.. _testing_benchmarks: Benchmarking Framework ====================== Isaac Lab provides a comprehensive benchmarking framework for measuring the performance of simulations, training workflows, and system resources. The framework is designed to work without depending on Isaac Sim's benchmark services, enabling standalone benchmarking with pluggable output backends. Overview -------- The benchmarking framework consists of several key components: .. code-block:: text ┌─────────────────────────────────┐ │ BaseIsaacLabBenchmark │ │ (benchmark_core.py) │ └───────────────┬─────────────────┘ │ ┌───────────┼───────────┐ │ │ │ ▼ ▼ ▼ ┌───────┐ ┌─────────┐ ┌──────────┐ │Phases │ │Recorders│ │ Backends │ └───────┘ └─────────┘ └──────────┘ **Key Components:** - **BaseIsaacLabBenchmark**: Main class for orchestrating benchmark execution - **Measurements**: Data classes for recording metrics (timing, counts, statistics) - **Metadata**: Data classes for recording context (hardware, versions, parameters) - **TestPhase**: Container for organizing measurements into logical groups - **Recorders**: System information collectors (CPU, GPU, memory, versions) - **Backends**: Output formatters (JSON, Osmo, OmniPerf, Summary) .. seealso:: For method-level micro-benchmarks that measure asset setter/writer and property performance using mock interfaces (without running full simulations), see :ref:`testing_micro_benchmarks`. Quick Start ----------- Basic usage with :class:`~isaaclab.test.benchmark.BaseIsaacLabBenchmark`: .. code-block:: python from isaaclab.test.benchmark import ( BaseIsaacLabBenchmark, SingleMeasurement, StatisticalMeasurement, StringMetadata, ) # Initialize benchmark benchmark = BaseIsaacLabBenchmark( benchmark_name="MyBenchmark", backend_type="json", output_path="./results", ) # Record measurements benchmark.add_measurement( phase_name="simulation", measurement=SingleMeasurement( name="fps", value=1234.5, unit="frames/sec" ), ) benchmark.add_measurement( phase_name="simulation", measurement=StatisticalMeasurement( name="step_time", mean=0.82, std=0.05, n=1000, unit="ms" ), ) # Add metadata benchmark.add_measurement( phase_name="simulation", metadata=StringMetadata(name="task", data="Isaac-Cartpole-v0"), ) # Finalize and write output benchmark._finalize_impl() Running Benchmark Scripts ------------------------- Isaac Lab provides shell scripts for running benchmark suites: Non-RL Benchmarks ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Measure environment stepping performance without training: .. code-block:: bash # Run all non-RL benchmarks ./scripts/benchmarks/run_non_rl_benchmarks.sh ./output_dir # Run a single benchmark manually ./isaaclab.sh -p scripts/benchmarks/benchmark_non_rl.py \ --task Isaac-Cartpole-v0 \ --num_envs 4096 \ --num_frames 100 \ --benchmark_backend json \ --output_path ./results RL Training Benchmarks ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Measure training performance with RSL-RL: .. code-block:: bash # Run training benchmarks ./scripts/benchmarks/run_training_benchmarks.sh ./output_dir # Run manually with RSL-RL ./isaaclab.sh -p scripts/benchmarks/benchmark_rsl_rl.py \ --task Isaac-Cartpole-v0 \ --num_envs 4096 \ --max_iterations 500 \ --benchmark_backend json \ --output_path ./results PhysX Micro-Benchmarks ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Measure asset method and property performance using mock interfaces: .. code-block:: bash # Run PhysX micro-benchmarks ./scripts/benchmarks/run_physx_benchmarks.sh ./output_dir # Run articulation benchmarks manually ./isaaclab.sh -p source/isaaclab_physx/benchmark/assets/benchmark_articulation.py \ --num_iterations 1000 \ --num_instances 4096 For detailed documentation on micro-benchmarks, including available benchmark files, input modes, and how to add new benchmarks, see :ref:`testing_micro_benchmarks`. Startup Profiling Benchmark ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Profile the startup sequence of an IsaacLab environment using ``cProfile``. Each startup stage is wrapped in its own profiling session and the top functions by own-time are reported. This is useful for investigating startup regressions and understanding where time is spent during initialization. .. code-block:: bash # Basic usage — reports top 30 functions per phase ./isaaclab.sh -p scripts/benchmarks/benchmark_startup.py \ --task Isaac-Ant-v0 \ --num_envs 4096 \ --benchmark_backend summary The script profiles five phases independently: - **app_launch**: ``launch_simulation()`` context entry (Kit/USD/PhysX init) - **python_imports**: importing gymnasium, torch, isaaclab_tasks, etc. - **task_config**: ``resolve_task_config()`` (Hydra config resolution) - **env_creation**: ``gym.make()`` + ``env.reset()`` (scene creation, sim start) - **first_step**: a single ``env.step()`` call Each phase records a wall-clock time plus per-function own-time and cumulative time as ``SingleMeasurement`` entries. Only IsaacLab functions and first-level calls into external libraries are included (deep internals of torch, USD, etc. are filtered out). **Whitelist mode** — For dashboard time-series comparisons across runs, use a YAML whitelist config to report a fixed set of functions instead of top-N. Patterns use ``fnmatch`` syntax (``*`` and ``?`` wildcards): .. code-block:: yaml # Example whitelist config app_launch: - "isaaclab.utils.configclass:_custom_post_init" - "isaaclab.sim.