Best for
- Use this skill when predicting protein/nucleic-acid/ligand complex structures with an Apache-2.
xuzhougeng/wisp-science/skills/openfold3/SKILL.md
Structure prediction using OpenFold3, an open-weights PyTorch reproduction of AlphaFold3 from the AlQuraishi Lab. Use this skill when predicting protein/nucleic-acid/ligand complex structures with an Apache-2.0-licensed AF3 reimplementation.
Decision brief
Structure prediction using OpenFold3, an open-weights PyTorch reproduction of AlphaFold3 from the AlQuraishi Lab. 0-licensed AF3 reimplementation.
Compatibility matrix
| Platform | Status | Evidence | What to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Codex | Not declared | No explicit evidence | Portability before use |
| Claude Code | Not declared | No explicit evidence | Portability before use |
| Cursor | Not declared | No explicit evidence | Portability before use |
| Gemini CLI | Not declared | No explicit evidence | Portability before use |
Installation
The source command is displayed only when detected. A safe inspection prompt is always available so your agent can explain every action before execution.
npx skills add https://github.com/xuzhougeng/wisp-science --skill "skills/openfold3"Inspect the Agent Skill "openfold3" from https://github.com/xuzhougeng/wisp-science/blob/95d2c13d1665d46a388b5bdc998dcce0d5ec2eee/skills/openfold3/SKILL.md at commit 95d2c13d1665d46a388b5bdc998dcce0d5ec2eee. List every install step, command, network request, credential, file read/write, external action, and rollback step. Explain whether it fits my task. Do not install or execute anything until I approve.
Workflow
The default attention kernel is DeepSpeed DS4SciEvoformerAttention. If DeepSpeed is unavailable, switch to the cuEquivariance triangle kernels (no build-from-source) by overriding the eval memory settings in modelconfig.py (usedeepspeedevoattention: False, usecueqtrianglekernels…
Review the “Prerequisites” section in the pinned source before continuing.
The default attention kernel is DeepSpeed DS4SciEvoformerAttention. If DeepSpeed is unavailable, switch to the cuEquivariance triangle kernels (no build-from-source) by overriding the eval memory settings in modelconfig.py (usedeepspeedevoattention: False, usecueqtrianglekernels…
Apache-2.0, 2.3 GB from HF OpenFold/OpenFold3. The repo is gated (auto-approval) — accept the access form on the HF model page and authenticate (huggingface-cli login or HFTOKEN) before downloading:
runopenfold discovers the checkpoint under $OPENFOLDCACHE automatically. Only pass --inference-ckpt-path if you have a non-standard layout or multiple checkpoints and need to pin one explicitly.
Permission review
The documentation asks the agent to read local files, directories, or repositories.
| `libXrender.so.1: cannot open shared object file` | rdkit (via pdbeccdutils) needs X11 render libs | `apt-get install libxrender1 libxext6 libsm6` |Evidence record
| Signal | Value | Evidence type | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quality score | 80/100 | Computed | Documentation, specificity, maintenance, and trust rules |
| Repository stars | 560 | Source | Repository attention, not individual Skill quality |
| Compatibility | 0 platforms | Source | Declared in the catalog source record |
| Usage guide | automated source guide | Editorial | Generated or reviewed according to the visible evidence level |
Pinned source
| Requirement | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Python | 3.10+ | 3.11 |
| CUDA | 12.1+ | 12.4+ |
| GPU VRAM | 24GB | 80GB (H100) |
| RAM | 32GB | 64GB |
| Disk (weights) | 3GB | - |
pip install 'openfold3[cuequivariance]==0.4.1'
The default attention kernel is DeepSpeed DS4Sci_EvoformerAttention. If
DeepSpeed is unavailable, switch to the cuEquivariance triangle kernels (no
build-from-source) by overriding the eval memory settings in
model_config.py (use_deepspeed_evo_attention: False,
use_cueq_triangle_kernels: True). Some pre-built environments already ship
this override; check before re-patching.
Apache-2.0, ~2.3 GB from HF OpenFold/OpenFold3. The repo is gated (auto-approval) — accept the access form on the HF model page and authenticate (huggingface-cli login or HF_TOKEN) before downloading:
export OPENFOLD_CACHE=~/.openfold3
huggingface-cli download OpenFold/OpenFold3 checkpoints/of3-p2-155k.pt \
--local-dir "$OPENFOLD_CACHE"
run_openfold will also auto-download to $OPENFOLD_CACHE on first run if
egress is open and HF credentials are available (either HF_TOKEN or a prior
huggingface-cli login) with repo access granted. The interactive
setup_openfold helper exists but prompts on stdin; prefer the explicit
download above for non-interactive runs.
export OPENFOLD_CACHE=/path/to/cache
run_openfold predict \
--query_json=queries.json \
--output-dir out/ \
--use-msa-server false \
--use-templates false
run_openfold discovers the checkpoint under $OPENFOLD_CACHE automatically.
