diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4622bc9732
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# Pytorch-lightning
+Seed for ML research
+
+## Usage
+
+### Add new model
+1. Create a new model under /models.
+2. Add model name to trainer_main
+```python
+AVAILABLE_MODELS = {
+    'model_1': ExampleModel1
+}
+```
+
+### Model methods that can be implemented
+
+| Method | Purpose  | Input  | Output  | Required  |
+|---|---|---|---|---|
+| forward()  | Forward pass   | model_in tuple with your data  | model_out tuple to be passed to loss  | Y  |
+| loss()  | calculate model loss  | model_out tuple from forward()  | A scalar  | Y  |
+| check_performance()  | run a full loop through val data to check for metrics  | dataloader, nb_tests  | metrics tuple to be tracked  | Y  |
+| tng_dataloader  | Computed option, used to feed tng data  | -  | Pytorch DataLoader subclass  | Y  |
+| val_dataloader  | Computed option, used to feed tng data  | -  | Pytorch DataLoader subclass  | Y  |
+| test_dataloader  | Computed option, used to feed tng data  | -  | Pytorch DataLoader subclass  | Y  |
+
+### Model lifecycle hooks
+Use these hooks to customize functionality
+
+| Method | Purpose  | Input  | Output  | Required  |
+|---|---|---|---|---|
+| on_batch_start()  | called right before the batch starts | - | -  | N  |
+| on_batch_end()  | called right after the batch ends | - | -  | N  |
+| on_epoch_start()  | called right before the epoch starts | - | -  | N  |
+| on_epoch_end()  | called right afger the epoch ends | - | -  | N  |
+| on_pre_performance_check()  | called right before the performance check starts | - | -  | N  |
+| on_post_performance_check()  | called right after the batch starts | - | -  | N  |
diff --git a/__init__.py b/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/notebooks/__init__.py b/notebooks/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6425447600
--- /dev/null
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+atomicwrites==1.2.1
+attrs==18.2.0
+certifi==2018.11.29
+cffi==1.11.5
+h5py==2.9.0
+imageio==2.4.1
+mkl-fft==1.0.6
+mkl-random==1.0.2
+more-itertools==5.0.0
+numpy==1.15.4
+olefile==0.46
+pandas==0.23.4
+Pillow==5.3.0
+pluggy==0.8.0
+py==1.7.0
+pycparser==2.19
+pytest==4.0.2
+python-dateutil==2.7.5
+pytz==2018.7
+scikit-learn==0.20.2
+scipy==1.2.0
+six==1.12.0
+sklearn==0.0
+test-tube==0.6282
+torch==1.0.0
+torchvision==0.2.1
+tqdm==4.28.1
diff --git a/research_lib/__init__.py b/research_lib/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/research_lib/models/__init__.py b/research_lib/models/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/research_lib/models/model_examples/__init__.py b/research_lib/models/model_examples/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/research_lib/models/model_examples/bilstm.py b/research_lib/models/model_examples/bilstm.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f221a9d778
--- /dev/null
+++ b/research_lib/models/model_examples/bilstm.py
@@ -0,0 +1,167 @@
+import torch.nn as nn
+import numpy as np
+
+from test_tube import HyperOptArgumentParser
+import torch
+from torch.autograd import Variable
+from sklearn.metrics import confusion_matrix, f1_score
+from torch.nn import functional as F
+
+
+class BiLSTMPack(nn.Module):
+    """
+    Sample model to show how to define a template
+    """
+    def __init__(self, hparams):
+        # init superclass
+        super(BiLSTMPack, self).__init__(hparams)
+
+        self.hidden = None
+
+        # trigger tag building
+        self.ner_tagset = {'O': 0, 'I-Bio': 1}
+        self.nb_tags = len(self.ner_tagset)
+
+        # build model
+        print('building model...')
+        if hparams.model_load_weights_path is None:
+            self.__build_model()
+            print('model built')
+        else:
+            self = BiLSTMPack.load(hparams.model_load_weights_path, hparams.on_gpu, hparams)
+            print('model loaded from: {}'.format(hparams.model_load_weights_path))
+
+    def __build_model(self):
+        """
+        Layout model
+        :return:
+        """
+        # design the number of final units
+        self.output_dim = self.hparams.nb_lstm_units
+
+        # when it's bidirectional our weights double
+        if self.hparams.bidirectional:
+            self.output_dim *= 2
+
+        # total number of words
+        total_words = len(self.tng_dataloader.dataset.words_token_to_idx)
+
+        # word embeddings
+        self.word_embedding = nn.Embedding(
+            num_embeddings=total_words + 1,
+            embedding_dim=self.hparams.embedding_dim,
+            padding_idx=0
+        )
+
+        # design the LSTM
+        self.lstm = nn.LSTM(
+            self.hparams.embedding_dim,
+            self.hparams.nb_lstm_units,
+            num_layers=self.hparams.nb_lstm_layers,
+            bidirectional=self.hparams.bidirectional,
+            dropout=self.hparams.drop_prob,
+            batch_first=True,
+        )
+
+        # map to tag space
+        self.fc_out = nn.Linear(self.output_dim, self.out_dim)
+        self.hidden_to_tag = nn.Linear(self.output_dim, self.nb_tags)
+
+
+    def init_hidden(self, batch_size):
+
+        # the weights are of the form (nb_layers * 2 if bidirectional, batch_size, nb_lstm_units)
+        mult = 2 if self.hparams.bidirectional else 1
+        hidden_a = torch.randn(self.hparams.nb_layers * mult, batch_size, self.nb_rnn_units)
+        hidden_b = torch.randn(self.hparams.nb_layers * mult, batch_size, self.nb_rnn_units)
+
+        if self.hparams.on_gpu:
+            hidden_a = hidden_a.cuda()
+            hidden_b = hidden_b.cuda()
+
+        hidden_a = Variable(hidden_a)
+        hidden_b = Variable(hidden_b)
+
+        return (hidden_a, hidden_b)
+
+    def forward(self, model_in):
+        # layout data (expand it, etc...)
