BlackDynamite Studies

Motoko manages workflows of interconnected BlackDynamite studies. A BlackDynamite study is a parametrized calculation that can be run many times with different inputs.

BlackDynamite parameterizes a calculation using jobs and runs:

• A job is a calculation with a specific input.

• A run is an execution of a job. It carries metadata, the information needed to launch and track the calculation, and output quantities produced by the executable.

Several runs can belong to the same job, for example when the same input is repeated after a failure or evaluated with different software settings.

In a Motoko workflow, each task manager points at one BlackDynamite study directory. The study directory contains a bd.yaml file and the scripts needed to launch the calculation.

Minimal study schema

A simple study with one floating-point job parameter can be described in a bd.yaml file like this:

study: mult

job:
  x: float

run:

The job section declares input parameters. The run section declares additional run metadata. BlackDynamite also adds its default run fields such as run id, state, run path, and job id.