auto-labeling

name	auto-labeling
description	Build Docker-backed PAIDF auto-labeling commands for SR, tracking, VLM JSON, and MCQ runs. Use for pipeline planning or execution requests. Do NOT use for unrelated Docker tasks.
license	Apache-2.0
owner	NVIDIA
service	auto-labeling
version	1.0.0
reviewed	"2026-05-20T00:00:00.000Z"
metadata	{"author":"NVIDIA"}

PAIDF Auto-Labeling Pipeline Skill

You help users go from "I have videos or images" to a completed Docker-backed pipeline run for the NVIDIA Metropolis Physical AI Data Factory (PAIDF) auto-labeling pipeline (modules/cli.py). Build complete commands, then obtain explicit user approval before executing Docker commands.

The pipeline has 4 stages: Super Resolution (SR, SeedVR2) → Detection & Tracking (RF-DETR + BoostTrack) → VLM JSON → Multiple-Choice Question (MCQ) Generation. This repo ships a single blueprint config (configs/pipeline_example.yaml) meant to be adapted via CLI overrides.

Routing (Read First)

The default flow is the general 6-step pipeline run below. Two shipped use-case examples are config-only specialisations of that same flow (they set mcq_generation.mode=question-driven-vlm-llm, single_window=true, and a question bank). When the request matches one of them, read the corresponding subdoc for the right overrides; otherwise stay on the general flow.

Request looks like	Use the
"Run the pipeline", "process this video", "tracking + MCQ", batch runs, partial stages, NGC/published-image runs	General 6-step flow below
"Caption these images with my own questions", "label this batch with yes/no questions", "build a reusable question bank"	references/custom-caption.md
"Generate PAS captions", "person attribute caption", "describe what each person is wearing", "use the shipped person_attributes bank"	references/person-attribute-caption.md

Instructions

Work through these steps in order. Combine steps into a single conversational turn when the user has already provided enough information — don't ask for things they've already told you.

---

Step 1: Understand the Goal (Interview)

Ask these questions in one message (skip any already answered):

1. Stages: Which pipeline stages do they need? (SR / tracking / VLM JSON / MCQ — or full pipeline)
2. Inputs: How many videos? Do they already have intermediate outputs (e.g., existing sidecars/metadata.json for metadata-llm)?
3. MCQ mode (if MCQ is involved): See Step 2 and references/mcq-mode-guide.md.
4. Endpoints: Do they have VLM/LLM endpoints? What environment (local Docker, NVCF, OpenAI-compatible)?
5. Checkpoints: Model checkpoints are resolved from config and auto-downloaded by stage initialization; ask only if they need a custom pipeline.model_cache_path or HF_TOKEN.

---

Step 2: Recommend a Preset Config

Use configs/pipeline_example.yaml for all workflows and select behavior via overrides:

• Full pipeline: defaults in the YAML (SR + tracking + VLM JSON + MCQ).
• SR-only: set detection_and_tracking.enabled=false vlm_json.enabled=false mcq_generation.enabled=false.
• Tracking-only: set super_resolution.enabled=false vlm_json.enabled=false mcq_generation.enabled=false.
• VLM JSON only: set super_resolution.enabled=false detection_and_tracking.enabled=false mcq_generation.enabled=false.
• MCQ modes: set mcq_generation.enabled=true plus mcq_generation.mode=<mode> (see the mode guide).

Rule: to disable a stage, add <stage>.enabled=false as a CLI override rather than switching config files.

For edge cases (partial pipelines, stage chaining across separate runs), read references/config-decision-tree.md.

---

Step 3: Collect Required Parameters

Only ask for what their chosen config actually requires:

Always required:

• data.0.inputs.video_path — input media path (video or image) or remote (s3://, msc://, https://)
• data.0.output.out_dir — output root directory

Any stage that calls a VLM (e.g. vlm_json, or MCQ modes like window-direct-vlm / window-vlm-llm / question-driven-vlm-llm):

• endpoints.vlm.url — VLM base URL (e.g., http://vlm-server:8000/v1)
• endpoints.vlm.model — model ID string

Docker gotcha: If the VLM/LLM servers are running on the host machine, use host.docker.internal instead of localhost. Example: endpoints.vlm.url="http://host.docker.internal:18002/v1". Using localhost from inside Docker silently fails with connection errors.

For endpoint URL, model ID, and credential handling, read references/endpoint-configuration.md. For MCQ, use references/mcq-mode-guide.md as the short agent checklist. Full mode tables and examples live in docs/mcq-modes.md.

Output layout for enabled stages is fixed under each sample's out_dir — you only need to choose out_dir.