+        # x = sequences
+        x, seq_lengths = model_in
+        batch_size, seq_len = x.size()
+
+        # reset RNN hidden state
+        self.hidden = self.init_hidden(batch_size)
+
+        # embed
+        x = self.word_embedding(x)
+
+        # run through rnn using packed sequences
+        x = torch.nn.utils.rnn.pack_padded_sequence(x, seq_lengths, batch_first=True)
+        x, self.hidden = self.lstm(x, self.hidden)
+        x, _ = torch.nn.utils.rnn.pad_packed_sequence(x, batch_first=True)
+
+        # if asked for only last state, use the h_n which is the same as out(t=n)
+        if not self.return_sequence:
+            # pull out hidden states
+            # h_n = (nb_directions * nb_layers, batch_size, emb_size)
+            nb_directions = 2 if self.bidirectional else 1
+            (h_n, _) = self.hidden
+
+            # reshape to make indexing easier
+            # forward = 0, backward = 1 (of nb_directions)
+            h_n = h_n.view(self.nb_layers, nb_directions, batch_size, self.nb_rnn_units)
+
+            # pull out last forward
+            forward_h_n = h_n[-1, 0, :, :]
+            x = forward_h_n
+
+            # if bidirectional, also pull out the last hidden of backward network
+            if self.bidirectional:
+                backward_h_n = h_n[-1, 1, :, :]
+                x = torch.cat([forward_h_n, backward_h_n], dim=1)
+
+        # project to tag space
+        x = x.contiguous()
+        x = x.view(-1, self.output_dim)
+        x = self.hidden_to_tag(x)
+
+        return x
+
+    def loss(self, model_out):
+        # cross entropy loss
+        logits, y = model_out
+        y, y_lens = y
+
+        # flatten y and logits
+        y = y.view(-1)
+        logits = logits.view(-1, self.nb_tags)
+
+        # calculate a mask to remove padding tokens
+        mask = (y >= 0).float()
+
+        # count how many tokens we have
+        num_tokens = int(torch.sum(mask).data[0])
+
+        # pick the correct values and mask out
+        logits = logits[range(logits.shape[0]), y] * mask
+
+        # compute the ce loss
+        ce_loss = -torch.sum(logits)/num_tokens
+
+        return ce_loss
+
+    def pull_out_last_embedding(self, x, seq_lengths, batch_size, on_gpu):
+        # grab only the last activations from the non-padded ouput
+        x_last = torch.zeros([batch_size, 1, x.size(-1)])
+        for i, seq_len in enumerate(seq_lengths):
+            x_last[i, :, :] = x[i, seq_len-1, :]
+
+        # put on gpu when requested
+        if on_gpu:
+            x_last = x_last.cuda()
+
+        # turn into torch var
+        x_last = Variable(x_last)
+
+        return x_last
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/research_lib/models/sample_model_template/__init__.py b/research_lib/models/sample_model_template/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/research_lib/models/sample_model_template/model_template.py b/research_lib/models/sample_model_template/model_template.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9e47794989
--- /dev/null
+++ b/research_lib/models/sample_model_template/model_template.py
@@ -0,0 +1,203 @@
+import torch.nn as nn
+import numpy as np
+from research_lib.root_module.root_module import RootModule
+from test_tube import HyperOptArgumentParser
+from torchvision.datasets import MNIST
+import torchvision.transforms as transforms
+import torch
+import torch.nn.functional as F
+
+
+class ExampleModel1(RootModule):
+    """
+    Sample model to show how to define a template
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, hparams):
+        # init superclass
+        super(ExampleModel1, self).__init__(hparams)
+
+        self.batch_size = hparams.batch_size
+
+        # build model
+        self.__build_model()
+
+    # ---------------------
+    # MODEL SETUP
+    # ---------------------
+    def __build_model(self):
+        """
+        Layout model
+        :return:
+        """
+        self.c_d1 = nn.Linear(in_features=self.hparams.in_features, out_features=self.hparams.hidden_dim)
+        self.c_d1_bn = nn.BatchNorm1d(self.hparams.hidden_dim)
+        self.c_d1_drop = nn.Dropout(self.hparams.drop_prob)
+
+        self.c_d2 = nn.Linear(in_features=self.hparams.hidden_dim, out_features=self.hparams.out_features)
+
+    # ---------------------
+    # TRAINING
+    # ---------------------
+    def forward(self, x):
+        x = self.c_d1(x)
+        x = F.tanh(x)
+        x = self.c_d1_bn(x)
+        x = self.c_d1_drop(x)
+
+        x = self.c_d2(x)
+        logits = F.log_softmax(x, dim=1)
+
+        return logits
+
+    def loss(self, labels, logits):
+        nll = F.nll_loss(logits, labels)
+        return nll
+
+    def training_step(self, data_batch):
+        """
+        Called inside the training loop
+        :param data_batch:
+        :return:
+        """
+        # forward pass
+        x, y = data_batch
+        x = x.view(x.size(0), -1)
+        y_hat = self.forward(x)
+
+        # calculate loss
+        loss_val = self.loss(y, y_hat)
+
+        tqdm_dic = {'jefe': 1}
+        return loss_val, tqdm_dic
+
+    def validation_step(self, data_batch):
+        """
+        Called inside the validation loop
+        :param data_batch:
+        :return:
+        """
+        x, y = data_batch
+        x = x.view(x.size(0), -1)
+        y_hat = self.forward(x)
+
+        loss_val = self.loss(y, y_hat)
+
+        # acc
+        labels_hat = torch.argmax(y_hat, dim=1)
+        val_acc = torch.sum(y == labels_hat).item() / (len(y) * 1.0)
+
+        output = {'y_hat': y_hat, 'val_loss': loss_val.item(), 'val_acc': val_acc}
+        return output
+
+    def validation_end(self, outputs):
+        """
+        Called at the end of validation to aggregate outputs
+        :param outputs: list of individual outputs of each validation step
+        :return:
+        """
+        val_loss_mean = 0
+        accs = []
+        for output in outputs:
+            val_loss_mean += output['val_loss']
+            accs.append(output['val_acc'])
+
+        val_loss_mean /= len(outputs)
+        tqdm_dic = {'val_loss': val_loss_mean, 'val_acc': np.mean(accs)}
+        return tqdm_dic
+
+    def update_tng_log_metrics(self, logs):
+        return logs
+
+    # ---------------------
+    # MODEL SAVING
+    # ---------------------
+    def get_save_dict(self):
+        checkpoint = {
+            'state_dict': self.state_dict(),
+        }
+
+        return checkpoint
+
+    def load_model_specific(self, checkpoint):
+        self.load_state_dict(checkpoint['state_dict'])
+        pass
+
+    # ---------------------
+    # TRAINING SETUP
+    # ---------------------
+    def configure_optimizers(self):
+        """
+        return whatever optimizers we want here
+        :return: list of optimizers
+        """
+        optimizer = self.choose_optimizer(self.hparams.optimizer_name, self.parameters(), {'lr': self.hparams.learning_rate}, 'optimizer')
+        self.optimizers = [optimizer]
+        return self.optimizers
+
+    def __dataloader(self, train):
+        # init data generators
+        transform = transforms.Compose([transforms.ToTensor(), transforms.Normalize((0.5,), (1.0,))])
+
+        dataset = MNIST(root=self.hparams.data_root, train=train, transform=transform, download=True)
+
+        loader = torch.utils.data.DataLoader(
+            dataset=dataset,
+            batch_size=self.hparams.batch_size,
+            shuffle=True
+        )
+
+        return loader
+
+    @property
+    def tng_dataloader(self):
+        if self._tng_dataloader is None:
+            try:
