---
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2025-2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0

title: "Data Designer in NeMo Studio"
description: "Build, preview, and edit synthetic-data jobs visually with the Data Designer builder."
---

Data Designer lets you generate and transform datasets visually — no JSON to write. You start from a template, an AI-drafted config, a clone of an earlier job, or an empty canvas; lay out columns in the builder and wire them together by referencing one another; preview a handful of rows; then run the full job and inspect, profile, edit, and split the result.

<Note>

Studio is still in early development. Many features are missing or should be expected to change.

</Note>

This page walks through the full workflow:

1. [View existing jobs](#view-jobs)
2. [Start a new fileset](#start-a-new-fileset)
3. [Build a recipe with the builder](#the-builder)
4. [Add columns](#add-columns)
5. [Configure column properties](#configure-column-properties)
6. [Add and configure models](#add-and-configure-models)
7. [Preview a job](#preview-a-job)
8. [Create the job](#create-the-job)
9. [View job details after completion](#view-job-details)
10. [Edit rows after completion](#edit-rows-after-completion)
11. [Split the dataset](#split-the-dataset)

---

## View jobs

Navigate to **Data Designer** in the workspace sidebar to open the jobs list. The list shows every Data Designer job in the current workspace with its status, and supports searching by name, filtering by status, and narrowing by creation or update date range.

Selecting a job opens its [details page](#view-job-details). Each row also has a quick-actions menu with **View details**, **Clone**, **Cancel** (when the job is still cancellable), and **Delete**.

Job status values match the platform-wide [Jobs](/documentation/studio#jobs) statuses (Created, Pending, Active, Completed, Error, Cancelled, and so on).

---

## Start a new fileset

Click **New Job** on the jobs list to open the **Create a fileset** start screen. Pick a start option; a detail area for that option opens below the tiles, and **Continue** at the bottom of the page takes you into the builder.

| Start option              | What it does                                                                                                     |
| ------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Describe with AI**      | Describe the dataset in plain language and have a model draft the columns, prompts, and model configs for you.   |
| **Start from a template** | Pick a prebuilt recipe card; the builder opens pre-seeded with that template's columns and models.               |
| **Build from scratch**    | Opens the builder with an empty schema list.                                                                     |

**Continue** stays disabled until the chosen option has everything it needs — a selected recipe card for a template, a validated draft for AI — and the reason is shown next to the button.

A fourth path skips this screen entirely: **Clone** on any existing job (from the jobs list or the job details page) opens the builder pre-filled with that job's row count, columns, and models. See [Clone an existing job](#clone-an-existing-job).

### Describe with AI

The **Describe with AI** panel has two halves: the prompt on the left, and the verdict on the draft on the right.

- **Model** — the model that drafts the config. It must support tool calling, since the config comes back as a tool call. The same model is also written into every model config in the draft, so the LLM columns generate with a model that is known to exist in your workspace.
- **What do you want to generate?** — a plain-language description of the dataset (row count, columns, labels, sampling, and so on). While the field is empty it offers a few example prompts (phishing email triage, support ticket routing, refund policy Q&A) as pills; picking one fills the field with a complete, generation-ready description you can edit.
- **Generate** — sends the request. Once you have a draft, the button becomes **Regenerate**.

Every draft is checked against the builder's own rules before it can be loaded, so a broken config never reaches the canvas. The result panel shows one of:

- **Valid job config** — plus a summary of the fileset name, record count, column and model counts, and each generated column with its type. **Continue** is now enabled.
- **Errors** — the draft can't be loaded (for example, no columns the builder can edit, or an LLM column pointing at a `model_alias` no model defines). **Fix these errors** sends the draft and the error list back to the same model for a repair pass.
- **Warnings** — the draft is loadable but something was adjusted: a model was substituted, a column type the builder can't edit was skipped, or a non-positive record count was defaulted to 100. **Fix these warnings** runs the same repair pass.

**View config** opens a side panel with the model's raw tool-call output, so you can inspect a draft before loading it — or work out why one was rejected. It shows exactly what the model returned, so it can differ from the config that lands on the canvas when a model had to be substituted.

Once loaded, the generated config is fully editable in the builder like any other recipe — it is not opaque JSON.

### Templates

Selecting **Start from a template** shows the recipe cards. Each card carries a use-case tag that follows you into the builder toolbar.

| Recipe                                       | Tag         | What it generates                                                                                                     |
| -------------------------------------------- | ----------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Phishing email triage (evaluation set)**   | Evaluation  | Labeled synthetic emails for the email-phishing-analyzer benchmark; the label is sampled, not model-authored.         |
| **Phishing analyzer fine-tuning (SFT)**      | Fine-tuning | Prompt–completion pairs teaching a small model the phishing-analyzer task, with a validated JSON verdict as output.   |
| **Instruction fine-tuning (SFT)**            | Fine-tuning | Instruction–response pairs: a sampled topic, an LLM-generated instruction, and a model answer.                        |
| **All samplers (showcase)**                  | Showcase    | One column per previewable sampler sub-type, seeded with valid params.                                                |
| **Code generation + validation (Python)**    | Fine-tuning | Python coding challenges with LLM-generated solutions and a pass/fail validation column.                              |
| **Structured data extraction**               | Fine-tuning | Free-form text paired with its structured JSON representation.                                                        |
| **Preference pairs (reward modeling)**       | Alignment   | An instruction with chosen and rejected answers plus an LLM judge score, for DPO and reward modeling.                 |
| **Semantic search dataset**                  | Retrieval   | Query–passage pairs with vector embeddings. Requires an embedding model under the `embedder` alias.                   |
| **Expression transforms (no LLM)**           | Transform   | Derived columns computed via Jinja2 expressions. No LLM calls, so it previews instantly.                              |

