# Load agent evaluation tasks

A [Harbor](https://harborframework.com/docs) dataset is a collection of *tasks* used to evaluate AI agents: each
task gives an agent an instruction, a sandboxed environment to work in, and a verifier that scores its work.

Unlike tabular datasets, a Harbor dataset isn't a file with one row per example: **every task is a directory**.
The `harbor` builder reads such a repository and yields one row per task, so a benchmark can be explored,
filtered and shared like any other dataset:

```py
>>> from datasets import load_dataset
>>> dataset = load_dataset("harborframework/terminal-bench")
>>> dataset
DatasetDict({
    test: Dataset({
        features: ['name', 'instruction', 'description', 'keywords', 'schema_version', 'config', 'metadata', 'files', 'location'],
        num_rows: 66
    })
})
```

> [!TIP]
> Loading a Harbor dataset only *reads* the tasks: it never runs an agent, builds an image or executes a
> verifier, and it doesn't require Harbor to be installed. Use the [Harbor](https://harborframework.com/docs)
> library to actually run the tasks.

> [!WARNING]
> Harbor task configurations are TOML files. Python 3.11 and later read them with the standard library
> (`tomllib`); on Python 3.10, you need to install a TOML parser as an extra dependency. Check out the
> [installation](./installation#harbor) guide to learn how to install it.

## Repository structure

A task directory is identified by two files, `task.toml` and `instruction.md`, and usually also contains the
environment definition, the verifier and an oracle solution:

```text
my-harbor-dataset/
├── README.md
└── tasks/
    ├── task-a/
    │   ├── task.toml          # configuration: metadata, resources, timeouts...
    │   ├── instruction.md     # what the agent is asked to do
    │   ├── README.md          # optional human-readable description
    │   ├── environment/       # Dockerfile / docker-compose.yaml + files of the sandbox
    │   ├── tests/             # verifier
    │   └── solution/          # oracle solution
    └── task-b/
        └── ...
```

A directory is recognized as a Harbor dataset as soon as one of its sub-directories, however deep, is a task
directory (a `task.toml` file and an `instruction.md` file side by side): the tasks are found automatically,
without having to list any file.

## Load tasks

Since Harbor datasets are made of directories rather than of data files, they are loaded by *path* — no
`data_files` argument:

```py
>>> from datasets import load_dataset

>>> # a dataset repository on the Hub
>>> dataset = load_dataset("harborframework/terminal-bench")
>>> # a local directory of tasks
>>> dataset = load_dataset("/path/to/my-harbor-dataset")
>>> # the tasks of a repository that are in a sub-directory
>>> dataset = load_dataset("harborframework/terminal-bench", data_dir="tasks")
```

Passing `data_files` explicitly is supported too, as long as the pattern includes the `task.toml` and `instruction.md` files — one
matched file pair file gives one row:

```py
>>> dataset = load_dataset(
...     "/path/to/my-harbor-dataset",
...     data_files={"test": ["my-tasks-dir/*/task.toml", "my-tasks-dir/*/instruction.md"]},
... )
```

## Columns

Every row describes one task:

| Column | Type | Description |
|--------|------|-------------|
| `name` | `string` | `[task].name` of `task.toml` (usually `org/name`), or the task directory name. |
| `description` | `string` | `[task].description` of `task.toml`. |
| `instruction` | `string` | Contents of `instruction.md`: what the agent has to do. |
| `keywords` | `list` of `string` | `[task].keywords` of `task.toml`. |
| `schema_version` | `string` | `schema_version` declared by `task.toml`. |
| `config` | `dict` | The whole `task.toml`, as a JSON object: `[task]`, `[metadata]`, `[verifier]`, `[agent]`, `[environment]`, `[steps]`... |
| `metadata` | `dict` | The free-form `[metadata]` section of `task.toml`. |
| `files` | `list` of `string` | All the files of the task, with paths relative to the task directory. |
| `location` | `string` | Location of the task directory in the dataset. |

```py
>>> dataset = load_dataset("harborframework/terminal-bench", split="test")
>>> dataset[0]["name"]
'terminal-bench/atrx-vep-crispr'
>>> dataset[0]["instruction"][:90]
'You are provided with a region of genomic DNA representing the human ATRX locus plus sequence'
>>> dataset[0]["config"]["task"]["authors"]
[{'name': 'ScaleAI', 'email': 'tbench@scale.com'}]
>>> dataset[0]["metadata"]["category"]
'Science'
>>> dataset[0]["config"]["environment"]
{'build_timeout_sec': 1800.0, 'cpus': 2, 'memory_mb': 4096, 'storage_mb': 10240, 'gpus': 0}
>>> dataset[0]["files"][:4]
['LICENSE.md', 'README.md', 'environment/Dockerfile', 'environment/data/CDS-information.txt']
>>> dataset[0]["location"]
'tasks/atrx-vep-crispr'
```

