cluster-jobs

name	cluster-jobs
user-invocable	true
description	Use when a student wants to run their own job on the cluster and have it kept safe — "submit my job", "send this script to the cluster", "check my job", "is my job done", "cancel my job", "download my results", "get my data back". Guards against runaway compute, credential leaks, and destructive file ops via preview-and-confirm. For harness array sweeps the agent drives, use `/using-slurm` instead.

cluster-jobs

A safe, plain-English way for students to submit, check, cancel, and download their own cluster jobs through the agent. The student brings a job script (any language); this skill cannot reason about the computation, so it guards the three things it can check — how much compute is asked for, where files go, and whether credentials leak — and confirms every risky step before acting.

Mechanics are reused, not reinvented: scripts/harness_slurm.sh does the ssh/sbatch/squeue/rsync; scripts/cluster_guardrail.py makes the safety calls. This skill owns the conversation and the confirmations.

Distinct from /using-slurm (agent-facing, harness array sweeps with run-spec manifests). Students who run arbitrary scripts use /cluster-jobs.

The cardinal rule

Status is the only action that runs without a confirm. Submit, cancel, and download each follow: preview → (block or confirm) → act. Never act on a hard-block. Never echo key material. State the cluster + account before doing anything that touches them.

No profile yet (skills/using-slurm/profiles/active.toml absent)? Route to /setup-cluster first; never invent ssh details or partitions.

1. Connect / verify

scripts/harness_slurm.sh precheck          # resolve profile, ssh echo ok, git dirty status

• State the target, get one confirm: "About to act on cluster <alias> as <user>." This single line is the main defense against acting on the wrong account.
• Show what's available (read-only, no gate):

  scripts/harness_slurm.sh probe-partitions    # idle/mix/alloc, cores/mem/gpu
  

  plus the profile's [commands].quota_command if present → a compact "your budget / what's free" line before the first submit.

2. Submit — guards runaway compute + credential leak

Inspect the student's script before anything leaves the laptop:

python3 scripts/cluster_guardrail.py inspect <script>     # exit 0 clean · 1 soft · 2 hard

Read the JSON and the exit code:

• Exit 2 (hard-block) — over a [limits.hard] ceiling, or a secret found in the script. Refuse. Name the exact field + ceiling (or the secret rule + line), have the student edit. Do not submit.
• Exit 1 (soft-warn) — over a [limits.soft] threshold, an unusual partition, or an unverifiable field. Show the resource table + the warning, get an explicit confirm.
• Exit 0 (clean) — show the resource table, proceed.

On pass/confirm, preview the exact command, then submit:

HARNESS_SLURM_DRYRUN=1 scripts/harness_slurm.sh submit --script <script> --partition <p> --time <t>   # preview
scripts/harness_slurm.sh submit --script <script> --partition <p> --time <t>                          # real; captures job id

3. Manage

• Status (un-gated):

  scripts/harness_slurm.sh status <jobid>
  

• Cancel (gated): show the matched job id(s) + name first, then confirm, then scancel. Never cancel by pattern without showing the matched list.

4. Download — guards destructive / clobbering transfer

Before fetching, preview source (remote path + du -sh size), dest (local path), and whether the dest already exists. Then confine the path:

python3 scripts/cluster_guardrail.py check-path <local-dest>   # exit 0 under allowed roots · 2 refused

• Exit 2 — outside [limits.paths].allowed_roots, or none configured. Refuse; ask the student to choose an allowed location.
• Exit 0 — proceed with a non-clobbering fetch by default. Overwriting existing files needs an explicit confirm with the affected file list. Never a blind rm -rf or a clobbering sync.

scripts/harness_slurm.sh fetch <run>       # rsync results back

Output norms

Lead with the answer, plain English, terse. After a submit: job id + the resource summary + verification that it passed limits, in ≤3 lines. After a download: what landed where + size. Internal vocabulary (manifest, run-spec) stays out of student messages.

Anti-patterns

- Submitting a script the guardrail hard-blocked. - Acting on a cluster/account without stating it and confirming first. - Echoing ssh key material or pasting secrets back to the student. - Downloading/deleting outside the allowed roots, or clobbering files without showing the list. - Reinventing ssh/sbatch/rsync instead of driving `harness_slurm.sh`. - Treating `sbatch` success or a `RUNNING` state as "it worked" — only fetched output is evidence.

Composition

• /setup-cluster creates the profile + limits this skill reads.
• scripts/cluster_guardrail.py makes the safety calls; scripts/harness_slurm.sh does mechanics.
• For agent-driven harness array sweeps, use /using-slurm + /parameter-scan.