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Vision-Language SFT · wshobson | DecimalAI

AI/MLby wshobson

Vision-Language SFT

Fine-tune vision-language models (VLMs) with supervised learning on image+text data.

Never made a case worse

SkillScore

SkillScore86/100

Test results 86

Safety

3/3 safety checks passed

Code scan
Intent
Content

What it changes

32%86%of test cases passed +55 pts

Without skill7 of 22

With skill19 of 22

12 fixed7 passed either way3 still failing0 broke

Measured on gemini-3.6-flash8/7/2026v120 comparable

Track record

Agent runs: 0; All time

See one task, with and without the skill

One test taskWhen deciding whether to unfreeze visual transformer layers for document understanding tasks like DocVQA, what performance gain and training cost tradeoff can be expected from unfreezing the last 6 ViT layers?

Without the skillMissed

With the skillPassed

Same model, same task. Answers are capped and redacted.

Use this skill

Your agent runs on

Adds every file the skill has, pinned so you can update it. No account needed.

pip install "decimalai>=0.15"
decimalai skills add wshobson-vision-sft
claude --plugin-dir "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || pwd)/.agents"

The same install from Python, for a notebook or a setup script.

Install

pip install "decimalai>=0.15"

Add the skill

from decimalai import skillpkg

# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("wshobson-vision-sft")
if result.exit_code:
    raise SystemExit(result.problems)

print("Added. Start Claude Code with the command below.")

Start Claude Code with it

claude --plugin-dir "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || pwd)/.agents"

Type these in a Claude Code session. No account or API key. It writes the skill and any files it bundles, and asks first when its safety rating isn't Passed.

Add the DecimalAI plugin, once

/plugin marketplace add decimal-labs/decimalai-claude-plugins
/plugin install decimalai@decimalai

Install this skill

/decimalai:install wshobson-vision-sft

The plugin needs python3 and curl on your machine.

No Python or account. Claude Code picks it up in its next session.

Save it into your project

curl -fsSL --create-dirs -o .claude/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md https://app.decimal.ai/s/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md

Copy SKILL.md

Save it in your project, as

.claude/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md

This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 1 other file is not included.

Other ways to add it

Claude Code docs

agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.

Install

pip install "decimalai[claude-agent-sdk]"
decimalai skills add wshobson-vision-sft

Add it to your agent

import asyncio

from claude_agent_sdk import ClaudeAgentOptions
from decimalai.claude_agent_sdk import agent_config

# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")

async def main():
    question = "Hello!"
    async with support.run(question) as run:  # one user message, one run
        async for message in run.query(options=ClaudeAgentOptions(max_turns=6)):
            print(message)

# In a notebook or async code: await main()
asyncio.run(main())

Prefer its own loader? ClaudeAgentOptions(plugins=[skills_plugin()], skills="all") reads the same folder. Use one or the other: a skill delivered both ways reaches the prompt twice.

The same install from Python, for a notebook or a setup script. agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.

Install

pip install "decimalai[claude-agent-sdk]"

Add it to your agent

from decimalai import skillpkg

# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("wshobson-vision-sft")
if result.exit_code:
    raise SystemExit(result.problems)

import asyncio

from claude_agent_sdk import ClaudeAgentOptions
from decimalai.claude_agent_sdk import agent_config

# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")

async def main():
    question = "Hello!"
    async with support.run(question) as run:  # one user message, one run
        async for message in run.query(options=ClaudeAgentOptions(max_turns=6)):
            print(message)

# In a notebook or async code: await main()
asyncio.run(main())

Prefer its own loader? ClaudeAgentOptions(plugins=[skills_plugin()], skills="all") reads the same folder. Use one or the other: a skill delivered both ways reaches the prompt twice.

No DecimalAI package. The whole skill goes in every prompt, and nothing pins or updates it.

Copy SKILL.md

Save it in your project, as

.agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md

Give it to your agent

import asyncio
from pathlib import Path
from claude_agent_sdk import ClaudeAgentOptions, query

skill = Path(".agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md").read_text()
options = ClaudeAgentOptions(system_prompt=f"You are a helpful agent.\n\n{skill}", max_turns=6)

async def main():
    async for message in query(prompt="Hello!", options=options):
        print(message)

# In a notebook or async code: await main()
asyncio.run(main())

This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 1 other file is not included.

Other ways to add it

Claude Agent SDK docs

agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.

Install

pip install "decimalai[openai-agents]"
decimalai skills add wshobson-vision-sft

Add it to your agent

from agents import Agent, Runner
from decimalai.openai_agents import agent_config

# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")

agent = Agent(
    name=support.name,
    instructions=support.instructions,  # your prompt, then the skill list
    tools=[*support.tools],             # your tools, then load_skill
)
# In a notebook or async code: result = await Runner.run(agent, "Hello!")
result = Runner.run_sync(agent, "Hello!")

Using SandboxAgent? capabilities=[Shell(), decimalai.openai_agents.sandbox_skills()] points its own loader at the same folder.