Only pass --inference-ckpt-path <file.pt> if you have a non-standard layout
or multiple checkpoints and need to pin one explicitly.
For MSA + templates (slower, higher accuracy), drop the two false flags. The
MSA server is api.colabfold.com; template chain-ID remap hits
data.rcsb.org (GraphQL) — both must be reachable.
OpenFold3 does not read FASTA. Queries are a JSON object validated by
InferenceQuerySet (pydantic, extra: forbid — unknown keys reject):
{
"queries": {
"my_complex": {
"chains": [
{"molecule_type": "protein", "chain_ids": ["A"], "sequence": "MQIFVK…"},
{"molecule_type": "protein", "chain_ids": ["B", "C"], "sequence": "MVLSPA…"},
{"molecule_type": "ligand", "chain_ids": ["L"], "smiles": "CC(=O)Oc1ccccc1C(=O)O"}
],
"use_msas": true
}
},
"seeds": [42]
}
molecule_type | required field |
|---|---|
protein / dna / rna | sequence |
ligand | smiles or ccd_codes: ["HEM"] |
chain_ids is a list — repeat the same sequence across multiple chain IDs
for homo-oligomers. Per-chain paired_msa_file_paths / main_msa_file_paths
let you supply your own a3m instead of the server.
| Flag | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
--num-diffusion-samples | 5 | Structures per (query, seed) |
--num-model-seeds | 1 | Number of model seeds per query (multiplies output count alongside JSON seeds and diffusion samples) |
--use-msa-server | true | ColabFold MMseqs2 server for MSA |
--use-templates | true | ColabFold template search + RCSB remap |
--inference-ckpt-path | auto-discovered under $OPENFOLD_CACHE | Override only — for non-standard layouts or to pin a specific checkpoint file |
Use python only for bounded interactive checks. For a long or GPU-backed
workload, require a selected and probed ssh:<alias> context and load
remote-compute-ssh. Put the documented invocation in a self-contained project
script, activate the remote environment explicitly, stage only small files with
input_paths, and make the command write to a known absolute remote result
path. Submit it with run_in_context and register that exact ssh:// path in
output_specs. Call monitor_run once when waiting is needed, get_run once
for a snapshot, or cancel_run to stop. Do not send a scheduler submission
through the SSH-direct runner.
out/
├── summary.txt
├── model_config.json / experiment_config.json
├── inference_query_set.json
└── <query_name>/seed_<N>/
├── <query>_seed_<N>_sample_<k>_model.cif
├── <query>_seed_<N>_sample_<k>_confidences.json # full PAE/pLDDT
├── <query>_seed_<N>_sample_<k>_confidences_aggregated.json
└── timing.json
*_confidences_aggregated.json is the small one to read first:
{
"avg_plddt": 78.96, "ptm": 0.667, "iptm": 0.0, "gpde": 0.73,
"has_clash": 0.0, "sample_ranking_score": 0.133,
"chain_ptm": {"A": 0.667}, "chain_pair_iptm": {}
}
summary.txt shows Successful Queries: N matching your input counthas_clash: 0.0.cif ~50-150 KB per sample for a small proteingrep -E 'Successful|Failed' out/summary.txt
find out -name '*_model.cif' | wc -l # = queries x json_seeds x num-model-seeds x num-diffusion-samples
| Error | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
_deepspeed_evo_attn requires that DeepSpeed be installed | default eval kernel is DS4Sci on CUDA | install deepspeed (needs nvcc + CUTLASS), or in model_config.py eval block set use_deepspeed_evo_attention: False + use_cueq_triangle_kernels: True (cuEq path; no build) |
CUTLASS_PATH ... not set ... cutlass_library is not installed | cuEq path still needs the python cutlass_library shim | pip install nvidia-cutlass |
libXrender.so.1: cannot open shared object file | rdkit (via pdbeccdutils) needs X11 render libs | apt-get install libxrender1 libxext6 libsm6 |
ModuleNotFoundError: boto3 (or awscrt) | openfold3.core.data.io.s3 is eager-imported even when weights are local | pip install boto3 awscrt |
ValidationError: queries / Field required or Input should be an object | wrong JSON shape | top-level is {"queries": {"<name>": {...}}} (a dict, not a list) |
ValidationError ... settings / Extra inputs are not permitted | tried to override model config via --runner-yaml | --runner-yaml is InferenceExperimentConfig only; kernel/memory settings live in model_config.py |
Failed to fetch chain ID mappings from RCSB for N entries | data.rcsb.org unreachable (allowlist/offline) | run with --use-templates false, or open egress to data.rcsb.org |
CUDA out of memory | large complex / many samples | reduce --num-diffusion-samples; the low_mem preset (model_setting_presets.yml) offloads more aggressively |