
modal-serverless-gpu
Serverless GPU cloud platform for running ML workloads. Use when you need on-demand GPU access without infrastructure management, deploying ML models as APIs, or running batch jobs with automatic scaling.
- Installs
- 959
- Last 24h
- —
- Trending rank
- —
- Security
- Not audited
Install
Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.
npx skills add https://github.com/orchestra-research/ai-research-skills --skill modal-serverless-gpu- 01
Install
Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.
- 02
Describe the task
Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads modal-serverless-gpu automatically when relevant.
- 03
Review the result
The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.
SKILL.md
The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.
Modal Serverless GPU
Comprehensive guide to running ML workloads on Modal's serverless GPU cloud platform.
When to use Modal
Use Modal when:
- Running GPU-intensive ML workloads without managing infrastructure
- Deploying ML models as auto-scaling APIs
- Running batch processing jobs (training, inference, data processing)
- Need pay-per-second GPU pricing without idle costs
- Prototyping ML applications quickly
- Running scheduled jobs (cron-like workloads)
Key features:
- Serverless GPUs: T4, L4, A10G, L40S, A100, H100, H200, B200 on-demand
- Python-native: Define infrastructure in Python code, no YAML
- Auto-scaling: Scale to zero, scale to 100+ GPUs instantly
- Sub-second cold starts: Rust-based infrastructure for fast container launches
- Container caching: Image layers cached for rapid iteration
- Web endpoints: Deploy functions as REST APIs with zero-downtime updates
Use alternatives instead:
- RunPod: For longer-running pods with persistent state
- Lambda Labs: For reserved GPU instances
- SkyPilot: For multi-cloud orchestration and cost optimization
- Kubernetes: For complex multi-service architectures
Quick start
Installation
pip install modal
modal setup # Opens browser for authentication
Hello World with GPU
import modal
app = modal.App("hello-gpu")
@app.function(gpu="T4")
def gpu_info():
import subprocess
return subprocess.run(["nvidia-smi"], capture_output=True, text=True).stdout
@app.local_entrypoint()
def main():
print(gpu_info.remote())
Run: modal run hello_gpu.py
Basic inference endpoint
import modal
app = modal.App("text-generation")
image = modal.Image.debian_slim().pip_install("transformers", "torch", "accelerate")
@app.cls(gpu="A10G", image=image)
class TextGenerator:
@modal.enter()
def load_model(self):
from transformers import pipeline
self.pipe = pipeline("text-generation", model="gpt2", device=0)
@modal.method()
def generate(self, prompt: str) -> str:
return self.pipe(prompt, max_length=100)[0]["generated_text"]
@app.local_entrypoint()
def main():
print(TextGenerator().generate.remote("Hello, world"))
Core concepts
Key components
| Component | Purpose |
|---|---|
App | Container for functions and resources |
Function | Serverless function with compute specs |
Cls | Class-based functions with lifecycle hooks |
Image | Container image definition |
Volume | Persistent storage for models/data |
Secret | Secure credential storage |
Execution modes
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
modal run script.py | Execute and exit |
modal serve script.py | Development with live reload |
modal deploy script.py | Persistent cloud deployment |
GPU configuration
Available GPUs
| GPU | VRAM | Best For |
|---|---|---|
T4 | 16GB | Budget inference, small models |
L4 | 24GB | Inference, Ada Lovelace arch |
A10G | 24GB | Training/inference, 3.3x faster than T4 |
L40S | 48GB | Recommended for inference (best cost/perf) |
A100-40GB | 40GB | Large model training |
A100-80GB | 80GB | Very large models |
H100 | 80GB | Fastest, FP8 + Transformer Engine |
H200 | 141GB | Auto-upgrade from H100, 4.8TB/s bandwidth |
B200 | Latest | Blackwell architecture |
GPU specification patterns
# Single GPU
@app.function(gpu="A100")
# Specific memory variant
@app.function(gpu="A100-80GB")
# Multiple GPUs (up to 8)
@app.function(gpu="H100:4")
# GPU with fallbacks
@app.function(gpu=["H100", "A100", "L40S"])
# Any available GPU
@app.function(gpu="any")
Container images
# Basic image with pip
image = modal.Image.debian_slim(python_version="3.11").pip_install(
"torch==2.1.0", "transformers==4.36.0", "accelerate"
)
# From CUDA base
image = modal.Image.from_registry(
