Runner 

This page is organized as follow:

Table of Contents

Runner

Objectives 

The runner class aims at:

facilitate the evaluation of the performance of grid2op.Agent by performing automatically the “open ai gym loop” (see below)
define a format to store the results of the evaluation of such agent in a standardized manner
this “agent logs” can then be re read by third party applications, such as grid2viz or by internal class to ease the study of the behaviour of such agent, for example with the classes grid2op.Episode.EpisodeData or grid2op.Episode.EpisodeReplay
allow easy use of parallelization of this assessment.

Basically, the runner simplifies the assessment of the performance of some agent. This is the “usual” gym code to run an agent:

import grid2op
from grid2op.Agent import RandomAgent
env = grid2op.make()
agent = RandomAgent(env.action_space)
NB_EPISODE = 10  # assess the performance for 10 episodes, for example
for i in range(NB_EPISODE):
    reward = env.reward_range[0]
    done = False
    obs = env.reset()
    while not done:
        act = agent.act(obs, reward, done)
        obs, reward, done, info = env.step(act)

The above code does not store anything, cannot be run easily in parallel and is already pretty verbose. To have a shorter code, that saves most of the data (and make it easier to integrate it with other applications) we can use the runner the following way:

import grid2op
from grid2op.Runner import Runner
from grid2op.Agent import RandomAgent
env = grid2op.make()
NB_EPISODE = 10  # assess the performance for 10 episodes, for example
NB_CORE = 2  # do it on 2 cores, for example
PATH_SAVE = "agents_log"  # and store the results in the "agents_log" folder
runner = Runner(**env.get_params_for_runner(), agentClass=RandomAgent)
runner.run(nb_episode=NB_EPISODE, nb_process=NB_CORE, path_save=PATH_SAVE)

As we can see, with less lines of code, we could execute parallel assessment of our agent, on 10 episode and save the results (observations, actions, rewards, etc.) into a dedicated folder.

If your agent is inialiazed with a custom __init__ method that takes more than the action space to be built, you can also use the Runner pretty easily by passing it an instance of your agent, for example:

import grid2op
from grid2op.Runner import Runner
env = grid2op.make()
NB_EPISODE = 10  # assess the performance for 10 episodes, for example
NB_CORE = 2  # do it on 2 cores, for example
PATH_SAVE = "agents_log"  # and store the results in the "agents_log" folder

# initilize your agent
my_agent = FancyAgentWithCustomInitialization(env.action_space,
                                              env.observation_space,
                                              "whatever else you want"
                                              )

# and proceed as following for the runner
runner = Runner(**env.get_params_for_runner(), agentClass=None, agentInstance=my_agent)
runner.run(nb_episode=NB_EPISODE, nb_process=NB_CORE, path_save=PATH_SAVE)

Other tools are available for this runner class, for example the easy integration of progress bars. See bellow for more information.

Note on parallel processing 

The “Runner” class allows for parallel execution of the same agent on different scenarios. In this case, each scenario will be run in independent process.

Depending on the platform and python version, you might end up with some bugs and error like

AttributeError: Can’t get attribute ‘ActionSpace_l2rpn_case14_sandbox’ on <module ‘grid2op.Space.GridObjects’ from ‘/lib/python3.8/site-packages/grid2op/Space/GridObjects.py’> Process SpawnPoolWorker-4:

or like:

File “/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/multiprocessing/pool.py”, line 125, in worker result = (True, func(*args, **kwds))

File “/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.8/lib/python3.8/multiprocessing/pool.py”, line 51, in starmapstar return list(itertools.starmap(args[0], args[1]))

In this case this means grid2op has a hard time dealing with the multi processing part. In that case, it is recommended to disable it completely, for example by using, before any call to “runner.run” the following code:

import os
from grid2op.Runner import Runner

os.environ[Runner.FORCE_SEQUENTIAL] = "1"

This will force (starting grid2op >= 1.5) grid2op to use the sequential runner and not deal with the added complexity of multi processing.

This is especially handy for “windows” system in case of trouble.

