docs for checkpiont saving (#3335) [skip ci]

Co-authored-by: Ved <ved.work2024@gmail.com>
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VED
2025-12-30 23:10:32 +05:30
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---
title: "Checkpoint Saving"
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html:
toc: true
toc-depth: 2
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---
## Overview
Axolotl supports on-demand checkpoint saving during training. You can trigger checkpoints via file-based triggers (for programmatic control) or Control+C (for interactive use).
## File-Based Checkpoint Trigger
### Configuration
Enable in your config:
```yaml
dynamic_checkpoint:
enabled: true
check_interval: 100 # Optional: check every N steps (default: 100)
trigger_file_path: "axolotl_checkpoint.save" # Optional: custom filename
```
**Options:**
- `enabled`: `true` to enable (required)
- `check_interval`: Steps between file checks. Default: 100. Lower = faster response, higher I/O overhead.
- `trigger_file_path`: Custom trigger filename. Default: `axolotl_checkpoint.save`
### How It Works
1. Rank 0 checks for trigger file every `check_interval` steps in `output_dir`
2. When detected, file is deleted and checkpoint is saved
3. In distributed training, rank 0 broadcasts to synchronize all ranks
### Usage
**Command line:**
```bash
touch /path/to/output_dir/axolotl_checkpoint.save
```
**Programmatic:**
```python
from pathlib import Path
Path("/path/to/output_dir/axolotl_checkpoint.save").touch()
```
Checkpoint saves within the next `check_interval` steps. The trigger file is auto-deleted after detection, so you can create it multiple times.
**Custom filename:**
```yaml
dynamic_checkpoint:
enabled: true
trigger_file_path: "my_trigger.save"
```
```bash
touch /path/to/output_dir/my_trigger.save
```
## Control+C (SIGINT) Checkpoint
Pressing `Ctrl+C` during training saves the model state and exits gracefully. **Note:** This saves only the model weights, not optimizer state. For resumable checkpoints, use the file-based trigger.
## Best Practices
- **Check interval**: Lower values (10-50) for fast training, default 100 for slower training
- **Distributed training**: Create trigger file once; rank 0 handles synchronization
- **Resume**: Dynamic checkpoints can be resumed like regular checkpoints via `resume_from_checkpoint`
## Example
```yaml
output_dir: ./outputs/lora-out
save_steps: 500 # Scheduled checkpoints
dynamic_checkpoint:
enabled: true
check_interval: 50
```
This enables scheduled checkpoints every 500 steps plus on-demand saves via file trigger (checked every 50 steps).