Hackathon.md

OpenEnv Round 1 Bootcamp: Build Your First RL Environment

Task

Build a complete, real-world OpenEnv environment that an AI agent can learn from through the standard step() / reset() / state() API.

Key Requirements at a Glance

• Must simulate a real-world task (not games or toys)
• Implement full OpenEnv spec: typed models, step()/reset()/state(), openenv.yaml
• Minimum 3 tasks with agent graders (easy → medium → hard, scores/reward 0.0–1.0)
• Meaningful reward function with partial progress signals
• Baseline inference script with reproducible scores
• Deploy to Hugging Face Spaces + working Dockerfile
• README with environment description, action/observation spaces, setup instructions

Detailed Requirements

Functional Requirements

Real-world task simulation:

The environment must simulate a task humans actually do. Not games, not toys. Examples: email triage, code review, data cleaning, scheduling, customer support, content moderation.

OpenEnv spec compliance:

Implement the full OpenEnv interface: typed Observation, Action, and Reward Pydantic models. step(action) → returns observation, reward, done, info. reset() → returns initial observation. state() → returns current state. openenv.yaml with metadata. Tested via openenv validate.

Minimum 3 tasks with agent graders:

Each task defines a concrete objective an agent must accomplish, with a programmatic grader that scores performance (0.0–1.0). Tasks should range: easy → medium → hard. Graders must have clear, deterministic success/failure criteria.

Meaningful reward function:

Provides signal over the full trajectory (not just binary end-of-episode). Rewards partial progress toward task completion. Penalizes clearly undesirable behavior (e.g. infinite loops, destructive actions).

Baseline inference script:

Uses the OpenAI API client to run a model against the environment. Reads API credentials from environment variables (OPENAI_API_KEY). Produces a reproducible baseline score on all 3 tasks.

Non-Functional Requirements

Deploys to a Hugging Face Space:

Environment must run as a containerized HF Space tagged with openenv.

Containerized execution:

Must include a working Dockerfile. The environment should start cleanly with docker build + docker run.

Documentation:

README must include: environment description and motivation, action and observation space definitions, task descriptions with expected difficulty, setup and usage instructions, baseline scores.

Evaluation Criteria

Parameter	Weight	Description
Real-world utility	30%	Does the environment model a genuine task? Would someone actually use this to train or evaluate agents?
Task & grader quality	25%	Are tasks well-defined with clear objectives? Do graders accurately and fairly measure success? Meaningful difficulty progression?
Environment design	20%	Clean state management, sensible action/observation spaces, good reward shaping, proper episode boundaries.
Code quality & spec compliance	15%	Follows OpenEnv spec, clean project structure, typed models, documented, tested, Dockerfile works.
Creativity & novelty	10%	Novel problem domain, interesting mechanics, clever reward design, original approach.

Scoring Breakdown

Real-world utility (30%):

• 0–5: Toy/artificial problem with no practical application
• 6–15: Valid domain but shallow modeling of the real task
• 16–25: Good domain modeling, would be useful for agent evaluation
• 26–30: Excellent — fills a real gap, immediate value for the RL/agent community

Task & grader quality (25%)

• 3+ tasks with difficulty range?
• Graders produce scores between 0.0–1.0?
• Graders deterministic and reproducible?
• Hard task genuinely challenges frontier models?

Environment design (20%)

• reset() produces clean state?
• Action/observation types well-designed and documented?
• Reward function provides useful varying signal (not just sparse)?
• Episode boundaries sensible?

Code quality & spec compliance (15%)

• openenv validate passes?
• docker build && docker run works?
• HF Space deploys and responds?
• Baseline script runs and reproduces scores?

Creativity & novelty (10%)

• Domain we haven’t seen in OpenEnv before?
• Reward design has interesting properties?
• Clever mechanics that make the environment engaging?

How Judging works

Phase 1: Automated Validation

Pass/fail gate — HF Space deploys, OpenEnv spec compliance, Dockerfile builds, baseline reproduces, 3+ tasks with graders.