For information, as of writing (march 2021):

macOS with python <= 3.7 will behave like any python version on linux
windows and macOS with python >=3.8 will behave differently than linux but similarly to one another

Detailed Documentation by class 

Classes:

Runner(init_env_path, init_grid_path, path_chron)

A runner is a utility tool that allows to run simulations more easily.

class grid2op.Runner.Runner(init_env_path: str, init_grid_path: str, path_chron, name_env='unknown', parameters_path=None, names_chronics_to_backend=None, actionClass=<class 'grid2op.Action.TopologyAction.TopologyAction'>, observationClass=<class 'grid2op.Observation.completeObservation.CompleteObservation'>, rewardClass=<class 'grid2op.Reward.FlatReward.FlatReward'>, legalActClass=<class 'grid2op.Rules.AlwaysLegal.AlwaysLegal'>, envClass=<class 'grid2op.Environment.Environment.Environment'>, gridStateclass=<class 'grid2op.Chronics.gridStateFromFile.GridStateFromFile'>, backendClass=<class 'grid2op.Backend.PandaPowerBackend.PandaPowerBackend'>, backend_kwargs=None, agentClass=<class 'grid2op.Agent.doNothing.DoNothingAgent'>, agentInstance=None, verbose=False, gridStateclass_kwargs={}, voltageControlerClass=<class 'grid2op.VoltageControler.ControlVoltageFromFile.ControlVoltageFromFile'>, thermal_limit_a=None, max_iter=-1, other_rewards={}, opponent_space_type=<class 'grid2op.Opponent.OpponentSpace.OpponentSpace'>, opponent_action_class=<class 'grid2op.Action.DontAct.DontAct'>, opponent_class=<class 'grid2op.Opponent.BaseOpponent.BaseOpponent'>, opponent_init_budget=0.0, opponent_budget_per_ts=0.0, opponent_budget_class=<class 'grid2op.Opponent.NeverAttackBudget.NeverAttackBudget'>, opponent_attack_duration=0, opponent_attack_cooldown=99999, opponent_kwargs={}, grid_layout=None, with_forecast=True, attention_budget_cls=<class 'grid2op.operator_attention.attention_budget.LinearAttentionBudget'>, kwargs_attention_budget=None, has_attention_budget=False, logger=None, kwargs_observation=None, _read_from_local_dir=False, _is_test=False)[source]

A runner is a utility tool that allows to run simulations more easily.

It is a more convenient way to execute the following loops:

import grid2op
from grid2op.Agent import RandomAgent # for example...
from grid2op.Runner import Runner

env = grid2op.make()

###############
# the gym loops
nb_episode = 5
for i in range(nb_episode):
    obs = env.reset()
    done = False
    reward = env.reward_range[0]
    while not done:
        act = agent.act(obs, reward, done)
        obs, reward, done, info = env.step(act)

###############
# equivalent with use of a Runner
runner = Runner(**env.get_params_for_runner(), agentClass=RandomAgent)
res = runner.run(nb_episode=nn_episode)

This specific class as for main purpose to evaluate the performance of a trained grid2op.Agent.BaseAgent rather than to train it.

It has also the good property to be able to save the results of a experiment in a standardized manner described in the grid2op.Episode.EpisodeData.

NB we do not recommend to create a runner from scratch by providing all the arguments. We strongly encourage you to use the grid2op.Environment.Environment.get_params_for_runner() for creating a runner.

envClass

The type of the environment used for the game. The class should be given, and not an instance (object) of this class. The default is the grid2op.Environment. If modified, it should derived from this class.

Type: type

actionClass

The type of action that can be performed by the agent / bot / controler. The class should be given, and not an instance of this class. This type should derived from grid2op.BaseAction. The default is grid2op.TopologyAction.

Type: type

observationClass

This type represents the class that will be used to build the grid2op.BaseObservation visible by the grid2op.BaseAgent. As Runner.actionClass, this should be a type, and not and instance (object) of this type. This type should derived from grid2op.BaseObservation. The default is grid2op.CompleteObservation.

Type: type

rewardClass

Representes the type used to build the rewards that are given to the BaseAgent. As Runner.actionClass, this should be a type, and not and instance (object) of this type. This type should derived from grid2op.BaseReward. The default is grid2op.ConstantReward that should not be used to train or evaluate an agent, but rather as debugging purpose.

