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 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
• 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-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 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, rocm-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)