Configuration File Reference¶

Complete reference for the soong YAML configuration file.

File Location¶

~/.config/gpu-dashboard/config.yaml

File Permissions¶

The configuration file is automatically created with 0600 permissions (owner read/write only) to protect sensitive data like API keys.

# Check permissions
ls -l ~/.config/gpu-dashboard/config.yaml
# Should show: -rw------- 1 user user ...

Configuration Schema¶

Complete Example¶

# Lambda Labs API Configuration
lambda:
  api_key: sk_1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef
  default_region: us-west-1
  filesystem_name: coding-stack

# Status Daemon Configuration
status_daemon:
  token: abc123xyz789_secure_token_here
  port: 8080

# Default Session Settings
defaults:
  model: deepseek-r1-70b
  gpu: gpu_1x_a100_sxm4_80gb
  lease_hours: 4

# SSH Configuration
ssh:
  key_path: ~/.ssh/id_rsa

# Custom Models (optional)
custom_models:
  my-custom-model:
    hf_path: myorg/my-model-70b
    params_billions: 70
    quantization: int4
    context_length: 8192
    notes: My custom fine-tuned model

Section Reference¶

`lambda`¶

Lambda Labs API credentials and defaults.

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
`api_key`	String	Yes	-	Lambda Labs API key (starts with `sk_`)
`default_region`	String	No	`us-west-1`	Default region for launching instances
`filesystem_name`	String	No	`coding-stack`	Persistent filesystem to attach

Example:

lambda:
  api_key: sk_1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef
  default_region: us-east-1
  filesystem_name: my-projects

Notes:

Get your API key at: https://cloud.lambdalabs.com/api-keys
Available regions: us-west-1, us-east-1, us-south-1, us-midwest-1, europe-central-1, asia-northeast-1, etc.
Filesystem must exist in your Lambda Labs account

`status_daemon`¶

Configuration for the status daemon running on instances.

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
`token`	String	Yes	-	Shared secret for daemon authentication
`port`	Integer	No	`8080`	Port daemon listens on

Example:

status_daemon:
  token: my_secure_random_token_here
  port: 8080

Notes:

Token is auto-generated during configure if left blank
Use a long random string (at least 32 characters)
Token authenticates CLI commands like extend
Port must not conflict with other services (SGLang uses 8000, n8n uses 5678)

`defaults`¶

Default settings for new instances.

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
`model`	String	No	`deepseek-r1-70b`	Default model to load
`gpu`	String	No	`gpu_1x_a100_sxm4_80gb`	Default GPU type
`lease_hours`	Integer	No	`4`	Default lease duration in hours

Example:

defaults:
  model: qwen2.5-coder-32b
  gpu: gpu_1x_a6000
  lease_hours: 6

Valid GPU Types:

See GPU Types Reference for complete list.

Valid Models:

See Model Registry for built-in models, or use custom model IDs from custom_models section.

Lease Hours:

Minimum: 1 hour
Maximum: 8 hours (Lambda Labs limit)
Can be extended later with soong extend

`ssh`¶

SSH connection settings.

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
`key_path`	String	No	`~/.ssh/id_rsa`	Path to SSH private key

Example:

ssh:
  key_path: ~/.ssh/lambda_labs_key

Notes:

Key must be registered in your Lambda Labs account: https://cloud.lambdalabs.com/ssh-keys
Supports ~ expansion for home directory
Key must have correct permissions (0600)

`custom_models`¶

Define custom models not in the built-in registry.

Field	Type	Required	Description
`hf_path`	String	Yes	HuggingFace model path
`params_billions`	Float	Yes	Parameter count in billions
`quantization`	String	Yes	Quantization: `fp32`, `fp16`, `bf16`, `int8`, `int4`
`context_length`	Integer	Yes	Context window size (≥ 512)
`name`	String	No	Model name for display
`notes`	String	No	Description or usage notes

Example:

custom_models:
  my-llama-70b-finetune:
    hf_path: myorg/llama-70b-custom
    params_billions: 70
    quantization: int4
    context_length: 8192
    name: My Custom Llama 70B
    notes: Fine-tuned on domain-specific data

  small-test-model:
    hf_path: test/tiny-model
    params_billions: 1.5
    quantization: fp16
    context_length: 2048

Quantization Values:

Value	Bytes/Param	Use Case
`fp32`	4.0	Maximum precision (rarely needed)
`fp16`	2.0	Standard precision, good quality
`bf16`	2.0	Brain float, similar to FP16
`int8`	1.0	Quantized, some quality loss
`int4`	0.5	GPTQ/AWQ, 2x memory savings

Managing Custom Models:

# Add via CLI (interactive)
soong models add

# Add via CLI (flags)
soong models add --name my-model --hf-path org/model --params 70 --quantization int4 --context 8192

