Files
microsoft-SkillOpt/docs/guide/configuration.md
Cuzyoung 4a1b984d87 refactor: rename teacher/student to optimizer/target, remove best skills, fix slow update
- Rename teacher -> optimizer, student -> target across all code, configs, docs, prompts
- CLI: --teacher_model -> --optimizer_model, --student_model -> --target_model
- Remove best_skill files, keep only initial skills
- Fix slow update gate (force write into skill)
- Fix SLOW_UPDATE marker stripping
- Remove deep_reflect and meta_reflect mechanisms
- Update .env.example with export prefix and azure_cli docs
- Add endpoint empty validation in azure_openai.py

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
2026-05-24 19:15:10 +00:00

3.0 KiB

Configuration Guide

SkillOpt uses YAML configuration files with a hierarchical override system.

Config Structure

configs/
├── _base_/
│   └── default.yaml          # Global defaults
├── searchqa/
│   └── default.yaml          # SearchQA overrides
├── docvqa/
│   └── default.yaml          # DocVQA overrides
└── alfworld/
    └── default.yaml          # ALFWorld overrides

Benchmark configs inherit from _base_/default.yaml and override specific values.

Key Parameters

Model

model:
  backend: azure_openai          # azure_openai | openai_chat | claude_code_exec | qwen
  optimizer: gpt-5.5               # Optimizer model (for reflection)
  target: gpt-5.5               # Target model (for rollout)

Training

train:
  num_epochs: 4                  # Number of training epochs
  batch_size: 40                 # Tasks per step (batch size)
  accumulation: 1                # Gradient accumulation
  seed: 42

Gradient (Reflection)

gradient:
  minibatch_size: 8              # Reflect minibatch size
  analyst_workers: 16            # Parallel reflection workers
  max_analyst_rounds: 3          # Max rounds of analyst reflection
  failure_only: false            # Only reflect on failures

Optimizer

optimizer:
  learning_rate: 4               # Max edits per step (edit budget)
  min_learning_rate: 2           # Min edits for decay schedulers
  lr_scheduler: cosine           # constant | linear | cosine | autonomous
  use_slow_update: true          # Momentum-like blending at epoch boundary
  slow_update_samples: 20        # Samples for slow update evaluation
  use_meta_skill: true           # Cross-epoch strategy memory

Evaluation

evaluation:
  use_gate: true                 # Validation gating (accept/reject updates)
  eval_test: true                # Run test evaluation after training

Environment (Data)

env:
  name: searchqa                 # Benchmark name
  split_mode: ratio              # ratio | split_dir
  split_ratio: "2:1:7"           # train:val:test ratio
  data_path: ""                  # Path to dataset
  exec_timeout: 120              # Per-task timeout (seconds)

CLI Overrides

Override any config value from the command line:

python scripts/train.py \
  --config configs/searchqa/default.yaml \
  optimizer.learning_rate=16 \
  optimizer.lr_scheduler=linear \
  gradient.analyst_workers=8

Environment Variables

Model credentials are loaded from environment variables:

Variable Backend Description
AZURE_OPENAI_ENDPOINT azure_openai Azure resource endpoint
AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY azure_openai Azure API key
OPENAI_API_KEY openai OpenAI API key
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY claude Anthropic API key
QWEN_API_BASE qwen Local Qwen vLLM endpoint

Full Reference

See Configuration Reference for the complete parameter list.