What is Kueue?

Kueue is a Kubernetes-native queue and admission system for batch and AI workloads. It decides when a workload may consume shared quota. After admission, the Kubernetes scheduler decides which nodes run the pods.

The main Kueue objects

• A LocalQueue is the queue a workspace submits to.
• A ClusterQueue combines quota across one or more LocalQueues.
• A ResourceFlavor describes a class of capacity, such as CPU nodes or a particular GPU class.
• A Workload records the resources a Job or RayJob requests and its admission state.

TauGrid resolves the workspace LocalQueue and adds it to the rendered workload. Kueue then evaluates quota, priority, queue order, and resource flavors.

What waiting means

A queued workload can be healthy even when no pods are running. Kueue keeps it pending until the required quota becomes available. TauGrid shows that state in tau run status so developers can distinguish queue waiting from pod startup or application failure.

The default TauGrid queue uses Kueue BestEffortFIFO. Older eligible work usually proceeds first, while priority and quota rules can change the order. Platform owners can replace the baseline with explicit per-team quotas and GPU flavors.

See Queue, quota, topology, and GPU placement or try the CPU queueing example.