# areal | inclusionAI | Knowledge Base | Instagit

Lightning-Fast RL for LLM Reasoning and Agents. Made Simple & Flexible.

GitHub Stars: 3.6k

Repository: https://github.com/inclusionai/areal

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## Articles

### [Understanding and Configuring Staleness Management in Asynchronous Training with AReaL](/inclusionai/areal/understanding-and-configuring-staleness-management-in-asynchronous-training)

Master staleness management in asynchronous training with AReaL. Control model lag and prevent off-policy data from degrading performance for better learning.

- Tags: how-to-guide
- Published: 2026-03-04

### [How to Set Up SkyPilot Deployment for Cloud-Based Training with AReaL](/inclusionai/areal/setting-up-skypilot-deployment-for-cloud-based-training)

Learn how to set up SkyPilot deployment for cloud training with AReaL. Effortlessly launch jobs on GCP, AWS, or Kubernetes using YAML templates and sky launch.

- Tags: how-to-guide
- Published: 2026-03-04

### [How to Configure Sequence Packing for Efficient GPU Utilization in AReaL](/inclusionai/areal/configuring-sequence-packing-for-efficient-gpu-utilization)

Learn to configure sequence packing in AReaL and boost GPU utilization. Discover how this feature groups short sequences into dense micro-batches for maximum efficiency.

- Tags: performance
- Published: 2026-03-04

### [Implementing M2PO (Mixture of Memory Policy Optimization) in AReaL](/inclusionai/areal/implementing-m2po-algorithm)

Implement M2PO (Mixture of Memory Policy Optimization) in AReaL. Stabilize policy updates by masking high-variance tokens using second-momentum statistics. Learn how M2PO integrates with PPO trainer.

- Tags: how-to-guide
- Published: 2026-03-04

### [Debugging Reward Convergence Issues in GRPO Training: A Complete Guide to AReaL Configuration](/inclusionai/areal/debugging-reward-convergence-issues-in-grpo-training)

Solve reward convergence problems in GRPO training. Learn to configure PPOActor normalization, KL control weights, and importance sampling for stable, optimal results. Expert guide.

- Tags: how-to-guide
- Published: 2026-03-04

### [Setting up metrics tracking with StatsLogger for W&B or SwanLab integration: The AReaL Guide](/inclusionai/areal/setting-up-metrics-tracking-with-statslogger-for-wandb-or-swanlab-integration)

Easily track metrics with StatsLogger for W&B or SwanLab integration in AReaL. Instantiate StatsLogger, record metrics via StatsTracker API, and export results.

- Tags: how-to-guide
- Published: 2026-03-04

### [Megatron vs FSDP vs Archon Backend Trade-offs in AReaL: A Complete Technical Guide](/inclusionai/areal/understanding-megatron-vs-fsdp-vs-archon-backend-trade-offs)

Explore Megatron vs FSDP vs Archon backend trade-offs in AReaL. Discover the best options for your large scale mid scale or experimental AI training needs. Optimize your workflow today.

- Tags: deep-dive
- Published: 2026-03-04

### [Implementing Checkpointing and Recovery for Long-Running Training Jobs in AReaL](/inclusionai/areal/implementing-checkpointing-and-recovery-for-long-running-training-jobs)

Learn how AReaL implements checkpointing and recovery for long-running training jobs with a dual-path architecture. Prevent I/O blocking and ensure fault tolerance.

- Tags: how-to-guide
- Published: 2026-03-04

### [Configuring SGLang vs vLLM Inference Backends for Production Workloads in AReaL](/inclusionai/areal/configuring-sglang-vs-vllm-inference-backends-for-production-workloads)

Compare SGLang and vLLM inference backends for AReaL production workloads. Learn which high-throughput option suits your needs best for efficient AI deployment.

- Tags: performance
- Published: 2026-03-04

### [Implementing DAPO (Direct Advantage Policy Optimization) Filtering Strategies in AReaL](/inclusionai/areal/implementing-dapo-filtering-strategies)

Implement DAPO filtering strategies in AReaL using configurable over-long sequence penalties. Inject negative reward shaping into PPO loss for optimized policy performance.

- Tags: how-to-guide
- Published: 2026-03-04

### [Understanding PPO Clipped Objective and Advantage Normalization in AReaL](/inclusionai/areal/understanding-ppo-clipped-objective-and-advantage-normalization-options)

Explore PPO clipped objective and advantage normalization in AReaL. Stabilize large-scale reinforcement learning training with this configurable PPO implementation for better performance.

