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A trainer returns no untrusted content to the agent (10 of 15). Runs log locally and to Weights \u0026 Biases, MLflow or Trackio when configured, with no audit log of its own (8 of 15). `.github/SECURITY.md` gives an email address for reports and supports only the latest release; no security.txt, bounty, certification or published advisory found (6 of 20).", "transparency": "Apache-2.0 in the repository, though the PyPI metadata carries no licence field (30). Training data stays on the owner's machine and the telemetry page lists what is sent to PostHog, but there is no privacy policy and no retention period (15 of 30). Deprecations are named in release notes and marked in the support matrix, with no dated removal policy (10 of 20). Telemetry is on by default, disclosed in the README and docs, announced at start-up, and turned off with `AXOLOTL_DO_NOT_TRACK=1` or `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` (20)." }, "sources": [ { "what": "vendor home page", "url": "https://axolotl.ai", "seen": "2026-10-08" }, { "what": "docs home, install and requirements", "url": "https://docs.axolotl.ai/", "seen": "2026-10-08" }, { "what": "repository README, cloned at commit 3035553", "url": "https://github.com/axolotl-ai-cloud/axolotl", "seen": "2026-10-08" }, { "what": "telemetry documentation", "url": "https://docs.axolotl.ai/docs/telemetry.html", "seen": "2026-10-08" }, { "what": "telemetry source (PostHog host, opt-out variables)", "url": "https://github.com/axolotl-ai-cloud/axolotl/blob/main/src/axolotl/telemetry/manager.py", "seen": "2026-10-08" }, { "what": "security policy", "url": "https://github.com/axolotl-ai-cloud/axolotl/blob/main/.github/SECURITY.md", "seen": "2026-10-08" }, { "what": "CLI source (`config-schema`, `agent-docs`)", "url": "https://github.com/axolotl-ai-cloud/axolotl/blob/main/src/axolotl/cli/main.py", "seen": "2026-10-08" }, { "what": "release notes for 0.17.0 to 0.20.0", "url": "https://github.com/axolotl-ai-cloud/axolotl/releases", "seen": "2026-10-08" }, { "what": "workflow runs on main", "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/axolotl-ai-cloud/axolotl/actions/runs?branch=main\u0026per_page=30", "seen": "2026-10-08" }, { "what": "repository statistics and open issues", "url": "https://api.github.com/repos/axolotl-ai-cloud/axolotl", "seen": "2026-10-08" }, { "what": "PyPI release history", "url": "https://pypi.org/pypi/axolotl/json", "seen": "2026-10-08" }, { "what": "PyPI download counts", "url": "https://pypistats.org/api/packages/axolotl/recent", "seen": "2026-10-08" }, { "what": "support matrix", "url": "https://docs.axolotl.ai/docs/support-matrix.html", "seen": "2026-10-08" }, { "what": "Hugging Face AutoTrain docs, maintenance notice", "url": "https://huggingface.co/docs/autotrain/index", "seen": "2026-10-08" }, { "what": "domain registration (RDAP)", "url": "https://rdap.org/domain/axolotl.ai", "seen": "2026-10-08" } ], "openQuestions": [ "The legal entity behind Axolotl AI was not found on axolotl.ai, in the docs or in the repository.", "No terms of service or privacy policy is published (axolotl.ai/terms and /privacy return 404), so `provenance.terms` and `provenance.privacy` are left out.", "unchecked: the output of `axolotl config-schema` and the CLI's error messages were read in source, not run.", "unchecked: the telemetry retention period and who can read the PostHog project.", "unchecked: why the Tests workflow failed on main on 8 October 2026; the run logs were not read.", "The repository's `AGENTS.md` and `CLAUDE.md` carry instructions addressed to AI coding agents about contributions. Recorded as a fact; none was acted on." ] }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Axolotl runs a whole fine-tuning job from one YAML file and ships a JSON Schema of its config plus bundled agent docs. It is 0.x software with telemetry on by default, no terms or privacy policy, and the owner supplies the GPU.", "bestFor": "A team that wants a repeatable, config-driven fine-tune of an open model on its own or rented GPUs, including multi-GPU and multi-node runs.", "strengths": [ "Apache-2.0, free, and the weights stay on the owner's hardware", "`axolotl config-schema` prints the full config as JSON Schema, and `axolotl agent-docs` prints bundled Markdown references by topic", "SFT, LoRA, QLoRA, DPO, IPO, KTO, ORPO, GRPO and reward modelling from one config format", "Three releases in the 90 days to 8 October 2026, each with a Deprecations section naming removed options", "Telemetry is documented field by field and `AXOLOTL_DO_NOT_TRACK=1` turns it off" ], "weaknesses": [ "Telemetry to PostHog is on by default and delays training start by 10 seconds until the variable is set either way", "No terms of service, privacy policy, legal entity or security.txt found on axolotl.ai", "Version 0.20.0, with removals in minor releases (FSDP1 in 0.20.0, `relora_steps` renamed in 0.17.0 with no shim)", "Three