Install

pip install "decimalai[openai-agents]"

Add it to your agent

from decimalai import skillpkg

# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("wshobson-vision-sft")
if result.exit_code:
    raise SystemExit(result.problems)

from agents import Agent, Runner
from decimalai.openai_agents import agent_config

# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")

agent = Agent(
    name=support.name,
    instructions=support.instructions,  # your prompt, then the skill list
    tools=[*support.tools],             # your tools, then load_skill
)
# In a notebook or async code: result = await Runner.run(agent, "Hello!")
result = Runner.run_sync(agent, "Hello!")

Using SandboxAgent? capabilities=[Shell(), decimalai.openai_agents.sandbox_skills()] points its own loader at the same folder.

No DecimalAI package. The whole skill goes in every prompt, and nothing pins or updates it.

Copy SKILL.md

Save it in your project, as

.agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md

Give it to your agent

from pathlib import Path
from agents import Agent, Runner

skill = Path(".agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md").read_text()
agent = Agent(name="support", instructions=f"You are a helpful agent.\n\n{skill}")
# In a notebook or async code: result = await Runner.run(agent, "Hello!")
result = Runner.run_sync(agent, "Hello!")

This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 1 other file is not included.

Other ways to add it

OpenAI Agents docs

agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.

Install

pip install "decimalai[openai]"
decimalai skills add wshobson-vision-sft

Add it to your agent

import json

from openai import OpenAI
from decimalai.openai import agent_config

client = OpenAI()
# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")


def lookup_order(order_id: str) -> str:
    return f"Order {order_id} shipped yesterday."


# Your tools, as Chat Completions takes them, and what answers each.
TOOLS = [{"type": "function", "function": {
    "name": "lookup_order",
    "description": "Look up the status of an order.",
    "parameters": {"type": "object", "properties": {"order_id": {"type": "string"}},
                   "required": ["order_id"]},
}}]
FUNCTIONS = {"lookup_order": lookup_order}

question = "Where is order A1001?"
with support.run(question) as run:  # one user message, one run
    # run.system is your prompt, then the skill list.
    messages = [{"role": "system", "content": run.system}, run.message]
    while True:
        reply = client.chat.completions.create(
            model="gpt-5.4-mini",
            messages=messages,
            tools=[*TOOLS, *run.tools],  # your tools, then load_skill
        ).choices[0].message
        messages.append(reply)
        if not reply.tool_calls:
            break
        for call in reply.tool_calls:
            # load_skill is answered by the run; your own tools by FUNCTIONS.
            function = FUNCTIONS.get(call.function.name)
            messages.append(run.tool_result(call) or {
                "role": "tool", "tool_call_id": call.id,
                "content": function(**json.loads(call.function.arguments)) if function
                else f"There is no tool named {call.function.name!r}.",
            })
print(reply.content)

# The Responses API takes run.response_tools instead of run.tools.

Install

pip install "decimalai[openai]"

Add it to your agent

from decimalai import skillpkg

# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("wshobson-vision-sft")
if result.exit_code:
    raise SystemExit(result.problems)

import json

from openai import OpenAI
from decimalai.openai import agent_config

client = OpenAI()
# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")


def lookup_order(order_id: str) -> str:
    return f"Order {order_id} shipped yesterday."


# Your tools, as Chat Completions takes them, and what answers each.
TOOLS = [{"type": "function", "function": {
    "name": "lookup_order",
    "description": "Look up the status of an order.",
    "parameters": {"type": "object", "properties": {"order_id": {"type": "string"}},
                   "required": ["order_id"]},
}}]
FUNCTIONS = {"lookup_order": lookup_order}

question = "Where is order A1001?"
with support.run(question) as run:  # one user message, one run
    # run.system is your prompt, then the skill list.
    messages = [{"role": "system", "content": run.system}, run.message]
    while True:
        reply = client.chat.completions.create(
            model="gpt-5.4-mini",
            messages=messages,
            tools=[*TOOLS, *run.tools],  # your tools, then load_skill
        ).choices[0].message
        messages.append(reply)
        if not reply.tool_calls:
            break
        for call in reply.tool_calls:
            # load_skill is answered by the run; your own tools by FUNCTIONS.
            function = FUNCTIONS.get(call.function.name)
            messages.append(run.tool_result(call) or {
                "role": "tool", "tool_call_id": call.id,
                "content": function(**json.loads(call.function.arguments)) if function
                else f"There is no tool named {call.function.name!r}.",
            })
print(reply.content)

# The Responses API takes run.response_tools instead of run.tools.

No DecimalAI package. The whole skill goes in every prompt, and nothing pins or updates it.

Copy SKILL.md

Save it in your project, as

.agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md

Give it to your agent

from pathlib import Path
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI()
skill = Path(".agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md").read_text()
reply = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="gpt-5.4-mini",
    messages=[
        {"role": "system", "content": f"You are a helpful agent.\n\n{skill}"},
        {"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"},
    ],
).choices[0].message

This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 1 other file is not included.

