Complete NCCL Tests keyboard shortcuts and commands reference — 13 shortcuts across 3 categories. Quick reference cheat sheet for Windows & Mac.
NCCL Tests is a popular GPU collective-communication benchmark suite used by professionals worldwide. Learning keyboard shortcuts can dramatically speed up your workflow — studies show shortcut users save an average of 8 days per year compared to mouse-only users.
This page covers all 13 NCCL Tests shortcuts across 3 categories: Collective Benchmarks, Flags & Multi-Node, Diagnostics. Each shortcut includes a description to help you understand when and how to use it effectively.
| Shortcut | Action | Description |
|---|---|---|
| all_reduce_perf -b 8 -e 128M -f 2 -g 8 | All-reduce test | Benchmark all-reduce bandwidth on a single node with 8 GPUs, scanning message sizes from 8B to 128MB. |
| all_gather_perf -b 8 -e 128M -g 8 | All-gather test | Benchmark all-gather collective bandwidth across GPUs. |
| broadcast_perf -b 8 -e 128M -g 8 | Broadcast test | Benchmark broadcast collective bandwidth from a root GPU. |
| reduce_scatter_perf -b 8 -e 128M -g 8 | Reduce-scatter test | Benchmark reduce-scatter collective bandwidth. |
| alltoall_perf -b 8 -e 128M -g 8 | All-to-all test | Benchmark all-to-all collective bandwidth, the most demanding pattern on network fabric. |
| Shortcut | Action | Description |
|---|---|---|
| -b size | Min message size | Set the starting message size for the scan, e.g. 8 for 8 bytes. |
| -e size | Max message size | Set the ending message size for the scan, e.g. 128M for 128 MiB. |
| -f factor | Step factor | Multiply the message size by this factor between each step; 2 means doubling. |
| -g n | GPUs per process | Number of GPUs each process (rank) uses. |
| mpirun -np n -N ppn all_reduce_perf -g 1 | Multi-node run | Launch the test across multiple nodes via MPI, typically one GPU per rank. |
| Shortcut | Action | Description |
|---|---|---|
| -c 1 | Check correctness | Verify collective results are numerically correct on each iteration. |
| -w n | Warmup iterations | Number of warmup iterations to run before timing begins. |
| -J out.json | JSON output | Write machine-readable results to a JSON file for automated analysis. |
The most essential NCCL Tests shortcuts are: all_reduce_perf -b 8 -e 128M -f 2 -g 8 (All-reduce test), all_gather_perf -b 8 -e 128M -g 8 (All-gather test), broadcast_perf -b 8 -e 128M -g 8 (Broadcast test). These cover the most frequent actions and can significantly speed up your workflow.
NCCL Tests has 13 keyboard shortcuts across 3 categories on shortcut-tools.com.
These are command-line commands — type them in your terminal or console. Combine them with shell history search (Ctrl + R) and aliases to work even faster.
The NCCL Tests shortcut for all-reduce test is all_reduce_perf -b 8 -e 128M -f 2 -g 8. Benchmark all-reduce bandwidth on a single node with 8 GPUs, scanning message sizes from 8B to 128MB.
Start with the essentials: Learn all_reduce_perf -b 8 -e 128M -f 2 -g 8 (All-reduce test) and all_gather_perf -b 8 -e 128M -g 8 (All-gather test) first — these are the most commonly used.
Practice daily: Pick 2–3 new shortcuts each day and consciously use them instead of the mouse. Within a week, they become muscle memory.
Print this cheat sheet: Keep a reference nearby until shortcuts become automatic. Focus on the Collective Benchmarks category first.
Infrastructure tip: Bookmark this page for quick reference during maintenance windows when speed matters most.