Phase 2: Agentic Evaluation

Scored — baseline agent re-run, standard Open LLM agent (e.g. Nemotron 3 Super) run against all environments, score variance check.

Phase 3: Human Review

Top submissions reviewed by Meta and Hugging Face engineers for real-world utility, creativity, and exploit checks.

Disqualification Criteria

• Environment does not deploy or respond
• Plagiarized or trivially modified existing environments
• Graders that always return the same score
• No baseline inference script

Pre-Submission Checklist — all must pass or you're disqualified

HF Space deploys:

Automated ping to the Space URL — must return 200 and respond to reset()

OpenEnv spec compliance:

Validate openenv.yaml, typed models, step()/reset()/state() endpoints

Dockerfile builds:

Automated docker build on the submitted repo

Baseline reproduces:

Run the submitted inference script — must complete without error and produce scores

3+ tasks with graders:

Enumerate tasks, run each grader, verify scores/reward in 0.0–1.0 range

Mandatory Additional Instructions:

Before submitting, ensure the following variables are defined in your environment configuration:

API_BASE_URL The API endpoint for the LLM.

MODEL_NAME The model identifier to use for inference.

HF_TOKEN Your Hugging Face / API key.

The inference script must be named inference.py and placed in the root directory of the project

Participants must use OpenAI Client for all LLM calls using above variables

Participants must emit structured stdout logs strictly following the [START], [STEP], and [END] format defined in the sample inference.py provided below. Any deviation in field names, ordering, or formatting will result in incorrect evaluation scoring. Refer to the Sample Inference Script for the complete format specification and examples.

Infra Restrictions:

Runtime of inference script should be less than 20min

Make sure your env and inference can run on a machine with vcpu=2, memory=8gb

Validator:

Run the pre-submission validation script before submitting

Sample Inference Script

"""
Inference Script Example
===================================
MANDATORY
- Before submitting, ensure the following variables are defined in your environment configuration:
    API_BASE_URL   The API endpoint for the LLM.
    MODEL_NAME     The model identifier to use for inference.
    HF_TOKEN       Your Hugging Face / API key.
    LOCAL_IMAGE_NAME The name of the local image to use for the environment if you are using from_docker_image()
                     method

- Defaults are set only for API_BASE_URL and MODEL_NAME 
    (and should reflect your active inference setup):
    API_BASE_URL = os.getenv("API_BASE_URL", "<your-active-endpoint>")
    MODEL_NAME = os.getenv("MODEL_NAME", "<your-active-model>")
    
- The inference script must be named `inference.py` and placed in the root directory of the project
- Participants must use OpenAI Client for all LLM calls using above variables

STDOUT FORMAT
- The script must emit exactly three line types to stdout, in this order:

    [START] task=<task_name> env=<benchmark> model=<model_name>
    [STEP]  step=<n> action=<action_str> reward=<0.00> done=<true|false> error=<msg|null>
    [END]   success=<true|false> steps=<n> score=<score> rewards=<r1,r2,...,rn>

  Rules:
    - One [START] line at episode begin.
    - One [STEP] line per step, immediately after env.step() returns.
    - One [END] line after env.close(), always emitted (even on exception).
    - reward and rewards are formatted to 2 decimal places.
    - done and success are lowercase booleans: true or false.
    - error is the raw last_action_error string, or null if none.
    - All fields on a single line with no newlines within a line.
    - Each tasks should return score in [0, 1]

  Example:
    [START] task=click-test env=miniwob model=Qwen3-VL-30B
    [STEP] step=1 action=click('123') reward=0.00 done=false error=null
    [STEP] step=2 action=fill('456','text') reward=0.00 done=false error=null
    [STEP] step=3 action=click('789') reward=1.00 done=true error=null
    [END] success=true steps=3 score=1.00 rewards=0.00,0.00,1.00
"""

import asyncio
import os
import textwrap
from typing import List, Optional

from openai import OpenAI

from my_env_v4 import MyEnvV4Action, MyEnvV4Env
IMAGE_NAME = os.getenv("IMAGE_NAME") # If you are using docker image 
API_KEY = os.getenv("HF_TOKEN") or os.getenv("API_KEY")

