Auto Arena Skill
End-to-end automated model comparison using the OpenJudge AutoArenaPipeline:
- Generate queries — LLM creates diverse test queries from task description
- Collect responses — query all target endpoints concurrently
- Generate rubrics — LLM produces evaluation criteria from task + sample queries
- Pairwise evaluation — judge model compares every model pair (with position-bias swap)
- Analyze & rank — compute win rates, win matrix, and rankings
- Report & charts — Markdown report + win-rate bar chart + optional matrix heatmap
Prerequisites
# Install OpenJudge
pip install py-openjudge
# Extra dependency for auto_arena (chart generation)
pip install matplotlib
Gather from user before running
| Info | Required? | Notes |
|---|
| Task description | Yes | What the models/agents should do (set in config YAML) |
| Target endpoints | Yes | At least 2 OpenAI-compatible endpoints to compare |
| Judge endpoint | Yes | Strong model for pairwise evaluation (e.g. gpt-4, qwen-max) |
| API keys | Yes | Env vars: OPENAI_API_KEY, DASHSCOPE_API_KEY, etc. |
| Number of queries | No | Default: 20 |
| Seed queries | No | Example queries to guide generation style |
| System prompts | No | Per-endpoint system prompts |
| Output directory | No | Default: ./evaluation_results |
| Report language | No | "zh" (default) or "en" |
Quick start
CLI
# Run evaluation
python -m cookbooks.auto_arena --config config.yaml --save
# Use pre-generated queries
python -m cookbooks.auto_arena --config config.yaml \
--queries_file queries.json --save
# Start fresh, ignore checkpoint
python -m cookbooks.auto_arena --config config.yaml --fresh --save
# Re-run only pairwise evaluation with new judge model
# (keeps queries, responses, and rubrics)
python -m cookbooks.auto_arena --config config.yaml --rerun-judge --save
Python API
import asyncio
from cookbooks.auto_arena.auto_arena_pipeline import AutoArenaPipeline
async def main():
pipeline = AutoArenaPipeline.from_config("config.yaml")
result = await pipeline.evaluate()
print(f"Best model: {result.best_pipeline}")
for rank, (model, win_rate) in enumerate(result.rankings, 1):
print(f"{rank}. {model}: {win_rate:.1%}")
asyncio.run(main())
Minimal Python API (no config file)
import asyncio
from cookbooks.auto_arena.auto_arena_pipeline import AutoArenaPipeline
from cookbooks.auto_arena.schema import OpenAIEndpoint
async def main():
pipeline = AutoArenaPipeline(
task_description="Customer service chatbot for e-commerce",
target_endpoints={
"gpt4": OpenAIEndpoint(
base_url="https://api.openai.com/v1",
api_key="sk-...",
model="gpt-4",
),
"qwen": OpenAIEndpoint(
base_url="https://dashscope.aliyuncs.com/compatible-mode/v1",
api_key="sk-...",
model="qwen-max",
),
},
judge_endpoint=OpenAIEndpoint(
base_url="https://api.openai.com/v1",
api_key="sk-...",
model="gpt-4",
),
num_queries=20,
)
result = await pipeline.evaluate()
print(f"Best: {result.best_pipeline}")
asyncio.run(main())
CLI options
| Flag | Default | Description |
|---|
--config | — | Path to YAML configuration file (required) |
--output_dir | config value | Override output directory |
--queries_file | — | Path to pre-generated queries JSON (skip generation) |
--save | False | Save results to file |
--fresh | False | Start fresh, ignore checkpoint |
--rerun-judge | False | Re-run pairwise evaluation only (keep queries/responses/rubrics) |
Minimal config file
task:
description: "Academic GPT assistant for research and writing tasks"
target_endpoints:
model_v1:
base_url: "https://api.openai.com/v1"
api_key: "${OPENAI_API_KEY}"
model: "gpt-4"
model_v2:
base_url: "https://api.openai.com/v1"
api_key: "${OPENAI_API_KEY}"
model: "gpt-3.5-turbo"
judge_endpoint:
base_url: "https://api.openai.com/v1"
api_key: "${OPENAI_API_KEY}"
model: "gpt-4"
Full config reference
task
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|
description | Yes | Clear description of the task models will be tested on |
scenario | No | Usage scenario for additional context |
target_endpoints.<name>
| Field | Default | Description |
|---|
base_url | — | API base URL (required) |
api_key | — | API key, supports ${ENV_VAR} (required) |
model | — | Model name (required) |
system_prompt | — | System prompt for this endpoint |
extra_params | — | Extra API params (e.g. temperature, max_tokens) |
judge_endpoint
Same fields as target_endpoints.<name>. Use a strong model (e.g. gpt-4, qwen-max) with low temperature (~0.1) for consistent judgments.
