Flash

Runpod Flash

Write code locally, iterate with flash dev — it runs your functions on remote Runpod GPUs/CPUs with hot-reload and live worker logs — then flash deploy to ship. Endpoint handles provisioning.

Setup

# install the CLI — requires Python 3.10-3.13
uv tool install runpod-flash
pip install runpod-flash

# auth option 1: browser-based login (saves token locally)
flash login
# headless: print URL instead of opening a browser
flash login --no-open
# max seconds to wait for browser auth (default 600)
flash login --timeout 300

# auth option 2: API key via environment variable
export RUNPOD_API_KEY=your_key

# scaffold a new project in ./my-project (writes AGENTS.md + CLAUDE.md)
flash init my-project
# scaffold in the current directory
flash init .
# overwrite existing files (-f)
flash init my-project --force
# update the CLI to the latest version
flash update
# pin a specific version (-V also works)
flash update --version 1.16.0

flash init writes AGENTS.md (+ a CLAUDE.md symlink). To add them to an existing project: python -c "from runpod_flash.rules import install_agent_files; from pathlib import Path; install_agent_files(Path.cwd())".

CLI

flash dev is the canonical dev-server command (flash run still works as a hidden alias).

# local server at :8888, but functions run on REMOTE GPU/CPU workers;
# hot-reloads on save and streams the worker's logs live to your terminal
flash dev
# same, but pre-provision endpoints (no cold start on first call)
flash dev --auto-provision
# custom port/host; --reload/--no-reload toggles autoreload
flash dev --port 9000 --host 0.0.0.0
# build + deploy (auto-selects env if only one)
flash deploy
# build + deploy to "staging" environment
flash deploy --env staging
# deploy a specific app to an environment
flash deploy --app my-app --env prod
# build + launch local preview in Docker
flash deploy --preview
# build flags below also apply to deploy
flash deploy --no-deps --python-version 3.11
# list deployment environments
flash env list
# create "staging" environment
flash env create staging
# show environment details + resources
flash env get staging
# delete environment + tear down resources
flash env delete staging
# list flash apps in your account
flash app list
# create a flash app
flash app create my-app
# show an app's environments + builds
flash app get my-app
# delete an app and all its resources
flash app delete my-app
# list all active endpoints
flash undeploy list
# remove a specific endpoint
flash undeploy my-endpoint
# remove all endpoints (--interactive/-i to pick, --force/-f to skip prompts)
flash undeploy --all
# remove endpoints whose code no longer exists locally
flash undeploy --cleanup-stale

# build-only (no deploy) — mainly for debugging the artifact; `flash deploy` builds for you
# package the artifact without deploying (1500MB limit; torch auto-excluded)
flash build
# build flags: --no-deps, --exclude pkg1,pkg2, --output name.tar.gz, --python-version 3.11
flash build --no-deps

Dev vs Deploy

• flash dev — iterate. Local server at :8888, but your decorated functions execute on remote GPU/CPU workers. Hot-reloads on save and streams the worker's logs live to the terminal. No build/upload/deploy wait — use this the whole time you develop.
• flash deploy — ship. Builds an artifact and deploys a stable endpoint. Slow (build + upload + provision); only do this once the code works under flash dev.

flash dev ships only the function body to the worker, so a NameError for a module-level name surfaces immediately here. flash deploy imports the whole module and can mask that bug (see Gotcha #1). Develop against flash dev and you catch it first.

Autonomous Dev Loop

flash dev is a long-running server — run it in the background (don't block on it), capture its output, and drive it over HTTP. The captured log is the remote worker's live stream (cold start, model load, prints, tracebacks) — read it to debug.

flash dev > /tmp/flash-dev.log 2>&1 &                          # background; never run it blocking
until grep -q "flash dev  localhost:" /tmp/flash-dev.log; do sleep 2; done   # wait for startup
URL=$(grep -o "localhost:[0-9]*" /tmp/flash-dev.log | head -1)               # actual port (8888 bumps if taken)
curl -s "$URL/main/predict" -d '{"data": {...}}'               # dispatches to the remote worker

• Read the real URL from the log — flash auto-bumps the port if 8888 is in use, and prints ✓ flash dev localhost:<port> plus the route table.
• Routes are namespaced by file: main.py's /predict is served at /main/predict.
• A handler typed def predict(data: dict) expects the arg as a top-level field — send {"data": {...}}, not the bare object (otherwise 422).
• Edit a handler and save — hot-reload re-syncs the body; just re-send the request, no redeploy. Add --auto-provision to skip the first-call cold start. kill %1 when done.

