Tao Train Rtdetr

RT-DETR

RT-DETR (Real-Time DEtection TRansformer) for 2D object detection. Designed for real-time inference with competitive accuracy. Supports distillation and quantization for deployment optimization.

Set model.pretrained_backbone_path for backbone weights or train.pretrained_model_path for full model.

For TAO Deploy TensorRT actions (gen_trt_engine, TensorRT evaluate, and TensorRT inference), read references/tao-deploy-rtdetr.md first. Deploy spec templates live in this skill's references/ folder with the spec_template_deploy_*.yaml prefix.

Dataclass Schemas

Generated TAO Core schemas are packaged in schemas/<action>.schema.json, with schemas/manifest.json listing available actions. Each generated schema also emits references/spec_template_<action>.yaml from the schema top-level default field. AutoML enablement is declared at the model layer in references/skill_info.yaml via automl_enabled. Runnable AutoML still requires schemas/train.schema.json and references/spec_template_train.yaml to exist and parse. Use the packaged train schema for automl_default_parameters, automl_disabled_parameters, defaults, min/max bounds, enums, option weights, math conditions, dependencies, and popular parameters. Do not expect ~/tao-core at runtime; maintainers regenerate schemas/templates before packaging the skill bank.

Train Action Policy

This model is AutoML-enabled at the model layer. Before handling any train-stage request, read references/skill_info.yaml and resolve the run override from either an explicit automl_policy value or the user's workflow request. Treat phrases like "turn off AutoML", "disable AutoML", "no HPO", or "plain training" as automl_policy: off for this run only; otherwise default to auto. When automl_policy: auto, automl_enabled: true, and both schemas/train.schema.json and references/spec_template_train.yaml are packaged, route the train action through tao-skill-bank:tao-run-automl by default with this model's skill_dir. Preserve workflow/application overrides for datasets, specs, output directories, GPU/platform settings, parent checkpoints, and automl_policy. Use direct model training only when automl_policy: off or the packaged train schema/template is missing; in the missing-schema case, report that AutoML is enabled but not runnable for this model until schemas are generated.

Non-train actions such as evaluate, inference, export, and deploy flows stay in this model skill. The per-run automl_policy override does not change model metadata.

Training Requirements

• Dataset type: object_detection
• Formats: coco, coco_raw
• Monitoring metric: val_mAP50

Per-Action Dataset Requirements

Action	Spec Key	Source	Files	List?
distill	dataset.train_data_sources	train_datasets	image_dir: images.tar.gz, json_file: annotations.json	Yes
distill	dataset.val_data_sources	eval_dataset	image_dir: images.tar.gz, json_file: annotations.json	No
evaluate	dataset.test_data_sources	eval_dataset	image_dir: images.tar.gz, json_file: annotations.json	No
gen_trt_engine	gen_trt_engine.tensorrt.calibration.cal_image_dir	calibration_dataset	images.tar.gz	Yes
inference	dataset.infer_data_sources	inference_dataset	image_dir: images.tar.gz, classmap: label_map.txt	No
quantize	dataset.train_data_sources	train_datasets	image_dir: images.tar.gz, json_file: annotations.json	Yes
quantize	dataset.val_data_sources	eval_dataset	image_dir: images.tar.gz, json_file: annotations.json	No
quantize	dataset.quant_calibration_data_sources	train_datasets	image_dir: images.tar.gz, json_file: annotations.json	No
train	dataset.train_data_sources	train_datasets	image_dir: images.tar.gz, json_file: annotations.json	Yes
train	dataset.val_data_sources	eval_dataset	image_dir: images.tar.gz, json_file: annotations.json	No

Typical Spec Overrides

Data source overrides are mandatory for every action — the agent MUST construct data source paths from the Per-Action Dataset Requirements table above and include them in spec_overrides.

