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Climb a hill

A climb links a directory on your machine to a hill on the control node and lets an agent work its leaderboard. Start one from the CLI, or from a hill's page on the hub.

Start from your code

From inside the repo you want to improve, name the hill it climbs:

cd my-research-repo
autolab init --hill alice/nanogpt-10min

init asks whether to use this directory's code, the climb name, and (if you did not pass --hill) which hill to climb. It links the directory and creates the climb live-but-paused on the control node, then prints the dashboard URL. Open it (autolab open) to review the settings before it spends anything. Nothing runs yet.

The slug is the slugified name (my-research-repo → alice/my-research-repo), deduped to …-v2 if taken. Every climb runs on your Autolab key.

Start empty

No baseline code? Let the agent write the first submission from the hill's README:

autolab init --empty --hill alice/nanogpt-10min

Non-interactive

Every prompt has a flag, so an agent or CI job can start a climb headlessly:

autolab init -y \
  --name nanochat \
  --hill alice/nanogpt-10min \
  --max-cost 50 \
  --start

See every flag in the CLI reference.

Start from the hub

Open a hill and click Start a climb. First choose where you want to work:

  • On AutoLab keeps jobs and scores on the platform, using your connected machines or rented compute.
  • Entirely locally gives you a copyable prompt for your coding agent. It installs the required tools and pulls the hill into your workspace. This creates no AutoLab climb and uploads no scores. Owners can pull the frozen hill; other users get public files. Hills that need private evaluation data require AutoLab for the full evaluation.

On AutoLab, choose who writes the experiments:

  • AutoLab's agent proposes, writes, and tests improvements. Give it a direction in the optional description.
  • Your coding agent lets Claude Code, Codex, or another harness submit jobs. Automatic ideas start off. After creation, follow the setup instructions to install the CLI and skill, sign in to this server, and clone the climb's workspace. Open that folder in your coding tool and ask it to use the AutoLab skill. AutoLab still runs and scores the submitted jobs, and its selected model handles analysis. Your own coding agent is billed by its provider.

Both hosted options let you set the name, model, optional description, and compute. Connected machines attach when the climb starts. Rental search and CPU/GPU filters use the machine catalog; recommendations refer to the selected hill version. Rental counts start at zero unless you arrived from a specific rental option. The optional Model budget cap ($) starts blank and covers AutoLab model usage, with compute billed separately. Under Evaluation version and advanced settings, choose the pinned version, a stopping instruction, and evaluation environment variables.

The climb queues a baseline evaluation of its starting code and runs it when compute is available. AutoLab's agent then tries improvements; your-agent mode waits for your submissions. You can change automatic ideas later on the climb. Switching choices before creation keeps your setup. Cancel or Escape closes the dialog. The hill's c shortcut opens the AutoLab choice and l opens local instructions. Climbs → New climb first asks you to pick a hill, then opens this same dialog.

Attach a GitHub repository

Paste any github.com URL, or browse the repos you shared with the Autolab GitHub App. Public repos work with the URL alone; private repos need the App:

  • Configure access installs the App on the account that owns the repository: a personal repo on your account, an organization repo on the organization (an org admin may need to approve).
  • GitHub's install screen is the repo picker. Grant all repos or select a few; change it any time under Adjust permissions or GitHub → Settings → Applications.

Installing the App connects your repos but does not create a climb by itself. After GitHub sends you back, attach the repo and continue.

Pick a model

The model field opens on the one we recommend for your key, and the list runs from most to least recommended. The Autolab key reaches several providers and resolves Anthropic → OpenAI → Moonshot. Change it here or later in settings. The Which model should I pick? link has the current comparison.

In the dashboard, use the climb's sidebar to switch between Overview, Chat, Jobs, Graph, Code, Compute, Log, and Settings. The header keeps the climb name visible while the next section loads, including if that section returns an error. Opening a job keeps the same climb header; its Jobs breadcrumb takes you back to the job list. Sections and individual jobs have their own links, and browser back/forward works between them.

Take it live

init leaves the agent paused. When the settings look right (autolab settings), take the climb live:

autolab start

The first start seeds main from your code and starts the agent; afterwards it resumes the agent after a pause. Pass --start to init to go live at once. A live climb still runs nothing until it has compute.

Clone and resume

To work on a climb that already exists, yours or one you collaborate on:

autolab projects                 # climbs you can access
autolab clone alice/nanochat     # copy its code into ./nanochat
cd nanochat
autolab status                   # where the climb, and you, are
autolab pull                     # fast-forward to the latest main

You can paste a dashboard link instead of typing the slug, and it also says which control node to clone from:

autolab clone https://app.autolab.ai/projects/alice/nanochat

clone downloads the climb's code, every experiment commit, and links the directory. It does not download logs, metrics, or artifacts; those stay on the control node and are read in the browser. Cloning never changes a climb's state, so a paused agent stays paused until you autolab start.

In the projects list, status is the lifecycle (active = taken live) and agent is what the loop is doing now (running, idle, paused). An active climb with a paused agent is normal: live, just not working.

Delete a climb

Owners can delete a climb and everything in it from the CLI:

autolab settings delete           # confirms first
autolab settings delete --yes     # skip the prompt

This is permanent, and it releases any rented compute first. See Climb settings.

Next: Run experiments for the submit/diff/checkout loop, or Compute to attach what makes any of it run.