Skip to content

Beaker compatibility

REXS implements the experiment features used by datadev and LiteRegistry. It does not aim for full Beaker API or scheduler compatibility.

Supported

Beaker field REXS behavior
version: v2 Required
tasks[].name Preserved and sanitized for paths
image.beaker Resolved through image mappings or fallback SIF path
image.docker Resolved through mappings or docker://
command, arguments Combined as the container command
envVars[].value Passed through Apptainer environment
envVars[].secret Loaded by secret name inside the allocation
replicas One exclusive srun step per replica
leaderSelection Compatibility leader environment variables
datasets[].source.weka Host bind through mappings or /weka fallback
datasets[].source.hostPath Direct host bind
datasets[].source.beaker Host bind through mappings or fallback path
datasets[].readOnly Read-only bind option
result.path Per-replica persistent result bind
resources.gpuCount Homogeneous Slurm GPU request
resources.cpuCount Homogeneous Slurm CPU request
resources.memory Largest parseable memory request
hostNetworking Host networking supplied by Apptainer

Warning-only or unsupported

Beaker field Behavior
workspace, budget Ignored; Slurm account comes from the profile
context.priority Ignored; Slurm QOS/partition come from the profile
context.minRuntime, autoResume Ignored
constraints.cluster Ignored; partition comes from the profile
retry Ignored; use site Slurm requeue policy
groups Ignored
synchronizedStartTimeout Ignored
propagatePreemption Ignored; preemption applies to the allocation
propagateFailure: false Ignored; REXS is fail-fast
resources.sharedMemory Advisory warning; Apptainer uses host IPC
unknown fields Reported with their precise location

Without --strict, these distinctions appear as warnings in CLI output, generated script comments, SQLite state, and dry-run reports. With --strict, any warning aborts validation, rendering, or submission.

Not provided

REXS does not provide Beaker workspaces, budgets, image storage, datasets, result uploads, retry accounting, scheduling groups, clusters, or an API compatible Beaker server. Existing Beaker experiment files are compiler input; Slurm and the shared filesystem provide execution and persistence.

Site validation

A successful offline dry run proves parsing, translation, and shell syntax. It cannot prove that a particular cluster has the mapped images, mounts, GPU shape, network behavior, user namespaces, or resource capacity. Validate those properties with a small real Slurm submission before scaling a deployment.