create-meeting-agenda
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create-inspect-task
Create custom inspect-ai evaluation tasks through interacted, guided workflow.
Full skill instructions
You help users create custom inspect-ai evaluation tasks through an interactive, guided workflow. Create well-documented, reusable evaluation scripts that follow inspect-ai best practices.
Guide the user through designing and implementing a custom inspect-ai evaluation task. Create a complete, runnable task file and comprehensive documentation that explains the design decisions and usage.
This skill supports two modes:
When an experiment_summary.yaml file exists (created by design-experiment skill), extract configuration to pre-populate:
Usage: Run skill from experiment directory or provide path to experiment_summary.yaml
Create evaluation tasks from scratch without experiment context. User provides all configuration manually.
Usage: Run skill when no experiment exists or when creating general-purpose evaluation tasks
experiment_summary.yaml in current directorylogs/create-inspect-task.loglogs/create-inspect-task.logWhen operating in experiment-guided mode, extract the following information from the YAML structure:
experiment:
name: string
project: string
question: string
data:
training:
path: string
label: string
format: string
splits:
train: int
validation: int
test: int
models:
base:
- name: string
path: string
evaluation:
system_prompt: string
temperature: float
runs:
- name: string
type: string # "fine-tuned" or "control"
model: string
import yaml
from pathlib import Path
def extract_from_experiment_summary(path):
"""Extract configuration from experiment_summary.yaml"""
with open(path, 'r') as f:
config = yaml.safe_load(f)
# Extract dataset configuration
dataset_path = config['data']['training']['path']
dataset_format = config['data']['training']['format']
dataset_splits = config['data']['training']['splits']
# Extract system prompt from evaluation section
system_prompt = config['evaluation']['system_prompt']
# Extract research question
research_question = config['experiment']['question']
project = config['experiment']['project']
# Extract model information (first base model)
base_models = config['models']['base']
model_name = base_models[0]['name'] if base_models else None
model_path = base_models[0]['path'] if base_models else None
# Extract run names for documentation examples
run_names = [run['name'] for run in config['runs']]
control_runs = [run['name'] for run in config['runs'] if run['type'] == 'control']
return {
'dataset_path': dataset_path,
'dataset_format': dataset_format,
'dataset_splits': dataset_splits,
'system_prompt': system_prompt,
'research_question': research_question,
'project': project,
'model_name': model_name,
'model_path': model_path,
'run_names': run_names,
'control_runs': control_runs
}
From experiment section:
question → Research question/objective (informs evaluation goal)project → Blueprint directory name under blueprints/ (pins the task family)From data.training section:
path → Dataset path for evaluationformat → Dataset format (json)splits → Sample counts (use test split for evaluation)From models.base[] section:
name → Model identifierpath → Full path to base model (for usage examples)From evaluation section:
system_prompt → Use same prompt for consistencytemperature → Default temperature settingFrom runs[] section:
name → Run identifiers (for documentation)type → Filter for "control" runs that need evaluationAfter extraction, show the user what was found:
## Configuration Extracted from Experiment
I found the following configuration in your experiment:
**Dataset:**
- Path: `{ck_data_dir}/capitalization/words_4L_80P_300.json`
- Format: JSON
- Splits: train (240), test (60)
**Models:**
- Llama-3.2-1B-Instruct
- Path: `/scratch/gpfs/.../pretrained-llms/Llama-3.2-1B-Instruct`
**System Prompt:**
{extracted_prompt or "(none)"}
**Research Question:**
{extracted_question}
I'll use this information to help configure your evaluation task. You can override any of these settings if needed.
Check extracted information:
ls)ls)If validation fails:
IMPORTANT: Create a detailed log file at {task_directory}/logs/create-inspect-task.log that records all questions, answers, and decisions made during task creation.
[YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS] ACTION: Description
Details: {specifics}
Result: {outcome}
[2025-10-24 14:30:00] MODE_SELECTION: Experiment-guided mode
Details: Found experiment_summary.yaml at /scratch/gpfs/MSALGANIK/mjs3/cap_4L_lora_lr_sweep/experiment_summary.yaml
Result: User confirmed to use experiment configuration
[2025-10-24 14:30:05] EXTRACT_CONFIG: Reading experiment_summary.yaml
Details: Parsing YAML structure: experiment, data, models, evaluation sections
Result: Successfully extracted configuration
[2025-10-24 14:30:10] EXTRACTED_DATASET: Dataset configuration
Details: Path: {ck_data_dir}/capitalization/words_4L_80P_300.json
Format: JSON, Splits: train (240), test (60)
Result: Verified dataset exists (43KB)
[2025-10-24 14:30:15] EXTRACTED_SYSTEM_PROMPT: System prompt from experiment
Details: Prompt: "" (empty - no system message)
Result: Will use empty system prompt for consistency with training
[2025-10-24 14:30:20] EXTRACTED_RESEARCH_QUESTION: Scientific objective
Details: Compare LoRA ranks and learning rates for capitalization task
Result: Will design evaluation to measure exact match accuracy
[2025-10-24 14:30:25] EVALUATION_OBJECTIVE: User wants to evaluate capitalization accuracy
Details: Exact match (case-sensitive), using experiment dataset
Result: Will use match(location="exact", ignore_case=False) scorer for strict evaluation
[2025-10-24 14:30:30] SOLVER_CONFIG: Designing solver chain
Details: system_message(""), prompt_template("{prompt}"), generate(temp=0.0)
Result: Matches training configuration for consistency
[2025-10-24 14:30:00] MODE_SELECTION: Standalone mode
Details: No experiment_summary.yaml found
Result: User will provide all configuration manually
[2025-10-24 14:30:05] EVALUATION_OBJECTIVE: User wants to evaluate sentiment classification
Details: Binary classification (positive/negative), using custom dataset in JSON format
Result: Will use match() scorer for exact matching, temperature=0.0 for consistency
[2025-10-24 14:30:15] DATASET_CONFIG: Selected JSON dataset format
Details: Dataset path: /scratch/gpfs/MSALGANIK/niznik/data/sentiment_test.json
Field mapping: input="text", target="sentiment"
Result: Will use hf_dataset with json format and custom record_to_sample function
What do you want to evaluate?
What defines a correct answer?
What dataset format do you have?
.json or .jsonl)Where is the dataset located?
What are the field names?
Dataset structure specifics:
Example questions:
{'train': [...], 'test': [...]}?"System message:
Prompt template:
"{prompt}" (direct input)Generation parameters:
Common solver patterns:
[system_message(""), prompt_template("{prompt}"), generate()][chain_of_thought(), generate()][multiple_choice()] (don't add separate generate())[prompt_template("Answer: {prompt}\n"), generate()]Based on evaluation objective, suggest scorers:
For exact matching:
match() - Target appears at beginning/end; ignores case, whitespace, punctuation
location="begin"/"end"/"any", ignore_case=True/Falseexact() - Precise matching after normalizationincludes() - Target appears anywhere in output
ignore_case=True/FalseFor multiple choice:
choice() - Works with multiple_choice() solverFor pattern extraction:
pattern() - Extract answer using regex
For model-graded evaluation:
model_graded_qa() - Another model assesses answer quality
partial_credit=True/False, custom templatemodel_graded_fact() - Checks if specific facts appearFor numeric/F1 scoring:
f1() - F1 score for text overlapMultiple scorers:
[match(), includes()] to get multiple scoresShould the task accept parameters for flexibility?
Common parameters to expose:
system_prompt - Allow different system messagestemperature - Enable temperature tuningdataset_path - Support different datasetsgrader_model - For model-graded scoringconfig_dir - (legacy) For runtime config reading; scaffold-inspect uses direct params insteadBenefits of parameters:
How to pass parameters:
inspect eval task.py -T param_name=value
How will the model be specified?
Option 1: CLI specification (most flexible)
inspect eval task.py --model hf/local -M model_path=/path/to/modelOption 2: Integration with fine-tuning config (legacy)
inspect_task examplesetup_finetune.yaml at runtime via config_dir parameterOption 3: Hard-coded in task
Create two files:
{task_name}_task.pyThe complete, runnable inspect-ai task following best practices.
File naming convention:
sentiment_classification_task.pymath_reasoning_task.py{domain}_{type}_task.pyRequired components:
from inspect_ai import Task, task
from inspect_ai.dataset import json_dataset, hf_dataset, FieldSpec
from inspect_ai.solver import chain, generate, prompt_template, system_message
from inspect_ai.scorer import match, includes
@task
def my_task(param1: str = "default"):
"""
Brief description of what this task evaluates.
Args:
param1: Description of parameter
Returns:
Task: Configured inspect-ai task
"""
# Dataset loading
dataset = ...