Other ways to add it

OpenAI SDK docs

agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.

Install

pip install "decimalai[anthropic]"
decimalai skills add wshobson-vision-sft

Add it to your agent

import anthropic
from decimalai.anthropic import agent_config

client = anthropic.Anthropic()
# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")

question = "Hello!"
with support.run(question) as run:  # one user message, one run
    answer = client.beta.messages.tool_runner(
        model="claude-haiku-5-5",
        max_tokens=4096,
        system=run.system,     # your prompt, then the skill list
        tools=[*run.tools],    # your tools, then load_skill
        messages=[{"role": "user", "content": question}],
    ).until_done()

Install

pip install "decimalai[anthropic]"

Add it to your agent

from decimalai import skillpkg

# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("wshobson-vision-sft")
if result.exit_code:
    raise SystemExit(result.problems)

import anthropic
from decimalai.anthropic import agent_config

client = anthropic.Anthropic()
# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")

question = "Hello!"
with support.run(question) as run:  # one user message, one run
    answer = client.beta.messages.tool_runner(
        model="claude-haiku-5-5",
        max_tokens=4096,
        system=run.system,     # your prompt, then the skill list
        tools=[*run.tools],    # your tools, then load_skill
        messages=[{"role": "user", "content": question}],
    ).until_done()

No DecimalAI package. The whole skill goes in every prompt, and nothing pins or updates it.

Copy SKILL.md

Save it in your project, as

.agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md

Give it to your agent

from pathlib import Path
import anthropic

client = anthropic.Anthropic()
skill = Path(".agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md").read_text()
reply = client.messages.create(
    model="claude-haiku-5-5",
    max_tokens=4096,
    system=f"You are a helpful agent.\n\n{skill}",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}],
)

This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 1 other file is not included.

Other ways to add it

Anthropic docs

agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.

Install

pip install "decimalai[google-genai]"
decimalai skills add wshobson-vision-sft

Add it to your agent

from google import genai
from google.genai import types
from decimalai.google_genai import agent_config

client = genai.Client()
# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")


def lookup_order(order_id: str) -> str:
    return f"Order {order_id} shipped yesterday."


# Your functions, as declarations for the model, and what answers each.
TOOLS = [{"function_declarations": [{
    "name": "lookup_order",
    "description": "Look up the status of an order.",
    "parameters_json_schema": {"type": "object", "properties": {"order_id": {"type": "string"}},
                               "required": ["order_id"]},
}]}]
FUNCTIONS = {"lookup_order": lookup_order}

question = "Where is order A1001?"
with support.run(question) as run:  # one user message, one run
    config = types.GenerateContentConfig(
        system_instruction=run.system,     # your prompt, then the skill list
        tools=[*TOOLS, *run.tool_params],  # your functions, then load_skill
    )
    contents = [{"role": "user", "parts": [{"text": run.message}]}]
    while True:
        response = client.models.generate_content(
            model="gemini-3.5-flash", contents=contents, config=config,
        )
        if not response.function_calls:
            break
        contents.append(response.candidates[0].content)
        parts = []
        for call in response.function_calls:
            # load_skill is answered by the run; your own functions by FUNCTIONS.
            # A loop of your own rather than automatic function calling, which
            # raises KeyError when the model asks for a function you did not pass.
            function = FUNCTIONS.get(call.name)
            parts.append(run.tool_result(call) or {"function_response": {
                "name": call.name, "id": call.id,
                "response": {"result": function(**(call.args or {})) if function
                             else f"There is no function named {call.name!r}."},
            }})
        contents.append({"role": "user", "parts": parts})
print(response.text)

Install

pip install "decimalai[google-genai]"

Add it to your agent

from decimalai import skillpkg

# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("wshobson-vision-sft")
if result.exit_code:
    raise SystemExit(result.problems)

from google import genai
from google.genai import types
from decimalai.google_genai import agent_config

client = genai.Client()
# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")


def lookup_order(order_id: str) -> str:
    return f"Order {order_id} shipped yesterday."


# Your functions, as declarations for the model, and what answers each.
TOOLS = [{"function_declarations": [{
    "name": "lookup_order",
    "description": "Look up the status of an order.",
    "parameters_json_schema": {"type": "object", "properties": {"order_id": {"type": "string"}},
                               "required": ["order_id"]},
}]}]
FUNCTIONS = {"lookup_order": lookup_order}

question = "Where is order A1001?"
with support.run(question) as run:  # one user message, one run
    config = types.GenerateContentConfig(
        system_instruction=run.system,     # your prompt, then the skill list
        tools=[*TOOLS, *run.tool_params],  # your functions, then load_skill
    )
    contents = [{"role": "user", "parts": [{"text": run.message}]}]
    while True:
        response = client.models.generate_content(
            model="gemini-3.5-flash", contents=contents, config=config,
        )
        if not response.function_calls:
            break
        contents.append(response.candidates[0].content)
        parts = []
        for call in response.function_calls:
            # load_skill is answered by the run; your own functions by FUNCTIONS.
            # A loop of your own rather than automatic function calling, which
            # raises KeyError when the model asks for a function you did not pass.
            function = FUNCTIONS.get(call.name)
            parts.append(run.tool_result(call) or {"function_response": {
                "name": call.name, "id": call.id,
                "response": {"result": function(**(call.args or {})) if function
                             else f"There is no function named {call.name!r}."},
            }})
        contents.append({"role": "user", "parts": parts})
print(response.text)

No DecimalAI package. The whole skill goes in every prompt, and nothing pins or updates it.

