feat(doc): standardize the axolotl install to a release

[NanoCode012]

Description

Updated our README to point to a stable release instead.

Motivation and Context

How has this been tested?

Screenshots (if appropriate)

Types of changes

Social Handles (Optional)

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Documentation
  • Simplified installation instructions across multiple example guides by replacing repository cloning and editable installs with a direct pip install command for Axolotl.
  • Clarified minimum version requirements and streamlined prerequisite notes for easier setup.

[coderabbitai]

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Installation instructions for Axolotl in multiple example README files were updated. The changes remove references to installing from the main branch, nightly builds, or Docker images, and replace editable local installations with a direct pip install command specifying a minimum version and the 'flash-attn' extra.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Change Summary
Devstral Example Installation examples/devstral/README.md	Simplified Axolotl installation instructions by replacing editable local install and main branch notes with a direct pip install command specifying a minimum version and 'flash-attn' extra.
Gemma3n Example Installation examples/gemma3n/README.md	Streamlined Axolotl installation steps by removing main branch/Docker notes and switching to a pip install command with version and extra.
GPT-OSS Example Installation examples/gpt-oss/README.md	Changed installation from cloning and editable local setup to a direct pip install with version constraint and 'flash-attn' extra, removing main branch and Docker notes.
Magistral Example Installation examples/magistral/README.md	Updated installation instructions to use a pip install command with version and extra, omitting main branch and Docker references.
Voxtral Example Installation examples/voxtral/README.md	Replaced editable local installation and main branch notes with a pip install command specifying version and 'flash-attn' extra.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~7 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• feat(doc): update gpt-oss readme #3029: Also modifies the GPT-OSS README, but with a broader rewrite and expanded user guide, while this PR focuses on simplifying installation instructions.

Suggested labels

documentation

Suggested reviewers

• winglian

Note

🔌 MCP (Model Context Protocol) integration is now available in Early Access!

Pro users can now connect to remote MCP servers under the Integrations page to get reviews and chat conversations that understand additional development context.

---

📜 Recent review details

Configuration used: .coderabbit.yaml
Review profile: CHILL
Plan: Pro

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between c5e5aba and d7b296d.

📒 Files selected for processing (5)

• examples/devstral/README.md (1 hunks)
• examples/gemma3n/README.md (1 hunks)
• examples/gpt-oss/README.md (1 hunks)
• examples/magistral/README.md (1 hunks)
• examples/voxtral/README.md (1 hunks)

🧰 Additional context used

🧠 Learnings (3)

📓 Common learnings

Learnt from: NanoCode012
PR: axolotl-ai-cloud/axolotl#2854
File: README.md:73-77
Timestamp: 2025-07-02T02:56:20.788Z
Learning: For Axolotl Docker commands, the `--ipc=host` flag should be included by default to prevent shared memory failures that commonly occur with PyTorch DataLoaders and multiprocessing during machine learning training workflows.

📚 Learning: 2025-08-08T07:22:40.109Z

Learnt from: winglian
PR: axolotl-ai-cloud/axolotl#3038
File: examples/slurm/axolotl.slurm:16-16
Timestamp: 2025-08-08T07:22:40.109Z
Learning: In Axolotl (PR #3038), the preprocess codepath sets AXOLOTL_IS_PREPROCESS internally, so external scripts (e.g., examples/slurm/axolotl.slurm) need not export it for the early-return in src/axolotl/utils/data/sft.py to trigger.

Applied to files:

• examples/gpt-oss/README.md

📚 Learning: 2025-07-02T02:56:20.788Z

Learnt from: NanoCode012
PR: axolotl-ai-cloud/axolotl#2854
File: README.md:73-77
Timestamp: 2025-07-02T02:56:20.788Z
Learning: For Axolotl Docker commands, the `--ipc=host` flag should be included by default to prevent shared memory failures that commonly occur with PyTorch DataLoaders and multiprocessing during machine learning training workflows.

Applied to files:

• examples/gpt-oss/README.md
• examples/devstral/README.md
• examples/voxtral/README.md
• examples/magistral/README.md

⏰ Context from checks skipped due to timeout of 90000ms. You can increase the timeout in your CodeRabbit configuration to a maximum of 15 minutes (900000ms). (1)

• GitHub Check: preview

🔇 Additional comments (6)

examples/gemma3n/README.md (2)

7-10: Good shift to stable-release install via docs

Standardizing to the installation guide + pip is clear and maintainable.