# Solver chain
solver = chain(
system_message("..."),
prompt_template("{prompt}"),
generate({"temperature": 0.0})
)
# Return task
return Task(
dataset=dataset,
solver=solver,
scorer=...
)
Best practices to follow:
{task_name}_design.mdComprehensive documentation of design decisions.
Required sections:
# {Task Name} Evaluation Task
**Created:** {timestamp}
**Inspect-AI Version:** {version if known}
## Evaluation Objective
{What this task evaluates and why}
## Dataset Configuration
**Format:** {JSON/HuggingFace/etc.}
**Location:** `{full_path_to_dataset}`
**Size:** {number of samples if known}
**Field Mapping:**
- Input field: `{field_name}`
- Target field: `{field_name}`
- Metadata fields: `{field_names or "none"}`
**Loading Method:**
{Description of how dataset is loaded}
**Data Structure:**
{Explanation of JSON structure, splits, etc.}
## Solver Chain
**Components:**
1. {Solver 1}: {Purpose}
2. {Solver 2}: {Purpose}
3. ...
**System Message:**
{system message text or "none"}
**Prompt Template:**
{template or "direct input"}
**Generation Parameters:**
- Temperature: {value} - {rationale}
- Max tokens: {value or "default"} - {rationale}
- {Other parameters if any}
**Rationale:**
{Why this solver chain was chosen}
## Scorer Configuration
**Primary Scorer:** `{scorer_name}()`
**Options:**
- {option1}: {value} - {reason}
- {option2}: {value} - {reason}
**Additional Scorers:**
{List if multiple scorers used, or "none"}
**Rationale:**
{Why this scorer is appropriate for the task}
## Task Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Default | Purpose |
|-----------|------|---------|---------|
| {param1} | {type} | {default} | {description} |
**Parameter Usage:**
```bash
inspect eval {task_file}.py -T {param}={value}
Recommended usage:
inspect eval {task_file}.py --model hf/local -M model_path=/path/to/model
{Any specific notes about model compatibility}
Basic evaluation:
inspect eval {task_name}_task.py --model hf/local -M model_path=/path/to/model
With parameters:
inspect eval {task_name}_task.py --model hf/local -M model_path=/path/to/model -T temperature=0.5
Evaluating fine-tuned model: {if applicable}
cd /path/to/experiment/run/epoch_0
inspect eval {task_name}_task.py --model hf/local -M model_path=$PWD -T config_dir=$PWD
Inspect-ai will create:
logs/{task_name}_{timestamp}.eval - Evaluation results log{If known, describe expected baseline performance or what good performance looks like}
{Any additional considerations, limitations, or future improvements}
## Code Generation Guidelines
### Dataset Loading Patterns
**JSON with nested splits:**
```python
from inspect_ai.dataset import hf_dataset
def record_to_sample(record):
return Sample(
input=record["input"],
target=record["output"]
)
dataset = hf_dataset(
path="json",
data_files="/path/to/data.json",
field="test", # Access the "test" split
split="train", # Don't get confused - this refers to top-level split
sample_fields=record_to_sample
)
JSONL (one JSON object per line):
from inspect_ai.dataset import json_dataset
def record_to_sample(record):
return Sample(
input=record["question"],
target=record["answer"]
)
dataset = json_dataset(
"/path/to/data.jsonl",
record_to_sample
)
HuggingFace dataset:
from inspect_ai.dataset import hf_dataset, FieldSpec
dataset = hf_dataset(
path="username/dataset-name",
split="test",
sample_fields=FieldSpec(
input="question",
target="answer",
metadata=["category", "difficulty"] # Preserve metadata
)
)
Simple generation:
from inspect_ai.solver import chain, generate, prompt_template, system_message
solver = chain(
system_message(""), # Empty if no system message needed
prompt_template("{prompt}"), # Direct input
generate({"temperature": 0.0})
)
With system message and custom template:
solver = chain(
system_message("You are an expert classifier. Respond with only the category label."),
prompt_template("Text: {prompt}\n\nCategory:"),
generate({"temperature": 0.0, "max_tokens": 50})
)
Chain-of-thought:
from inspect_ai.solver import chain_of_thought, generate
solver = chain(
chain_of_thought(), # Adds "Let's think step by step" prompt
generate({"temperature": 0.0})
)
Multiple choice:
from inspect_ai.solver import multiple_choice
solver = multiple_choice() # Don't add generate() separately
# Or with chain-of-thought:
solver = multiple_choice(cot=True)
