replicate / replicate/cog

[documentation] Better public docs on reducing image size

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documentation
Dominant language
Go
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Description

It seems like Replicate doesn't cache Docker images - hence a smaller image dramatically reduces cold-boot times. Other providers often cache images on a network volume or so, and as a result are fairly independent of image size.

As a result: it's very valuable to reduce image size when deploying to Replicate. use-cuda-base-image is sometimes pointed to as a solution, but imo this isn't well documented.

This is a request for better documentation on use-cuda-base-image (as described here: https://github.com/replicate/cog/issues/1401) and other methods to reduce image size.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the public deployment documentation and the use-cuda-base-image discussion in issue #1401. Document how use-cuda-base-image and other image-size reduction methods affect Replicate cold-boot times, with enough guidance for users to choose an approach. Done means the relevant options and tradeoffs are clearly explained in the public docs.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
docker
Domain
devops, documentation
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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