---

12-15: Update install snippet in examples/gemma3n/README.md

To ensure consistency and cross-platform compatibility—and to provide a CPU-only fallback—please apply the following changes in examples/gemma3n/README.md (around lines 12–15):

• Use “PyTorch” casing
• Wrap extras in double quotes for Windows CMD
• Add an optional CPU/no-flash-attn fallback

--- examples/gemma3n/README.md
+++ examples/gemma3n/README.md
@@ -12,7 +12,9 @@
-# Ensure you have Pytorch installed (Pytorch 2.6.0 min)
+# Ensure you have PyTorch installed (PyTorch 2.6.0 min)
 pip3 install packaging==23.2 setuptools==75.8.0 wheel ninja
-pip3 install --no-build-isolation 'axolotl[flash-attn]>=0.12.0'
+pip3 install --no-build-isolation "axolotl[flash-attn]>=0.12.0"

+# CPU-only / if flash-attn isn’t supported
+pip3 install --no-build-isolation "axolotl>=0.12.0"

This aligns with PyPI’s axolotl[flash-attn] extras (available since ≥0.10.0) and its support for PyTorch ≥2.6.0.

examples/magistral/README.md (1)

11-14: Consistent, simplified install guidance

Pointing to the install guide and pip is aligned with the PR goal. Looks good.

examples/gpt-oss/README.md (1)

9-12: Standardized install path looks good

Clear, consistent with the rest of the repo.

examples/devstral/README.md (1)

13-16: Install section simplification is on point

Directing to the docs and pip install is consistent with the new standard.

examples/voxtral/README.md (1)

9-12: Install docs alignment LGTM

Consistent with the standardized approach across examples.

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests

• Create PR with unit tests
• Post copyable unit tests in a comment
• Commit unit tests in branch feat/doc-axo-install

---

Thanks for using CodeRabbit! It's free for OSS, and your support helps us grow. If you like it, consider giving us a shout-out.

❤️ Share

• X
• Mastodon
• Reddit
• LinkedIn

🪧 Tips

Chat

There are 3 ways to chat with CodeRabbit:

• Review comments: Directly reply to a review comment made by CodeRabbit. Example:
  • I pushed a fix in commit <commit_id>, please review it.
  • Explain this complex logic.
  • Open a follow-up GitHub issue for this discussion.
• Files and specific lines of code (under the "Files changed" tab): Tag @coderabbitai in a new review comment at the desired location with your query. Examples:
  • @coderabbitai explain this code block.
• PR comments: Tag @coderabbitai in a new PR comment to ask questions about the PR branch. For the best results, please provide a very specific query, as very limited context is provided in this mode. Examples:
  • @coderabbitai gather interesting stats about this repository and render them as a table. Additionally, render a pie chart showing the language distribution in the codebase.
  • @coderabbitai read src/utils.ts and explain its main purpose.
  • @coderabbitai read the files in the src/scheduler package and generate a class diagram using mermaid and a README in the markdown format.

Support

Need help? Create a ticket on our support page for assistance with any issues or questions.

CodeRabbit Commands (Invoked using PR comments)

• @coderabbitai pause to pause the reviews on a PR.
• @coderabbitai resume to resume the paused reviews.
• @coderabbitai review to trigger an incremental review. This is useful when automatic reviews are disabled for the repository.
• @coderabbitai full review to do a full review from scratch and review all the files again.
• @coderabbitai summary to regenerate the summary of the PR.
• @coderabbitai generate docstrings to generate docstrings for this PR.
• @coderabbitai generate sequence diagram to generate a sequence diagram of the changes in this PR.
• @coderabbitai generate unit tests to generate unit tests for this PR.
• @coderabbitai resolve resolve all the CodeRabbit review comments.
• @coderabbitai configuration to show the current CodeRabbit configuration for the repository.
• @coderabbitai help to get help.

Other keywords and placeholders

• Add @coderabbitai ignore anywhere in the PR description to prevent this PR from being reviewed.
• Add @coderabbitai summary to generate the high-level summary at a specific location in the PR description.
• Add @coderabbitai anywhere in the PR title to generate the title automatically.

Documentation and Community

• Visit our Documentation for detailed information on how to use CodeRabbit.
• Join our Discord Community to get help, request features, and share feedback.
• Follow us on X/Twitter for updates and announcements.

[github-actions]

📖 Documentation Preview: https://6895c6d5ff37d20bdfe338e0--resonant-treacle-0fd729.netlify.app

Deployed on Netlify from commit d7b296d