Properties¶

Auto Pilot supports a subset of InTime flow properties. Refer to the flow properties page for a full property description.

Decisions¶

Auto Pilot automatically jumps to different recipe steps based on the criteria.

next_recipe_id
Specify the next recipe step to execute. "ID" and "step" must be defined as well.

Criteria
Specify the criteria and comparison operators.

For example, the snippet below says that if the TNS of this round is less than -80ns, then jump to recipe ID 3.

"decisions": [
{
  "next_recipe_id": "3",
  "criteria": "TNS < -80"
},

Supported Criteria:

Supported Comparison Operators:

Rules¶

1. Each template has a mandatory field called "recipe_start_id", which tells InTime which recipe step to start first.

2. If there are multiple rounds in a single recipe step, it will complete the rounds before evaluating a decision/criteria.

3. In the event where no decision is specified, Auto pilot will select the next available recipe step in the queue. (If a recipe step does not have a "decisions" section, Auto Pilot will terminate after the recipe step is completed.)

4. If there are multiple criteria, for each criteria that is met, the corresponding recipe step is inserted into a FIFO queue.

5. If multiple criteria are met, Auto Pilot will prioritize other recipe steps if a recipe step has been executed previously.

6. In the event that the current round's results are not better than that of the parent round, Auto Pilot will use the parent round's best result as the parent revision.

Built-in Templates¶

Several templates are included to get you started quickly, and are automatically copied to <user home>/.plunify/auto_pilot_templates/ when you launch InTime.

Naming convention: <template number>_<toolchain name>_<1st recipe>_..._<Nth recipe>.json

Happy template crafting!