+                self._tng_dataloader = self.__dataloader(train=True)
+            except Exception as e:
+                print(e)
+                raise e
+        return self._tng_dataloader
+
+    @property
+    def val_dataloader(self):
+        if self._val_dataloader is None:
+            try:
+                self._val_dataloader = self.__dataloader(train=False)
+            except Exception as e:
+                print(e)
+                raise e
+        return self._val_dataloader
+
+    @property
+    def test_dataloader(self):
+        if self._test_dataloader is None:
+            try:
+                self._test_dataloader = self.__dataloader(train=False)
+            except Exception as e:
+                print(e)
+                raise e
+        return self._test_dataloader
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def add_model_specific_args(parent_parser):
+        parser = HyperOptArgumentParser(strategy=parent_parser.strategy, parents=[parent_parser])
+
+        # param overwrites
+        # parser.set_defaults(gradient_clip=5.0)
+
+        # network params
+        parser.opt_list('--drop_prob', default=0.2, options=[0.2, 0.5], type=float, tunable=False)
+        parser.add_argument('--in_features', default=28*28)
+        parser.add_argument('--hidden_dim', default=500)
+        parser.add_argument('--out_features', default=10)
+
+        # data
+        parser.add_argument('--data_root', default='/Users/williamfalcon/Developer/personal/research_lib/research_proj/datasets/mnist', type=str)
+
+        # training params (opt)
+        parser.opt_list('--learning_rate', default=0.001, type=float, options=[0.0001, 0.0005, 0.001, 0.005],
+                        tunable=False)
+        parser.opt_list('--batch_size', default=256, type=int, options=[32, 64, 128, 256], tunable=False)
+        parser.opt_list('--optimizer_name', default='adam', type=str, options=['adam'], tunable=False)
+        return parser
diff --git a/research_lib/models/trainer.py b/research_lib/models/trainer.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c344382ae9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/research_lib/models/trainer.py
@@ -0,0 +1,407 @@
+import torch
+import tqdm
+import numpy as np
+from research_lib.root_module.memory import get_gpu_memory_map
+import traceback
+from research_lib.root_module.model_saving import TrainerIO
+from torch.optim.lr_scheduler import MultiStepLR
+
+
+class Trainer(TrainerIO):
+
+    def __init__(self,
+                 experiment,
+                 on_gpu,
+                 cluster, enable_tqdm,
+                 overfit_pct,
+                 track_grad_norm,
+                 fast_dev_run,
+                 check_val_every_n_epoch,
+                 accumulate_grad_batches,
+                 process_position, current_gpu_name,
+                 checkpoint_callback, early_stop_callback,
+                 enable_early_stop, max_nb_epochs, min_nb_epochs,
+                 train_percent_check, val_percent_check, test_percent_check, val_check_interval,
+                 log_save_interval, add_log_row_interval,
+                 lr_scheduler_milestones,
+                 nb_sanity_val_steps=5):
+
+        # Transfer params
+        self.check_val_every_n_epoch = check_val_every_n_epoch
+        self.enable_early_stop = enable_early_stop
+        self.track_grad_norm = track_grad_norm
+        self.fast_dev_run = fast_dev_run
+        self.on_gpu = on_gpu
+        self.enable_tqdm = enable_tqdm
+        self.experiment = experiment
+        self.exp_save_path = experiment.get_data_path(experiment.name, experiment.version)
+        self.cluster = cluster
+        self.process_position = process_position
+        self.current_gpu_name = current_gpu_name
+        self.checkpoint_callback = checkpoint_callback
+        self.checkpoint_callback.save_function = self.save_checkpoint
+        self.early_stop = early_stop_callback
+        self.model = None
+        self.max_nb_epochs = max_nb_epochs
+        self.accumulate_grad_batches = accumulate_grad_batches
+        self.early_stop_callback = early_stop_callback
+        self.min_nb_epochs = min_nb_epochs
+        self.nb_sanity_val_steps = nb_sanity_val_steps
+        self.lr_scheduler_milestones = [] if lr_scheduler_milestones is None else [int(x.strip()) for x in lr_scheduler_milestones.split(',')]
+        self.lr_schedulers = []
+
+        # training state
+        self.optimizers = None
+        self.prog_bar = None
+        self.global_step = 0
+        self.current_epoch = 0
+        self.total_batches = 0
+
+        # logging
+        self.log_save_interval = log_save_interval
+        self.val_check_interval = val_check_interval
+        self.add_log_row_interval = add_log_row_interval
+
+        # dataloaders
+        self.tng_dataloader = None
+        self.test_dataloader = None
+        self.val_dataloader = None
+
+        # how much of the data to use
+        self.__determine_data_use_amount(train_percent_check, val_percent_check, test_percent_check, overfit_pct)
+        print('gpu available: {}, used: {}'.format(torch.cuda.is_available(), self.on_gpu))
+
+    def __determine_data_use_amount(self, train_percent_check, val_percent_check, test_percent_check, overfit_pct):
+        """
+        Use less data for debugging purposes
+        """
+        self.train_percent_check = train_percent_check
+        self.val_percent_check = val_percent_check
+        self.test_percent_check = test_percent_check
+        if overfit_pct > 0:
+            self.train_percent_check = overfit_pct
+            self.val_percent_check = overfit_pct
+            self.test_percent_check = overfit_pct
+
+    def __is_function_implemented(self, f_name):
+        f_op = getattr(self, f_name, None)
+        return callable(f_op)
+
+    @property
+    def __tng_tqdm_dic(self):
+        tqdm_dic = {
+            'tng_loss': '{0:.3f}'.format(self.avg_loss),
+            'gpu': '{}'.format(self.current_gpu_name),
+            'v_nb': '{}'.format(self.experiment.version),
+            'epoch': '{}'.format(self.current_epoch),
+            'batch_nb':'{}'.format(self.batch_nb),
+        }
+        tqdm_dic.update(self.tqdm_metrics)
+        return tqdm_dic
+
+    def __layout_bookeeping(self):
+        # training bookeeping
+        self.total_batch_nb = 0
+        self.running_loss = []
+        self.avg_loss = 0
+        self.batch_nb = 0
+        self.tqdm_metrics = {}
+
+        # determine number of training batches
+        nb_tng_batches = self.model.nb_batches(self.tng_dataloader)
+        self.nb_tng_batches = int(nb_tng_batches * self.train_percent_check)
+
+        # determine number of validation batches
+        nb_val_batches = self.model.nb_batches(self.val_dataloader)
+        nb_val_batches = int(nb_val_batches * self.val_percent_check)
+        nb_val_batches = max(1, nb_val_batches)
+        self.nb_val_batches = nb_val_batches
+
+        # determine number of test batches
+        nb_test_batches = self.model.nb_batches(self.test_dataloader)
+        self.nb_test_batches = int(nb_test_batches * self.test_percent_check)
+
+        # determine when to check validation
+        self.val_check_batch = int(nb_tng_batches * self.val_check_interval)
+
+    def __add_tqdm_metrics(self, metrics):
+        for k, v in metrics.items():
+            self.tqdm_metrics[k] = v
+
+    def validate(self, model, dataloader, max_batches):
+        """
+        Run validation code
+        :param model: PT model
+        :param dataloader: PT dataloader
+        :param max_batches: Scalar
+        :return:
+        """
+        print('validating...')
