Checklist
Background
In constrained environments (e.g. Colab, lightweight GPU instances, or restricted local setups), setting up AReaL can become difficult due to complex dependencies and system-level requirements.
While Docker is a common solution, it may introduce additional operational complexity in some cases (e.g. privileged containers, Docker socket passthrough, or nested container execution).
For this reason, a Google Colab-based execution/playground setup can provide a simpler and more accessible alternative for experimentation, learning, and quick iteration without requiring full system-level setup.
Proposed Solution
This PR introduces an example Colab-based workflow demonstrating how to run AReaL in a minimal, dependency-isolated environment.
Example notebook:
https://colab.research.google.com/drive/1Asub9UVkH_HtGOvVv1ZpuU5QKTbNVAHT?usp=sharing
Goals of this approach:
- Provide a zero-admin setup option for users
- Avoid system-level installation complexity
- Enable quick experimentation with AReaL pipelines
- Serve as a reproducible “playbook” for newcomers
Additional Notes
Summary
This PR focuses on improving accessibility by providing a lightweight Colab-based execution path, complementing (not replacing) existing Docker-based deployment strategies.
Checklist
areal/api/Background
In constrained environments (e.g. Colab, lightweight GPU instances, or restricted local setups), setting up AReaL can become difficult due to complex dependencies and system-level requirements.
While Docker is a common solution, it may introduce additional operational complexity in some cases (e.g. privileged containers, Docker socket passthrough, or nested container execution).
For this reason, a Google Colab-based execution/playground setup can provide a simpler and more accessible alternative for experimentation, learning, and quick iteration without requiring full system-level setup.
Proposed Solution
This PR introduces an example Colab-based workflow demonstrating how to run AReaL in a minimal, dependency-isolated environment.
Example notebook:
https://colab.research.google.com/drive/1Asub9UVkH_HtGOvVv1ZpuU5QKTbNVAHT?usp=sharing
Goals of this approach:
Additional Notes
A Docker-based setup would still be a valuable addition for production-grade or reproducible deployments.
A future improvement could include:
docker-composeconfiguration for full stack orchestrationSummary
This PR focuses on improving accessibility by providing a lightweight Colab-based execution path, complementing (not replacing) existing Docker-based deployment strategies.