- Tags: deep-dive
- Published: 2026-03-04

### [Setting Up Huawei Ascend NPU Training Infrastructure for AReaL: A Complete Guide](/inclusionai/areal/setting-up-huawei-ascend-npu-training-infrastructure)

Set up Huawei Ascend NPU training infrastructure for AReaL easily. Learn how to leverage Docker, CANN, vLLM-Ascend, and SLURM for GPU-like deep learning workflows.

- Tags: how-to-guide
- Published: 2026-03-04

### [Configuring Vision-Language Model Training with Qwen2.5-VL in AReaL](/inclusionai/areal/configuring-vision-language-model-training-with-qwen2-5-vl)

Learn to configure Qwen2.5-VL training in AReaL using a modular YAML file. Integrate SGLang vLLM backends, tensor-parallel sharding & GRPO optimization.

- Tags: tutorial
- Published: 2026-03-04

### [Implementing Custom Rollout Workflows for Agentic RL in AReaL](/inclusionai/areal/implementing-custom-rollout-workflows-for-agentic-rl)

Implement custom rollout workflows for agentic RL in AReaL. Subclass RolloutWorkflow and implement arun_episode to orchestrate LLM generation, reward calculation, and tensor packaging.

- Tags: how-to-guide
- Published: 2026-03-04

### [Understanding Weight Version Synchronization Between Inference and Training Engines in AReaL](/inclusionai/areal/understanding-weight-version-synchronization-between-inference-and-training-engines)

Learn how AReaL synchronizes model weights between training and inference engines using NCCL/XCCL broadcast for seamless hot-swapping without interruption. Ensure consistency easily.

- Tags: internals
- Published: 2026-03-04

### [Setting up Multi-Node Ray or Slurm Clusters for Large-Scale Training with AReaL](/inclusionai/areal/setting-up-multi-node-ray-or-slurm-clusters-for-large-scale-training)

Learn to set up multi-node Ray or Slurm clusters for large-scale training with AReaL. Streamline distributed training using Python APIs for resource allocation and worker management.

- Tags: how-to-guide
- Published: 2026-03-04

### [Configuring Memory-Efficient Training in AReaL to Prevent OOM Errors](/inclusionai/areal/configuring-memory-efficient-training-to-handle-oom-issues)

Prevent OOM errors with memory efficient training in AReaL. Load large checkpoints on CPU first and defer GPU allocation using the memory_efficient_load flag. Resolve initialization crashes now.

- Tags: how-to-guide
- Published: 2026-03-04

### [Adding Support for New HuggingFace Models to the Archon Engine in AReaL](/inclusionai/areal/adding-support-for-new-huggingface-models-to-archon-engine)

Expand AReaL's Archon engine by registering ModelSpecs to support new HuggingFace models. Define model class, parser, and strategies seamlessly.

- Tags: how-to-guide
- Published: 2026-03-04

### [How to Configure GRPO Hyperparameters in AReaL: A Complete Guide](/inclusionai/areal/setting-up-grpo-algorithm-hyperparameters)

Master GRPO hyperparameters in AReaL with this guide. Learn to configure clipping bounds, reward normalization, and advantage estimation using YAML or CLI overrides for optimal performance.

- Tags: how-to-guide
- Published: 2026-03-04

### [Configuring Multi-Turn Agentic Workflows with Reward Discounting in AReaL](/inclusionai/areal/configuring-multi-turn-agentic-workflows-with-reward-discounting)

Learn to configure multi-turn agentic workflows in AReaL. Apply geometric reward discounting for effective backward propagation of terminal rewards across conversation turns.

- Tags: how-to-guide
- Published: 2026-03-04

### [Understanding Asynchronous vs Synchronous RL Training Modes in AReaL](/inclusionai/areal/understanding-asynchronous-vs-synchronous-rl-training-modes-in-areal)

Explore synchronous vs asynchronous RL training in AReaL. Learn how to ensure deterministic training or maximize GPU utilization with our flexible modes.

- Tags: deep-dive
- Published: 2026-03-04

### [How to Implement Custom Reward Functions for Domain-Specific Tasks in AReaL](/inclusionai/areal/how-to-implement-custom-reward-functions-for-domain-specific-tasks-in-areal)

Learn to implement custom reward functions for domain-specific tasks in AReaL. Integrate Python callables directly into RL training loops for tailored AI development.

- Tags: how-to-guide
- Published: 2026-03-04