Copy SKILL.md

Save it in your project, as

.agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md

Give it to your agent

from pathlib import Path
from google import genai
from google.genai import types

client = genai.Client()
skill = Path(".agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md").read_text()
response = client.models.generate_content(
    model="gemini-3.5-flash",
    contents="Hello!",
    config=types.GenerateContentConfig(system_instruction=f"You are a helpful agent.\n\n{skill}"),
)

This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 1 other file is not included.

Other ways to add it

Gemini API docs

agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.

Install

pip install "decimalai[langchain]" langchain-openai
decimalai skills add wshobson-vision-sft

Add it to your agent

from langchain.agents import create_agent
from decimalai.langchain import agent_config

# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")

agent = create_agent(
    "openai:gpt-5.4-mini",
    tools=[],                         # your tools; the middleware adds load_skill
    middleware=[support.middleware],  # your prompt, the skill list and load_skill
)
result = agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]})

Install

pip install "decimalai[langchain]" langchain-openai

Add it to your agent

from decimalai import skillpkg

# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("wshobson-vision-sft")
if result.exit_code:
    raise SystemExit(result.problems)

from langchain.agents import create_agent
from decimalai.langchain import agent_config

# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")

agent = create_agent(
    "openai:gpt-5.4-mini",
    tools=[],                         # your tools; the middleware adds load_skill
    middleware=[support.middleware],  # your prompt, the skill list and load_skill
)
result = agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]})

No DecimalAI package. The whole skill goes in every prompt, and nothing pins or updates it.

Copy SKILL.md

Save it in your project, as

.agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md

Give it to your agent

from pathlib import Path
from langchain.agents import create_agent

skill = Path(".agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md").read_text()
agent = create_agent("openai:gpt-5.4-mini", tools=[], system_prompt=f"You are a helpful agent.\n\n{skill}")
result = agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]})

This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 1 other file is not included.

Other ways to add it

LangChain docs

CrewAI's own skill loader reads the installed folder. No DecimalAI account needed.

Install

pip install "decimalai>=0.16" "crewai>=1.15.27"
decimalai skills add wshobson-vision-sft

Add it to your agent

import decimalai.crewai
from crewai import Agent, Crew, Task

agent = Agent(
    role="Support", goal="Help the customer", backstory="A support agent.",
    llm=llm,                               # your own CrewAI LLM
    skills=decimalai.crewai.skills(),      # the installed folder
    tools=decimalai.crewai.skill_tools(),  # reads a skill's files, runs its scripts
)
task = Task(description="Hello!", expected_output="an answer", agent=agent)
Crew(agents=[agent], tasks=[task]).kickoff()

The same install from Python, for a notebook or a setup script. CrewAI's own skill loader reads the installed folder. No DecimalAI account needed.

Install

pip install "decimalai>=0.16" "crewai>=1.15.27"

Add it to your agent

from decimalai import skillpkg

# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("wshobson-vision-sft")
if result.exit_code:
    raise SystemExit(result.problems)

import decimalai.crewai
from crewai import Agent, Crew, Task

agent = Agent(
    role="Support", goal="Help the customer", backstory="A support agent.",
    llm=llm,                               # your own CrewAI LLM
    skills=decimalai.crewai.skills(),      # the installed folder
    tools=decimalai.crewai.skill_tools(),  # reads a skill's files, runs its scripts
)
task = Task(description="Hello!", expected_output="an answer", agent=agent)
Crew(agents=[agent], tasks=[task]).kickoff()

No DecimalAI package. CrewAI's own loader reads the folder, and nothing pins or updates it.

Copy SKILL.md

Save it in your project, as

.agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md

Give it to your agent

from pathlib import Path
from crewai import Agent, Crew, Task

agent = Agent(
    role="Support", goal="Help the customer", backstory="A support agent.",
    llm=llm,                         # your own CrewAI LLM
    skills=[Path(".agents/skills")],
)
task = Task(description="Hello!", expected_output="an answer", agent=agent)
Crew(agents=[agent], tasks=[task]).kickoff()

This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 1 other file is not included.

Other ways to add it

CrewAI docs

agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.