Type: type

gridStateclass

This types control the mechanisms to read chronics and assign data to the powergrid. Like every “.*Class” attributes the type should be pass and not an intance (object) of this type. Its default is grid2op.GridStateFromFile and it must be a subclass of grid2op.GridValue.

Type: type

legalActClass

This types control the mechanisms to assess if an grid2op.BaseAction is legal. Like every “.*Class” attributes the type should be pass and not an intance (object) of this type. Its default is grid2op.AlwaysLegal and it must be a subclass of grid2op.BaseRules.

Type: type

backendClass

This types control the backend, eg. the software that computes the powerflows. Like every “.*Class” attributes the type should be pass and not an intance (object) of this type. Its default is grid2op.PandaPowerBackend and it must be a subclass of grid2op.Backend.

Type: type

backend_kwargs

Optional arguments used to build the backend. These arguments will not be copied to create the backend used by the runner. They might required to be pickeable on some plateform when using multi processing.

Type: dict

agentClass

This types control the type of BaseAgent, eg. the bot / controler that will take grid2op.BaseAction and avoid cascading failures. Like every “.*Class” attributes the type should be pass and not an intance (object) of this type. Its default is grid2op.DoNothingAgent and it must be a subclass of grid2op.BaseAgent.

Type: type

logger: A object than can be used to log information, either in a text file, or by printing them to the command prompt.

init_grid_path

This attributes store the path where the powergrid data are located. If a relative path is given, it will be extended as an absolute path.

Type: str

names_chronics_to_backend

See description of grid2op.ChronicsHelper.initialize() for more information about this dictionnary

Type: dict

parameters_path

Where to look for the grid2op.Environment grid2op.Parameters. It defaults to None which corresponds to using default values.

Type: str, optional

parameters

Type of _parameters used. This is an instance (object) of type grid2op.Parameters initialized from Runner.parameters_path

Type: grid2op.Parameters

path_chron

Path indicatng where to look for temporal data.

Type: str

chronics_handler

Initialized from Runner.gridStateclass and Runner.path_chron it represents the input data used to generate grid state by the Runner.env

Type: grid2op.ChronicsHandler

backend

Used to compute the powerflow. This object has the type given by Runner.backendClass

Type: grid2op.Backend

env

Represents the environment which the agent / bot / control must control through action. It is initialized from the Runner.envClass

Type: grid2op.Environment

agent

Represents the agent / bot / controler that takes action performed on a environment (the powergrid) to maximize a certain reward.

Type: grid2op.Agent

verbose

If True then detailed output of each steps are written.

Type: bool

gridStateclass_kwargs

Additional keyword arguments used to build the Runner.chronics_handler

Type: dict

thermal_limit_a

The thermal limit for the environment (if any).

Type: numpy.ndarray

opponent_action_class

The action class used for the opponent. The opponent will not be able to use action that are invalid with the given action class provided. It defaults to grid2op.Action.DontAct which forbid any type of action possible.

Type: type, optional

opponent_class

The opponent class to use. The default class is grid2op.Opponent.BaseOpponent which is a type of opponents that does nothing.

Type: type, optional

opponent_init_budget

The initial budget of the opponent. It defaults to 0.0 which means the opponent cannot perform any action if this is not modified.

Type: float, optional

opponent_budget_per_ts

The budget increase of the opponent per time step

Type: float, optional

opponent_budget_class

The class used to compute the attack cost.

Type: type, optional

grid_layout

The layout of the grid (position of each substation) usefull if you need to plot some things for example.

Type: dict, optional

TODO

_attention_budget_cls=LinearAttentionBudget,

_kwargs_attention_budget=None,

_has_attention_budget=False

Examples

Different examples are showed in the description of the main method Runner.run()

Notes

Runner does not necessarily behave normally when “nb_process” is not 1 on some platform (windows and some version of macos). Please read the documentation, and especially the Note on parallel processing for more information and possible way to disable this feature.

