vllm-nightly-perf

name	vllm-nightly-perf
description	Install, migrate, operate, or diagnose the portable vLLM nightly perf-eval automation. Use when moving the nightly Buildkite trigger and Slack regression report to another Linux host, checking their systemd timers, running either job safely, or investigating missing or duplicate nightly perf reports.

vLLM Nightly Perf

Operate the two deterministic jobs bundled with this skill:

• trigger: start vllm/perf-eval for the latest scheduled release-v2 nightly whose Build release image - x86_64 - CUDA 13.0 job passed. The aggregate release build may fail.
• report: compare the latest completed perf-eval run with rolling history and post the Block Kit report to Slack.

The jobs do not invoke Claude or Codex at runtime.

Install or migrate

1. Read references/failover.md.

2. Confirm only one host will have the timers enabled. The trigger deduplicates through a best-effort Buildkite lookup, but two hosts can still race and create duplicate builds or post duplicate Slack messages.

3. Create an environment file outside the repository from env.example.

4. If the old host is reachable, stop its timers and copy its state directory.

5. From this skill directory, install on a systemd Linux host:

   sudo scripts/install.sh --env-file /path/to/vllm-nightly-perf.env
   

Use --no-start when preparing a replacement before cutover. Validate with dry runs, then enable both timers explicitly. Because the timers use Persistent=true, enable --now can immediately run a missed schedule.

Check status

systemctl list-timers 'vllm-nightly-perf-*'
systemctl status vllm-nightly-perf-trigger.timer
systemctl status vllm-nightly-perf-report.timer
journalctl -u vllm-nightly-perf-trigger.service -n 100 --no-pager
journalctl -u vllm-nightly-perf-report.service -n 100 --no-pager

Treat SKIP as a successful no-op. Common reasons are no scheduled release with a passed x86_64 CUDA 13.0 image job, an existing perf-eval build for the commit, or an already-reported build.

Run safely

Load the installed environment without printing it:

set -a
source /etc/vllm-nightly-perf.env
set +a

Preview without external writes:

.venv/bin/vllm-nightly-perf trigger --state-dir /var/lib/vllm-nightly-perf --dry-run
.venv/bin/vllm-nightly-perf report --state-dir /var/lib/vllm-nightly-perf --dry-run

Dry runs write only payload and diagnostic files in the state directory. If the old report state is unavailable, confirm the latest Buildkite build was already posted in Slack, then seed it explicitly:

.venv/bin/vllm-nightly-perf adopt \
  --state-dir /var/lib/vllm-nightly-perf \
  --build-number 310

adopt rejects a build that is not the dashboard's latest reportable build.

Run a live trigger or report only when the user explicitly requests the external Buildkite or Slack write. Prefer systemctl start vllm-nightly-perf-*.service so the execution is journaled.

Change the automation

Edit scripts/vllm_perf_eval.py, keep secrets out of the repository, and run:

uv sync --all-groups
uv run pytest
bash -n scripts/install.sh

Re-run scripts/install.sh after changing unit templates or dependencies. The installed unit files contain the clone's absolute path, so reinstall after moving the clone.