Install

pip install "decimalai[adk]"
decimalai skills add wshobson-vision-sft

Add it to your agent

from decimalai.adk import DecimalAIPlugin, agent_config
from google.adk.agents import LlmAgent
from google.adk.apps import App

# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")

agent = LlmAgent(
    name="support",          # ADK needs a Python identifier
    model="gemini-3.5-flash",
    instruction=support.instruction,  # your prompt, then the skill list
    tools=[*support.tools],           # your tools, then load_skill
)
# DecimalAIPlugin makes each invocation of runners built from this App one trace.
app = App(name="support", root_agent=agent, plugins=[DecimalAIPlugin()])

Prefer ADK's own loader? SkillToolset(skills=decimalai.adk.skills(), ...) reads the same folder. Use one or the other: a skill delivered both ways reaches the prompt twice.

Install

pip install "decimalai[adk]"

Add it to your agent

from decimalai import skillpkg

# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("wshobson-vision-sft")
if result.exit_code:
    raise SystemExit(result.problems)

from decimalai.adk import DecimalAIPlugin, agent_config
from google.adk.agents import LlmAgent
from google.adk.apps import App

# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")

agent = LlmAgent(
    name="support",          # ADK needs a Python identifier
    model="gemini-3.5-flash",
    instruction=support.instruction,  # your prompt, then the skill list
    tools=[*support.tools],           # your tools, then load_skill
)
# DecimalAIPlugin makes each invocation of runners built from this App one trace.
app = App(name="support", root_agent=agent, plugins=[DecimalAIPlugin()])

Prefer ADK's own loader? SkillToolset(skills=decimalai.adk.skills(), ...) reads the same folder. Use one or the other: a skill delivered both ways reaches the prompt twice.

No DecimalAI package. The whole skill goes in every prompt, and nothing pins or updates it.

Copy SKILL.md

Save it in your project, as

.agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md

Give it to your agent

from pathlib import Path
from google.adk.agents import LlmAgent

skill = Path(".agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md").read_text()
agent = LlmAgent(
    name="support",
    model="gemini-3.5-flash",
    instruction=lambda context: f"You are a helpful agent.\n\n{skill}",
)

This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 1 other file is not included.

Other ways to add it

Google ADK docs

agent_config() hands your agent the skill. With no DecimalAI key it reads your project's files and sends nothing. Needs SDK 0.27 or newer.

Install

pip install "decimalai[pydantic-ai]"
decimalai skills add wshobson-vision-sft

Add it to your agent

from pydantic_ai import Agent
from decimalai.pydantic_ai import agent_config

# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")

agent = Agent(
    "openai:gpt-4o-mini",
    name=support.name,
    tools=[],                 # your tools; the capability adds load_skill
    capabilities=[support],   # your prompt, the skill list and load_skill
)
# In a notebook or async code: result = await agent.run("Hello!")
result = agent.run_sync("Hello!")

On the Pydantic AI harness, decimalai.pydantic_ai_harness.skills(project) uses its own loader instead.

Install

pip install "decimalai[pydantic-ai]"

Add it to your agent

from decimalai import skillpkg

# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("wshobson-vision-sft")
if result.exit_code:
    raise SystemExit(result.problems)

from pydantic_ai import Agent
from decimalai.pydantic_ai import agent_config

# With no DECIMAL_API_KEY this reads the skills your project lists, from disk.
support = agent_config("support", fallback="You are a helpful agent.")

agent = Agent(
    "openai:gpt-4o-mini",
    name=support.name,
    tools=[],                 # your tools; the capability adds load_skill
    capabilities=[support],   # your prompt, the skill list and load_skill
)
# In a notebook or async code: result = await agent.run("Hello!")
result = agent.run_sync("Hello!")

On the Pydantic AI harness, decimalai.pydantic_ai_harness.skills(project) uses its own loader instead.

No DecimalAI package. The whole skill goes in every prompt, and nothing pins or updates it.

Copy SKILL.md

Save it in your project, as

.agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md

Give it to your agent

from pathlib import Path
from pydantic_ai import Agent

skill = Path(".agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md").read_text()
agent = Agent("openai:gpt-4o-mini", instructions=f"You are a helpful agent.\n\n{skill}")
# In a notebook or async code: result = await agent.run("Hello!")
result = agent.run_sync("Hello!")

This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 1 other file is not included.

Other ways to add it

Pydantic AI docs

Deep Agents' own skill loader reads the installed folder. No DecimalAI account needed.

Install

pip install "decimalai>=0.16" deepagents
decimalai skills add wshobson-vision-sft

Add it to your agent

import decimalai.deepagents
from deepagents import create_deep_agent

agent = create_deep_agent(model=model, **decimalai.deepagents.skills())
agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]})

The default backend reads files but has no shell. To run a skill's scripts, pass skills(backend=LocalShellBackend(...)).

The same install from Python, for a notebook or a setup script. Deep Agents' own skill loader reads the installed folder. No DecimalAI account needed.

Install

pip install "decimalai>=0.16" deepagents

Add it to your agent

from decimalai import skillpkg

# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("wshobson-vision-sft")
if result.exit_code:
    raise SystemExit(result.problems)

import decimalai.deepagents
from deepagents import create_deep_agent

agent = create_deep_agent(model=model, **decimalai.deepagents.skills())
agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]})

The default backend reads files but has no shell. To run a skill's scripts, pass skills(backend=LocalShellBackend(...)).