*:__init__" env_creation: - "isaaclab.cloner.*:usd_replicate" - "isaaclab.cloner.*:filter_collisions" - "isaaclab.scene.*:_init_scene" first_step: - "isaaclab.actuators.*:compute" - "warp.*:launch" .. code-block:: bash ./isaaclab.sh -p scripts/benchmarks/benchmark_startup.py \ --task Isaac-Ant-v0 \ --num_envs 4096 \ --benchmark_backend omniperf \ --whitelist_config scripts/benchmarks/startup_whitelist.yaml Phases listed in the YAML use the whitelist; phases not listed fall back to ``--top_n`` (default: 5 in whitelist mode, 30 otherwise). Patterns that match no profiled function emit ``0.0`` placeholders so the output always contains the same keys. A default whitelist is provided at ``scripts/benchmarks/startup_whitelist.yaml``. .. list-table:: :header-rows: 1 :widths: 25 15 60 * - Argument - Default - Description * - ``--task`` - required - Environment task name * - ``--num_envs`` - from config - Number of parallel environments * - ``--top_n`` - 30 (5 with whitelist) - Max functions per non-whitelisted phase * - ``--whitelist_config`` - None - Path to YAML whitelist file * - ``--benchmark_backend`` - ``omniperf`` - Output backend (``json``, ``osmo``, ``omniperf``, ``summary``) * - ``--output_path`` - ``.`` - Directory for output files Command Line Arguments ---------------------- Common Arguments ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .. list-table:: :header-rows: 1 :widths: 25 15 60 * - Argument - Default - Description * - ``--benchmark_backend`` - ``json`` - Output backend: ``json``, ``osmo``, ``omniperf``, or ``summary`` * - ``--output_path`` - ``./`` - Directory for output files Non-RL Benchmark Arguments ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .. list-table:: :header-rows: 1 :widths: 25 15 60 * - Argument - Default - Description * - ``--task`` - required - Environment task name (e.g., ``Isaac-Cartpole-v0``) * - ``--num_envs`` - ``4096`` - Number of parallel environments * - ``--num_frames`` - ``100`` - Number of simulation frames to run * - ``--enable_cameras`` - ``false`` - Enable camera rendering (for RGB/depth tasks) RL Training Arguments ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .. list-table:: :header-rows: 1 :widths: 25 15 60 * - Argument - Default - Description * - ``--task`` - required - Environment task name * - ``--num_envs`` - ``4096`` - Number of parallel environments * - ``--max_iterations`` - ``500`` - Number of training iterations Measurement Types ----------------- The framework provides several measurement types for different data: SingleMeasurement ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For single numeric values: .. code-block:: python from isaaclab.test.benchmark import SingleMeasurement measurement = SingleMeasurement( name="total_frames", value=100000, unit="frames" ) StatisticalMeasurement ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For statistical summaries: .. code-block:: python from isaaclab.test.benchmark import StatisticalMeasurement measurement = StatisticalMeasurement( name="step_time", mean=0.82, std=0.05, n=1000, unit="ms" ) BooleanMeasurement ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For pass/fail status: .. code-block:: python from isaaclab.test.benchmark import BooleanMeasurement measurement = BooleanMeasurement( name="converged", bvalue=True ) DictMeasurement ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For structured data: .. code-block:: python from isaaclab.test.benchmark import DictMeasurement measurement = DictMeasurement( name="config", value={"learning_rate": 0.001, "batch_size": 64} ) ListMeasurement ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For sequences of values: .. code-block:: python from isaaclab.test.benchmark import ListMeasurement measurement = ListMeasurement( name="rewards_per_episode", value=[100.5, 102.3, 98.7, 105.1] ) Test Phases ----------- :class:`~isaaclab.test.benchmark.TestPhase` organizes measurements and metadata into logical groups. Common phases include: - ``benchmark_info``: Workflow name, timestamp, configuration - ``hardware_info``: CPU, GPU, memory information - ``version_info``: Software versions (Isaac Sim, PyTorch, etc.) - ``simulation``: Environment stepping metrics - ``training``: RL training metrics - ``runtime``: Execution time and resource usage Example: .. code-block:: python # Measurements are automatically grouped by phase benchmark.add_measurement("simulation", measurement=fps_measurement) benchmark.add_measurement("simulation", metadata=task_metadata) benchmark.add_measurement("training", measurement=reward_measurement) Output Backends --------------- JSON Backend ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Full output with all phases, measurements, and metadata: .. code-block:: bash ./isaaclab.sh -p ... --benchmark_backend json --output_path ./results Output structure: .. code-block:: json [ { "phase_name": "simulation", "measurements": [ { "name": "MyBenchmark simulation fps", "value": 1234.5, "unit": "frames/sec", "type": "single" } ], "metadata": [ {"name": "MyBenchmark simulation task", "data": "Isaac-Cartpole-v0", "type": "string"} ] } ] Osmo Backend ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Simplified key-value format for CI/CD integration: .. code-block:: bash ./isaaclab.sh -p ... --benchmark_backend osmo --output_path ./results Output structure: .. code-block:: json { "workflow_name": "MyBenchmark", "phase": "simulation", "fps": 