+
+        # enable eval mode
+        model.zero_grad()
+        model.eval()
+
+        # disable gradients to save memory
+        torch.set_grad_enabled(False)
+
+        # bookkeeping
+        outputs = []
+
+        # run training
+        for i, data_batch in enumerate(dataloader):
+
+            if data_batch is None:
+                continue
+
+            # stop short when on fast dev run
+            if max_batches is not None and i >= max_batches:
+                break
+
+            # -----------------
+            # RUN VALIDATION STEP
+            # -----------------
+            output = model.validation_step(data_batch)
+            outputs.append(output)
+
+            # batch done
+            if self.enable_tqdm and self.prog_bar is not None:
+                self.prog_bar.update(1)
+
+        # give model a chance to do something with the outputs
+        val_results = model.validation_end(outputs)
+
+        # enable train mode again
+        model.train()
+
+        # enable gradients to save memory
+        torch.set_grad_enabled(True)
+        return val_results
+
+    def __get_dataloaders(self, model):
+        """
+        Dataloaders are provided by the model
+        :param model:
+        :return:
+        """
+        self.tng_dataloader = model.tng_dataloader
+        self.test_dataloader = model.test_dataloader
+        self.val_dataloader = model.val_dataloader
+
+    # -----------------------------
+    # MODEL TRAINING
+    # -----------------------------
+    def fit(self, model):
+        self.model = model
+
+        # transfer data loaders from model
+        self.__get_dataloaders(model)
+
+        # init training constants
+        self.__layout_bookeeping()
+
+        # CHOOSE OPTIMIZER
+        # filter out the weights that were done on gpu so we can load on good old cpus
+        self.optimizers = model.configure_optimizers()
+
+        # add lr schedulers
+        if self.lr_scheduler_milestones is not None:
+            for optimizer in self.optimizers:
+                scheduler = MultiStepLR(optimizer, self.lr_scheduler_milestones)
+                self.lr_schedulers.append(scheduler)
+
+        # print model summary
+        model.summarize()
+
+        # put on gpu if needed
+        if self.on_gpu:
+            model = model.cuda()
+
+        # run tiny validation to make sure program won't crash during val
+        _ = self.validate(model, self.val_dataloader, max_batches=self.nb_sanity_val_steps)
+
+        # save exp to get started
+        self.experiment.save()
+
+        # enable cluster checkpointing
+        self.enable_auto_hpc_walltime_manager()
+
+        # ---------------------------
+        # CORE TRAINING LOOP
+        # ---------------------------
+        self.__train()
+
+    def __train(self):
+        # run all epochs
+        for epoch_nb in range(self.current_epoch, self.max_nb_epochs):
+            # update the lr scheduler
+            for lr_scheduler in self.lr_schedulers:
+                lr_scheduler.step()
+
+            self.model.current_epoch = epoch_nb
+
+            # hook
+            if self.__is_function_implemented('on_epoch_start'):
+                self.model.on_epoch_start()
+
+            self.current_epoch = epoch_nb
+            self.total_batches = self.nb_tng_batches + self.nb_val_batches
+            self.batch_loss_value = 0  # accumulated grads
+
+            # init progbar when requested
+            if self.enable_tqdm:
+                self.prog_bar = tqdm.tqdm(range(self.total_batches), position=self.process_position)
+
+            for batch_nb, data_batch in enumerate(self.tng_dataloader):
+                self.batch_nb = batch_nb
+                self.global_step += 1
+                self.model.global_step = self.global_step
+
+                # stop when the flag is changed or we've gone past the amount requested in the batches
+                self.total_batch_nb += 1
+                met_batch_limit = batch_nb > self.nb_tng_batches
+                if met_batch_limit:
+                    break
+
+                # ---------------
+                # RUN TRAIN STEP
+                # ---------------
+                self.__run_tng_batch(data_batch)
+
+                # ---------------
+                # RUN VAL STEP
+                # ---------------
+                is_val_check_batch = (batch_nb + 1) % self.val_check_batch == 0
+                if self.fast_dev_run or is_val_check_batch:
+                    self.__run_validation()
+
+                # when batch should be saved
+                if (batch_nb + 1) % self.log_save_interval == 0:
+                    self.experiment.save()
+
+                # when metrics should be logged
+                if batch_nb % self.add_log_row_interval == 0:
+                    # count items in memory
+                    # nb_params, nb_tensors = count_mem_items()
+
+                    metrics = self.model.update_tng_log_metrics(self.__tng_tqdm_dic)
+
+                    # add gpu memory
+                    if self.on_gpu:
+                        mem_map = get_gpu_memory_map()
+                        metrics.update(mem_map)
+
+                    # add norms
+                    if self.track_grad_norm > 0:
+                        grad_norm_dic = self.model.grad_norm(self.track_grad_norm)
+                        metrics.update(grad_norm_dic)
+
+                    # log metrics
+                    self.experiment.log(metrics)
+                    self.experiment.save()
+
+                # hook
+                if self.__is_function_implemented('on_batch_end'):
+                    self.model.on_batch_end()
+
+            # hook
+            if self.__is_function_implemented('on_epoch_end'):
+                self.model.on_epoch_end()
+
+            # early stopping
+            if self.enable_early_stop:
+                should_stop = self.early_stop_callback.on_epoch_end(epoch=epoch_nb, logs=self.__tng_tqdm_dic)
+                met_min_epochs = epoch_nb > self.min_nb_epochs
+
+                # stop training
+                stop = should_stop and met_min_epochs
