Ster
Ster/Docs

ster vector inspect

Validate a Ster steering artifact without loading a model, then print the summary document train and optimize print.

Invocation and purpose#

text
ster vector inspect <ARTIFACT>

Performs the same schema and vector validation used before evaluation or steering, without resolving or loading a model, then prints the same summary `ster vector train` and `ster vector optimize` print.

Inputs and options#

InputRequiredMeaning
<ARTIFACT>yesPath to a JSON Ster steering artifact. This command has no optional command-specific inputs; it loads no model, so it takes neither --precision nor --chat-template.

Output and state#

Makes no durable state change. On success, pretty-prints one artifact object to stdout: schema_version, product, model, model_revision, trait_name, method, hidden_size, precision, chat_template, metadata, and one record per layer carrying layer, width, norm, train_accuracy, and train_margin.

It used to serialize the artifact itself, which on a twenty-two-layer checkpoint is forty-five thousand floats down a terminal, while `ster tune inspect` printed shapes for the adapter half. A steering vector's content is not readable and its width and length are, so this reports what a reader can use; the file is still on disk for anything that wants the numbers. norm is the Euclidean length, accumulated in f64 so a two-thousand-term sum does not lose its low bits, and it is 1.0 to within rounding for every direction Ster writes — a direction is unit-normalized, so a norm that is not near one means a file that was edited.

Unlike train, optimize and evaluate, the document has no top-level chat_template: those record what their own run encoded in, and this command runs no model. The artifact's own chat_template is inside the artifact object, and it is null on an artifact written before the field existed (steering artifact).

Refusals#

  • Unreadable and malformed files are refused as failed to read steering artifact <PATH> or invalid steering artifact JSON in <PATH>, wrapped by failed to inspect <PATH>.
  • A schema other than 1 is refused as artifact schema <N> is unsupported; this Ster build reads schema 1.
  • Another product is refused as artifact belongs to product <PRODUCT>, not Ster; zero hidden width or no vectors is refused as artifact has no steering vectors.
  • Each vector must equal hidden_size and contain only finite values; failures identify the layer and actual/expected width or state layer <N> contains a non-finite value.