How to change or specify a DVC experiment name?

Question

How do I change the name of the experiment? I tried to use dvc exp run -n to name the project then use git to push to github. However the experiment name is still SHA.

Tried: I tried to use dvc exp run -n to name the project then use git to push to github. However the experiment name is still SHA. Expected experiment name on iterative studio interface to display the name Actually happened: Github SHA value instead of the name

Answer 1

There are two types of experiments in DVC ecosystem that we need to distinguish and there are a few different approaches on naming them.

First, is what we sometimes call "ephemeral" experiments, those that do not create commits in your Git history unless you explicitly say so. They are described in this Get Started section. For each of those experiments a name is auto-generated (e.g. angry-upas in one of the examples from the doc) or you could use dvc exp run -n ... to pass a particular name to it.

Another way to create those experiments (+ send them to Studio) is to use DVC logger (DVCLive), e.g. it's described here. Those experiments will be visible in Studio with an auto-generated names (or a name that was provided when they were created).

Now, we have another type of an experiment - a commit. Something that someone decided to make persistent and share with the team via PR and/or via a regular commit. Those are presented in the image that is shared in the Question.

Since they are regular commits, the regular Git rules apply to them - they have hash, they have descriptions, and most relevant to this discussion is that they have tags. All this information will be reflected in Studio UI.

E.g. in this public example-get-started repo:

It think in your case, tags would be the most natural way to rename those. May be we can introduce a way to push exp name as a git tag along with the experiment when it's being saved. WDYT?

Let me know if that answers your question.