Run modes

A run is either local or remote. The same task code runs unchanged either way, so you can choose the right trade-off between speed and fidelity at each stage of development.

Local and remote

Local runs the task in-process, directly in your Python interpreter. There is no cluster and no container. Select it with flyte run --local or flyte.with_runcontext(mode="local").
Remote runs the task on a Flyte backend, inside a container that a cluster schedules. It is the default for flyte run, and you can select it explicitly with mode="remote". Your configuration decides which backend.

A remote backend is either a devbox on your own machine or a deployed cluster in the cloud or on-premises. “Remote” describes how the run executes, not where the machine is: a devbox run is remote even though the devbox runs on your laptop. This is how the CLI and SDK use the word throughout.

Mode	How the task runs	Backend
Local (`--local`)	In-process	None
Remote	In a container, on a cluster	A devbox on your machine
Remote	In a container, on a cluster	A deployed cluster, in the cloud or on-premises

Watching a local run

A local run can also report its progress to Union.ai. Run with --tracked, which implies --local, and the run still executes in-process on your machine, but it appears in the console under Tracked Runs. Tracking changes what you can see, not where the run executes. See Track local runs in the console.

Local Run tasks and apps directly in your local Python process with no Kubernetes cluster or Docker required. Ideal for rapid iteration and debugging. Devbox Run tasks and apps in a lightweight Flyte cluster using Docker. Get the full Flyte UI and backend experience on your machine. Deployed cluster Run tasks and apps on a deployed cluster, in the cloud or on-premises, with full production capabilities including GPUs and distributed compute.

Aspect	Local (`--local`)	Remote: devbox	Remote: deployed cluster
⚡️ Execution	In-process Python	On-cluster, local Docker	On-cluster, cloud or on-premises
🐳 Docker required	No	Yes	No (remote build)
💻 Flyte UI	TUI, or the console with `--tracked`	Yes (`localhost:30080`)	Yes
📦 Container images	Ignored	Built locally	Built locally or remotely
🔀 Parallelism	Sequential	Cluster-level	Cluster-level
⭐️ Best for	Fast iteration, debugging	Testing container builds, full Flyte features	Production, GPUs, scale

The same task code runs unchanged on all three. Start with local execution for fast feedback, move to the Devbox to validate on-cluster execution, then run on a deployed cluster for production.