API_BASE_URL = os.getenv("API_BASE_URL") or "https://router.huggingface.co/v1"
MODEL_NAME = os.getenv("MODEL_NAME") or "Qwen/Qwen2.5-72B-Instruct"
TASK_NAME = os.getenv("MY_ENV_V4_TASK", "echo")
BENCHMARK = os.getenv("MY_ENV_V4_BENCHMARK", "my_env_v4")
MAX_STEPS = 8
TEMPERATURE = 0.7
MAX_TOKENS = 150
SUCCESS_SCORE_THRESHOLD = 0.1  # normalized score in [0, 1]

# Max possible reward: each token contributes 0.1, across all steps
_MAX_REWARD_PER_STEP = MAX_TOKENS * 0.1
MAX_TOTAL_REWARD = MAX_STEPS * _MAX_REWARD_PER_STEP

SYSTEM_PROMPT = textwrap.dedent(
    """
    You are interacting with a simple echo environment.
    Each turn you must send a message. The environment will echo it back.
    Reward is proportional to message length: reward = len(message) * 0.1
    Your goal is to maximize total reward by sending meaningful, substantive messages.
    Reply with exactly one message string — no quotes, no prefixes, just the message text.
    """
).strip()


def log_start(task: str, env: str, model: str) -> None:
    print(f"[START] task={task} env={env} model={model}", flush=True)


def log_step(step: int, action: str, reward: float, done: bool, error: Optional[str]) -> None:
    error_val = error if error else "null"
    done_val = str(done).lower()
    print(
        f"[STEP] step={step} action={action} reward={reward:.2f} done={done_val} error={error_val}",
        flush=True,
    )


def log_end(success: bool, steps: int, score: float, rewards: List[float]) -> None:
    rewards_str = ",".join(f"{r:.2f}" for r in rewards)
    print(f"[END] success={str(success).lower()} steps={steps} score={score:.3f} rewards={rewards_str}", flush=True)


def build_user_prompt(step: int, last_echoed: str, last_reward: float, history: List[str]) -> str:
    history_block = "\n".join(history[-4:]) if history else "None"
    return textwrap.dedent(
        f"""
        Step: {step}
        Last echoed message: {last_echoed!r}
        Last reward: {last_reward:.2f}
        Previous steps:
        {history_block}
        Send your next message.
        """
    ).strip()


def get_model_message(client: OpenAI, step: int, last_echoed: str, last_reward: float, history: List[str]) -> str:
    user_prompt = build_user_prompt(step, last_echoed, last_reward, history)
    try:
        completion = client.chat.completions.create(
            model=MODEL_NAME,
            messages=[
                {"role": "system", "content": SYSTEM_PROMPT},
                {"role": "user", "content": user_prompt},
            ],
            temperature=TEMPERATURE,
            max_tokens=MAX_TOKENS,
            stream=False,
        )
        text = (completion.choices[0].message.content or "").strip()
        return text if text else "hello"
    except Exception as exc:
        print(f"[DEBUG] Model request failed: {exc}", flush=True)
        return "hello"


async def main() -> None:
    client = OpenAI(base_url=API_BASE_URL, api_key=API_KEY)

    env = await MyEnvV4Env.from_docker_image(IMAGE_NAME)

    history: List[str] = []
    rewards: List[float] = []
    steps_taken = 0
    score = 0.0
    success = False

    log_start(task=TASK_NAME, env=BENCHMARK, model=MODEL_NAME)

    try:
        result = await env.reset() # OpenENV.reset()
        last_echoed = result.observation.echoed_message
        last_reward = 0.0

        for step in range(1, MAX_STEPS + 1):
            if result.done:
                break

            message = get_model_message(client, step, last_echoed, last_reward, history)

            result = await env.step(MyEnvV4Action(message=message))
            obs = result.observation