No DecimalAI package. The whole skill goes in every prompt, and nothing pins or updates it.

Copy SKILL.md

Save it in your project, as

.agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md

Give it to your agent

from pathlib import Path
from deepagents import create_deep_agent

skill = Path(".agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md").read_text()
agent = create_deep_agent(model=model, system_prompt=f"You are a helpful agent.\n\n{skill}")
agent.invoke({"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello!"}]})

This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 1 other file is not included.

Other ways to add it

Deep Agents docs

Its own skill loader reads the installed folder. No DecimalAI account needed.

Install

pip install "decimalai>=0.16" agent-framework
decimalai skills add wshobson-vision-sft

Add it to your agent

import asyncio

from agent_framework import Agent
from decimalai.agent_framework import skills

agent = Agent(client=client, instructions="You are a helpful agent.", context_providers=[skills()])
asyncio.run(agent.run("Hello!"))

It caches skills by default, so restart the process after decimalai skills update.

The same install from Python, for a notebook or a setup script. Its own skill loader reads the installed folder. No DecimalAI account needed.

Install

pip install "decimalai>=0.16" agent-framework

Add it to your agent

from decimalai import skillpkg

# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("wshobson-vision-sft")
if result.exit_code:
    raise SystemExit(result.problems)

import asyncio

from agent_framework import Agent
from decimalai.agent_framework import skills

agent = Agent(client=client, instructions="You are a helpful agent.", context_providers=[skills()])
asyncio.run(agent.run("Hello!"))

It caches skills by default, so restart the process after decimalai skills update.

No DecimalAI package. The whole skill goes in every prompt, and nothing pins or updates it.

Copy SKILL.md

Save it in your project, as

.agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md

Give it to your agent

import asyncio
from pathlib import Path
from agent_framework import Agent

skill = Path(".agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md").read_text()
agent = Agent(client=client, instructions=f"You are a helpful agent.\n\n{skill}")
asyncio.run(agent.run("Hello!"))

This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 1 other file is not included.

Other ways to add it

Microsoft Agent Framework docs

Strands' own skill loader reads the installed folder. No DecimalAI account needed.

Install

pip install "decimalai>=0.16" strands-agents
decimalai skills add wshobson-vision-sft

Add it to your agent

from decimalai.strands import skills
from strands import Agent
from strands.vended_tools import file_editor, shell

agent = Agent(
    model=model,                # always pass one: the default is Amazon Bedrock
    system_prompt="You are a helpful agent.",
    tools=[file_editor, shell],
    plugins=[skills()],
)
agent("Hello!")

Strands loads an agent's skills once, so build the agent again after decimalai skills update.

The same install from Python, for a notebook or a setup script. Strands' own skill loader reads the installed folder. No DecimalAI account needed.

Install

pip install "decimalai>=0.16" strands-agents

Add it to your agent

from decimalai import skillpkg

# Writes .agents/skills and .decimal/skills.toml. Safe to run twice.
result = skillpkg.add("wshobson-vision-sft")
if result.exit_code:
    raise SystemExit(result.problems)

from decimalai.strands import skills
from strands import Agent
from strands.vended_tools import file_editor, shell

agent = Agent(
    model=model,                # always pass one: the default is Amazon Bedrock
    system_prompt="You are a helpful agent.",
    tools=[file_editor, shell],
    plugins=[skills()],
)
agent("Hello!")

Strands loads an agent's skills once, so build the agent again after decimalai skills update.

No DecimalAI package. The whole skill goes in every prompt, and nothing pins or updates it.

Copy SKILL.md

Save it in your project, as

.agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md

Give it to your agent

from pathlib import Path
from strands import Agent

skill = Path(".agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md").read_text()
agent = Agent(model=model, system_prompt=f"You are a helpful agent.\n\n{skill}")
agent("Hello!")

This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 1 other file is not included.

Other ways to add it

Strands docs

Adds every file the skill has, pinned so you can update it. Cursor, Copilot, Cline and Warp read this folder by themselves.

pip install "decimalai>=0.15"
decimalai skills add wshobson-vision-sft

No Python or account. Cursor, Copilot, Cline and Warp read this folder by themselves.

Save it into your project

curl -fsSL --create-dirs -o .agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md https://app.decimal.ai/s/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md

Copy SKILL.md

Save it in your project, as

.agents/skills/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md

This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 1 other file is not included.

Other ways to add it

Cursor and other editors docs

Fetch the file and give its text to your model as instructions. No account or package needed.

Get the file

curl -fsSL https://app.decimal.ai/s/wshobson-vision-sft/SKILL.md

Read the summary as JSON

curl -fsSL https://app.decimal.ai/s/wshobson-vision-sft.json

This gets SKILL.md only. The skill's 1 other file is not included.

Other ways to add it

Other setups docs

You don't need a DecimalAI account.

