CLI reference for kernel-builder

This document contains the help content for the kernel-builder command-line program.

Command Overview:

• kernel-builder↴
• kernel-builder completions↴
• kernel-builder init↴
• kernel-builder build↴
• kernel-builder build-and-copy↴
• kernel-builder build-and-upload↴
• kernel-builder upload↴
• kernel-builder check-config↴
• kernel-builder check-abi↴
• kernel-builder check-builds↴
• kernel-builder create-pyproject↴
• kernel-builder devshell↴
• kernel-builder list-variants↴
• kernel-builder hash↴
• kernel-builder testshell↴
• kernel-builder update-build↴
• kernel-builder skills↴
• kernel-builder skills add↴
• kernel-builder clean-pyproject↴

kernel-builder

Build Hugging Face Hub kernels

Usage: kernel-builder <COMMAND>

Subcommands:

• completions — Generate shell completions
• init — Initialize a new kernel project from template
• build — Build the kernel locally (alias for build-and-copy)
• build-and-copy — Build the kernel and copy artifacts locally
• build-and-upload — Build the kernel and upload to Hugging Face Hub
• upload — Upload kernel build artifacts to the Hugging Face Hub
• check-config — Validate the build.toml file
• check-abi — Check the ABI compatibility of a kernel extension
• check-builds — Validate kernel builds
• create-pyproject — Generate CMake files for a kernel extension build
• devshell — Spawn a kernel development shell
• list-variants — List build variants
• hash — Hash the builds of a kernel
• testshell — Spawn a kernel test shell
• update-build — Update a build.toml to the current format
• skills — Install skills for AI coding assistants (Claude, Codex, OpenCode)
• clean-pyproject — Clean generated artifacts

kernel-builder completions

Generate shell completions

Usage: kernel-builder completions <SHELL>

Arguments:

• <SHELL>

  Possible values: bash, elvish, fish, powershell, zsh

kernel-builder init

Initialize a new kernel project from template

Usage: kernel-builder init [OPTIONS] [PATH]

Arguments:

• <PATH> — Directory to initialize (defaults to current directory)

Options:

• --license <LICENSE> — The kernel’s license

  Default value: Apache-2.0

• --name <OWNER/REPO> — Name of the kernel repo (e.g. drbh/my-kernel)

• --backends <BACKENDS> — Backends to enable (all, cpu, cuda, metal, neuron, rocm, xpu)

• --overwrite — Overwrite existing scaffold files (preserves other files)

kernel-builder build

Build the kernel locally (alias for build-and-copy)

Usage: kernel-builder build [OPTIONS] [KERNEL_DIR]

Arguments:

• <KERNEL_DIR> — Directory of the kernel project (defaults to current directory)

Options:

• --variant <VARIANT> — Build a specific variant
• --max-jobs <MAX_JOBS> — Maximum number of parallel Nix build jobs
• --cores <CORES> — Number of CPU cores to use for each build job
• -L, --print-build-logs — Print full build logs on standard error

kernel-builder build-and-copy

Build the kernel and copy artifacts locally

Usage: kernel-builder build-and-copy [OPTIONS] [KERNEL_DIR]

Arguments:

• <KERNEL_DIR> — Directory of the kernel project (defaults to current directory)

Options:

• --max-jobs <MAX_JOBS> — Maximum number of parallel Nix build jobs
• --cores <CORES> — Number of CPU cores to use for each build job
• -L, --print-build-logs — Print full build logs on standard error

kernel-builder build-and-upload

Build the kernel and upload to Hugging Face Hub

Usage: kernel-builder build-and-upload [OPTIONS] [KERNEL_DIR]

Arguments:

• <KERNEL_DIR> — Directory of the kernel project (defaults to current directory)

Options:

• --variant <VARIANT> — Build a specific variant

• --max-jobs <MAX_JOBS> — Maximum number of parallel Nix build jobs

• --cores <CORES> — Number of CPU cores to use for each build job

• -L, --print-build-logs — Print full build logs on standard error

• --repo-id <REPO_ID> — Repository ID on the Hugging Face Hub (e.g. user/my-kernel)

• --branch <BRANCH> — Upload to a specific branch (defaults to v{version} from metadata)

• --private — Create the repository as private

• --repo-type <REPO_TYPE> — Repository type on Hugging Face Hub (kernel by default, or model for legacy repos)

  Default value: kernel

  Possible values: model, kernel

• -q, --quiet — Suppress progress output

kernel-builder upload

Upload kernel build artifacts to the Hugging Face Hub

Usage: kernel-builder upload [OPTIONS] [KERNEL_DIR]

Arguments:

• <KERNEL_DIR> — Directory of the kernel build (defaults to current directory)

Options:

• --repo-id <REPO_ID> — Repository ID on the Hugging Face Hub (e.g. user/my-kernel). Defaults to general.hub.repo-id from build.toml

• --branch <BRANCH> — Upload to a specific branch (defaults to v{version} from metadata)