1234.5, "task": "Isaac-Cartpole-v0" } OmniPerf Backend ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Format for database upload and performance tracking: .. code-block:: bash ./isaaclab.sh -p ... --benchmark_backend omniperf --output_path ./results Output structure: .. code-block:: json { "simulation": { "workflow_name": "MyBenchmark", "fps": 1234.5, "step_time_mean": 0.82, "step_time_std": 0.05 } } Summary Backend ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Human-readable console report plus JSON file. Prints a formatted summary to the terminal while also writing the same data as JSON. Standard phases (runtime, startup, train, frametime, system info) are rendered with specialized formatting; any additional phases (e.g., from the startup profiling benchmark) are rendered automatically with their ``SingleMeasurement`` and ``StatisticalMeasurement`` entries. Use when you want a quick readout without opening the JSON: .. code-block:: bash ./isaaclab.sh -p ... --benchmark_backend summary --output_path ./results When ``summary`` is selected, frametime recorders are enabled automatically when running with Isaac Sim (Kit). BenchmarkMonitor ---------------- :class:`~isaaclab.test.benchmark.BenchmarkMonitor` enables continuous system monitoring during blocking operations like RL training loops: .. code-block:: python from isaaclab.test.benchmark import BaseIsaacLabBenchmark, BenchmarkMonitor benchmark = BaseIsaacLabBenchmark( benchmark_name="TrainingBenchmark", backend_type="json", output_path="./results", ) # Monitor system resources during blocking training call with BenchmarkMonitor(benchmark, interval=1.0): runner.learn(num_learning_iterations=1000) # Blocking call benchmark._finalize_impl() The monitor runs in a background thread and periodically calls ``update_manual_recorders()`` to capture CPU, GPU, and memory usage samples. System Recorders ---------------- The framework includes built-in recorders for system information: CPUInfoRecorder ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Captures CPU model, core count, and usage statistics. GPUInfoRecorder ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Captures GPU model, memory, and utilization via ``nvidia-smi``. MemoryInfoRecorder ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Captures system and GPU memory usage over time. VersionInfoRecorder ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Captures software versions: - Isaac Sim version - Isaac Lab version - PyTorch version - CUDA version - Python version Creating Custom Benchmarks -------------------------- Step 1: Initialize Benchmark ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .. code-block:: python import argparse from isaaclab.test.benchmark import BaseIsaacLabBenchmark parser = argparse.ArgumentParser() parser.add_argument("--benchmark_backend", default="json") parser.add_argument("--output_path", default="./") args = parser.parse_args() benchmark = BaseIsaacLabBenchmark( benchmark_name="CustomBenchmark", backend_type=args.benchmark_backend, output_path=args.output_path, ) Step 2: Run Your Workload ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .. code-block:: python import time start_time = time.time() # Your workload here for i in range(num_iterations): env.step(actions) elapsed = time.time() - start_time Step 3: Record Measurements ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .. code-block:: python from isaaclab.test.benchmark import SingleMeasurement, StringMetadata benchmark.add_measurement( phase_name="runtime", measurement=SingleMeasurement( name="total_time", value=elapsed, unit="seconds" ), ) benchmark.add_measurement( phase_name="runtime", metadata=StringMetadata(name="num_iterations", data=str(num_iterations)), ) Step 4: Finalize ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .. code-block:: python benchmark._finalize_impl() Integration with CI/CD ---------------------- The shell scripts in ``scripts/benchmarks/`` are designed for CI/CD integration: .. code-block:: bash # GitHub Actions / GitLab CI example - name: Run Benchmarks run: | ./scripts/benchmarks/run_non_rl_benchmarks.sh ./benchmark_results - name: Upload Results uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3 with: name: benchmark-results path: ./benchmark_results/ For Osmo integration, use the ``osmo`` backend: .. code-block:: bash ./scripts/benchmarks/run_non_rl_benchmarks.sh ./results # Results are in Osmo-compatible JSON format Troubleshooting --------------- Import Errors ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ensure you're running through the Isaac Lab launcher: .. code-block:: bash ./isaaclab.sh -p your_benchmark.py Not: .. code-block:: bash python your_benchmark.py # Missing environment setup Missing GPU Metrics ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Verify ``nvidia-smi`` is available and CUDA is configured: .. code-block:: bash nvidia-smi # Should show GPU info Empty Output Files ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ensure ``_finalize_impl()`` is called before the script exits: .. code-block:: python try: # Your benchmark code pass finally: benchmark._finalize_impl() Backend Not Recognized ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Valid backend types are: ``json``, ``osmo``, ``omniperf``, ``summary`` .. code-block:: bash # Correct --benchmark_backend json # Incorrect --benchmark_backend JSON # Case sensitive