            reward = result.reward or 0.0
            done = result.done
            error = None

            rewards.append(reward)
            steps_taken = step
            last_echoed = obs.echoed_message
            last_reward = reward

            log_step(step=step, action=message, reward=reward, done=done, error=error)

            history.append(f"Step {step}: {message!r} -> reward {reward:+.2f}")

            if done:
                break

        score = sum(rewards) / MAX_TOTAL_REWARD if MAX_TOTAL_REWARD > 0 else 0.0
        score = min(max(score, 0.0), 1.0)  # clamp to [0, 1]
        success = score >= SUCCESS_SCORE_THRESHOLD

    finally:
        try:
            await env.close()
        except Exception as e:
            print(f"[DEBUG] env.close() error (container cleanup): {e}", flush=True)
        log_end(success=success, steps=steps_taken, score=score, rewards=rewards)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(main())

Prevalidation Script

#!/usr/bin/env bash
#
# validate-submission.sh — OpenEnv Submission Validator
#
# Checks that your HF Space is live, Docker image builds, and openenv validate passes.
#
# Prerequisites:
#   - Docker:       https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/
#   - openenv-core: pip install openenv-core
#   - curl (usually pre-installed)
#
# Run:
#   curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/<owner>/<repo>/main/scripts/validate-submission.sh | bash -s -- <ping_url> [repo_dir]
#
#   Or download and run locally:
#     chmod +x validate-submission.sh
#     ./validate-submission.sh <ping_url> [repo_dir]
#
# Arguments:
#   ping_url   Your HuggingFace Space URL (e.g. https://your-space.hf.space)
#   repo_dir   Path to your repo (default: current directory)
#
# Examples:
#   ./validate-submission.sh https://my-team.hf.space
#   ./validate-submission.sh https://my-team.hf.space ./my-repo
#

set -uo pipefail

DOCKER_BUILD_TIMEOUT=600
if [ -t 1 ]; then
  RED='\033[0;31m'
  GREEN='\033[0;32m'
  YELLOW='\033[1;33m'
  BOLD='\033[1m'
  NC='\033[0m'
else
  RED='' GREEN='' YELLOW='' BOLD='' NC=''
fi

run_with_timeout() {
  local secs="$1"; shift
  if command -v timeout &>/dev/null; then
    timeout "$secs" "$@"
  elif command -v gtimeout &>/dev/null; then
    gtimeout "$secs" "$@"
  else
    "$@" &
    local pid=$!
    ( sleep "$secs" && kill "$pid" 2>/dev/null ) &
    local watcher=$!
    wait "$pid" 2>/dev/null
    local rc=$?
    kill "$watcher" 2>/dev/null
    wait "$watcher" 2>/dev/null
    return $rc
  fi
}

portable_mktemp() {
  local prefix="${1:-validate}"
  mktemp "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/${prefix}-XXXXXX" 2>/dev/null || mktemp
}

CLEANUP_FILES=()
cleanup() { rm -f "${CLEANUP_FILES[@]+"${CLEANUP_FILES[@]}"}"; }
trap cleanup EXIT

PING_URL="${1:-}"
REPO_DIR="${2:-.}"

if [ -z "$PING_URL" ]; then
  printf "Usage: %s <ping_url> [repo_dir]\n" "$0"
  printf "\n"
  printf "  ping_url   Your HuggingFace Space URL (e.g. https://your-space.hf.space)\n"
  printf "  repo_dir   Path to your repo (default: current directory)\n"
  exit 1
fi

if ! REPO_DIR="$(cd "$REPO_DIR" 2>/dev/null && pwd)"; then
  printf "Error: directory '%s' not found\n" "${2:-.}"
  exit 1
fi
PING_URL="${PING_URL%/}"
export PING_URL
PASS=0