+                if stop:
+                    return
+
+    def __run_tng_batch(self, data_batch):
+        if data_batch is None:
+            return
+
+        # hook
+        if self.__is_function_implemented('on_batch_start'):
+            self.model.on_batch_start()
+
+        if self.enable_tqdm:
+            self.prog_bar.update(1)
+
+        # forward pass
+        # return a scalar value and a dic with tqdm metrics
+        loss, model_specific_tqdm_metrics_dic = self.model.training_step(data_batch)
+        self.__add_tqdm_metrics(model_specific_tqdm_metrics_dic)
+
+        # backward pass
+        loss.backward()
+        self.batch_loss_value += loss.item()
+
+        # gradient update with accumulated gradients
+        if (self.batch_nb + 1) % self.accumulate_grad_batches == 0:
+
+            # update gradients across all optimizers
+            for optimizer in self.optimizers:
+                optimizer.step()
+
+                # clear gradients
+                optimizer.zero_grad()
+
+            # queuing loss across batches blows it up proportionally... divide out the number accumulated
+            self.batch_loss_value = self.batch_loss_value / self.accumulate_grad_batches
+
+            # track loss
+            self.running_loss.append(self.batch_loss_value)
+            self.batch_loss_value = 0
+            self.avg_loss = np.mean(self.running_loss[-100:])
+
+            # update progbar
+            if self.enable_tqdm:
+                # add model specific metrics
+                tqdm_metrics = self.__tng_tqdm_dic
+                self.prog_bar.set_postfix(**tqdm_metrics)
+
+        # activate batch end hook
+        if self.__is_function_implemented('on_batch_end'):
+            self.model.on_batch_end()
+
+    def __run_validation(self):
+        # decide if can check epochs
+        can_check_epoch = (self.current_epoch + 1) % self.check_val_every_n_epoch == 0
+        if self.fast_dev_run:
+            print('skipping to check performance bc of --fast_dev_run')
+        elif not can_check_epoch:
+            return
+
+        try:
+            # hook
+            if self.__is_function_implemented('on_pre_performance_check'):
+                self.model.on_pre_performance_check()
+
+            # use full val set on end of epoch
+            # use a small portion otherwise
+            max_batches = None if not self.fast_dev_run else 1
+            model_specific_tqdm_metrics_dic = self.validate(
+                self.model,
+                self.val_dataloader,
+                max_batches
+            )
+            self.__add_tqdm_metrics(model_specific_tqdm_metrics_dic)
+
+            # hook
+            if self.__is_function_implemented('on_post_performance_check'):
+                self.model.on_post_performance_check()
+
+        except Exception as e:
+            print(e)
+            print(traceback.print_exc())
+
+        if self.enable_tqdm:
+            # add model specific metrics
+            tqdm_metrics = self.__tng_tqdm_dic
+            self.prog_bar.set_postfix(**tqdm_metrics)
+
+        # model checkpointing
+        print('save callback...')
+        self.checkpoint_callback.on_epoch_end(epoch=self.current_epoch, logs=self.__tng_tqdm_dic)
diff --git a/research_lib/root_module/__init__.py b/research_lib/root_module/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/research_lib/root_module/grads.py b/research_lib/root_module/grads.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e4d1701b4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/research_lib/root_module/grads.py
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+import numpy as np
+from torch import nn
+
+"""
+Module to describe gradients
+"""
+
+
+class GradInformation(nn.Module):
+
+    def grad_norm(self, norm_type):
+        results = {}
+        total_norm = 0
+        for i, p in enumerate(self.parameters()):
+            if p.requires_grad:
+                try:
+                    param_norm = p.grad.data.norm(norm_type)
+                    total_norm += param_norm ** norm_type
+                    norm = param_norm ** (1 / norm_type)
+
+                    results['grad_{}_norm_{}'.format(norm_type, i)] = round(norm.data.cpu().numpy().flatten()[0], 3)
+                except Exception as e:
+                    # this param had no grad
+                    pass
+
+        total_norm = total_norm ** (1. / norm_type)
+        results['grad_{}_norm_total'.format(norm_type)] = round(total_norm.data.cpu().numpy().flatten()[0], 3)
+        return results
+
+
+    def describe_grads(self):
+        for p in self.parameters():
+            g = p.grad.data.numpy().flatten()
+            print(np.max(g), np.min(g), np.mean(g))
+
+
+    def describe_params(self):
+        for p in self.parameters():
+            g = p.data.numpy().flatten()
+            print(np.max(g), np.min(g), np.mean(g))
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/research_lib/root_module/hooks.py b/research_lib/root_module/hooks.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3517f571db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/research_lib/root_module/hooks.py
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+import torch
+
+class ModelHooks(torch.nn.Module):
+    def on_batch_start(self):
+        pass
+
+    def on_batch_end(self):
+        pass
+
+    def on_epoch_start(self):
+        pass
+
+    def on_epoch_end(self):
+        pass
+
+    def on_pre_performance_check(self):
+        pass
+
+    def on_post_performance_check(self):
+        pass
diff --git a/research_lib/root_module/memory.py b/research_lib/root_module/memory.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..17f20efe64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/research_lib/root_module/memory.py
@@ -0,0 +1,180 @@
+import torch
+import gc
+import subprocess
+import numpy as np
+import pandas as pd
+
+
+'''
+Generates a summary of a model's layers and dimensionality
+'''
+
+
+class ModelSummary(object):
+
+    def __init__(self, model):
+        '''
+        Generates summaries of model layers and dimensions.