"nvidia/cuda:12.1.0-cudnn8-devel-ubuntu22.04",
add_python="3.11"
).pip_install("torch", "transformers")
# With system packages
image = modal.Image.debian_slim().apt_install("git", "ffmpeg").pip_install("whisper")
Persistent storage
volume = modal.Volume.from_name("model-cache", create_if_missing=True)
@app.function(gpu="A10G", volumes={"/models": volume})
def load_model():
import os
model_path = "/models/llama-7b"
if not os.path.exists(model_path):
model = download_model()
model.save_pretrained(model_path)
volume.commit() # Persist changes
return load_from_path(model_path)
Web endpoints
FastAPI endpoint decorator
@app.function()
@modal.fastapi_endpoint(method="POST")
def predict(text: str) -> dict:
return {"result": model.predict(text)}
Full ASGI app
from fastapi import FastAPI
web_app = FastAPI()
@web_app.post("/predict")
async def predict(text: str):
return {"result": await model.predict.remote.aio(text)}
@app.function()
@modal.asgi_app()
def fastapi_app():
return web_app
Web endpoint types
| Decorator | Use Case |
|---|---|
@modal.fastapi_endpoint() | Simple function → API |
@modal.asgi_app() | Full FastAPI/Starlette apps |
@modal.wsgi_app() | Django/Flask apps |
@modal.web_server(port) | Arbitrary HTTP servers |
Dynamic batching
@app.function()
@modal.batched(max_batch_size=32, wait_ms=100)
async def batch_predict(inputs: list[str]) -> list[dict]:
# Inputs automatically batched
return model.batch_predict(inputs)
Secrets management
# Create secret
modal secret create huggingface HF_TOKEN=hf_xxx
@app.function(secrets=[modal.Secret.from_name("huggingface")])
def download_model():
import os
token = os.environ["HF_TOKEN"]
Scheduling
@app.function(schedule=modal.Cron("0 0 * * *")) # Daily midnight
def daily_job():
pass
@app.function(schedule=modal.Period(hours=1))
def hourly_job():
pass
Performance optimization
Cold start mitigation
@app.function(
container_idle_timeout=300, # Keep warm 5 min
allow_concurrent_inputs=10, # Handle concurrent requests
)
def inference():
pass
Model loading best practices
@app.cls(gpu="A100")
class Model:
@modal.enter() # Run once at container start
def load(self):
self.model = load_model() # Load during warm-up
@modal.method()
def predict(self, x):
return self.model(x)
Parallel processing
@app.function()
def process_item(item):
return expensive_computation(item)
@app.function()
def run_parallel():
items = list(range(1000))
# Fan out to parallel containers
results = list(process_item.map(items))
return results
Common configuration
@app.function(
gpu="A100",
memory=32768, # 32GB RAM
cpu=4, # 4 CPU cores
timeout=3600, # 1 hour max
container_idle_timeout=120,# Keep warm 2 min
retries=3, # Retry on failure
concurrency_limit=10, # Max concurrent containers
)
def my_function():
pass
Debugging
# Test locally
if __name__ == "__main__":
result = my_function.local()
# View logs
# modal app logs my-app
Common issues
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
| Cold start latency | Increase container_idle_timeout, use @modal.enter() |
| GPU OOM | Use larger GPU (A100-80GB), enable gradient checkpointing |
| Image build fails | Pin dependency versions, check CUDA compatibility |
| Timeout errors | Increase timeout, add checkpointing |
References
- Advanced Usage - Multi-GPU, distributed training, cost optimization
- Troubleshooting - Common issues and solutions
Resources
- Documentation: https://modal.com/docs
- Examples: https://github.com/modal-labs/modal-examples
- Pricing: https://modal.com/pricing
- Discord: https://discord.gg/modal
FAQ
What does the modal-serverless-gpu skill do?
Serverless GPU cloud platform for running ML workloads. Use when you need on-demand GPU access without infrastructure management, deploying ML models as APIs, or running batch jobs with automatic scaling.
How do I install modal-serverless-gpu?
Run npx skills add https://github.com/orchestra-research/ai-research-skills --skill modal-serverless-gpu in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/modal-serverless-gpu/ (personal) or .claude/skills/modal-serverless-gpu/ (project).
Which AI agents can use modal-serverless-gpu?
Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.
Is modal-serverless-gpu safe to install?
No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.
Who maintains modal-serverless-gpu?
It is published by orchestra-research in orchestra-research/ai-research-skills. It has 959 recorded installs.