S3_TRAIN = "s3://bucket/data/train"
S3_EVAL = "s3://bucket/data/eval"

train (mandatory data sources):

{
    "train.num_epochs": 10,
    "train.checkpoint_interval": 10,
    "train.validation_interval": 10,
    "train.num_gpus": 1,
    "dataset.num_classes": "<num_classes> + 1",
    "dataset.train_data_sources": [{"image_dir": f"{S3_TRAIN}/images.tar.gz", "json_file": f"{S3_TRAIN}/annotations.json"}],
    "dataset.val_data_sources": {"image_dir": f"{S3_EVAL}/images.tar.gz", "json_file": f"{S3_EVAL}/annotations.json"},
}

evaluate (mandatory data sources):

{
    "dataset.num_classes": "<num_classes> + 1",
    "dataset.test_data_sources": {"image_dir": f"{S3_EVAL}/images.tar.gz", "json_file": f"{S3_EVAL}/annotations.json"},
}

export:

{
    "dataset.num_classes": "<num_classes> + 1",
    "export.input_height": 640,
    "export.input_width": 640,
}

quantize (mandatory data sources):

{
    "dataset.num_classes": "<num_classes> + 1",
    "quantize.layers": [
        {
            "module_name": "*",
            "weights": {
                "dtype": "float8_e4m3fn"
            },
            "activations": {
                "dtype": "float8_e4m3fn"
            }
        }
    ],
    "dataset.train_data_sources": [{"image_dir": f"{S3_TRAIN}/images.tar.gz", "json_file": f"{S3_TRAIN}/annotations.json"}],
    "dataset.val_data_sources": {"image_dir": f"{S3_EVAL}/images.tar.gz", "json_file": f"{S3_EVAL}/annotations.json"},
    "dataset.quant_calibration_data_sources": {"image_dir": f"{S3_TRAIN}/images.tar.gz", "json_file": f"{S3_TRAIN}/annotations.json"},
}

gen_trt_engine (mandatory data sources):

{
    "gen_trt_engine.tensorrt.data_type": "FP16",
    "gen_trt_engine.tensorrt.calibration.cal_image_dir": [f"{S3_TRAIN}/images.tar.gz"],
}

inference (mandatory data sources):

{
    "dataset.num_classes": "<num_classes> + 1",
    "dataset.infer_data_sources": {"image_dir": f"{S3_EVAL}/images.tar.gz", "classmap": f"{S3_EVAL}/label_map.txt"},
}

distill (mandatory data sources):

{
    "dataset.train_data_sources": [{"image_dir": f"{S3_TRAIN}/images.tar.gz", "json_file": f"{S3_TRAIN}/annotations.json"}],
    "dataset.val_data_sources": {"image_dir": f"{S3_EVAL}/images.tar.gz", "json_file": f"{S3_EVAL}/annotations.json"},
}

Eval Dataset

Optional. Provides validation mAP at each checkpoint if supplied.

Important Parameters

• dataset.num_classes: Number of classes. Default 80 (MSCOCO 80-class). Must match your dataset annotations.
• model.backbone: Default resnet_50. Supported: ResNet variants, ConvNeXt, FAN, EfficientViT. RT-DETR is optimized for real-time with lighter backbones.
• train.optim.lr: Learning rate. Default 1e-4 (lower than DINO's 2e-4). lr_backbone defaults to 1e-5.
• dataset.augmentation.train_spatial_size: Training input size. Default [640, 640]. Smaller than DINO's multi-scale (up to 1333). Key to RT-DETR's speed.
• model.num_feature_levels: Default 3 (vs DINO's 4). return_interm_indices is [1,2,3].
• train.enable_ema: Exponential moving average. Default False. Enable for potentially smoother convergence.
• dataset.remap_mscoco_category: Default False. Set True only for original MSCOCO dataset with 91-to-80 category ID remapping.

Multi-GPU / Multi-Node

Launch method: torchrun (LIGHTNING_EXCLUDED_NETWORK). The entrypoint runs torchrun --nnodes=N --nproc-per-node=M train.py, NOT plain python.