Endpoint: Three Modes

Mode 1: Your Code (Queue-Based Decorator)

One function = one endpoint with its own workers.

from runpod_flash import Endpoint, GpuGroup

@Endpoint(name="my-worker", gpu=GpuGroup.AMPERE_80, workers=5, dependencies=["torch"])
async def compute(data):
    import torch  # MUST import inside function (cloudpickle)
    return {"sum": torch.tensor(data, device="cuda").sum().item()}

result = await compute([1, 2, 3])

Mode 2: Your Code (Load-Balanced Routes)

Multiple HTTP routes share one pool of workers.

from runpod_flash import Endpoint, GpuGroup

api = Endpoint(name="my-api", gpu=GpuGroup.ADA_24, workers=(1, 5), dependencies=["torch"])

@api.post("/predict")
async def predict(data: list[float]):
    import torch
    return {"result": torch.tensor(data, device="cuda").sum().item()}

@api.get("/health")
async def health():
    return {"status": "ok"}

Mode 3: External Image (Client)

Deploy a pre-built Docker image and call it via HTTP.

from runpod_flash import Endpoint, GpuGroup, PodTemplate

server = Endpoint(
    name="my-server",
    image="my-org/my-image:latest",
    gpu=GpuGroup.AMPERE_80,
    workers=1,
    env={"HF_TOKEN": "xxx"},
    template=PodTemplate(containerDiskInGb=100),
)

# LB-style
result = await server.post("/v1/completions", {"prompt": "hello"})
models = await server.get("/v1/models")

# QB-style
job = await server.run({"prompt": "hello"})        # optional: webhook="https://..." for completion callback
await job.wait()
print(job.output)

Connect to an existing endpoint by ID (no provisioning):

ep = Endpoint(id="abc123")
job = await ep.runsync({"prompt": "hello"})  # runsync wraps this as {"input": {"prompt": "hello"}}
print(job.output)

How Mode Is Determined

Endpoint Constructor

Endpoint(
    name="endpoint-name",                  # required (unless id= set)
    id=None,                               # connect to existing endpoint
    gpu=GpuGroup.AMPERE_80,               # GpuGroup tier, GpuType model, or list of either (default: GpuGroup.ANY)
    cpu=CpuInstanceType.CPU5C_4_8,        # CPU type (mutually exclusive with gpu)
    workers=5,                             # shorthand for (0, 5)
    workers=(1, 5),                        # explicit (min, max)
    max_concurrency=1,                     # concurrent requests per worker (default 1)
    idle_timeout=60,                       # seconds before scale-down (default: 60)
    dependencies=["torch"],                # pip packages for remote exec
    system_dependencies=["ffmpeg"],        # apt-get packages
    image="org/image:tag",                 # pre-built Docker image (client mode)
    env={"KEY": "val"},                    # environment variables
    volume=NetworkVolume(...),             # persistent storage
    datacenter=DataCenter.US_CA_2,         # DataCenter | list | str (default: None)
    gpu_count=1,                           # GPUs per worker
    template=PodTemplate(containerDiskInGb=100),
    flashboot=True,                        # fast cold starts
    accelerate_downloads=True,             # speed up model/file downloads (default True)
    min_cuda_version=CudaVersion.V12_8,    # minimum CUDA version (default 12.8)
    scaler_type=ServerlessScalerType.QUEUE_DELAY,  # default unset; or REQUEST_COUNT
    scaler_value=4,                        # scaler threshold (default 4)
    execution_timeout_ms=0,                # max execution time (0 = unlimited)
)

• gpu= and cpu= are mutually exclusive
• gpu= accepts a GpuGroup, a GpuType, or a list of either (see GPU Types below)
• workers=5 means (0, 5). Default is (0, 1)
• max_concurrency -- requests handled concurrently per worker (default 1). Raise it for I/O-bound LB routes so one worker serves multiple requests
• idle_timeout default is 60 seconds
• flashboot=True (default) -- enables fast cold starts via snapshot restore
• gpu_count -- GPUs per worker (default 1), use >1 for multi-GPU models
• datacenter -- a DataCenter enum, list, or string; defaults to None (unset)
• scaler_type -- defaults to QUEUE_DELAY for queue-based endpoints and REQUEST_COUNT for load-balanced endpoints; pass ServerlessScalerType.QUEUE_DELAY or REQUEST_COUNT to override
• DataCenter, CudaVersion, and ServerlessScalerType are importable from runpod_flash