+        '''
+        self.model = model
+        self.in_sizes = []
+        self.out_sizes = []
+
+        self.summarize()
+
+    def __str__(self):
+        return self.summary.__str__()
+
+    def __repr__(self):
+        return self.summary.__str__()
+
+    def get_variable_sizes(self):
+        '''Run sample input through each layer to get output sizes'''
+        mods = list(self.model.modules())
+        in_sizes = []
+        out_sizes = []
+        input_ = self.example_input_array
+        for i in range(1, len(mods)):
+            m = mods[i]
+            if type(input_) is list or type(input_) is tuple:
+                out = m(*input_)
+            else:
+                out = m(input_)
+
+            if type(input_) is tuple or type(input_) is list:
+                in_size = []
+                for x in input_:
+                    if type(x) is list:
+                        in_size.append(len(x))
+                    else:
+                        in_size.append(x.size())
+            else:
+                in_size = np.array(input_.size())
+
+            in_sizes.append(in_size)
+
+            if type(out) is tuple or type(out) is list:
+                out_size = np.asarray([x.size() for x in out])
+            else:
+                out_size = np.array(out.size())
+
+            out_sizes.append(out_size)
+            input_ = out
+
+        self.in_sizes = in_sizes
+        self.out_sizes = out_sizes
+        return
+
+    def get_layer_names(self):
+        '''Collect Layer Names'''
+        mods = list(self.model.named_modules())
+        names = []
+        layers = []
+        for m in mods[1:]:
+            names += [m[0]]
+            layers += [str(m[1].__class__)]
+
+        layer_types = [x.split('.')[-1][:-2] for x in layers]
+
+        self.layer_names = names
+        self.layer_types = layer_types
+        return
+
+    def get_parameter_sizes(self):
+        '''Get sizes of all parameters in `model`'''
+        mods = list(self.model.modules())
+        sizes = []
+
+        for i in range(1,len(mods)):
+            m = mods[i]
+            p = list(m.parameters())
+            modsz = []
+            for j in range(len(p)):
+                modsz.append(np.array(p[j].size()))
+            sizes.append(modsz)
+
+        self.param_sizes = sizes
+        return
+
+    def get_parameter_nums(self):
+        '''Get number of parameters in each layer'''
+        param_nums = []
+        for mod in self.param_sizes:
+            all_params = 0
+            for p in mod:
+                all_params += np.prod(p)
+            param_nums.append(all_params)
+        self.param_nums = param_nums
+        return
+
+    def make_summary(self):
+        '''
+        Makes a summary listing with:
+
+        Layer Name, Layer Type, Input Size, Output Size, Number of Parameters
+        '''
+
+        df = pd.DataFrame( np.zeros( (len(self.layer_names), 3) ) )
+        df.columns = ['Name', 'Type', 'Params']
+
+        df['Name'] = self.layer_names
+        df['Type'] = self.layer_types
+        df['Params'] = self.param_nums
+
+        self.summary = df
+        return
+
+    def summarize(self):
+        self.get_layer_names()
+        self.get_parameter_sizes()
+        self.get_parameter_nums()
+        self.make_summary()
+
+
+def print_mem_stack():
+    for obj in gc.get_objects():
+        try:
+            if torch.is_tensor(obj) or (hasattr(obj, 'data') and torch.is_tensor(obj.data)):
+                print(type(obj), obj.size())
+        except Exception as e:
+            pass
+
+
+def count_mem_items():
+    nb_params = 0
+    nb_tensors = 0
+    for obj in gc.get_objects():
+        try:
+            if torch.is_tensor(obj) or (hasattr(obj, 'data') and torch.is_tensor(obj.data)):
+                obj_type = str(type(obj))
+                if 'parameter' in obj_type:
+                    nb_params += 1
+                else:
+                    nb_tensors += 1
+        except Exception as e:
+            pass
+
+    return nb_params, nb_tensors
+
+
+def get_gpu_memory_map():
+    """Get the current gpu usage.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    usage: dict
+        Keys are device ids as integers.
+        Values are memory usage as integers in MB.
+    """
+    result = subprocess.check_output(
+        [
+            'nvidia-smi', '--query-gpu=memory.used',
+            '--format=csv,nounits,noheader'
+        ], encoding='utf-8')
+    # Convert lines into a dictionary
+    gpu_memory = [int(x) for x in result.strip().split('\n')]
+    gpu_memory_map = {}
+    for k, v in zip(range(len(gpu_memory)), gpu_memory):
+        k = f'gpu_{k}'
+        gpu_memory_map[k] = v
+    return gpu_memory_map
diff --git a/research_lib/root_module/model_saving.py b/research_lib/root_module/model_saving.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0e588eddb6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/research_lib/root_module/model_saving.py
@@ -0,0 +1,168 @@
+import torch
+import os
+import re
+
+
+class ModelIO(object):
+
+    def load_model_specific(self, checkpoint):
+        """
+        Do something with the checkpoint
+        :param checkpoint:
+        :return:
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+    def get_save_dict(self):
+        """
+        Return specific things for the model
+        :return:
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+
+class TrainerIO(object):
+
+    # --------------------
+    # MODEL SAVE CHECKPOINT
+    # --------------------
+    def save_checkpoint(self, filepath):
+        checkpoint = self.dump_checkpoint()
+
+        # do the actual save
+        torch.save(checkpoint, filepath)
+
+    def dump_checkpoint(self):
+        checkpoint = {
+            'epoch': self.current_epoch,
+            'checkpoint_callback_best': self.checkpoint_callback.best,
+            'early_stop_callback_wait': self.early_stop_callback.wait,
+            'early_stop_callback_patience': self.early_stop_callback.patience,
+            'global_step': self.global_step
+        }
+
+        optimizer_states = []
+        for i, optimizer in enumerate(self.optimizers):
+            optimizer_states.append(optimizer.state_dict())
+
+        checkpoint['optimizer_states'] = optimizer_states
+
+        # request what to save from the model
+        checkpoint_dict = self.model.get_save_dict()
+
+        # merge trainer and model saving items
+        checkpoint.update(checkpoint_dict)
+        return checkpoint
+
+    # --------------------
+    # HPC IO
+    # --------------------
+    def enable_auto_hpc_walltime_manager(self):
+        if self.cluster is None:
+            return
+
+        # allow test tube to handle model check pointing automatically
+        self.cluster.set_checkpoint_save_function(
+            self.hpc_save,
+            kwargs={
+                'folderpath': self.checkpoint_callback.filepath,
+                'experiment': self.experiment
+            }
+        )
+        self.cluster.set_checkpoint_load_function(
+            self.hpc_load,
+            kwargs={
+                'folderpath': self.checkpoint_callback.filepath,
+                'on_gpu': self.on_gpu
+            }
+        )
+
+    def restore_training_state(self, checkpoint):
+        """
+        Restore trainer state.