Methods:

`__init__`(init_env_path, init_grid_path, ...)	Initialize the Runner.
`_clean_up`()	INTERNAL
`_run_parrallel`(nb_episode[, nb_process, ...])	INTERNAL
`_run_sequential`(nb_episode[, path_save, ...])	INTERNAL
`init_env`()	INTERNAL
`reset`()	INTERNAL
`run`(nb_episode[, nb_process, path_save, ...])	Main method of the `Runner` class.
`run_one_episode`([indx, path_save, pbar, ...])	INTERNAL

Attributes:

__weakref__

list of weak references to the object (if defined)

__init__(init_env_path: str, init_grid_path: str, path_chron, name_env='unknown', parameters_path=None, names_chronics_to_backend=None, actionClass=<class 'grid2op.Action.TopologyAction.TopologyAction'>, observationClass=<class 'grid2op.Observation.completeObservation.CompleteObservation'>, rewardClass=<class 'grid2op.Reward.FlatReward.FlatReward'>, legalActClass=<class 'grid2op.Rules.AlwaysLegal.AlwaysLegal'>, envClass=<class 'grid2op.Environment.Environment.Environment'>, gridStateclass=<class 'grid2op.Chronics.gridStateFromFile.GridStateFromFile'>, backendClass=<class 'grid2op.Backend.PandaPowerBackend.PandaPowerBackend'>, backend_kwargs=None, agentClass=<class 'grid2op.Agent.doNothing.DoNothingAgent'>, agentInstance=None, verbose=False, gridStateclass_kwargs={}, voltageControlerClass=<class 'grid2op.VoltageControler.ControlVoltageFromFile.ControlVoltageFromFile'>, thermal_limit_a=None, max_iter=-1, other_rewards={}, opponent_space_type=<class 'grid2op.Opponent.OpponentSpace.OpponentSpace'>, opponent_action_class=<class 'grid2op.Action.DontAct.DontAct'>, opponent_class=<class 'grid2op.Opponent.BaseOpponent.BaseOpponent'>, opponent_init_budget=0.0, opponent_budget_per_ts=0.0, opponent_budget_class=<class 'grid2op.Opponent.NeverAttackBudget.NeverAttackBudget'>, opponent_attack_duration=0, opponent_attack_cooldown=99999, opponent_kwargs={}, grid_layout=None, with_forecast=True, attention_budget_cls=<class 'grid2op.operator_attention.attention_budget.LinearAttentionBudget'>, kwargs_attention_budget=None, has_attention_budget=False, logger=None, kwargs_observation=None, _read_from_local_dir=False, _is_test=False)[source]

Initialize the Runner.

Parameters

init_grid_path (str) – Madantory, used to initialize Runner.init_grid_path.
path_chron (str) – Madantory where to look for chronics data, used to initialize Runner.path_chron.
parameters_path (str or dict, optional) – Used to initialize Runner.parameters_path. If it’s a string, this will suppose parameters are located at this path, if it’s a dictionary, this will use the parameters converted from this dictionary.
names_chronics_to_backend (dict, optional) – Used to initialize Runner.names_chronics_to_backend.
actionClass (type, optional) – Used to initialize Runner.actionClass.
observationClass (type, optional) – Used to initialize Runner.observationClass.
rewardClass (type, optional) – Used to initialize Runner.rewardClass. Default to grid2op.ConstantReward that should not* be used to train or evaluate an agent, but rather as debugging purpose.
legalActClass (type, optional) – Used to initialize Runner.legalActClass.
envClass (type, optional) – Used to initialize Runner.envClass.
gridStateclass (type, optional) – Used to initialize Runner.gridStateclass.
backendClass (type, optional) – Used to initialize Runner.backendClass.
agentClass (type, optional) – Used to initialize Runner.agentClass.
agentInstance (grid2op.Agent.Agent) – Used to initialize the agent. Note that either agentClass or agentInstance is used at the same time. If both ot them are None or both of them are “not None” it throw an error.
verbose (bool, optional) – Used to initialize Runner.verbose.
thermal_limit_a (numpy.ndarray) – The thermal limit for the environment (if any).
voltagecontrolerClass (grid2op.VoltageControler.ControlVoltageFromFile, optional) – The controler that will change the voltage setpoints of the generators.
opponent (# TODO documentation on the) –
budget (# TOOD doc for the attention) –