### Clone an existing job

Choose **Clone** from any job's quick-actions menu. The builder opens with the source job's columns, models, and row count already loaded, under the name `<job name>-copy`. Edit anything you like and create it as a new job — the source job is untouched.

---

## The builder

The builder is a three-pane layout with a toolbar across the top:

- **Toolbar** (top) — fileset name, column count, template badge, view toggle, row count, and the **Preview** and **Create fileset** actions.
- **Left palette** — a segmented **Columns** / **Models** switch for adding columns or models to the recipe.
- **Center pane** — your columns, shown in whichever view mode is active (see [View modes](#view-modes) below).
- **Right config pane** — properties for whichever column or model is currently selected. With nothing selected it prompts you to pick a column or model, or add one from the left.

### View modes

A segmented control in the toolbar lets you switch between two views of your columns:

| View | Icon | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **List** (default) | List-tree icon | A flat, top-to-bottom list of columns, ordered by generation order rather than the order you added them. Each row shows an icon badge, the column name, a type badge, a one-line summary, and inline `{{ reference }}` tags for its dependencies. Click a row to select it; use the trash icon at the right to delete it. |
| **Canvas** | Spline icon | A directed acyclic graph (DAG) where columns appear as nodes and dependencies as arrows. Use this view to see the full dependency graph at a glance. |

Both views open the same config pane when a column is selected. All edits made in one view are immediately reflected in the other.

### The toolbar

- **Name** — the fileset name. Click the pencil icon to rename it (defaults to `untitled-dataset`, the template id when starting from a template, or `<job name>-copy` when cloning). A name is required to create the job.
- **Column count** — a live count of columns in the recipe.
- **View toggle** — switches between the list and canvas views (see [View modes](#view-modes)).
- **Rows** — the number of records the full run generates. Must be a whole number of at least 1.
- **Preview N rows** — runs a small sample. `N` is your row count, capped at 10. See [Preview a job](#preview-a-job). While a preview runs, a **Stop** button appears next to it to abort the run.
- **Create fileset** — validates the recipe and submits the job. See [Create the job](#create-the-job).

### How columns connect

Column dependencies are tracked automatically. Whenever one column refers to another — for example, a prompt that mentions `{{ other_column }}` — the builder records that relationship. In the **list view** these show as inline `{{ name }}` tags on the dependent row; in the **canvas view** they appear as arrows between nodes.

---

## Add columns

Open the **Columns** tab in the left palette and pick a column type. A search box filters the catalog across column names and descriptions. The catalog is grouped to mirror the [Data Designer column concepts](https://docs.nvidia.com/nemo/datadesigner/concepts/columns):

| Group             | Column types                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| ----------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Sampler**       | UUID, Category, Subcategory, Uniform, Gaussian, Bernoulli, Bernoulli Mixture, Binomial, Poisson, Scipy, Person, Datetime, Timedelta — generate values from statistical distributions or built-in generators, no LLM required. |
| **Generate**      | LLM-Text, LLM-Code, LLM-Structured (JSON to a schema), LLM-Judge (score content), Image, Embedding — produced by a model.                                                                                                     |
| **Transform**     | Expression — a Jinja2 transform evaluated per row, no LLM.                                                                                                                                                                    |
| **Validate**      | Validation — check target columns against rules (code, local callable, or remote validator).                                                                                                                                  |
| **Data & custom** | Seed Dataset (bootstrap rows from a file), Custom (Python function logic).                                                                                                                                                    |

Adding a column appends it to the list (and centers the new node in canvas view), selects it, and opens its config pane immediately. A default, unique column name (for example `category_1`) is assigned; you can rename it in the config pane.

<Note>

Only **one Seed Dataset** column is supported per recipe. After you add one, the Seed Dataset card is disabled in the palette and explains why on hover.

</Note>

To remove a column, use the trash icon on its row in list view, or select its node and use **Remove** in the config pane (both views).

---

## Configure column properties

Select any column to open its properties in the right config pane. Every column type has its own set of fields; the builder only shows the fields relevant to the selected type.

Common patterns:

- **Name** — must be unique and use letters, numbers, and underscores, and must not start with a number.
- **Prompt** (Generate columns) — a Jinja2 template. Reference other columns with `{{ column_name }}`; those references create the DAG edges.
- **Model alias** (Generate columns) — the alias of a [configured model](#add-and-configure-models) to generate with.
- **Sampler params** — each sampler sub-type exposes its own parameters (for example Category takes comma-separated values and optional weights; Gaussian takes mean and standard deviation; Datetime takes a start/end range).
- **Field checks** — the builder validates your entries as you go and flags anything that isn't valid, such as a number field left with text or a malformed entry.