# Remove custom model
soong models remove my-model

# List all models (shows custom ones too)
soong models

Validation Rules¶

The configuration is validated on load:

API Key¶

Must be non-empty string
Typically starts with sk_
Validated by attempting API call during configure

Status Daemon Token¶

Must be non-empty string
Recommended: at least 32 characters
Auto-generated during configure using secrets.token_urlsafe(32)

GPU Type¶

Must match Lambda Labs GPU names
Checked against available instance types

Lease Hours¶

Must be integer
Between 1 and 8 hours (Lambda Labs limit)

Custom Model Fields¶

params_billions: Must be positive number
context_length: Must be ≥ 512
quantization: Must be one of: fp32, fp16, bf16, int8, int4

Example Configurations¶

Minimal Configuration¶

lambda:
  api_key: sk_1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef

status_daemon:
  token: auto_generated_token_here

All other fields use defaults.

Budget-Conscious Setup¶

lambda:
  api_key: sk_1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef
  default_region: us-west-1
  filesystem_name: shared-workspace

status_daemon:
  token: my_secure_token

defaults:
  model: llama-3.1-8b          # Cheapest model
  gpu: gpu_1x_a10              # Cheapest GPU
  lease_hours: 2               # Short sessions

ssh:
  key_path: ~/.ssh/id_rsa

Power User Setup¶

lambda:
  api_key: sk_1234567890abcdef1234567890abcdef
  default_region: us-east-1
  filesystem_name: ml-projects

status_daemon:
  token: super_secure_64_char_token_here_for_production_use_12345678
  port: 8080

defaults:
  model: deepseek-r1-70b       # Best reasoning
  gpu: gpu_1x_h100_pcie        # Fastest GPU
  lease_hours: 8               # Maximum allowed

ssh:
  key_path: ~/.ssh/lambda_dedicated

custom_models:
  my-finetune-70b:
    hf_path: myorg/llama-70b-code-finetune
    params_billions: 70
    quantization: int4
    context_length: 16384
    notes: Fine-tuned on internal codebase

  test-model:
    hf_path: test/small-debug-model
    params_billions: 7
    quantization: fp16
    context_length: 4096

Editing Configuration¶

Manual Editing¶

# Open in default editor
${EDITOR:-nano} ~/.config/gpu-dashboard/config.yaml

# Validate after editing
soong status

Via CLI¶

# Re-run configuration wizard
soong configure

# Add custom models
soong models add

# Remove custom models
soong models remove my-model

Troubleshooting¶

Invalid API Key¶

Symptom: Error: Invalid API key

Solution:

Check key at: https://cloud.lambdalabs.com/api-keys
Ensure no extra whitespace in YAML
Re-run soong configure

Filesystem Not Found¶

Symptom: Launch fails with filesystem error

Solution:

Check filesystem name at: https://cloud.lambdalabs.com/file-systems
Update lambda.filesystem_name in config
Or create filesystem in Lambda Labs dashboard

SSH Permission Denied¶

Symptom: Cannot SSH to instance

Solution:

Check SSH key registered: https://cloud.lambdalabs.com/ssh-keys
Verify ssh.key_path points to correct private key
Check key permissions: chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_rsa

Invalid Custom Model¶

Symptom: Warning: Invalid custom model

Solution:

Check all required fields present
Verify quantization is valid value
Ensure params_billions is positive number
Ensure context_length ≥ 512

Security Best Practices¶

Never commit config to git

echo "~/.config/gpu-dashboard/config.yaml" >> ~/.gitignore

Use environment variables for CI/CD

# Don't store API keys in config for CI
# Use Lambda Labs API directly or secure secrets management

Rotate tokens periodically
Regenerate status_daemon.token every few months
Update instances with new token

Restrict file permissions

chmod 600 ~/.config/gpu-dashboard/config.yaml

Use dedicated SSH keys
Don't use your primary SSH key
Create Lambda-specific key: ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/lambda_labs

Configuration File Reference¶

File Location¶

File Permissions¶

Configuration Schema¶

Complete Example¶

Section Reference¶

lambda¶

status_daemon¶

defaults¶

ssh¶

custom_models¶

Validation Rules¶

API Key¶

Status Daemon Token¶

GPU Type¶

Lease Hours¶

Custom Model Fields¶

Example Configurations¶

Minimal Configuration¶

Budget-Conscious Setup¶

Power User Setup¶

Editing Configuration¶

Manual Editing¶

Via CLI¶

Troubleshooting¶

Invalid API Key¶

Filesystem Not Found¶

SSH Permission Denied¶

Invalid Custom Model¶

Security Best Practices¶

`lambda`¶

`status_daemon`¶

`defaults`¶

`ssh`¶

`custom_models`¶