__weakref__: list of weak references to the object (if defined)

_clean_up()[source]

INTERNAL

Warning

/!\ Internal, do not use unless you know what you are doing /!\

close the environment if it has been created

_run_parrallel(nb_episode, nb_process=1, path_save=None, env_seeds=None, agent_seeds=None, max_iter=None, episode_id=None, add_detailed_output=False)[source]

INTERNAL

Warning

/!\ Internal, do not use unless you know what you are doing /!\

This method will run in parallel, independently the nb_episode over nb_process.

In case the agent cannot be cloned using copy.copy: nb_process is set to 1

Note that it restarts completely the Runner.backend and Runner.env if the computation is actually performed with more than 1 cores (nb_process > 1)

It uses the python multiprocess, and especially the multiprocess.Pool to perform the computations. This implies that all runs are completely independent (they happen in different process) and that the memory consumption can be big. Tests may be recommended if the amount of RAM is low.

It has the same return type as the Runner.run_sequential().

Parameters

nb_episode (int) – Number of episode to simulate
nb_process (int, optional) – Number of process used to play the nb_episode. Default to 1.
path_save (str, optional) – If not None, it specifies where to store the data. See the description of this module Runner for more information
env_seeds (list) – An iterable of the seed used for the experiments. By default None, no seeds are set. If provided, its size should match nb_episode.
agent_seeds (list) – An iterable that contains the seed used for the environment. By default None means no seeds are set. If provided, its size should match the nb_episode. The agent will be seeded at the beginning of each scenario BEFORE calling agent.reset().
add_detailed_output (see Runner.run method) –

Returns

res –

List of tuple. Each tuple having 3 elements:

”i” unique identifier of the episode (compared to Runner.run_sequential(), the elements of the returned list are not necessarily sorted by this value)

”cum_reward” the cumulative reward obtained by the Runner.BaseAgent on this episode i

”nb_time_step”: the number of time steps played in this episode.

”max_ts” : the maximum number of time steps of the chronics

”episode_data” : The EpisodeData corresponding to this episode run

Return type

list

_run_sequential(nb_episode, path_save=None, pbar=False, env_seeds=None, agent_seeds=None, max_iter=None, episode_id=None, add_detailed_output=False)[source]

INTERNAL

Warning

/!\ Internal, do not use unless you know what you are doing /!\

This method is called to see how well an agent performed on a sequence of episode.

Parameters

nb_episode (int) – Number of episode to play.
path_save (str, optional) – If not None, it specifies where to store the data. See the description of this module Runner for more information
pbar (bool or type or object) –
How to display the progress bar, understood as follow:
- if pbar is None nothing is done.
- if pbar is a boolean, tqdm pbar are used, if tqdm package is available and installed on the system [if true]. If it’s false it’s equivalent to pbar being None
- if pbar is a type ( a class), it is used to build a progress bar at the highest level (episode) and and the lower levels (step during the episode). If it’s a type it muyst accept the argument “total” and “desc” when being built, and the closing is ensured by this method.
- if pbar is an object (an instance of a class) it is used to make a progress bar at this highest level (episode) but not at lower levels (setp during the episode)
env_seeds (list) – An iterable of the seed used for the experiments. By default None, no seeds are set. If provided, its size should match nb_episode.
episode_id (list) – For each of the nb_episdeo you want to compute, it specifies the id of the chronix that will be used. By default None, no seeds are set. If provided, its size should match nb_episode.
add_detailed_output (see Runner.run method) –

Returns

res –

List of tuple. Each tuple having 5 elements:

”id_chron” unique identifier of the episode

”name_chron” name of chronics

”cum_reward” the cumulative reward obtained by the Runner.BaseAgent on this episode i

”nb_time_step”: the number of time steps played in this episode.

