NetworkFileSystem

class NetworkFileSystem(modal.object.Object)

A shared, writable file system accessible by one or more Modal functions.

By attaching this file system as a mount to one or more functions, they can share and persist data with each other.

Note: NetworkFileSystem has been deprecated and will be removed.

Usage

import modal

nfs = modal.NetworkFileSystem.from_name("my-nfs", create_if_missing=True)
app = modal.App()

@app.function(network_file_systems={"/root/foo": nfs})
def f():
    pass

@app.function(network_file_systems={"/root/goo": nfs})
def g():
    pass

Also see the CLI methods for accessing network file systems:

modal nfs --help

A NetworkFileSystem can also be useful for some local scripting scenarios, e.g.:

nfs = modal.NetworkFileSystem.from_name("my-network-file-system")
for chunk in nfs.read_file("my_db_dump.csv"):
    ...

hydrate

hydrate(self, client=None)

Synchronize the local object with its identity on the Modal server.

It is rarely necessary to call this method explicitly, as most operations will lazily hydrate when needed. The main use case is when you need to access object metadata, such as its ID.

Added in v0.72.39: This method replaces the deprecated .resolve() method.

from_name

from_name(name, *, environment_name=None, create_if_missing=False, client=None)

Reference a NetworkFileSystem by name, optionally creating it on the server first.

Hydration is lazy: metadata is fetched from Modal the first time the handle is used.

Parameters

Returns

A NetworkFileSystem handle (possibly not yet hydrated).

Usage

nfs = NetworkFileSystem.from_name("my-nfs", create_if_missing=True)

@app.function(network_file_systems={"/data": nfs})
def f():
    pass

ephemeral

ephemeral(cls, client=None, environment_name=None)

Create an anonymous NetworkFileSystem that exists for the duration of the context manager.

Parameters

Usage

with modal.NetworkFileSystem.ephemeral() as nfs:
    assert nfs.listdir("/") == []

async with modal.NetworkFileSystem.ephemeral() as nfs:
    assert await nfs.listdir("/") == []

delete

delete(name, client=None, environment_name=None)

write_file

write_file(self, remote_path, fp, progress_cb=None)

Write from a file object to a path on the network file system, atomically.

Will create any needed parent directories automatically.

If remote_path ends with / it's assumed to be a directory and the file will be uploaded with its current name to that directory.

read_file

read_file(self, path)

Read a file from the network file system

iterdir

iterdir(self, path)

Iterate over all files in a directory in the network file system.

• Passing a directory path lists all files in the directory (names are relative to the directory)
• Passing a file path returns a list containing only that file's listing description
• Passing a glob path (including at least one * or ** sequence) returns all files matching that glob path (using absolute paths)

add_local_file

add_local_file(self, local_path, remote_path=None, progress_cb=None)

add_local_dir

add_local_dir(self, local_path, remote_path=None, progress_cb=None)

listdir

listdir(self, path)

List all files in a directory in the network file system.

• Passing a directory path lists all files in the directory (names are relative to the directory)
• Passing a file path returns a list containing only that file's listing description
• Passing a glob path (including at least one * or ** sequence) returns all files matching that glob path (using absolute paths)

remove_file

remove_file(self, path, recursive=False)

Remove a file in a network file system.