cicd

name	cicd
description	CI/CD reference for NeMo-RL. Covers GitHub Actions pipeline structure, CI triggering via /ok to test, and CI failure investigation.
when_to_use	Investigating a CI failure; understanding the pipeline structure; triggering CI; 'CI is red', 'how do I trigger CI', '/ok to test', 'PR workflow', 'where are the logs', 'CI did not run', 'copy-pr-bot'.

CI/CD Guide

---

How CI Works

NeMo-RL CI runs on GitHub Actions. Workflows live in .github/workflows/.

The main test workflow triggers on pushes to pull-request/<number> branches. These branches are created automatically by copy-pr-bot when a contributor pushes to their fork and the PR receives a trust signal:

• The commit is GPG-signed by a maintainer, or
• A maintainer posts /ok to test <full-sha> as a PR comment.

---

Triggering CI

After pushing a new commit to your PR, trigger CI with:

/ok to test <full-commit-sha>

Use git rev-parse HEAD (not the short form) to get the full SHA.

Re-triggering after new commits: each /ok to test <sha> is specific to that SHA. After pushing additional commits, post a new comment with the updated SHA.

---

CI Labels

Every PR must have exactly one CI:* label — the quality-check job stays red until one is attached. Labels control which test tier runs and whether a new container image is built.

Label	What runs	Container
CI:docs	Doc tests only	Reuses main container
CI:Lfast	Fast test subset	Reuses main container
CI:L0	Unit tests + docs + lint	Builds new image
CI:L1	L0 + functional tests	Builds new image
CI:L2	L1 + convergence tests	Builds new image
Skip CICD	Nothing (skips all tests)	—

Default on merge group / push to main: L1.

Which label to attach when opening a PR:

Changed paths / nature of change	Label
Docs only (docs/, *.md, docstrings)	CI:docs
Trivial fix, no logic change	CI:Lfast
New code, bug fix, refactor	CI:L0
Changes that could affect model behaviour	CI:L1
Changes that could affect convergence	CI:L2

---

CI Failure Investigation

# List recent workflow runs for the PR
gh run list --repo NVIDIA-NeMo/RL --branch "pull-request/<pr-number>"

# View failing run summary
gh run view <run-id> --repo NVIDIA-NeMo/RL

# Stream failing job output
gh run view <run-id> --repo NVIDIA-NeMo/RL --log-failed

Common failure patterns:

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
CI never starts	No trust signal or copy-pr-bot not triggered	Post /ok to test <sha>
semantic-pull-request fails	PR title doesn't follow Conventional Commits	Fix PR title; see contributing skill
Linting fails	Style violation	Run uv run ruff check --fix . && uv run ruff format .
Unit test failure	Code regression or missing dependency	Reproduce locally; see testing skill