Fields

Fields are values you add to runs by hand, for things the logs don't say or that you decide afterwards: the dataset, the parameter count, the GPU, a rating, whether someone reviewed the run, a link to the write-up.

Each field has:

• a name and an optional group (such as Data, Model or Review). Fields of a group stay together everywhere: in the Overview cards, in the Edit form and in Show (Model · params).
• a type: number, text, choice (one of a list), tags (several of a list), yes/no, date or link.
• for numbers, a unit, a scale prefix (k, M, G, m, µ, Ki, Mi, …) and decimals for display, and whether higher or lower is better. Values are stored as entered, so 25.6M with scale M shows as 25.6 M and still sorts and filters as 25,600,000. A number that ranks gets ↑ or ↓ in its header and its best value highlighted, like a scalar.
• for choice and tags, an ordered list of options. An option's place in the list gives its color, so a value keeps its color everywhere. Typing a value that isn't an option yet adds it at the end.
• a description, shown as help next to its input.

Using them:

1. Define fields in Fields and settings → Fields.
2. Give runs values in Run details → Edit, or for many runs at once in Experiments: select rows, then Field in the toolbar.
3. Show them as columns with Show in Experiments and Compare, filter on them (Dataset == cifar-100, Params < 20M, Rating >= 4) and find them with the sidebar search.

The run tags are the built-in Tags field: its options and colors are managed the same way, and it can't be renamed or deleted. Fields are saved in the annotations backup with everything else.

Copy fields to another runs folder

Fields and settings → Fields → Export fields saves the field definitions, with their options and the order of the tag options, to tensorboard-book-fields.json (format tensorboard-book-fields). Values are not included. Import fields reads that file, an annotations file (only its fields are used) or a version 1 file with properties. Fields are matched by name: those that already exist are kept as they are, or updated from the file if you choose Update from the file. Updating can change a field's type. Values are never touched.

Coming from properties

Before fields, runs had properties, which were either a number or a category. The first time a database with properties is opened, it is upgraded:

• a number property becomes a number field.
• a category property becomes a choice field whose options are its values in alphabetical order, so pill colors start out the same.
• before anything changes, the annotations file is copied to annotations-v1.json next to it, so the previous state is kept.

Annotation files with properties (version 1) can still be imported.