Spec Key	Description	Default
train.num_gpus	Number of GPUs per node	1
train.gpu_ids	GPU device indices	[0]
train.num_nodes	Number of nodes	1
train.distributed_strategy	ddp or fsdp	ddp

• CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES is explicitly set (unlike Lightning-managed models which use TAO_VISIBLE_DEVICES)
• ddp with activation checkpointing: find_unused_parameters=False
• ddp without: find_unused_parameters=True
• fsdp supported, forces FP16

Multi-node env vars (set by orchestrator):

Variable	Purpose
WORLD_SIZE	Number of nodes (triggers multinode mode)
NODE_RANK	This node's rank (0-indexed)
MASTER_ADDR	Rank-0 node IP
MASTER_PORT	Rank-0 port (default 29500)
NUM_GPU_PER_NODE	GPUs per node (default: all visible)

CRITICAL: NODE_RANK is copied to RANK if RANK is unset. This is required for torchrun multinode.

Export / TRT Defaults

• Export input: 640x640, opset 17
• TRT data types: FP32, FP16, INT8
• TRT workspace: 1024 MB
• TRT max_batch_size: 4

Full TAO Deploy reference: tao-deploy-rtdetr.

Distillation

RT-DETR supports knowledge distillation with a teacher model. Requires distill action with teacher model path and distillation bindings configuration.

Hardware

Minimum 1 GPU(s), recommended 2 GPU(s). 16GB+ (V100 or A100) VRAM per GPU. RT-DETR is more memory-efficient than DINO/GDINO due to smaller input size (640x640) and fewer feature levels. Trains well on single GPU for small-medium datasets.

Error Patterns

CUDA out of memory: Reduce batch_size. RT-DETR at 640x640 is lighter than DINO at 1333px, but batch_size > 8 may still OOM on 16GB GPUs.

num_classes mismatch: RT-DETR defaults to 80 (not 91 like DINO). Ensure dataset.num_classes matches your annotation categories.

return_interm_indices vs num_feature_levels: Default is [1,2,3] with num_feature_levels=3. Must be consistent if changed.

Spec Param / Parent Model Inference

Model-specific inference mappings belong in this MD file, not in config.json. Generated runners should read this section and apply the mappings with SDK helpers before create_job(). This mirrors the old microservices infer_params.py flow.

Inference mappings from TAO Core rtdetr.config.json:

Action	Spec Field	Inference Function	Meaning
distill	distill.pretrained_teacher_model_path	parent_model	model file inferred from the parent job results folder
distill	encryption_key	key	encryption key
distill	results_dir	output_dir	current job results directory
evaluate	encryption_key	key	encryption key
evaluate	evaluate.checkpoint	parent_model	model file inferred from the parent job results folder
evaluate	evaluate.trt_engine	parent_model	model file inferred from the parent job results folder
evaluate	results_dir	output_dir	current job results directory
export	encryption_key	key	encryption key
export	export.checkpoint	parent_model	model file inferred from the parent job results folder
export	export.onnx_file	create_onnx_file	output ONNX path
export	results_dir	output_dir	current job results directory
gen_trt_engine	encryption_key	key	encryption key
gen_trt_engine	gen_trt_engine.onnx_file	parent_model	model file inferred from the parent job results folder
gen_trt_engine	gen_trt_engine.tensorrt.calibration.cal_cache_file	create_cal_cache	calibration cache path
gen_trt_engine	gen_trt_engine.trt_engine	create_engine_file	output TensorRT engine path
gen_trt_engine	results_dir	output_dir	current job results directory
inference	encryption_key	key	encryption key
inference	inference.checkpoint	parent_model	model file inferred from the parent job results folder
inference	inference.trt_engine	parent_model	model file inferred from the parent job results folder
inference	results_dir	output_dir	current job results directory
quantize	encryption_key	key	encryption key
quantize	quantize.model_path	parent_model	model file inferred from the parent job results folder
quantize	results_dir	output_dir	current job results directory
train	encryption_key	key	encryption key
train	model.pretrained_backbone_path	ptm_if_no_resume_model	PTM when no resume checkpoint exists
train	results_dir	output_dir	current job results directory
train	train.pretrained_model_path	ptm_if_no_resume_model	PTM when no resume checkpoint exists
train	train.resume_training_checkpoint_path	resume_model	model file inferred from the current job results folder

For parent_model or parent_model_folder, pass the upstream train/export/AutoML child job id as parent_job_id. The SDK lists the parent result folder, filters checkpoint artifacts, and returns the selected model file or folder. Do not add these mappings back to config.json and do not patch generated runner scripts to guess checkpoint paths.