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# Catalog

> How the certification catalog maps domain/variant pairs to workload specs.

The catalog is the registry of all supported certification categories. It maps `{domain, variant}` pairs to workload definitions — the concrete specs that run during certification.

## Structure

Each catalog entry is a YAML file at `pkg/catalog/entries/<domain>/<variant>.yaml`. The file defines the base workload spec (dependencies, job template, orchestration) plus platform- and GPU-specific overrides. The catalog loader discovers entries by scanning that directory tree at startup.

## Domains and variants

| Domain | Variant | What it tests |
|--------|---------|---------------|
| `communication` | `nccl-all-reduce` | All-reduce collective bandwidth |
| `communication` | `nccl-all-gather` | All-gather collective bandwidth |
| `communication` | `nccl-alltoall` | All-to-all collective bandwidth |
| `communication` | `nccl-loopback` | Loopback bandwidth (single-node NVLink/NVSwitch) |
| `communication` | `nccl-loopback-nvswitch` | Loopback bandwidth via NVSwitch fabric |
| `diagnostics` | `dcgm-level4` | DCGM level-4 diagnostics |
| `training` | `nemotron5-8b` | End-to-end training throughput (NeMo, Nemotron 5 8B) |
| `training` | `nemotron5-56b` | End-to-end training throughput (NeMo, Nemotron 5 56B) |

## Selecting categories

In a `Certification` spec, list any combination of domain/variant pairs under `categories`:

```yaml
spec:
  categories:
    - domain: communication
      variant: nccl-all-reduce
    - domain: training
      variant: nemotron5-8b
```

To see all available categories from the CLI:

```bash
nvcrectl certification list-categories
```

## Per-node category options

`nccl-loopback`, `nccl-loopback-nvswitch`, and `dcgm-level4` run one Job per node. They support two additional options:

| Option | Description |
|--------|-------------|
| `maxConcurrent` | Maximum number of per-node Jobs to run simultaneously (default: unbounded) |
| `timeoutPerJob` | Timeout for each individual per-node Job |

```yaml
categories:
  - domain: diagnostics
    variant: dcgm-level4
    options:
      maxConcurrent: 4
      timeoutPerJob: 30m
```

## Overrides

Catalog entries define a base workload spec. Platform-specific and GPU-specific overrides within the same YAML are applied at render time based on the detected environment. Supported GPU architectures include GB200, GB300, H100, H200, and B200. See [Platform Detection & Overrides](/cluster-readiness-engine/concepts/platform-detection-overrides) for override semantics.

## Adding a custom entry

See [How-to: Custom Catalog Entries](/cluster-readiness-engine/how-to-guides/custom-catalog-entries).