Empty required fields, invalid values, and duplicate or invalid names are all called out when you preview or create the job.

---

## Add and configure models

Generate columns (LLM-Text, LLM-Code, LLM-Structured, LLM-Judge, Image, Embedding) reference a model by **alias**. Switch the left palette to the **Models** tab to add and manage the models your recipe uses.

- **Add a model** — pick a model from the workspace model groups and a provider; it's added with an editable alias.
- **Configure a model** — select it to open the model config pane, which has:
  - **Alias** — how LLM columns refer to this model. Must be unique. Changing the model re-derives the alias from the new model name and updates every column that referenced the old alias.
  - **Model** — the workspace model, along with its inference parameters.
  - **Max parallel requests** — how many generation requests this model may have in flight at once. Lower it if your inference provider rate-limits the job.
  - **Remove model** — deletes it from the recipe.
- **Wire it up** — set a Generate column's **Model alias** field to the model's alias.

When you open a template, its seeded models are auto-filled from the workspace model list once that list finishes loading, so you usually don't need to reselect them. Configs drafted by **Describe with AI** are pointed at the model you picked in that panel.

---

## Preview a job

Click **Preview N rows** in the toolbar to generate a small sample with the current recipe (`N` is your row count, capped at 10). This is a fast way to sanity-check prompts, sampler settings, and dependencies before committing to a full run. Use **Stop** to abort a preview that's still running.

The details panel below the toolbar opens automatically and shows:

- **Validation issues** — anything blocking the run (missing required fields, malformed JSON/numbers, duplicate or invalid names, no columns added, invalid row count). Preview and Create are both blocked until these are resolved.
- **Preview logs** — the sampled output, streamed as the preview runs.

You can collapse the panel to focus on the builder; runs that produce output re-open it.

---

## Create the job

Click **Create fileset** in the toolbar. The builder validates the whole recipe first (columns, models, name, and row count). If anything fails, the errors appear in the details panel and the job is not submitted.

On success, the job is created with your configured name, row count, and generated Data Designer config, and Studio navigates to the new job's [details page](#view-job-details). If job creation returns an error, it's shown in the details panel.

---

## View job details after completion

The job details page shows the job name, status badge, description, and created/updated timestamps, plus a **Split** action (see [Split the dataset](#split-the-dataset)) and a job actions menu with **View config** (opens the generated Data Designer config), **Clone**, **Cancel**, and **Delete**.

Details are organized into four tabs. The page opens on **Profile** for a job in a terminal state and on **Logs** for one that's still running.

| Tab              | What it shows                                                                                                                                                                        |
| ---------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Profile**      | A dataset profile once the job reaches a terminal state — completeness (rows generated vs. target) and per-column statistics cards. Before then it points you at the Logs tab.       |
| **Data**         | The generated data files, rendered as editable rows. See [Edit rows after completion](#edit-rows-after-completion).                                                                  |
| **Output files** | The raw files in the job's output fileset, with preview and download.                                                                                                                |
| **Logs**         | Live job logs, streamed while the job runs and available afterwards.                                                                                                                 |

---

## Edit rows after completion

The **Data** tab shows the job's generated data in an in-browser row editor. It lists the output data files (`.parquet`, `.jsonl`, `.json`, `.csv`); when there's more than one, a file selector lets you switch between them.

In the editor you can:

- **Edit a cell or row** — open a row to edit its fields; changes are applied to the in-memory table.
- **Add Row** — append a new empty row.
- **Duplicate** or **Delete** a row.
- **Search / filter** rows.
- **Download** the current rows.
- **Save File** — persist your edits back to the fileset. The action is enabled only when there are unsaved changes.

How your edits are saved depends on the file format:

- **Text formats** (`.json`, `.jsonl`, `.csv`) are updated in place.
- **Parquet** files can't be rewritten in the browser, so your edits are saved to a new `.edited.jsonl` file alongside the original, leaving the source `.parquet` untouched. The tab then defaults to that edited file.

<Note>

Files larger than 8 MB (non-Parquet) can't be edited in the browser. Download them to edit locally.

</Note>

---

## Split the dataset

Once a job has produced `.json`, `.jsonl`, or `.parquet` output, the **Split** button on the details page opens the **Create Split** modal, which carves the generated data into the training, validation, and test subsets you need to fine-tune and evaluate a model.

- **Source file** — which output file to split.
- **Split percentage** — 80/10/10 (recommended), 60/20/20, 80/20, 90/10, or a custom split.
- **Distribution type** — **Random** when row order doesn't affect model performance, or **Sequential** for tasks with sequence dependencies. Advanced options let you set a seed or a sort key.

The splits are written back into the job's output fileset.

---

## Related topics

- [About NeMo Studio](/documentation/studio)
- [Design synthetic data](/documentation/design-synthetic-data)
- [Data Designer column concepts](https://docs.nvidia.com/nemo/datadesigner/concepts/columns)
