spark-training-gotchas SKILL.md skillA
spark-training-gotchas from wshobson/agents is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add wshobson/agents/spark-training-gotchas@git:20260714.baa5bd7Pins git:20260714.baa5bd7 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- wshobson/agents
- Path
plugins/dgx-spark-ops/skills/spark-training-gotchas/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 1
- Latest version
- git:20260714.baa5bd7, committed Jul 14, 2026
- Size
- 7,981 bytes
- Repository stars
- 42,320
- License
- MIT
Preflight and diagnose the ten known failure modes for ML training on NVIDIA DGX Spark. Use when a training run on DGX Spark fails to start, OOMs below the 128GB limit, slows down mid-run, or before any multi-hour training job on GB10.
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# Spark Training Gotchas DGX Spark's GB10 chip (Grace Blackwell, SM121, 128GB unified memory, aarch64) has ten recurring failure modes across launch, memory, thermals, bandwidth, and precision. Each is named G1–G10 so it can be checked by number — the numbering is load-bearing for tooling that runs these checks. Read this before a long run, not after hour six. ## When to Use This Skill - A training run fails to start, with an import error or a segfault that doesn't point at the real cause. - A run OOMs while `nvidia-smi` still shows headroom. - Throughput degrades partway through a run that started fine. - Before any multi-hour or multi-epoch job on GB10. - Wiring two Sparks together, before picking a parallelism strategy. - Choosing between FP8 and NVFP4 for a Spark-hosted run. ## Common Issues Quick Reference | # | Symptom | Fix | |---|---|---| | G1 | undefined symbol / segfault | cu130 wheel or container | | G2 | flash-attn wrong backend used | skip pip build; monkeypatch on NGC | | G3 | OOM despite headroom | drop page cache | | G4 | throughput drop / reboot | expect ~100W sustained cap | | G5 | memory-bound step slow | budget 180–192 GB/s | …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add wshobson/agents/spark-training-gotchas@sha256:4ba2e6510c325877The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260714.baa5bd7, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_jvt64k46z57itqtw)
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Versions
The registry has recorded 1 version of this file, committed on Jul 14, 2026.
Audit of the latest version
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- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
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- pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
- pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
- pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
- pass: No credential-shaped string
- pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
- pass: No text hidden with inline styles
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- pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
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- pass: No link to a raw IP address
- pass: No script tag
Source
wshobson/agents · 42,320 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-11-08 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_jvt64k46z57itqtw GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=wshobson/agents/spark-training-gotchas GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/4ba2e6510c3258776e01fe9419c427a81d5af5383ad64f3307957c47f3a5a6b8
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.