NVIDIA AI Workbench — In-Container Project Awareness

This skill activates when Claude is working inside an AI Workbench project container (detected by .project/spec.yaml existing in or above the current working directory).

Detection

If .project/spec.yaml exists in the project root, this is a Workbench project. Read it first to understand the project's layout, apps, mounts, and resources.

Key Facts

• The project root is bind-mounted at /project/ inside the container
• The nvwb CLI is NOT available inside the container — all nvwb commands must run on the user's local machine (the control plane)
• This container may be running locally or on a remote — it does not matter for in-container work; the project files are always at /project/
• Code in layout directories is live-mounted — edits take effect immediately
• The environment variable AI_WORKBENCH_FLAG=true may be set to detect Workbench context
• Compose services are reachable by service name (e.g. curl http://api:8080/) via the shared workbench network

What's Safe to Edit

Freely editable — no action needed:

• Any files in layout directories (code/, data/, models/ or custom paths from spec.yaml)
• Application code, scripts, notebooks

Requires rebuild — inform user to run nvwb build on the host:

• apt.txt — system packages
• requirements.txt — pip packages
• preBuild.bash — pre-install build script
• postBuild.bash — post-install build script

Requires restart — inform user to run nvwb close then nvwb open on the host:

• variables.env — runtime environment variables
• Mount configuration changes in .project/spec.yaml
• App definitions in .project/spec.yaml

Edit carefully — validate format:

• .project/spec.yaml — do not break YAML structure; suggest nvwb validate project-spec after changes

When Informing the User

After editing a build-time or runtime file, always tell the user what action is needed. Examples:

I've updated requirements.txt to add the transformers package. You'll need to run nvwb build on the host to rebuild the container with this change.

I've added CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=0 to variables.env. This will take effect after a container restart — run nvwb close then nvwb open on the host.

Compose Awareness

If compose.yaml or docker-compose.yaml exists, multi-container services may be running alongside the project container:

• Services communicate over a shared Docker network — use service names as hostnames (e.g. http://api:8080/)
• /nvwb-shared-volume/ is shared between containers
• Changes to compose files require nvwb compose down + nvwb compose up on the host — request this via the bridge if running as inner Claude
• Compose services exposed through the Workbench proxy use NVWB_TRIM_PREFIX=true as an environment variable in the service definition (not in spec.yaml)

Host↔Container Bridge

If /project/agent-bridge/ exists, this project is set up for communication between inner Claude (here, in the container) and outer Claude (on the user's local machine, where nvwb is installed).

When you need a local-machine action (compose restart, rebuild, nvwb command):

1. Read common-context/context.md for current task state
2. Write a clear request to /project/agent-bridge/inner.md
3. Wait for the user to relay it to outer Claude on their local machine
4. Read the response from /project/agent-bridge/outer.md

Rules: Do not copy files into or out of agent-bridge/ — it is a communication channel, not a file staging area. The content of inner.md and outer.md is unrestricted — include logs, snippets, and diagnostics as needed.

Sandbox: If hooks are configured, your actions are enforced — nvwb commands are blocked (use the bridge), sensitive environment variables are scrubbed from your shell commands, writes inside agent-bridge/ are restricted to your designated files, and reads of sensitive files and hook configuration are blocked. Do not attempt to modify hook configuration or settings files.

Note: if this project is running in a remote context, the bridge files live on the remote machine. The context name (from nvwb list contexts) is also the SSH alias — Workbench adds a matching entry to ~/.ssh/config. Outer Claude can SSH directly using the context name to read and write bridge files without involving the user as a relay.

Requests can be rich prose — include what you changed, what you need done, and what you want reported back (logs, curl output, etc.).

See references/agent-bridge.md for templates and the full format guide.

Runtime Constraints

sudo is NOT available in the running container — the container runs as the workbench user without elevated privileges at runtime. If a task requires system-level changes, it must go in preBuild.bash or postBuild.bash.

Build Script Constraints

Build scripts (preBuild.bash, postBuild.bash) run during container image build:

• They CANNOT reference /project/ — the project directory is not mounted during build
• Available variables: $NVWB_UID, $NVWB_GID for file ownership
• Both scripts run as the workbench user (not root) — any write to a system directory requires sudo. This includes mkdir, npm install -g, writing to /usr/local/, etc. Shell redirections (>, >>) also run as workbench, so use sudo tee instead of sudo command > /path.

References

See references/config-files.md for detailed information about each configuration file.