Exact matching (case-insensitive):
from inspect_ai.scorer import match
scorer = match() # Default: ignore case, whitespace, punctuation
# Or customize:
scorer = match(location="exact", ignore_case=False)
Substring matching:
from inspect_ai.scorer import includes
scorer = includes() # Default: case-sensitive
# Or:
scorer = includes(ignore_case=True)
Multiple scorers:
scorer = [
match("exact", ignore_case=False),
includes(ignore_case=False)
]
# Results will show scores from both
Model-graded:
from inspect_ai.scorer import model_graded_qa
scorer = model_graded_qa(
partial_credit=True, # Allow 0.5 scores
model="openai/gpt-4o" # Specify grading model
)
When creating tasks for an experiment:
Run from experiment directory:
cd /scratch/gpfs/MSALGANIK/mjs3/my_experiment/
# Invoke create-inspect-task skill
Skill automatically extracts from experiment_summary.yaml:
Task parameter modes:
data_path, prompt, system_prompt passed via -T flags. scaffold-inspect bakes these into SLURM scripts at scaffolding time.setup_finetune.yaml at runtime. Not used by scaffold-inspect but supported for backwards compatibility.For tasks integrated with experiments:
import yaml
from pathlib import Path
@task
def my_task(
config_dir: Optional[str] = None,
dataset_path: Optional[str] = None,
system_prompt: str = "",
temperature: float = 0.0,
split: str = "test"
) -> Task:
"""
Evaluate model using configuration from fine-tuning setup or direct paths.
Args:
config_dir: Path to epoch directory (contains ../setup_finetune.yaml).
If provided, reads dataset path and system prompt from config.
dataset_path: Direct path to dataset JSON file. Used if config_dir not provided.
system_prompt: System message for the model. Overrides config if both provided.
temperature: Generation temperature (default: 0.0 for deterministic output).
split: Which data split to use (default: "test").
Returns:
Task: Configured inspect-ai task
"""
# Determine configuration source
if config_dir:
# Mode 1: Read from fine-tuning configuration
config_path = Path(config_dir).parent / "setup_finetune.yaml"
with open(config_path, 'r') as f:
config = yaml.safe_load(f)
# Extract settings from fine-tuning config
dataset_path = config['input_dir_base'] + config['dataset_label'] + config['dataset_ext']
# Use system prompt from config unless overridden
if not system_prompt:
system_prompt = config.get('system_prompt', '')
elif dataset_path:
# Mode 2: Direct dataset path
# system_prompt and other params used as provided
pass
else:
raise ValueError("Must provide either config_dir or dataset_path")
# Load dataset
dataset = ... # Load using dataset_path
return Task(
dataset=dataset,
solver=chain(
system_message(system_prompt),
prompt_template("{prompt}"),
generate({"temperature": temperature})
),
scorer=...
)
Evaluating fine-tuned model from experiment:
cd /path/to/experiment/run_dir/epoch_0
inspect eval /path/to/my_task.py --model hf/local -M model_path=$PWD -T config_dir=$PWD
Evaluating base model (control run):
inspect eval my_task.py \
--model hf/local \
-M model_path=/scratch/gpfs/MSALGANIK/pretrained-llms/Llama-3.2-1B-Instruct \
-T dataset_path=/path/to/dataset.json
This task pattern integrates with setup_inspect.py, which renders eval SLURM scripts from a template. The scaffold-inspect agent writes eval_config.yaml (referencing the task script created here) and calls:
python src/tools/inspect/setup_inspect.py \
--config eval_config.yaml \
--model_name Llama-3.2-1B-Instruct
Before finishing, verify:
@taskAdditional checks for experiment-guided mode:
config_dir and dataset_path parametersAfter creating the task, guide user:
Test the task:
# Validate syntax
python -m py_compile {task_file}.py
# Test with small sample
inspect eval {task_file}.py --model {model} --limit 5
Run full evaluation:
inspect eval {task_file}.py --model {model}
View results:
inspect view
# Opens web UI to browse evaluation logs
Iterate if needed:
inspect score to re-score without re-running--limit 5)config_dir parameter pattern for experiment integrationIf dataset file not found:
If unsure about dataset format:
If scorer choice unclear:
Create weekly software meeting agenda in the wiki repo.
Convert experiment analysis reports (report.md) to PDF using pandoc. Use after analyze-experiment to create shareable PDF reports.
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