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RealHW

Hardware markers

RealHW exposes hardware markers as GitLab runner tags. You already know the interface: put tags on a GitLab CI job.

There are two tag families:

  • GitLab-compatible SaaS tags for generic Linux runner shapes
  • RealHW hardware markers for specialized hardware

Start simple

Section titled “Start simple”
unit-tests:
  tags:
    - saas-linux-medium-amd64
  script:
    - cargo test

Add hardware when needed

Section titled “Add hardware when needed”
gpu-tests:
  tags:
    - saas-linux-large-amd64
    - gpu:nvidia
    - gpu:count:1
  script:
    - nvidia-smi

Tags versus variables

Section titled “Tags versus variables”

Tags select eligible runner capacity. HW_* variables request an explicit reservation for the job.

For most generic jobs, use only a GitLab-compatible SaaS tag. For specialized jobs, use hardware markers plus variables when the job needs a specific reservable resource.