
skypilot-multi-cloud-orchestration
Multi-cloud orchestration for ML workloads with automatic cost optimization. Use when you need to run training or batch jobs across multiple clouds, leverage spot instances with auto-recovery, or optimize GPU costs across providers.
- Installs
- 949
- 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 skypilot-multi-cloud-orchestration- 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 skypilot-multi-cloud-orchestration 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.
SkyPilot Multi-Cloud Orchestration
Comprehensive guide to running ML workloads across clouds with automatic cost optimization using SkyPilot.
When to use SkyPilot
Use SkyPilot when:
- Running ML workloads across multiple clouds (AWS, GCP, Azure, etc.)
- Need cost optimization with automatic cloud/region selection
- Running long jobs on spot instances with auto-recovery
- Managing distributed multi-node training
- Want unified interface for 20+ cloud providers
- Need to avoid vendor lock-in
Key features:
- Multi-cloud: AWS, GCP, Azure, Kubernetes, Lambda, RunPod, 20+ providers
- Cost optimization: Automatic cheapest cloud/region selection
- Spot instances: 3-6x cost savings with automatic recovery
- Distributed training: Multi-node jobs with gang scheduling
- Managed jobs: Auto-recovery, checkpointing, fault tolerance
- Sky Serve: Model serving with autoscaling
Use alternatives instead:
- Modal: For simpler serverless GPU with Python-native API
- RunPod: For single-cloud persistent pods
- Kubernetes: For existing K8s infrastructure
- Ray: For pure Ray-based orchestration
Quick start
Installation
pip install "skypilot[aws,gcp,azure,kubernetes]"
# Verify cloud credentials
sky check
Hello World
Create hello.yaml:
resources:
accelerators: T4:1
run: |
nvidia-smi
echo "Hello from SkyPilot!"
Launch:
sky launch -c hello hello.yaml
# SSH to cluster
ssh hello
# Terminate
sky down hello
Core concepts
Task YAML structure
# Task name (optional)
name: my-task
# Resource requirements
resources:
cloud: aws # Optional: auto-select if omitted
region: us-west-2 # Optional: auto-select if omitted
accelerators: A100:4 # GPU type and count
cpus: 8+ # Minimum CPUs
memory: 32+ # Minimum memory (GB)
use_spot: true # Use spot instances
disk_size: 256 # Disk size (GB)
# Number of nodes for distributed training
num_nodes: 2
# Working directory (synced to ~/sky_workdir)
workdir: .
# Setup commands (run once)
setup: |
pip install -r requirements.txt
# Run commands
run: |
python train.py
Key commands
| Command | Purpose |
|---|---|
sky launch | Launch cluster and run task |
sky exec | Run task on existing cluster |
sky status | Show cluster status |
sky stop | Stop cluster (preserve state) |
sky down | Terminate cluster |
sky logs | View task logs |
sky queue | Show job queue |
sky jobs launch | Launch managed job |
sky serve up | Deploy serving endpoint |
GPU configuration
Available accelerators
# NVIDIA GPUs
accelerators: T4:1
accelerators: L4:1
accelerators: A10G:1
accelerators: L40S:1
accelerators: A100:4
accelerators: A100-80GB:8
accelerators: H100:8
# Cloud-specific
accelerators: V100:4 # AWS/GCP
accelerators: TPU-v4-8 # GCP TPUs
GPU fallbacks
resources:
accelerators:
H100: 8
A100-80GB: 8
A100: 8
any_of:
- cloud: gcp
- cloud: aws
- cloud: azure
Spot instances
resources:
accelerators: A100:8
use_spot: true
spot_recovery: FAILOVER # Auto-recover on preemption
Cluster management
Launch and execute
# Launch new cluster
sky launch -c mycluster task.yaml
# Run on existing cluster (skip setup)
sky exec mycluster another_task.yaml
# Interactive SSH
ssh mycluster
# Stream logs
sky logs mycluster
Autostop
resources:
accelerators: A100:4
autostop:
idle_minutes: 30
down: true # Terminate instead of stop
# Set autostop via CLI
sky autostop mycluster -i 30 --down
Cluster status
# All clusters
sky status
# Detailed view
sky status -a
Distributed training
Multi-node setup
resources:
accelerators: A100:8
num_nodes: 4 # 4 nodes × 8 GPUs = 32 GPUs total
setup: |
pip install torch torchvision
run: |
torchrun \
--nnodes=$SKYPILOT_NUM_NODES \
--nproc_per_node=$SKYPILOT_NUM_GPUS_PER_NODE \
--node_rank=$SKYPILOT_NODE_RANK \
--master_addr=$(echo "$SKYPILOT_NODE_IPS" | head -n1) \
--master_port=12355 \
train.py
Environment variables
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
SKYPILOT_NODE_RANK | Node index (0 to num_nodes-1) |
SKYPILOT_NODE_IPS | Newline-separated IP addresses |
SKYPILOT_NUM_NODES | Total number of nodes |
SKYPILOT_NUM_GPUS_PER_NODE | GPUs per node |
Head-node-only execution
run: |
if [ "${SKYPILOT_NODE_RANK}" == "0" ]; then
python orchestrate.py
fi
Managed jobs
Spot recovery
# Launch managed job with spot recovery
sky jobs launch -n my-job train.yaml