---

Step 4: Generate the CLI Command

Single video (inner pipeline command):

uv run python modules/cli.py --config configs/pipeline_example.yaml \
  data.0.inputs.video_path="<VIDEO_PATH>" \
  data.0.output.out_dir="<OUT_DIR>" \
  [endpoints.vlm.url="<VLM_URL>" endpoints.vlm.model="<VLM_MODEL>"] \
  [endpoints.llm.url="<LLM_URL>" endpoints.llm.model="<LLM_MODEL>"]

Batch ≤9 videos — expand data.N inline:

uv run python modules/cli.py --config configs/pipeline_example.yaml \
  data.0.inputs.video_path="clip1.mp4" data.0.output.out_dir="output/clip1" \
  data.1.inputs.video_path="clip2.mp4" data.1.output.out_dir="output/clip2"

Batch 10+ videos — generate a bash loop (single CLI invocation is more efficient than N separate calls):

VIDEOS=(/data/clips/clip_*.mp4)
ARGS=""
for i in "${!VIDEOS[@]}"; do
  NAME=$(basename "${VIDEOS[$i]}" .mp4)
  ARGS+=" data.${i}.inputs.video_path=\"${VIDEOS[$i]}\""
  ARGS+=" data.${i}.output.out_dir=\"output/batch/${NAME}\""
done
eval "uv run python modules/cli.py --config configs/pipeline_example.yaml $ARGS \
  endpoints.vlm.url=\"<VLM_URL>\" endpoints.vlm.model=\"<VLM_MODEL>\" \
  endpoints.llm.url=\"<LLM_URL>\" endpoints.llm.model=\"<LLM_MODEL>\""

Mode-specific notes:

• metadata-llm — LLM only; vlm_verify_enabled is auto-disabled by the schema. Always set:

  endpoints.llm.url="<LLM_URL>" endpoints.llm.model="<LLM_MODEL>"
  data.0.inputs.video_path="<existing/source_media.mp4>"
  data.0.inputs.metadata_json_path="<path/to/metadata.json>"
  

Useful inline overrides:

• super_resolution.enabled=false — skip SR stage
• data.0.inputs.vlm_video_path="/path/to/video.mp4" — force VLM JSON (and MCQ) to use a specific media file, bypassing the default priority chain (sidecars/<track_stem>_tracking_red_id.<ext> → SR output → original)
• vlm_json.split_json_calls=true — default, more reliable VLM JSON generation
• pipeline.empty_output_policy=warn|fail — use warn for best-effort batch runs; use fail when stage failures should stop the run
• mcq_generation.mode=window-vlm-llm — switch MCQ mode
• mcq_generation.window_metadata_extraction.question_bank_file="/path/to/bank.json" — custom question bank (question-driven-vlm-llm only; window/metadata modes use embedded bank in mcq_prompt_file)
• mcq_generation.window_metadata_extraction.skip_existing=true — resume a partial run
• pipeline.gpu_ids=2,3 — pin specific GPU IDs (important when VLM/LLM servers occupy other GPUs)
• pipeline.use_multi_gpu=true — SR uses all GPUs in gpu_ids; default is single-GPU (first GPU only)

For windowing strategies, partial pipelines, and stage chaining see references/config-decision-tree.md. For Docker execution patterns, including generic NGC-image docker run and repo-local ./docker/deploy.sh, see references/docker-run.md.

Always output a complete, copy-pasteable command. Do not leave placeholders unfilled if the user gave you the values.

---

Step 5: Pre-flight Checklist

Run all checks via Bash in parallel and report pass/fail before asking for execution approval:

[ ] Docker running            →  docker info
[ ] Container image available →  docker image inspect <AUTO_LABELING_IMAGE>
[ ] Checkpoints present       →  ls ckpts/   (only if SR is enabled)
[ ] Input video exists        →  ls <video_path>
[ ] VLM endpoint reachable    →  curl -s <vlm_url>/models   (if VLM needed; add auth only after credential approval)
[ ] LLM endpoint reachable    →  curl -s <llm_url>/models   (if LLM needed; add auth only after credential approval)

Important: When checking VLM/LLM endpoints, read the actual model ID from the /models response and use it in the CLI command — the user-provided model name may differ from the served model ID (e.g. FP8 suffix). If an endpoint needs authentication, warn the user before accessing credential environment variables, do not print secret values, and prefer a mounted credential file or Docker secret over shell interpolation. See references/endpoint-configuration.md.

Provide the exact fix command for any hard failure (block execution until resolved):

Failure	Fix
Docker not running	sudo systemctl start docker (or open Docker Desktop)
Image unavailable	Pull/build the NGC image and set AUTO_LABELING_IMAGE; if working inside this repo, ./docker/deploy.sh build is also supported
Endpoint unreachable	Ask the user for a reachable VLM/LLM base URL (must end in /v1) and the served model ID, or have them start their own OpenAI-compatible server, then retry

Checkpoints missing — do NOT block on this. Stage initialization will ensure required SeedVR2 checkpoints on first run; warn that the first run may spend time downloading. If SR is disabled (super_resolution.enabled=false), SR checkpoints are irrelevant.

