Running RAFT on the cloud
=========================

Overview
--------

RAFT supports Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC) execution on GCP Batch through the
RAFT cloud launcher. This is the supported user-facing cloud path.

Use the web launcher to:

- upload or generate your manifest/config in the browser
- write those files directly to your own GCS bucket
- submit a Batch job directly in your own GCP project
- keep infrastructure ownership in your own account

Launch the `BYOC interface <https://spvensko.github.io/raft-ui/raft-cloud-launcher.html>`_.

How to use the BYOC path
------------------------

1. Open the BYOC launcher in your browser.
2. Provide your GCP project, bucket, region, and runner image information.
3. Choose a workflow.
4. Provide your own data or use the available dataset path your workflow
   expects.
5. Generate or upload your manifest and configuration in the browser.
6. Submit the Batch job in your own cloud environment.

The launcher is intended to keep cloud ownership in your own account rather
than relying on centrally managed RAFT infrastructure.

What you need
-------------

The cloud launcher assumes:

- a GCP project you control
- a GCS bucket you control
- a RAFT runner image accessible to Batch
- sufficient IAM permissions to upload objects and submit Batch jobs

Runner container
----------------

The Batch jobs launched by the BYOC UI use the RAFT runner container defined
in:

- ``containers/raft-runner/``

See ``containers/raft-runner/README.md`` for build details.

Advanced CLI cloud mode
-----------------------

RAFT also exposes a ``--cloud`` option on ``raft run`` for advanced use cases
where you want to parameterize a run against bucket-backed paths directly from
the CLI.

Example:

.. code-block:: console

  $ raft run \
      --project-id my-project \
      --workflow lens \
      --version v1.9-dev \
      --cloud gs://my-bucket/raft

For additional setup and execution flags, see :doc:`helpful-raft-options`.