log()  { printf "[%s] %b\n" "$(date -u +%H:%M:%S)" "$*"; }
pass() { log "${GREEN}PASSED${NC} -- $1"; PASS=$((PASS + 1)); }
fail() { log "${RED}FAILED${NC} -- $1"; }
hint() { printf "  ${YELLOW}Hint:${NC} %b\n" "$1"; }
stop_at() {
  printf "\n"
  printf "${RED}${BOLD}Validation stopped at %s.${NC} Fix the above before continuing.\n" "$1"
  exit 1
}

printf "\n"
printf "${BOLD}========================================${NC}\n"
printf "${BOLD}  OpenEnv Submission Validator${NC}\n"
printf "${BOLD}========================================${NC}\n"
log "Repo:     $REPO_DIR"
log "Ping URL: $PING_URL"
printf "\n"

log "${BOLD}Step 1/3: Pinging HF Space${NC} ($PING_URL/reset) ..."

CURL_OUTPUT=$(portable_mktemp "validate-curl")
CLEANUP_FILES+=("$CURL_OUTPUT")
HTTP_CODE=$(curl -s -o "$CURL_OUTPUT" -w "%{http_code}" -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{}' \
  "$PING_URL/reset" --max-time 30 2>"$CURL_OUTPUT" || printf "000")

if [ "$HTTP_CODE" = "200" ]; then
  pass "HF Space is live and responds to /reset"
elif [ "$HTTP_CODE" = "000" ]; then
  fail "HF Space not reachable (connection failed or timed out)"
  hint "Check your network connection and that the Space is running."
  hint "Try: curl -s -o /dev/null -w '%%{http_code}' -X POST $PING_URL/reset"
  stop_at "Step 1"
else
  fail "HF Space /reset returned HTTP $HTTP_CODE (expected 200)"
  hint "Make sure your Space is running and the URL is correct."
  hint "Try opening $PING_URL in your browser first."
  stop_at "Step 1"
fi

log "${BOLD}Step 2/3: Running docker build${NC} ..."

if ! command -v docker &>/dev/null; then
  fail "docker command not found"
  hint "Install Docker: https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/"
  stop_at "Step 2"
fi

if [ -f "$REPO_DIR/Dockerfile" ]; then
  DOCKER_CONTEXT="$REPO_DIR"
elif [ -f "$REPO_DIR/server/Dockerfile" ]; then
  DOCKER_CONTEXT="$REPO_DIR/server"
else
  fail "No Dockerfile found in repo root or server/ directory"
  stop_at "Step 2"
fi

log "  Found Dockerfile in $DOCKER_CONTEXT"

BUILD_OK=false
BUILD_OUTPUT=$(run_with_timeout "$DOCKER_BUILD_TIMEOUT" docker build "$DOCKER_CONTEXT" 2>&1) && BUILD_OK=true

if [ "$BUILD_OK" = true ]; then
  pass "Docker build succeeded"
else
  fail "Docker build failed (timeout=${DOCKER_BUILD_TIMEOUT}s)"
  printf "%s\n" "$BUILD_OUTPUT" | tail -20
  stop_at "Step 2"
fi

log "${BOLD}Step 3/3: Running openenv validate${NC} ..."

if ! command -v openenv &>/dev/null; then
  fail "openenv command not found"
  hint "Install it: pip install openenv-core"
  stop_at "Step 3"
fi

VALIDATE_OK=false
VALIDATE_OUTPUT=$(cd "$REPO_DIR" && openenv validate 2>&1) && VALIDATE_OK=true

if [ "$VALIDATE_OK" = true ]; then
  pass "openenv validate passed"
  [ -n "$VALIDATE_OUTPUT" ] && log "  $VALIDATE_OUTPUT"
else
  fail "openenv validate failed"
  printf "%s\n" "$VALIDATE_OUTPUT"
  stop_at "Step 3"
fi

printf "\n"
printf "${BOLD}========================================${NC}\n"
printf "${GREEN}${BOLD}  All 3/3 checks passed!${NC}\n"
printf "${GREEN}${BOLD}  Your submission is ready to submit.${NC}\n"
printf "${BOLD}========================================${NC}\n"
printf "\n"

exit 0