Monitor Configuration

Configure the live monitoring dashboard for real-time search progress visualization

Overview

SkyDiscover includes a built-in live monitoring dashboard that provides real-time visualization of the evolutionary search process. The dashboard displays fitness progression, solution quality, and AI-generated summaries.

Basic Configuration

monitor:
  enabled: false
  port: 8765
  host: "127.0.0.1"
  max_solution_length: 10000

Enabling the Monitor

In Configuration File

configs/human_in_the_loop.yaml

monitor:
  enabled: true
  port: 8765
  host: "127.0.0.1"

From CLI

skydiscover-run program.py evaluator.py \
  -c configs/adaevolve.yaml \
  --monitor

Access the Dashboard

Once enabled, open your browser to:

http://127.0.0.1:8765

MonitorConfig Parameters

Defined in skydiscover/config.py:500-515

enabled · bool · default: "false"

Enable or disable the live monitoring dashboard

port · int · default: "8765"

Port number for the web server

host · str · default: "127.0.0.1"

Host address to bind the server to. Use 0.0.0.0 to allow external access

max_solution_length · int · default: "10000"

Maximum character length to display for solutions in the dashboard

AI Summary Configuration

The monitor can generate AI-powered summaries of search progress using an LLM.

summary_model · str · default: "gpt-5-mini"

Model to use for generating progress summaries

summary_api_key · str · default: "None"

API key for summary model. Falls back to OPENAI_API_KEY if not specified

summary_api_base · str · default: "https://api.openai.com/v1"

API base URL for summary model

summary_top_k · int · default: "3"

Number of top programs to include in the summary

summary_interval · int · default: "0"

Auto-generate summary every N programs. Set to 0 for manual triggering only

Complete Example

configs/monitor_full.yaml

monitor:
  # Server settings
  enabled: true
  port: 8765
  host: "0.0.0.0"  # Allow external access
  max_solution_length: 15000
  
  # AI summary settings
  summary_model: "gpt-4o-mini"
  summary_api_key: ${OPENAI_API_KEY}
  summary_api_base: "https://api.openai.com/v1"
  summary_top_k: 5
  summary_interval: 10  # Generate summary every 10 programs

Dashboard Features

The live monitor provides:

Real-Time Fitness Plot

• Fitness progression over iterations
• Best, median, and worst fitness curves
• Island-specific plots (for multi-island algorithms)
• Interactive zooming and panning

Solution Browser

• View all generated solutions
• Syntax-highlighted code display
• Fitness metrics for each solution
• Filtering and sorting capabilities

AI-Generated Summaries

• High-level progress overview
• Key insights from top solutions
• Strategy recommendations
• Automatic or manual generation

Search Statistics

• Total iterations completed
• Best fitness achieved
• Improvement rate
• Time per iteration
• Model usage breakdown

Human-in-the-Loop Integration

Combine the monitor with human feedback for interactive search:

configs/human_in_the_loop.yaml

# Enable both monitor and human feedback
monitor:
  enabled: true
  port: 8765

human_feedback_enabled: true
human_feedback_file: "feedback.txt"
human_feedback_mode: "append"

Providing Feedback

1. View solutions in the dashboard
2. Write feedback to the feedback file:
   feedback.txt

   The current solutions are too complex. Focus on simpler approaches.
   Try using dynamic programming instead of recursion.
   
3. Feedback is incorporated into the next generation

Network Configuration

Local Access Only (Default)

monitor:
  enabled: true
  host: "127.0.0.1"
  port: 8765

Access at: http://127.0.0.1:8765

Remote Access

monitor:
  enabled: true
  host: "0.0.0.0"  # Listen on all interfaces
  port: 8765

Access at: http://<server-ip>:8765

Binding to 0.0.0.0 allows external access. Ensure proper firewall rules are in place.

Custom Port

monitor:
  enabled: true
  port: 9000

Useful if port 8765 is already in use.

Performance Considerations

The monitor adds minimal overhead to the search process:

• WebSocket updates are asynchronous
• Solution data is sent in batches
• AI summaries only run when triggered

Optimizing for Long Runs

monitor:
  enabled: true
  max_solution_length: 5000    # Reduce to save memory
  summary_interval: 50         # Less frequent summaries
  summary_top_k: 3             # Fewer programs in summary

AI Summary Models

Choose different models based on your needs:

Fast & Cheap

monitor:
  summary_model: "gpt-4o-mini"
  summary_interval: 5  # More frequent updates

Detailed Analysis

monitor:
  summary_model: "gpt-5"
  summary_interval: 20  # Less frequent, deeper analysis
  summary_top_k: 10

Local Model

monitor:
  summary_model: "ollama/llama3"
  summary_api_base: "http://localhost:11434/v1"
  summary_api_key: null

Troubleshooting

Port Already in Use

Error: Address already in use

Solution: Change the port number

monitor:
  port: 9000  # Use different port

Cannot Connect from Browser

Issue: Dashboard not loading

Checklist:

1. Verify monitor is enabled: enabled: true
2. Check the console for server startup message
3. Ensure firewall allows connections to the port
4. Try host: "0.0.0.0" instead of 127.0.0.1

AI Summary Not Generating

Issue: Summaries not appearing

Solutions:

1. Check API key is set: summary_api_key or OPENAI_API_KEY
2. Verify model name is correct
3. Check API base URL
4. Set summary_interval > 0 for automatic generation
5. Use manual trigger button in dashboard

High Memory Usage

Issue: Dashboard consuming too much memory

Solutions:

1. Reduce max_solution_length to 3000-5000
2. Increase summary_interval to generate summaries less often
3. Clear old solutions from the dashboard periodically

Example Configurations

Minimal Monitoring

monitor:
  enabled: true
  # All other defaults

Production Monitoring

monitor:
  enabled: true
  port: 8765
  host: "0.0.0.0"
  max_solution_length: 8000
  summary_model: "gpt-4o-mini"
  summary_interval: 15
  summary_top_k: 5

Research Setup

monitor:
  enabled: true
  port: 8765
  host: "127.0.0.1"
  max_solution_length: 20000
  summary_model: "gpt-5"
  summary_interval: 0  # Manual only
  summary_top_k: 10

Next Steps

Configuration Overview

Learn about other configuration options

Human Feedback

Guide the search with human expertise