> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL.
> For a complete documentation index, see https://docs.nvidia.com/nemo/curator/llms.txt.
> For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://docs.nvidia.com/nemo/curator/_mcp/server.

# Container Environments

> Reference documentation for container environments, configurations, and deployment variables in NeMo Curator

Deploy NeMo Curator in containerized environments for reproducible, scalable data curation pipelines with pre-configured dependencies and optimized runtime settings.

## Overview

NeMo Curator provides official Docker containers with all dependencies pre-installed and optimized for production workloads. Containers offer:

* **Reproducible Environments**: Consistent software stack across development, testing, and production
* **Simplified Deployment**: No manual dependency installation or environment configuration
* **GPU Acceleration**: Pre-configured CUDA, cuDNN, and NVIDIA libraries for optimal performance
* **Multi-Modal Support**: Built-in support for text, image, video, and audio curation
* **Cloud-Ready**: Compatible with Kubernetes, Docker Swarm, and cloud container orchestries

**When to use containers:**

* Production deployments requiring consistency and reliability
* Multi-node cluster processing with identical environments
* CI/CD pipelines for automated data curation workflows
* Quick prototyping without local environment setup
* GPU-accelerated processing in cloud environments

## Available Containers

### Main NeMo Curator Container

The primary container includes comprehensive support for all curation modalities:

**Container registry:** `nvcr.io/nvidia/nemo-curator:25.09`

**Supported modalities:**

* ✅ Text curation (CPU/GPU)
* ✅ Image curation (GPU required)
* ✅ Video curation (GPU required, FFmpeg included)
* ✅ Audio curation (GPU required for ASR)

**Pre-installed components:**

* NeMo Curator with all optional dependencies (`[all]` extras)
* CUDA 12.8.1 with cuDNN
* Python 3.12 with uv package manager
* FFmpeg 8+ with NVENC support (for video processing)
* Ray, Dask, and distributed computing frameworks
* NVIDIA optimized Python packages

### Curator Environment

**Curator Environment Configuration**

| Property         | Value                                                                                             |
| ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Python Version   | 3.12                                                                                              |
| CUDA Version     | 12.8.1 (configurable)                                                                             |
| Operating System | Ubuntu 24.04 (configurable)                                                                       |
| Base Image       | `nvidia/cuda:${CUDA_VER}-cudnn-devel-${LINUX_VER}`                                                |
| Package Manager  | uv (Ultrafast Python package installer)                                                           |
| Installation     | NeMo Curator installed with all optional dependencies (`[all]` extras) using uv with NVIDIA index |
| Environment Path | Virtual environment activated by default: `/opt/venv/bin:$PATH`                                   |

---

## Container Build Arguments

The main container accepts these build-time arguments for environment customization:

| Argument              | Default       | Description                                |
| --------------------- | ------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| `CUDA_VER`            | `12.8.1`      | CUDA version                               |
| `LINUX_VER`           | `ubuntu24.04` | Base OS version                            |
| `CURATOR_ENV`         | `ci`          | Curator environment type                   |
| `INTERN_VIDEO_COMMIT` | `09d872e5...` | InternVideo commit hash for video curation |
| `NVIDIA_BUILD_ID`     | `<unknown>`   | NVIDIA build identifier                    |
| `NVIDIA_BUILD_REF`    | -             | NVIDIA build reference                     |

---

## Environment Usage Examples

### Text Curation

Uses the default container environment with CPU or GPU workers depending on the module.

### Image Curation

Requires GPU-enabled workers in the container environment.