User Interface

Introduction

RD-Agent will generate some logs during the R&D process. These logs are very useful for debugging and understanding the R&D process. However, just viewing the terminal log is not intuitive enough. RD-Agent provides a web app as UI to visualize the R&D process. You can easily view the R&D process and understand the R&D process better.

Streamlit UI

Start Web App

In RD-Agent/ folder, run:

rdagent ui --port <port> --log-dir <log_dir like "log/"> [--debug]

This will start a web app on http://localhost:<port>.

NOTE: The log_dir parameter is not required. You can manually enter the log_path in the web app. If you set the log_dir parameter, you can easily select a different log_path in the web app.

–debug is optional, it will show a “Single Step Run” button in sidebar and saved objects info in the web app.

Use Web App

1. Open the sidebar.

2. Select the scenario you want to show. There are some pre-defined scenarios:

   • Qlib Model

   • Qlib Factor

   • Data Mining

   • Model from Paper

   • Kaggle

3. Click the Config⚙️ button and input the log path (if you set the log_dir parameter, you can select a log_path in the dropdown list).

4. Click the buttons below Config⚙️ to show the scenario execution process. Buttons are:

   • All Loops: Show complete scenario execution process.

   • Next Loop: Show one success R&D Loop.

   • One Evolving: Show one evolving step of development part.

   • refresh logs: clear shown logs.

Flask Web UI

RD-Agent also provides a separate frontend in web/ backed by the Flask log server started with rdagent server_ui. This UI provides real-time trace, upload, process-control, and user-interaction APIs.

Build and start

Install the frontend dependencies and build the static assets:

cd web
npm install
npm run build:flask
cd ..

The generated assets are served from ./git_ignore_folder/static by default. Set UI_STATIC_PATH before starting the server to use another directory.

Start the server locally:

rdagent server_ui --port 19899

Then open http://127.0.0.1:19899. The server listens on localhost by default, so its process-control, upload, and trace APIs are not exposed to other machines.

Remote access and authentication

To access the Flask Web UI remotely, explicitly select a non-local address and configure a long, random authentication token:

export UI_SERVER_AUTH_TOKEN='<a-long-random-token>'
rdagent server_ui --port 19899 --host 0.0.0.0

The server refuses to bind to a non-local address unless UI_SERVER_AUTH_TOKEN is set. Open the following URL once to establish an authenticated browser session:

http://<server-host>:19899/?token=<a-long-random-token>

The server redirects to / after storing the token in an HTTP-only, same-site cookie. API clients can supply the same token without using a cookie:

Authorization: Bearer <a-long-random-token>

Put remotely accessible deployments behind an HTTPS reverse proxy. Avoid recording the initial token-bearing URL in proxy logs or sharing it through an untrusted channel. When the server is started through the CLI, --host controls the listening address; UI_SERVER_HOST is the corresponding default when invoking the backend entry point directly.

CORS is disabled by default. If a browser frontend is hosted on another origin, configure an explicit JSON allowlist:

export UI_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS='["https://ui.example.com"]'

Configuration

The Flask Web UI supports the following environment variables:

Environment variable	Default	Description
UI_STATIC_PATH	./git_ignore_folder/static	Directory containing the built Web UI assets.
UI_TRACE_FOLDER	./git_ignore_folder/traces	Directory containing generated trace data and process logs.
UI_UPLOAD_FOLDER	./git_ignore_folder/uploads	Isolated directory for uploaded inputs. Mount, back up, and clean it separately from the trace directory.
UI_SERVER_HOST	127.0.0.1	Default host used by the backend entry point. Use server_ui --host when starting the server through the CLI.
UI_SERVER_AUTH_TOKEN	empty	Bearer/cookie authentication token. Required for non-localhost bindings.
UI_CORS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS	[]	JSON list of allowed browser origins. CORS is disabled when empty.
UI_MAX_UPLOAD_MB	20	Maximum size in MiB of the complete HTTP request, including all files and form data.
UI_LOAD_LEGACY_PICKLE_TRACES	false	Whether to deserialize persisted pickle traces at startup. Enable only for a fully trusted trace directory.

Upload and trace safety

Uploaded input files are stored outside UI_TRACE_FOLDER so they cannot be discovered and deserialized as persisted traces. Uploads ending in .dill, .pickle, .pkl, .py, .pyc, or .pyo are rejected. Workflows using these formats as uploaded inputs must convert them to a non-executable data format or provide them through another trusted mechanism.

Legacy pickle trace loading is disabled by default because deserializing a pickle can execute code. After a restart, a historical trace may still appear in the history list while its saved messages remain unloaded. To browse trusted historical traces, opt in explicitly:

export UI_LOAD_LEGACY_PICKLE_TRACES=true
rdagent server_ui --port 19899

Only enable this setting when every file under UI_TRACE_FOLDER is trusted and the directory is not writable by untrusted users or services.

Data-science trace share links no longer accept a URL-controlled log_folder. A link can preserve the selected trace, but the recipient must configure or select the corresponding log folder in the UI.