LavaLite is a modern, independent continuation of the original open-source Platform Lava scheduler. It is a from-scratch modernization, cleanup, and redesign effort built on that heritage—yet completely independent of Platform Computing, IBM, or any other vendor.
LavaLite is a lightweight, high-throughput job scheduler designed for clusters that prioritize volume over parallelism. It does not target tightly coupled MPI workloads. Instead, it excels at running thousands of short, independent jobs with minimal overhead.
Beyond traditional HPC, LavaLite is a natural fit for HTC workloads: massive job arrays, embarrassingly parallel tasks, data-driven pipelines, and large-scale scientific workflows. It’s useful not only on supercomputers but also in bioinformatics labs, media render farms, and cloud batch systems.
LavaLite is also a strong match for AI and machine-learning pipelines—from distributed GPU training to hyperparameter sweeps and inference farms. Its simple interface and lightweight design make it ideal for researchers and engineers pushing the limits of modern computational workloads.
Inspired by Platform Lava 1.0 and refined with algorithmic principles drawn from Donald Knuth’s teachings, LavaLite is built for speed, simplicity, and clarity. It’s not just a revival—it’s a reinvention.
LavaLite is built on a clean, GPLv2-licensed foundation originally released by Platform Computing. It maintains a clear lineage and avoids legacy entanglements, focusing instead on clarity, performance, and modern design.
Our philosophy draws from the algorithmic elegance championed by Donald Knuth, especially the principles laid out in The Art of Computer Programming. LavaLite is optimized for high-throughput computing (HTC)— is engineered for speed, simplicity, and transparency. LavaLite still support MPI workloads by generating dymic hostfile if needed.
LavaLite isn’t a clone. It’s a clean slate.
We aim for speed and simplicity, built on the algorithmic elegance that inspired our design.
LavaLite currently supports Rocky Linux 8, Rocky Linux 9 and Ubuntu 24.02. Compatibility with other distributions (e.g., Debian, AlmaLinux) is planned for future releases.
git clone https://github.com/LavaLiteProject/LavaLite.git
cd LavaLite
make
sudo make install
Installs in /opt/lavalite-0.1.0LavaLite installs itself under /opt/lavala- in a self-contained directory. This approach avoids polluting system paths like /usr/local and allows multiple versions to coexist seamlessly. Multiple version can be supported using for example environmental modules, which is the recommended approach for managing HPC software.
- Clean, modular scheduler core
- REST API for job submission and monitoring
- Container-native job support (e.g., Docker/Singularity)
- Metrics and logging improvements
- CI/CD integration and test coverage
- Web-based dashboard (experimental)
LavaLite is licensed under the GNU General Public License v2. All contributions must be compatible with GPLv2.
For issues and feature requests, please use the GitHub Issues page.
Maintainer: [email protected] Project email: [email protected]