Checkpointing
name: training-job
file_mounts:
/checkpoints:
name: my-checkpoints
store: s3
mode: MOUNT
resources:
accelerators: A100:8
use_spot: true
run: |
python train.py \
--checkpoint-dir /checkpoints \
--resume-from-latest
Job management
# List jobs
sky jobs queue
# View logs
sky jobs logs my-job
# Cancel job
sky jobs cancel my-job
File mounts and storage
Local file sync
workdir: ./my-project # Synced to ~/sky_workdir
file_mounts:
/data/config.yaml: ./config.yaml
~/.vimrc: ~/.vimrc
Cloud storage
file_mounts:
# Mount S3 bucket
/datasets:
source: s3://my-bucket/datasets
mode: MOUNT # Stream from S3
# Copy GCS bucket
/models:
source: gs://my-bucket/models
mode: COPY # Pre-fetch to disk
# Cached mount (fast writes)
/outputs:
name: my-outputs
store: s3
mode: MOUNT_CACHED
Storage modes
| Mode | Description | Best For |
|---|---|---|
MOUNT | Stream from cloud | Large datasets, read-heavy |
COPY | Pre-fetch to disk | Small files, random access |
MOUNT_CACHED | Cache with async upload | Checkpoints, outputs |
Sky Serve (Model Serving)
Basic service
# service.yaml
service:
readiness_probe: /health
replica_policy:
min_replicas: 1
max_replicas: 10
target_qps_per_replica: 2.0
resources:
accelerators: A100:1
run: |
python -m vllm.entrypoints.openai.api_server \
--model meta-llama/Llama-2-7b-chat-hf \
--port 8000
# Deploy
sky serve up -n my-service service.yaml
# Check status
sky serve status
# Get endpoint
sky serve status my-service
Autoscaling policies
service:
replica_policy:
min_replicas: 1
max_replicas: 10
target_qps_per_replica: 2.0
upscale_delay_seconds: 60
downscale_delay_seconds: 300
load_balancing_policy: round_robin
Cost optimization
Automatic cloud selection
# SkyPilot finds cheapest option
resources:
accelerators: A100:8
# No cloud specified - auto-select cheapest
# Show optimizer decision
sky launch task.yaml --dryrun
Cloud preferences
resources:
accelerators: A100:8
any_of:
- cloud: gcp
region: us-central1
- cloud: aws
region: us-east-1
- cloud: azure
Environment variables
envs:
HF_TOKEN: $HF_TOKEN # Inherited from local env
WANDB_API_KEY: $WANDB_API_KEY
# Or use secrets
secrets:
- HF_TOKEN
- WANDB_API_KEY
Common workflows
Workflow 1: Fine-tuning with checkpoints
name: llm-finetune
file_mounts:
/checkpoints:
name: finetune-checkpoints
store: s3
mode: MOUNT_CACHED
resources:
accelerators: A100:8
use_spot: true
setup: |
pip install transformers accelerate
run: |
python train.py \
--checkpoint-dir /checkpoints \
--resume
Workflow 2: Hyperparameter sweep
name: hp-sweep-${RUN_ID}
envs:
RUN_ID: 0
LEARNING_RATE: 1e-4
BATCH_SIZE: 32
resources:
accelerators: A100:1
use_spot: true
run: |
python train.py \
--lr $LEARNING_RATE \
--batch-size $BATCH_SIZE \
--run-id $RUN_ID
# Launch multiple jobs
for i in {1..10}; do
sky jobs launch sweep.yaml \
--env RUN_ID=$i \
--env LEARNING_RATE=$(python -c "import random; print(10**random.uniform(-5,-3))")
done
Debugging
# SSH to cluster
ssh mycluster
# View logs
sky logs mycluster
# Check job queue
sky queue mycluster
# View managed job logs
sky jobs logs my-job
Common issues
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
| Quota exceeded | Request quota increase, try different region |
| Spot preemption | Use sky jobs launch for auto-recovery |
| Slow file sync | Use MOUNT_CACHED mode for outputs |
| GPU not available | Use any_of for fallback clouds |
References
- Advanced Usage - Multi-cloud, optimization, production patterns
- Troubleshooting - Common issues and solutions
Resources
- Documentation: https://docs.skypilot.co
- GitHub: https://github.com/skypilot-org/skypilot
- Slack: https://slack.skypilot.co
- Examples: https://github.com/skypilot-org/skypilot/tree/master/examples
FAQ
What does the skypilot-multi-cloud-orchestration skill do?
Multi-cloud orchestration for ML workloads with automatic cost optimization. Use when you need to run training or batch jobs across multiple clouds, leverage spot instances with auto-recovery, or optimize GPU costs across providers.
How do I install skypilot-multi-cloud-orchestration?
Run npx skills add https://github.com/orchestra-research/ai-research-skills --skill skypilot-multi-cloud-orchestration 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/skypilot-multi-cloud-orchestration/ (personal) or .claude/skills/skypilot-multi-cloud-orchestration/ (project).
Which AI agents can use skypilot-multi-cloud-orchestration?
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 skypilot-multi-cloud-orchestration 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 skypilot-multi-cloud-orchestration?
It is published by orchestra-research in orchestra-research/ai-research-skills. It has 949 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。