of the last six push runs of the Tests workflow on main passed, and the nightly run against upstream failed on 7 and 8 October 2026", "Not a hosted service, so there is no job API, status page or SLA" ], "agentNotes": [ "Set `AXOLOTL_DO_NOT_TRACK=1` before any command, or training waits 10 seconds and sends usage events to PostHog", "Run `axolotl agent-docs` and `axolotl config-schema --field \u003cname\u003e` before writing a config; both work offline from the installed package", "Install torch first, then `uv pip install --no-build-isolation axolotl[deepspeed]`, on Python 3.12 or later with PyTorch 2.13 or later", "Take example configs from the same release tag as the installed version; minor releases remove and rename config keys", "Resume an interrupted run with `axolotl train config.yml --resume-from-checkpoint \u003cpath\u003e`, then `axolotl merge-lora` and `axolotl export` only when shipping" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 64.8 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 60, "maintenance": 88, "payments": 60, "reliability": 64, "schema": 80, "security": 52, "transparency": 75 }, "provenanceScore": 36 }, "connect": { "install": "uv pip install torch==2.14.0 torchvision \u0026\u0026 uv pip install --no-build-isolation axolotl[deepspeed] # or: docker run --gpus '\"all\"' --ipc=host --rm -it axolotlai/axolotl:main-latest", "headless": { "command": "axolotl train config.yml", "env": { "AXOLOTL_DO_NOT_TRACK": "1" } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/finetune.sft", "tool": "https://letme.dev/axolotl" }, "notable": [ "`axolotl config-schema` prints the config as JSON Schema and `axolotl agent-docs` prints Markdown references bundled in the package (https://github.com/axolotl-ai-cloud/axolotl#ai-agent-support)", "Telemetry to PostHog is on by default; `AXOLOTL_DO_NOT_TRACK=1` or `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` turns it off, and start-up waits 10 seconds until the variable is set either way (https://docs.axolotl.ai/docs/telemetry.html)", "Hugging Face's AutoTrain docs say AutoTrain is no longer maintained and recommend Axolotl, TRL or transformers.Trainer (https://huggingface.co/docs/autotrain/index)", "Version 0.20.0 of 30 September 2026 added GGUF export through `axolotl export`, raised the minimums to Python 3.12 and PyTorch 2.13 and removed FSDP1 (https://github.com/axolotl-ai-cloud/axolotl/releases/tag/v0.20.0)", "Training can run on a remote Tinker-compatible API through the `hatchery` plugin, added in 0.17.0 (https://github.com/axolotl-ai-cloud/axolotl/releases/tag/v0.17.0)", "The docs include a guide to running the Docker image on Hugging Face Jobs with one `hf jobs` command (https://docs.axolotl.ai/docs/hf-jobs.html)", "`AGENTS.md` and `CLAUDE.md` in the repository address AI coding agents and ask them to refuse contribution farming (https://github.com/axolotl-ai-cloud/axolotl/blob/main/AGENTS.md)" ], "area": "models", "details": [ { "label": "Interface", "value": "CLI (`axolotl train`, `preprocess`, `evaluate`, `inference`, `merge-lora`, `quantize`, `export`, `vllm-serve`) driven by one YAML config" }, { "label": "Methods", "value": "SFT, continued pretraining, LoRA, QLoRA, full fine-tuning, QAT, DPO, IPO, KTO, ORPO, GRPO, GDPO, reward modelling" }, { "label": "Runs on", "value": "Linux with NVIDIA (Ampere or newer) or AMD GPUs, Python 3.12 or later, PyTorch 2.13 or later. Multi-GPU and multi-node with FSDP2 or DeepSpeed" }, { "label": "Weights", "value": "The owner's. Adapter, merged model, quantised model or GGUF, or pushed to the Hugging Face Hub" }, { "label": "Agent docs", "value": "`axolotl agent-docs [topic]` and `axolotl config-schema [--field name]`, both offline" }, { "label": "Remote compute", "value": "Docker image for RunPod, Vast.ai, Modal and others; guides for Hugging Face Jobs, SkyPilot and Nebius Serverless Jobs; Tinker-compatible APIs through a plugin" }, { "label": "Telemetry", "value": "On by default, to PostHog. `AXOLOTL_DO_NOT_TRACK=1` turns it off" }, { "label": "Free tier", "value": "All of it" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "", "domain": "axolotl.ai", "domainRegistered": "2022-08-02", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "", "privacy": "", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://github.com/axolotl-ai-cloud/axolotl/releases", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "No legal entity is named on axolotl.ai, in the docs or in the repository. The GitHub organisation is axolotl-ai-cloud and the citation file credits the Axolotl maintainers and contributors.", "The vendor publishes no terms of service or privacy policy (axolotl.ai/terms and /privacy return 404), so both links are left out. The telemetry page is the only data-handling statement.", "Local software has no endpoint to check against the domain.", "axolotl.ai/.well-known/security.txt and /security.txt return 404. 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