bullet

A domain-specific ML library, generally used for training NNUE-style networks for some of the strongest chess engines in the world.

Crates

• bullet_core
  • An ML framework that is generic over backends:
  • A network graph is constructed using GraphBuilder, which internally generates a GraphIR
  • Optimisation passes are performed on the GraphIR
  • The GraphIR is then compiled into a Graph<D: Device>, for a specific backend device
    • Upon which forwards and backwards passes, editing weights/inputs, etc, may be performed
    • A small set of (composable) optimisers are included that ingest a graph and provide update methods for it
  • A token single-threaded CPU backend is included for verifying correctness of the crate and other backend implementations
  • See the MNIST example for using bullet_core as a general-purpose ML framework
• bullet_cuda_backend
  • A working but incomplete CUDA backend rewrite, not currently suitable for serious use.
• bullet_hip_backend
  • Currently contains both the HIP (for AMD GPUs) and CUDA backends. Enable the hip feature to use the HIP backend.
• bullet_lib
  • Provides a high-level wrapper around the above crates specifically for training networks to do with chess (and other games e.g. Ataxx) easily.
  • Value network training for games with Trainer
    • The simple example shows ease-of-use in training the simplest NNUE architectures
    • The advanced example shows how to train flexible value network architectures
  • Policy network training for chess with PolicyTrainer, see the policy example
• bullet-utils
  • Various utilities mostly to do with handling data

Usage for NNUE/Value Network Training

Before attempting to use, check out the docs. They contain all the main information about building bullet, managing training data and the network output format.

Most people simply clone the repo and edit one of the examples to their taste. If you want to create your own example file to ease pulling from upstream, you need to add the example to bullet_lib's Cargo.toml.

Alternatively, import the bullet_lib crate with

bullet = { git = "https://github.com/jw1912/bullet", package = "bullet_lib" }

Specific API documentation is covered by Rust's docstrings.

Help/Feedback

• Please open an issue to file any bug reports/feature requests.
• Feel free to use the dedicated #bullet channel in the Engine Programming discord server if you run into any issues.
• For general training discussion the Engine Programming non-#bullet channels are appropriate, or #engines-dev in the Stockfish discord.