+        Model will get its change to update
+        :param checkpoint:
+        :return:
+        """
+        self.checkpoint_callback.best = checkpoint['checkpoint_callback_best']
+        self.early_stop_callback.wait = checkpoint['early_stop_callback_wait']
+        self.early_stop_callback.patience = checkpoint['early_stop_callback_patience']
+        self.global_step = checkpoint['global_step']
+
+        # restore the optimizers
+        optimizer_states = checkpoint['optimizer_states']
+        for optimizer, opt_state in zip(self.optimizers, optimizer_states):
+            optimizer.load_state_dict(opt_state)
+
+    # ----------------------------------
+    # PRIVATE OPS
+    # ----------------------------------
+    def hpc_save(self, folderpath, experiment):
+        # save exp to make sure we get all the metrics
+        experiment.save()
+
+        ckpt_number = self.max_ckpt_in_folder(folderpath) + 1
+
+        if not os.path.exists(folderpath):
+            os.makedirs(folderpath, exist_ok=True)
+        filepath = '{}/hpc_ckpt_{}.ckpt'.format(folderpath, ckpt_number)
+
+        # request what to save from the model
+        checkpoint_dict = self.dump_checkpoint()
+
+        # do the actual save
+        torch.save(checkpoint_dict, filepath)
+
+    def hpc_load(self, folderpath, on_gpu):
+        filepath = '{}/hpc_ckpt_{}.ckpt'.format(folderpath, self.max_ckpt_in_folder(folderpath))
+
+        if on_gpu:
+            checkpoint = torch.load(filepath)
+        else:
+            checkpoint = torch.load(filepath, map_location=lambda storage, loc: storage)
+
+        # load training state
+        self.restore_training_state(checkpoint)
+
+        # load model state
+        self.model.load_model_specific(checkpoint)
+
+    def max_ckpt_in_folder(self, path):
+        files = os.listdir(path)
+        ckpt_vs = []
+        for name in files:
+            name = name.split('ckpt_')[-1]
+            name = re.sub('[^0-9]', '', name)
+            ckpt_vs.append(int(name))
+
+        return max(ckpt_vs)
+
+
+def load_hparams_from_tags_csv(tags_csv):
+    from argparse import Namespace
+    import pandas as pd
+
+    tags_df = pd.read_csv(tags_csv)
+    dic = tags_df.to_dict(orient='records')
+
+    ns_dict = {row['key']: convert(row['value']) for row in dic}
+
+    ns = Namespace(**ns_dict)
+    return ns
+
+
+def convert(val):
+    constructors = [int, float, str]
+
+    if type(val) is str:
+        if val.lower() == 'true':
+            return True
+        if val.lower() == 'false':
+            return False
+
+    for c in constructors:
+        try:
+            return c(val)
+        except ValueError:
+            pass
+    return val
diff --git a/research_lib/root_module/optimization.py b/research_lib/root_module/optimization.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3172e1a1e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/research_lib/root_module/optimization.py
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+from torch import nn
+from torch import optim
+
+
+class OptimizerConfig(nn.Module):
+
+    def choose_optimizer(self, optimizer, params, optimizer_params, opt_name_key):
+        if optimizer == 'adam':
+            optimizer = optim.Adam(params, **optimizer_params)
+        if optimizer == 'sparse_adam':
+            optimizer = optim.SparseAdam(params, **optimizer_params)
+        if optimizer == 'sgd':
+            optimizer = optim.SGD(params, **optimizer_params)
+        if optimizer == 'adadelta':
+            optimizer = optim.Adadelta(params, **optimizer_params)
+
+        # transfer opt state if loaded
+        if opt_name_key in self.loaded_optimizer_states_dict:
+            state = self.loaded_optimizer_states_dict[opt_name_key]
+            optimizer.load_state_dict(state)
+
+        return optimizer
diff --git a/research_lib/root_module/root_module.py b/research_lib/root_module/root_module.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c8e3090ab6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/research_lib/root_module/root_module.py
@@ -0,0 +1,167 @@
+import os
+import torch
+import math
+
+from research_lib.root_module.memory import ModelSummary
+from research_lib.root_module.grads import GradInformation
+from research_lib.root_module.model_saving import ModelIO, load_hparams_from_tags_csv
+from research_lib.root_module.optimization import OptimizerConfig
+from research_lib.root_module.hooks import ModelHooks
+
+
+class RootModule(GradInformation, ModelIO, OptimizerConfig, ModelHooks):
+
+    def __init__(self, hparams):
+        super(RootModule, self).__init__()
+        self.hparams = hparams
+        self.on_gpu = hparams.on_gpu
+        self.dtype = torch.FloatTensor
+        self.exp_save_path = None
+        self.current_epoch = 0
+        self.global_step = 0
+        self.loaded_optimizer_states_dict = {}
+        self.fast_dev_run = hparams.fast_dev_run
+        self.overfit = hparams.overfit
+        self.gradient_clip = hparams.gradient_clip
+        self.num = 2
+
+        # computed vars for the dataloaders
+        self._tng_dataloader = None
+        self._val_dataloader = None
+        self._test_dataloader = None
+
+        if self.on_gpu:
+            print('running on gpu...')
+            self.dtype = torch.cuda.FloatTensor
+            torch.set_default_tensor_type('torch.cuda.FloatTensor')
+
+    def forward(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        """
+        Expand model in into whatever you need.
+        Also need to return the target
+        :param x:
+        :return:
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+    def validation_step(self, data_batch):
+        """
+        return whatever outputs will need to be aggregated in validation_end
+        :param data_batch:
+        :return:
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+    def validation_end(self, outputs):
+        """
+        Outputs has the appended output after each validation step
+        :param outputs:
+        :return: dic_with_metrics for tqdm
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+    def training_step(self, data_batch):
+        """
+        return loss, dict with metrics for tqdm
+        :param data_batch:
+        :return:
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+    def configure_optimizers(self):
+        """
+        Return array of optimizers
+        :return:
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+    def update_tng_log_metrics(self, logs):
+        """
+        Chance to update metrics to be logged for training step.