---

Step 6: Execute the Pipeline

After a passing pre-flight (no hard failures), present an execution summary and require explicit user approval before any Docker command. Include:

• Full Docker command to be run, with secrets redacted or passed through approved secret files/env names only.
• Expected resource use: GPU count, likely runtime, large image pulls/downloads, and output directory writes.
• Data access: input paths, mounted volumes, remote endpoints, and credential source names.

Do not execute Docker until the user approves that exact command.

Run through Docker, not host Python, for real pipeline execution. Do not set up or execute host-side pipeline runs for users; that path is not validated or endorsed. Inside the container, use uv run python modules/cli.py ... so the command uses the uv-managed runtime environment baked into the image. Use references/docker-run.md for the generic NGC-image docker run template; use ./docker/deploy.sh shell -lc "cmd" only as a repo-local convenience when this checkout is available. Set a generous timeout because SR and VLM stages can run for many minutes.

After execution completes:

• Report success or the error message
• List the output files produced: ls -lhR <out_dir>/
• If MCQ was generated, show a preview from the first available task file among task/mcq.json, task/bcq.json, and task/open_qa.json

If execution fails:

• Show the last 50 lines of output to diagnose
• Common fixes:
  • OOM on SR → with default pipeline.empty_output_policy=warn the pipeline continues automatically (SR is skipped, tracking uses the original input video). Only add super_resolution.enabled=false if you want to skip SR entirely for speed.
  • Endpoint auth error → ask the user to verify the intended credential source is set; do not echo secret values
  • Permission denied on output dir → output dir may need to exist: mkdir -p <out_dir>

---

Output Layout

Outputs are fixed under each sample's out_dir: raw/, contextual/, task/, prompts/, sidecars/, logs, and the saved effective config. The root README.md has the full tree. After a run, list ls -lhR <out_dir>/; if MCQ was generated, preview the first available task file among task/mcq.json, task/bcq.json, and task/open_qa.json.

Validate with tao-daft validate metropolis-v3.0 --path <out_dir> --raw auto [--strict] when nvidia-tao-daft is installed.

Key Facts

• CLI entry point inside Docker: uv run python modules/cli.py --config <yaml> [key=value ...]
• Dotlist overrides use OmegaConf syntax (key.subkey=value). Quote paths that contain spaces.
• data is a list: single video uses data.0.*, second video uses data.1.*, etc. The loader auto-extends the list when you reference indices beyond data[0] — no need to pre-populate the base YAML.
• The pipeline supports image inputs (.jpg, .jpeg, .png, .webp, .bmp) as well as videos. For image inputs, SR/tracking sidecar outputs use .png extensions.
• Supported video formats: .mp4 .mov .m4v (the LGPL-only FFmpeg in this image ships only the mov demuxer, which handles all mp4-family containers; matroska / avi / webm support was removed to keep the codec set royalty-clean).
• Video SR (SeedVR2) requires Docker. Use references/docker-run.md; repo-local users may use ./docker/deploy.sh shell.
• Remote paths (s3://, msc://) work for inputs and out_dir; see docs/remote-io.md for setup patterns.
• If the user needs events.json but doesn't have one yet, enable only the VLM JSON stage (see configs/pipeline_example.yaml comments).
• For MCQ-only from existing captions, use mcq_generation.mode=metadata-llm and provide an existing data.0.inputs.video_path, data.0.inputs.metadata_json_path, and an LLM endpoint.
• Endpoint credentials — VLM and LLM credential handling is documented in references/endpoint-configuration.md; do not print secret values.
• GPU selection: use pipeline.gpu_ids=<ids> (comma-separated, or "all") to pin specific GPUs (e.g. pipeline.gpu_ids=2,3). Important when other workloads (VLM/LLM servers) already occupy some GPUs. Tracking always uses the first GPU in gpu_ids; VLM JSON and MCQ stages call remote endpoints and do not use local GPUs. SR defaults to single-GPU (first GPU); set pipeline.use_multi_gpu=true to use all GPUs in for SR ( is set automatically). Plan a dedicated pipeline GPU for SeedVR2 SR; the 7B variant requires more free GPU memory than the 3B variant. In the current local Qwen recipe, reserve one additional dedicated GPU per VLM/LLM endpoint and keep those endpoint GPUs out of unless you have verified enough free memory.

Reference Files

• references/config-decision-tree.md — edge cases: partial pipelines, stage chaining, metadata-llm path
• references/docker-run.md — generic NGC-image Docker run template plus repo-local deploy.sh alternative
• references/endpoint-configuration.md — endpoint URL, model ID, and credential handling rules
• references/mcq-mode-guide.md — short MCQ mode checklist for agents; full examples live in docs/mcq-modes.md
• references/custom-caption.md — custom-question captioning (closed-choice MCQ/BCQ or free-form) and reusable question-bank creation
• references/person-attribute-caption.md — shipped PAS / person-attribute caption preset