Version: v1, tested 8/7/2026
Source: wshobson/agents ↗
License: MIT

Manage it in DecimalAI

Saved prompts and skills, pinned versions, and traces of this skill in your runs. DecimalAI does not run your agent.

Claude Code reads files from your project, so DecimalAI config does not apply there.

On Claude Agent SDK: save the skill to an agent here, set DECIMAL_API_KEY, and the same code uses it with no command to run. Changes you save reach the next run with no redeploy.

On OpenAI Agents: save the skill to an agent here, set DECIMAL_API_KEY, and the same code uses it with no command to run. Changes you save reach the next run with no redeploy.

On OpenAI SDK: save the skill to an agent here, set DECIMAL_API_KEY, and the same code uses it with no command to run. Changes you save reach the next run with no redeploy.

On Anthropic: save the skill to an agent here, set DECIMAL_API_KEY, and the same code uses it with no command to run. Changes you save reach the next run with no redeploy.

On Gemini API: save the skill to an agent here, set DECIMAL_API_KEY, and the same code uses it with no command to run. Changes you save reach the next run with no redeploy.

On LangChain: save the skill to an agent here, set DECIMAL_API_KEY, and the same code uses it with no command to run. Changes you save reach the next run with no redeploy.

On CrewAI: set DECIMAL_API_KEY and add decimalai.init(crewai=True) to record runs and skill use. The skill version stays in your repo.

On Google ADK: save the skill to an agent here, set DECIMAL_API_KEY, and the same code uses it with no command to run. Changes you save reach the next run with no redeploy.

On Pydantic AI: save the skill to an agent here, set DECIMAL_API_KEY, and the same code uses it with no command to run. Changes you save reach the next run with no redeploy.

On Deep Agents: set DECIMAL_API_KEY and add decimalai.init(langchain=True) to record runs and skill use. The skill version stays in your repo.

On Microsoft Agent Framework: set DECIMAL_API_KEY and add decimalai.init(otel=True, agent_name="support") to record runs and skill use. The skill version stays in your repo.

On Strands: set DECIMAL_API_KEY and add decimalai.init(otel=True, agent_name="support") to record runs and skill use. The skill version stays in your repo.

Editors read files from your project, so DecimalAI config does not apply there.

Anywhere else: record a use with decimalai.log_skill_activation() inside a trace.

Use this skill

SKILL.md

Vision-Language SFT

This skill assumes finetuning-method-selection already routed here: the data shape is image+text demonstrations, not preference pairs or a verifiable reward signal, and the base is a vision-language model rather than a text-only one. lora-qlora-recipes covers the text-only LoRA/QLoRA recipe this skill specializes for the vision tower and projector; read that skill first if the LoRA fundamentals (rank, alpha, target modules) aren't already familiar.

Input: an image+text dataset and a VLM base model already picked from the model catalog. Output format: a validated adapter config — which components are frozen, LoRA target modules, and a min_pixels/max_pixels budget — that llm-finetuning-training-engineer consumes directly when it generates a runnable script.

Quick Reference

Situation	Default
Adapting behavior on familiar images	Frozen tower+projector, LoRA r=8–16, α=16–32
Visual domain shift	Unfreeze last-6 ViT layers, vision LR 5–10x lower
Doesn't fit in bf16 at target rank	QLoRA — frozen vision tower only
`fast_inference=True`	`finetune_vision_layers=False`
Loss normal, eval not improving	Check the Two Silent Killers below first

The Consensus Recipe

Freeze the vision tower and the projector. Put LoRA on the LLM only, all-linear (the same attention + MLP target list as text-only SFT — see lora-qlora-recipes), at r=8–16, α=16–32. This is the settled default for adapting a VLM's behavior without disturbing how it sees.

The vision tower and projector stay frozen by default. They already encode a general visual representation; retraining them is rarely necessary and adds risk without adding capability for most tasks.
LoRA rank runs lower than the text-only general default (r=8–16 here vs r=16–32 for text-only SFT) because the LLM-only adapter is adapting behavior, not injecting new visual knowledge.
QLoRA is permitted only with a frozen vision tower. Quantizing the base while also unfreezing and training vision layers is unsupported and unstable — treat this as a hard pairing rule, not a tunable. If the vision tower needs to unfreeze, drop QLoRA and use bf16 LoRA instead.

# freeze tower + projector; LoRA on LLM only
for name, param in model.named_parameters():
    if "vision_tower" in name or "projector" in name:
        param.requires_grad = False

target_modules = [
    "q_proj", "k_proj", "v_proj", "o_proj",
    "gate_proj", "up_proj", "down_proj",
]  # LLM-only, all-linear — r=8-16, alpha=16-32

When to Unfreeze

Unfreezing vision layers is a deliberate escalation, not a default decision — reach for it only when the domain shift is visual, not textual.

