Glossary

This glossary is focused on DesignSafe + Stampede3 workflows.

• App

  A JSON definition describing what to run, how to run it, and what runtime environment is required. It is a template for creating Jobs.

• Job

  An execution instance of an App with specified input files, parameters, and runtime arguments. A Job runs on the designated Execution System.

• Execution System

  A Tapis-defined HPC or VM environment that runs jobs. Defines

  • Scheduler (Slurm for TACC HPC)

  • Login method (SSH)

  • Filesystem paths (execDir, inputDir, outputDir)

  • Allowed runtimes (ZIP, Singularity)

  • Default modules (if applicable)

• runtime

  Specifies how the application environment is provided.

  • ZIP means unpacked scripts/binaries run in the host environment

  • SINGULARITY means run inside a .sif container image

  • DOCKER is only supported on systems that allow Docker (not TACC HPC)

  Example

  "runtime": "ZIP"

• containerImage

  The source of the app’s runtime environment.

  • Path or URL to .zip/.tgz archive (ZIP runtime)

  • Path to .sif image (Singularity runtime)

  • Docker image reference (if DOCKER runtime allowed)

  Example (ZIP)

  "containerImage": "tapis://designsafe.storage/apps/opensees-sp.zip"

• jobType

  Defines how the job is launched.

  • BATCH is submitted through Slurm, supports multi-node jobs, and is used for OpenSeesSP/MP and most HPC workflows

  • FORK runs directly on the host without a scheduler, for single-node, lightweight tasks

  Example

  "jobType": "BATCH"

• execSystemExecDir

  Directory on the execution system where ZIP archives are unpacked, Singularity images may be copied, the job’s Slurm launch script is placed, and the actual execution happens. This is the working directory for the running job.

• execSystemInputDir

  Directory where Tapis stages all job inputs. This is a shared filesystem on TACC, so all compute nodes can read the same staged files.

• execSystemOutputDir

  Directory where job output files are placed after completion. Tapis transfers files from here to the Job record’s “outputs” listing.

• Input Staging

  The process by which Tapis

  1. Creates job directory on the execution system

  2. Copies all referenced input files into it

  3. Ensures shared visibility across compute nodes

  On TACC HPC, input staging goes to the same shared storage visible from all nodes.

• Parameter

  A primitive value passed into the app. Numbers, strings, flags, or options, used for command-line arguments, filenames, counts, etc.

• ArgString

  The final command that Tapis constructs using the executable, parameters, and input references.

  Example

  OpenSeesMP model.tcl -n 48 -param 3.2

• Scheduler Options

  Additional Slurm settings including queue/partition, number of nodes, cores per node, and wall time. These can be specified in the App and sometimes overridden in the Job.

• Apptainer / Singularity

  HPC container runtime used on TACC systems. Unprivileged (safe for multi-user clusters), executes .sif images, and binds host directories into the container. Used for reproducible, environment-controlled apps.

• Modules (TACC Environment Modules)

  System-provided software components that can be loaded at runtime.

  module load hdf5
  module load opensees
  module load python

  ZIP runtime apps rely heavily on modules.

• Shared Filesystem

  Parallel filesystem (e.g., /work2, /scratch) visible from all compute nodes. Ensures that multi-node jobs can access the same staged inputs without replication.