query_generation
| Field | Default | Description |
|---|
num_queries | 20 | Total number of queries to generate |
seed_queries | — | Example queries to guide generation |
categories | — | Query categories with weights for stratified generation |
endpoint | judge endpoint | Custom endpoint for query generation |
queries_per_call | 10 | Queries generated per API call (1–50) |
num_parallel_batches | 3 | Parallel generation batches |
temperature | 0.9 | Sampling temperature (0.0–2.0) |
top_p | 0.95 | Top-p sampling (0.0–1.0) |
max_similarity | 0.85 | Dedup similarity threshold (0.0–1.0) |
enable_evolution | false | Enable Evol-Instruct complexity evolution |
evolution_rounds | 1 | Evolution rounds (0–3) |
complexity_levels | ["constraints", "reasoning", "edge_cases"] | Evolution strategies |
evaluation
| Field | Default | Description |
|---|
max_concurrency | 10 | Max concurrent API requests |
timeout | 60 | Request timeout in seconds |
retry_times | 3 | Retry attempts for failed requests |
output
| Field | Default | Description |
|---|
output_dir | ./evaluation_results | Output directory |
save_queries | true | Save generated queries |
save_responses | true | Save model responses |
save_details | true | Save detailed results |
report
| Field | Default | Description |
|---|
enabled | false | Enable Markdown report generation |
language | "zh" | Report language: "zh" or "en" |
include_examples | 3 | Examples per section (1–10) |
chart.enabled | true | Generate win-rate chart |
chart.orientation | "horizontal" | "horizontal" or "vertical" |
chart.show_values | true | Show values on bars |
chart.highlight_best | true | Highlight best model |
chart.matrix_enabled | false | Generate win-rate matrix heatmap |
chart.format | "png" | Chart format: "png", "svg", or "pdf" |
Interpreting results
Win rate: percentage of pairwise comparisons a model wins. Each pair is evaluated in both orders (original + swapped) to eliminate position bias.
Rankings example:
1. gpt4_baseline [################----] 80.0%
2. qwen_candidate [############--------] 60.0%
3. llama_finetuned [##########----------] 50.0%
Win matrix: win_matrix[A][B] = how often model A beats model B across all queries.
Checkpoint & resume
The pipeline saves progress after each step. Interrupted runs resume automatically:
--fresh — ignore checkpoint, start from scratch
--rerun-judge — re-run only the pairwise evaluation step (useful when switching judge models); keeps queries, responses, and rubrics intact
- Adding new endpoints to config triggers incremental response collection; existing responses are preserved
Output files
evaluation_results/
├── evaluation_results.json # Rankings, win rates, win matrix
├── evaluation_report.md # Detailed Markdown report (if enabled)
├── win_rate_chart.png # Win-rate bar chart (if enabled)
├── win_rate_matrix.png # Matrix heatmap (if matrix_enabled)
├── queries.json # Generated test queries
├── responses.json # All model responses
├── rubrics.json # Generated evaluation rubrics
├── comparison_details.json # Pairwise comparison details
└── checkpoint.json # Pipeline checkpoint
API key by model
| Model prefix | Environment variable |
|---|
gpt-*, o1-*, o3-* | OPENAI_API_KEY |
claude-* | ANTHROPIC_API_KEY |
qwen-*, dashscope/* | DASHSCOPE_API_KEY |
deepseek-* | DEEPSEEK_API_KEY |
| Custom endpoint | set api_key + base_url in config |
Additional resources