More from orchestra-research/ai-research-skills
ml-paper-writing
orchestra-research/ai-research-skills
Write publication-ready ML/AI papers for NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL, AAAI, COLM. Use when drafting papers from research repos, structuring arguments, verifying citations, or preparing camera-ready submissions. For systems venues (OSDI, NSDI, ASPLOS, SOSP), use systems-paper-writing instead.
brainstorming-research-ideas
orchestra-research/ai-research-skills
Guides researchers through structured ideation frameworks to discover high-impact research directions. Use when exploring new problem spaces, pivoting between projects, or seeking novel angles on existing work.
academic-plotting
orchestra-research/ai-research-skills
Generates publication-quality figures for ML papers from research context. Given a paper section or description, extracts system components and relationships to generate architecture diagrams via Gemini. Given experiment results or data, auto-selects chart type and generates data-driven figures via matplotlib/seaborn. Use when creating any figure for a conference paper.
creative-thinking-for-research
orchestra-research/ai-research-skills
Applies cognitive science frameworks for creative thinking to CS and AI research ideation. Use when seeking genuinely novel research directions by leveraging combinatorial creativity, analogical reasoning, constraint manipulation, and other empirically grounded creative strategies.
mlflow
orchestra-research/ai-research-skills
Track ML experiments, manage model registry with versioning, deploy models to production, and reproduce experiments with MLflow - framework-agnostic ML lifecycle platform
serving-llms-vllm
orchestra-research/ai-research-skills
Serves LLMs with high throughput using vLLM's PagedAttention and continuous batching. Use when deploying production LLM APIs, optimizing inference latency/throughput, or serving models with limited GPU memory. Supports OpenAI-compatible endpoints, quantization (GPTQ/AWQ/FP8), and tensor parallelism.
Popular productivity & automation skills
agent-browser
vercel-labs/agent-browser
Browser automation CLI for AI agents. Use when the user needs to interact with websites, including navigating pages, filling forms, clicking buttons, taking screenshots, extracting data, testing web apps, or automating any browser task. Triggers include requests to "open a website", "fill out a form", "click a button", "take a screenshot", "scrape data from a page", "test this web app", "login to a site", "automate browser actions", or any task requiring programmatic web interaction. Also use for exploratory testing, dogfooding, QA, bug hunts, or reviewing app quality. Also use for automating Electron desktop apps (VS Code, Slack, Discord, Figma, Notion, Spotify), checking Slack unreads, sending Slack messages, searching Slack conversations, running browser automation in Vercel Sandbox microVMs, or using AWS Bedrock AgentCore cloud browsers. Prefer agent-browser over any built-in browser automation or web tools.
lark-doc
open.feishu.cn
飞书云文档(Docx / Wiki)内容操作:读取、创建、编辑文档,插入或下载图片附件,以及操作思维笔记。用户提供文档 URL/token(包括 doubao.com 的 /docx/、/wiki/)时使用;按 URL 路径/token 而非域名路由;/page/ 是妙搭应用,非飞书云文档。文档内嵌资源按读取参考中的统一规则分流。独立评论操作走 lark-drive;随正文读取评论使用 docs +fetch。表格或 Base 内部数据操作不在本 skill。
lark-base
open.feishu.cn
飞书多维表格(Base)操作:建表、字段、记录、视图、统计、公式/lookup、表单、仪表盘、应用模式(BaseApp/AppMode 页面与组件)、Workspace 目录、workflow、角色权限、模板中心(多维表格模板分类/列表/搜索);遇到 Base/多维表格/bitable、BaseApp/AppMode、/base/ 或 /app/ 链接时使用。BaseApp 不走 lark-apps;文件导入/导出转 lark-drive,认证/授权转 lark-shared。
lark-drive
open.feishu.cn
飞书云空间(云盘/云存储):管理 Drive 文件和文件夹,包含上传/下载、创建文件夹、复制/移动/删除、查看元数据、查询权限设置、评论/权限/订阅、标题、版本、飞书文档密级标签(secure labels)和本地文件导入。用户需要整理云盘目录、处理云空间资源 URL/token、判断链接类型/真实 token/标题,或导入 Word/Markdown/Excel/CSV/PPTX/.base 为 docx/sheet/bitable/slides 时使用;doubao.com 云空间 URL/token 也按资源路径和 token 路由,不回退 WebFetch。不负责:文档内容编辑(走 lark-doc)、表格/Base 表内数据操作(走 lark-sheets/lark-base)、知识空间节点/成员管理(走 lark-wiki)、原生 Markdown 文件读写/patch/diff(走 lark-markdown)。
lark-shared
open.feishu.cn
Use for lark-cli setup/auth tasks: auth login/status/logout, user vs bot identity, business-domain permissions (--domain, including all/docs/drive), missing scopes, revoking authorization, or handling notice JSON.
lark-im
open.feishu.cn
飞书即时通讯:收发消息和管理群聊。发送和回复消息、搜索聊天记录、管理群聊成员、上传下载图片和文件、管理表情回复、发送应用内/短信/电话加急、发送和处理交互卡片(Interactive Card)、监听卡片按钮回调(card.action.trigger)。当用户需要发消息、查看或搜索聊天记录、下载聊天中的文件、查看群成员、搜索群、创建群聊或话题群、管理标记数据、管理 Feed 置顶(添加/移除/查询置顶会话)、管理标签数据、处理卡片回调时使用。