NetworkVolume

NetworkVolume(name="my-vol", size=100)  # size in GB, default 100

PodTemplate

PodTemplate(
    containerDiskInGb=64,    # container disk size (default 64)
    dockerArgs="",           # extra docker arguments
    ports="",                # exposed ports
    startScript="",          # script to run on start
)

EndpointJob

Returned by ep.run() and ep.runsync() in client mode.

job = await ep.run({"data": [1, 2, 3]})
await job.wait(timeout=120)        # poll until done
print(job.id, job.output, job.error, job.done)
await job.cancel()

GPU Types

gpu= accepts a GpuGroup (a supply pool by VRAM tier), a GpuType (a pinned GPU model), or a list of either. GpuGroup picks the cheapest available GPU within a tier; GpuType pins a specific model.

GpuGroup (supply pool)

GpuType (pinned model)

Pin an exact GPU model. Members include NVIDIA_GEFORCE_RTX_4090, NVIDIA_GEFORCE_RTX_5090, NVIDIA_RTX_6000_ADA_GENERATION, NVIDIA_H100_80GB_HBM3, NVIDIA_A100_80GB_PCIe, NVIDIA_A100_SXM4_80GB, NVIDIA_H200, NVIDIA_B200, the NVIDIA_RTX_PRO_6000_BLACKWELL_* editions (Server / Workstation / Max-Q), and the Ampere/Ada RTX A-series models (NVIDIA_RTX_A4000, A4500, A5000, A6000, NVIDIA_L4, NVIDIA_A40, NVIDIA_GEFORCE_RTX_3090, NVIDIA_RTX_4000_ADA_GENERATION, NVIDIA_RTX_2000_ADA_GENERATION).

from runpod_flash import Endpoint, GpuType

@Endpoint(name="pinned", gpu=GpuType.NVIDIA_GEFORCE_RTX_4090, dependencies=["torch"])
async def report_gpu(data):
    import torch
    return {"gpu": torch.cuda.get_device_name(0)}

CPU Types (CpuInstanceType)

from runpod_flash import Endpoint, CpuInstanceType

@Endpoint(name="cpu-work", cpu=CpuInstanceType.CPU5C_4_8, workers=5, dependencies=["pandas"])
async def process(data):
    import pandas as pd
    return pd.DataFrame(data).describe().to_dict()

Common Patterns

CPU + GPU Pipeline

from runpod_flash import Endpoint, GpuGroup, CpuInstanceType

@Endpoint(name="preprocess", cpu=CpuInstanceType.CPU5C_4_8, workers=5, dependencies=["pandas"])
async def preprocess(raw):
    import pandas as pd
    return pd.DataFrame(raw).to_dict("records")

@Endpoint(name="infer", gpu=GpuGroup.AMPERE_80, workers=5, dependencies=["torch"])
async def infer(clean):
    import torch
    t = torch.tensor([[v for v in r.values()] for r in clean], device="cuda")
    return {"predictions": t.mean(dim=1).tolist()}

async def pipeline(data):
    return await infer(await preprocess(data))

Parallel Execution

import asyncio
results = await asyncio.gather(compute(a), compute(b), compute(c))

Gotchas

1. Only the function body ships to the worker -- most common error. Put imports and any module-level constants/helpers the function uses inside the decorated body. flash deploy imports the whole module so module globals happen to work; flash dev ships just the body, so a module-level name raises NameError. A handler that works deployed can break under dev — fix it by moving everything inside.
2. Forgetting await -- all decorated functions and client methods need await.
3. Missing dependencies -- must list in dependencies=[].
4. gpu/cpu are exclusive -- pick one per Endpoint.
5. idle_timeout is seconds -- default 60s, not minutes.
6. 10MB payload limit -- pass URLs, not large objects.
7. Client vs decorator -- image=/id= = client. Otherwise = decorator.
8. Auto GPU switching requires workers >= 5 -- pass a list of GPU types (e.g. gpu=[GpuGroup.ADA_24, GpuGroup.AMPERE_80]) and set workers=5 or higher. The platform only auto-switches GPU types based on supply when max workers is at least 5.
9. runsync timeout is 60s -- cold starts can exceed 60s. Use ep.runsync(data, timeout=120) for first requests or use ep.run() + job.wait() instead.

Resources

• Flash source: https://github.com/runpod/flash
• Runnable examples: https://github.com/runpod/flash-examples
• Docs: https://docs.runpod.io

Source: runpod/skills — distributed by TomeVault.