”max_ts” : the maximum number of time steps of the chronics

”episode_data” : The EpisodeData corresponding to this episode run

Return type

list

init_env()[source]

INTERNAL

Warning

/!\ Internal, do not use unless you know what you are doing /!\

Function used to initialized the environment and the agent. It is called by Runner.reset().

reset()[source]

INTERNAL

Warning

/!\ Internal, do not use unless you know what you are doing /!\

Used to reset an environment. This method is called at the beginning of each new episode. If the environment is not initialized, then it initializes it with Runner.make_env().

run(nb_episode, nb_process=1, path_save=None, max_iter=None, pbar=False, env_seeds=None, agent_seeds=None, episode_id=None, add_detailed_output=False)[source]

Main method of the Runner class. It will either call Runner._run_sequential() if “nb_process” is 1 or Runner._run_parrallel() if nb_process >= 2.

Parameters

nb_episode (int) – Number of episode to simulate
nb_process (int, optional) – Number of process used to play the nb_episode. Default to 1. NB Multitoprocessing is deactivated on windows based platform (it was not fully supported so we decided to remove it)
path_save (str, optional) – If not None, it specifies where to store the data. See the description of this module Runner for more information
max_iter (int) – Maximum number of iteration you want the runner to perform.
pbar (bool or type or object) –
How to display the progress bar, understood as follow:
- if pbar is None nothing is done.
- if pbar is a boolean, tqdm pbar are used, if tqdm package is available and installed on the system [if true]. If it’s false it’s equivalent to pbar being None
- if pbar is a type ( a class), it is used to build a progress bar at the highest level (episode) and and the lower levels (step during the episode). If it’s a type it muyst accept the argument “total” and “desc” when being built, and the closing is ensured by this method.
- if pbar is an object (an instance of a class) it is used to make a progress bar at this highest level (episode) but not at lower levels (setp during the episode)
env_seeds (list) – An iterable of the seed used for the environment. By default None, no seeds are set. If provided, its size should match nb_episode.
agent_seeds (list) – An iterable that contains the seed used for the environment. By default None means no seeds are set. If provided, its size should match the nb_episode. The agent will be seeded at the beginning of each scenario BEFORE calling agent.reset().
episode_id (list) – For each of the nb_episdeo you want to compute, it specifies the id of the chronix that will be used. By default None, no seeds are set. If provided, its size should match nb_episode.
add_detailed_output (bool) – A flag to add an EpisodeData object to the results, containing a lot of information about the run

Returns

res –

List of tuple. Each tuple having 3[4] elements:

”i” unique identifier of the episode (compared to Runner.run_sequential(), the elements of the returned list are not necessarily sorted by this value)

”cum_reward” the cumulative reward obtained by the Runner.Agent on this episode i

”nb_time_step”: the number of time steps played in this episode.

”episode_data” : [Optional] The EpisodeData corresponding to this episode run only if add_detailed_output=True

Return type

list

Examples

You can use the runner this way:

If you would rather to provide an agent instance (and not a class) you can do it this way:

Finally, in the presence of stochastic environments or stochastic agent you might want to set the seeds for ensuring reproducible experiments you might want to seed both the environment and your agent. You can do that by passing env_seeds and agent_seeds parameters (on the example bellow, the agent will be seeded with 42 and the environment with 0.

run_one_episode(indx=0, path_save=None, pbar=False, env_seed=None, max_iter=None, agent_seed=None, episode_id=None, detailed_output=False)[source]

INTERNAL

Warning

/!\ Internal, do not use unless you know what you are doing /!\

Function used to run one episode of the Runner.agent and see how it performs in the Runner.env.

Parameters

indx (int) – The number of episode previously run
path_save (str, optional) – Path where to save the data. See the description of grid2op.Runner for the structure of the saved file.
detailed_output (see Runner.run method) –

Returns

cum_reward (np.float32) – The cumulative reward obtained by the agent during this episode
time_step (int) – The number of timesteps that have been played before the end of the episode (because of a “game over” or because there were no more data)

If you still can’t find what you’re looking for, try in one of the following pages:

Still trouble finding the information ? Do not hesitate to send a github issue about the documentation at this link: Documentation issue template

Runner

Objectives

Note on parallel processing

Detailed Documentation by class

Runner 

Objectives 

Note on parallel processing 

Detailed Documentation by class 