The whole `task.toml` is available in `config`, so nothing is lost when a task uses fields that aren't
promoted to their own column:

```py
>>> dataset = dataset.map(lambda task: {"timeout_min": task["config"]["verifier"]["timeout_sec"] / 60})
>>> sorted(set(dataset["timeout_min"]))[:6]
[1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 7.0]
```

## Filter a benchmark

Because the task metadata is loaded as a dictionary, a benchmark can be explored with the usual
[filter()](/docs/datasets/main/en/package_reference/main_classes#datasets.Dataset.filter) and [map()](/docs/datasets/main/en/package_reference/main_classes#datasets.Dataset.map) methods:

```py
>>> security_tasks = dataset.filter(lambda task: task["metadata"].get("category") == "Security")
>>> [task["name"] for task in security_tasks]
['terminal-bench/formal-crypto', 'terminal-bench/html-js-filter', 'terminal-bench/interleaved-vigenere', 'terminal-bench/shadow-relay', 'terminal-bench/uefi-bootkit']
```

The `files` column lists everything the task ships, which is handy to look at how a task is verified:

```py
>>> pytest_verifiers = dataset.filter(lambda task: any(f.startswith("tests/") and f.endswith(".py") for f in task["files"]))
>>> pytest_verifiers.num_rows
63
```

## Read the other files of a task

Only the instruction and the configuration of a task are loaded as columns: its environment, verifier and
solution files are listed in the `files` column, as paths relative to the task directory. Combine `task_id`
and `files` to open any of them with `fsspec`:

```py
>>> from huggingface_hub import hffs
>>> dataset_path = "hf://datasets/harborframework/terminal-bench"
>>> with hffs.open(f"{dataset_path}/tasks/cumulative-layout-shift/environment/Dockerfile", "r") as f:
...     print(f.read()[:20])
'# harbor-canary GUID
```

## Configuration

[HarborConfig](/docs/datasets/main/en/package_reference/loading_methods#datasets.packaged_modules.harbor.HarborConfig) accepts a few arguments on top of the usual
`load_dataset` ones:

- `strip_canary` (default `True`): remove the leading "benchmark data canary" comment lines from the
  instructions, the same way Harbor does when it sends them to an agent. Set it to `False` to keep the
  original file contents.
- `include_files` (default `True`): list all the files of every task in the `files` column. Set it to
  `False` to skip listing the task directories, which is faster when the dataset is on a remote filesystem
  or has thousands of files per task.

Tasks can also be streamed, which avoids downloading the whole benchmark upfront:

```py
>>> from datasets import load_dataset
>>> dataset = load_dataset("harborframework/terminal-bench", streaming=True)
>>> for task in dataset["test"]:
...     print(task["name"])
```

## See also

- The reference documentation of [Harbor](/docs/datasets/main/en/package_reference/loading_methods#datasets.packaged_modules.harbor.Harbor) and
  [HarborConfig](/docs/datasets/main/en/package_reference/loading_methods#datasets.packaged_modules.harbor.HarborConfig).
- The [Harbor documentation](https://harborframework.com/docs) to *run* the tasks of a benchmark with agents
  and verifiers.