Unfreeze only for visual domain shift. If the task is teaching new behavior on images the tower already understands (charts, everyday photos), the frozen-tower recipe above is sufficient. Unfreeze when the visual domain itself is unfamiliar to the tower — satellite imagery, medical scans, dense technical diagrams — and the frozen-tower recipe plateaus.
Last-6 ViT layers is the sweet spot. Unfreezing the final six vision-transformer layers (not the whole tower) measured +1.7pt DocVQA at ~1.75x training cost over the frozen baseline. Treat six layers as the ceiling worth paying for; going further spends compute without a matched result.
Vision LR must run 5–10x lower than the LLM LR when unfrozen. The vision tower's pretrained representation is more fragile than the LLM's adapter; the same LR for both risks overwriting the visual representation faster than the LLM adapter can compensate.
High LoRA rank on the patch- embedding layer risks NaN. If patch embedding is in the unfrozen set, keep its rank low and watch early-step loss closely — one of the most fragile places to apply LoRA in a VLM.

The Two Silent Killers

Both produce a run that trains without error and without learning: the loss curve looks normal, the model doesn't improve, and neither throws an exception — both need an explicit pre-training check, not just a clean training log.

Image-tag/count mismatch. Every image placeholder token in the templated text must map 1:1 to a media item actually passed to the collator. A mismatch (one placeholder, zero or two images attached; or an image with no placeholder) doesn't error in most collators — it silently misaligns image and text, and the model "trains but learns nothing." Validate the 1:1 placeholder-to-media mapping before training starts, on every example, not just a sample. Full validation-checklist detail: references/collators-and-pitfalls.md.
min_pixels/max_pixels resolution budget. This pair is the single most consequential hyperparameter for quality and memory in VLM SFT — more than rank, alpha, or LR. Too low silently downsamples images below what the task needs (small document text becomes unreadable even though training "succeeds"); too high blows the activation memory budget or forces too small a batch to train stably. Set it deliberately per dataset, don't leave it at a framework default.

Unsloth Specifics

UnslothVisionDataCollator is the collator Unsloth expects for VLM SFT — it handles the image-tag alignment and per-architecture processor contract described in references/collators-and-pitfalls.md. Don't substitute a text-only collator for VLM data.
finetune_vision_layers=False is required when fast_inference=True. vLLM cannot serve LoRA adapters on vision layers, so a fast- inference setup that also unfreezes vision layers fails at serve time even if training succeeds. If the recipe calls for unfreezing the last-6 ViT layers (see When to Unfreeze above), fast inference is off the table for that run — choose one or the other, not both.

Model Choice

Base VLM choice is out of scope for this skill — it lives in one place, the model catalog at finetuning-method-selection's references/model-catalog.md. This skill and its references describe recipes by architecture family only, never by recommending one model over another.

VLM reinforcement learning (VLM-GRPO) is reference-only in this plugin — the fragmented tooling and reward-hacking failure modes specific to VLM-RL are covered in grpo-rlvr-training, not here. This skill's scope stops at supervised fine-tuning.

Failure Modes

The recurring mistake across every section above is treating a clean loss curve as proof the run is healthy. A normal-looking curve is consistent with both a working run and either silent killer, since the model trains on something either way — just not the aligned image-text signal when a killer is present. A flat eval score next to a normal loss curve means re-run the checklist in references/collators-and-pitfalls.md before touching any hyperparameter.

References

references/collators-and-pitfalls.md — per- architecture collator table, dataset-format examples with image placeholders, a pre- training validation checklist, and the two- stage projector-alignment recipe as an advanced pattern.

Related skills: finetuning-method-selection routes here; lora-qlora-recipes covers the text-only LoRA fundamentals this skill specializes; grpo-rlvr-training covers VLM-RL (reference-only); dataset-curation covers image+text dataset preparation this skill doesn't.

When it activates

Automatically, when a task matches. Use when adapting a VLM to a visual domain or task, configuring frozen-vision-tower LoRA, or debugging a VLM fine-tune that trains without learning.

About this skill

Automatic

AI Engineer pack

SkillSafety

✓ 3 of 3 passed

Code scan15 of 15 checks clean

0 critical · 0 warning · 0 info — scanner v4 — 8/3/2026

View 15 scanner checks

live_secretremote_code_executionreverse_shelldata_exfiltrationssrf_metadataagent_snoopinganti_refusaldestructive_commandsobfuscated_unicodeunicode_homoglyphopaque_blobsuspicious_urltool_overreachtrigger_abuseprompt_injection_phrasing

IntentSafe

LLM judge · does the skill do what it claims

ContentClean

LLM judge · policy & harmful-content review

Source

Imported

wshobson / agents

plugins/llm-finetuning/skills/vision-sft/SKILL.md

View on GitHub ↗

License MITImported 8/3/2026Version v1Bundled 1 file

Illustrative Want to see what wshobson/vision-sft would put in front of your model? Preview the rendered body and check its trigger phrases — no LLM call, no signup.

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Use this skill

Vision-Language SFT

Quick Reference

The Consensus Recipe

When to Unfreeze

The Two Silent Killers

Unsloth Specifics

Model Choice

Failure Modes

References

When it activates

SkillSafety

Source

Related skills

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