• --private — Create the repository as private

• --repo-type <REPO_TYPE> — Repository type on Hugging Face Hub (kernel by default, or model for legacy repos)

  Default value: kernel

  Possible values: model, kernel

• -q, --quiet — Suppress progress output

kernel-builder check-config

Validate the build.toml file

Usage: kernel-builder check-config [KERNEL_DIR]

Arguments:

• <KERNEL_DIR>

kernel-builder check-abi

Check the ABI compatibility of a kernel extension

Usage: kernel-builder check-abi [OPTIONS] [KERNEL_DIR]

Arguments:

• <KERNEL_DIR> — Directory with kernels

Options:

• -m, --manylinux <VERSION> — Manylinux version

  Default value: manylinux_2_28

• --macos <VERSION> — macOS version

  Default value: 15.0

• -p, --python-abi <VERSION> — Python ABI version

  Default value: 3.9

• --torch-stable-abi <VERSION> — Torch stable ABI version

kernel-builder check-builds

Validate kernel builds

Usage: kernel-builder check-builds [KERNEL_DIR]

Arguments:

• <KERNEL_DIR>

kernel-builder create-pyproject

Generate CMake files for a kernel extension build

Usage: kernel-builder create-pyproject [OPTIONS] [KERNEL_DIR] [TARGET_DIR]

Arguments:

• <KERNEL_DIR>
• <TARGET_DIR> — The directory to write the generated files to (directory of BUILD_TOML when absent)

Options:

• -f, --force — Force-overwrite existing files
• --unique-id <UNIQUE_ID> — This is an optional unique identifier that is suffixed to the kernel name to avoid name collisions. (e.g. Git SHA)
• --kernel-sha <KERNEL_SHA> — Full commit SHA of the kernel source, recorded in the build metadata. When absent, it is detected from the kernel’s git repository (used by Nix builds where the source has no .git)
• --kernel-dirty — Mark the kernel source as having uncommitted changes in the build metadata. Only meaningful together with --kernel-sha

kernel-builder devshell

Spawn a kernel development shell

Usage: kernel-builder devshell [OPTIONS] [KERNEL_DIR]

Arguments:

• <KERNEL_DIR>

Options:

• --variant <VARIANT> — Use a specific variant
• --max-jobs <MAX_JOBS> — Maximum number of parallel Nix build jobs
• --cores <CORES> — Number of CPU cores to use for each build job
• -L, --print-build-logs — Print full build logs on standard error

kernel-builder list-variants

List build variants

Usage: kernel-builder list-variants [OPTIONS] [KERNEL_DIR]

Arguments:

• <KERNEL_DIR>

Options:

• --arch — Only list variants for the current architecture

kernel-builder hash

Hash the builds of a kernel

Usage: kernel-builder hash [KERNEL_DIR]

Arguments:

• <KERNEL_DIR>

kernel-builder testshell

Spawn a kernel test shell

Usage: kernel-builder testshell [OPTIONS] [KERNEL_DIR]

Arguments:

• <KERNEL_DIR>

Options:

• --variant <VARIANT> — Use a specific variant
• --max-jobs <MAX_JOBS> — Maximum number of parallel Nix build jobs
• --cores <CORES> — Number of CPU cores to use for each build job
• -L, --print-build-logs — Print full build logs on standard error

kernel-builder update-build

Update a build.toml to the current format

Usage: kernel-builder update-build [KERNEL_DIR]

Arguments:

• <KERNEL_DIR>

kernel-builder skills

Install skills for AI coding assistants (Claude, Codex, OpenCode)

Usage: kernel-builder skills <COMMAND>

Subcommands:

• add — Install a kernels skill for an AI assistant

kernel-builder skills add

Install a kernels skill for an AI assistant

Usage: kernel-builder skills add [OPTIONS]

Options:

• --skill <SKILL> — Skill to install

  Default value: cuda-kernels

  Possible values: cuda-kernels, cpu-kernels, rocm-kernels, triton-kernels, xpu-kernels

• --claude — Install for Claude

• --codex — Install for Codex

• --opencode — Install for OpenCode

• -g, --global — Install globally (user-level) instead of in the current project directory

• --dest <DEST> — Install into a custom destination (path to skills directory)

• --force — Overwrite existing skills in the destination

kernel-builder clean-pyproject

Clean generated artifacts

Usage: kernel-builder clean-pyproject [OPTIONS] [KERNEL_DIR] [TARGET_DIR]

Arguments:

• <KERNEL_DIR>
• <TARGET_DIR> — The directory to clean from (directory of BUILD_TOML when absent)

Options:

• -d, --dry-run — Show what would be deleted without actually deleting
• -f, --force — Force deletion without confirmation
• --ops-id <OPS_ID> — This is an optional unique identifier that is suffixed to the kernel name to avoid name collisions. (e.g. Git SHA)

---

This document was generated automatically by clap-markdown. Update on GitHub