+        For example, add music, images, etc... to log
+        :param logs:
+        :return:
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+    def loss(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        """
+        Expand model_out into your components
+        :param model_out:
+        :return:
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+    def summarize(self):
+        model_summary = ModelSummary(self)
+        print(model_summary)
+
+    def nb_batches(self, dataloader):
+        a = math.ceil(float(len(dataloader.dataset) / self.batch_size))
+        return int(a)
+
+    def freeze(self):
+        for param in self.parameters():
+            param.requires_grad = False
+
+    def unfreeze(self):
+        for param in self.parameters():
+            param.requires_grad = True
+
+    @property
+    def tng_dataloader(self):
+        """
+        Implement a function to load an h5py of this data
+        :return:
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+    @property
+    def test_dataloader(self):
+        """
+        Implement a function to load an h5py of this data
+        :return:
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+    @property
+    def val_dataloader(self):
+        """
+        Implement a function to load an h5py of this data
+        :return:
+        """
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def get_process_position(gpus):
+        try:
+            current_gpu = os.environ["CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES"]
+            gpu_ids = gpus.split(';')
+            process_position = gpu_ids.index(current_gpu)
+            return process_position, current_gpu
+        except Exception as e:
+            return 0, 0
+
+    @classmethod
+    def load_from_metrics(cls, weights_path, tags_csv, on_gpu):
+        """
+        Primary way of loading model from csv weights path
+        :param weights_path:
+        :param tags_csv:
+        :param on_gpu:
+        :return:
+        """
+        hparams = load_hparams_from_tags_csv(tags_csv)
+        hparams.__setattr__('on_gpu', on_gpu)
+
+        if on_gpu:
+            checkpoint = torch.load(weights_path)
+        else:
+            checkpoint = torch.load(weights_path, map_location=lambda storage, loc: storage)
+
+        model = cls(hparams)
+
+        # allow model to load
+        model.load_model_specific(checkpoint)
+        model.load_state_dict(checkpoint['state_dict'], strict=False)
+        return model
diff --git a/research_lib/trainer_main.py b/research_lib/trainer_main.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f630fcefb8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/research_lib/trainer_main.py
@@ -0,0 +1,215 @@
+import os
+import sys
+
+import torch
+import numpy as np
+from test_tube import HyperOptArgumentParser, Experiment, SlurmCluster
+from research_lib.models.trainer import Trainer
+from research_lib.utils.arg_parse import add_default_args
+from time import sleep
+
+from research_lib.utils.pt_callbacks import EarlyStopping, ModelCheckpoint
+
+SEED = 2334
+torch.manual_seed(SEED)
+np.random.seed(SEED)
+
+# ---------------------
+# DEFINE MODEL HERE
+# ---------------------
+from research_lib.models.sample_model_template.model_template import ExampleModel1
+# ---------------------
+
+AVAILABLE_MODELS = {
+    'model_1': ExampleModel1
+}
+
+
+"""
+Allows training by using command line arguments
+
+Run by: 
+# TYPE YOUR RUN COMMAND HERE
+"""
+
+
+def main_local(hparams):
+    main(hparams, None, None)
+
+
+def main(hparams, cluster, results_dict):
+    """
+    Main training routine specific for this project
+    :param hparams:
+    :return:
+    """
+    on_gpu = torch.cuda.is_available()
+    if hparams.disable_cuda:
+        on_gpu = False
+
+    device = 'cuda' if on_gpu else 'cpu'
+    hparams.__setattr__('device', device)
+    hparams.__setattr__('on_gpu', on_gpu)
+    hparams.__setattr__('nb_gpus', torch.cuda.device_count())
+    hparams.__setattr__('inference_mode', hparams.model_load_weights_path is not None)
+
+    # delay each training start to not overwrite logs
+    process_position, current_gpu = TRAINING_MODEL.get_process_position(hparams.gpus)
+    sleep(process_position + 1)
+
+    # init experiment
+    exp = Experiment(
+        name=hparams.tt_name,
+        debug=hparams.debug,
+        save_dir=hparams.tt_save_path,
+        version=hparams.hpc_exp_number,
+        autosave=False,
+        description=hparams.tt_description
+    )
+
+    exp.argparse(hparams)
+    exp.save()
+
+    # build model
+    print('loading model...')
+    model = TRAINING_MODEL(hparams)
+    print('model built')
+
+    # callbacks
+    early_stop = EarlyStopping(
+        monitor=hparams.early_stop_metric,
+        patience=hparams.early_stop_patience,
+        verbose=True,
+        mode=hparams.early_stop_mode
+    )
+
+    model_save_path = '{}/{}/{}'.format(hparams.model_save_path, exp.name, exp.version)
+    checkpoint = ModelCheckpoint(
+        filepath=model_save_path,
+        save_function=None,
+        save_best_only=True,
+        verbose=True,
+        monitor=hparams.model_save_monitor_value,
+        mode=hparams.model_save_monitor_mode
+    )
+
+    # configure trainer
+    trainer = Trainer(
+        experiment=exp,
+        on_gpu=on_gpu,
+        cluster=cluster,
+        enable_tqdm=hparams.enable_tqdm,
+        overfit_pct=hparams.overfit,
+        track_grad_norm=hparams.track_grad_norm,
+        fast_dev_run=hparams.fast_dev_run,
+        check_val_every_n_epoch=hparams.check_val_every_n_epoch,
+        accumulate_grad_batches=hparams.accumulate_grad_batches,
+        process_position=process_position,
+        current_gpu_name=current_gpu,
+        checkpoint_callback=checkpoint,
+        early_stop_callback=early_stop,
+        enable_early_stop=hparams.enable_early_stop,
+        max_nb_epochs=hparams.max_nb_epochs,
+        min_nb_epochs=hparams.min_nb_epochs,
+        train_percent_check=hparams.train_percent_check,
+        val_percent_check=hparams.val_percent_check,
+        test_percent_check=hparams.test_percent_check,
+        val_check_interval=hparams.val_check_interval,
+        log_save_interval=hparams.log_save_interval,
+        add_log_row_interval=hparams.add_log_row_interval,
+        lr_scheduler_milestones=hparams.lr_scheduler_milestones
+    )
+
+    # train model
+    trainer.fit(model)
+
+
+def get_default_parser(strategy, root_dir):
+
+    possible_model_names = list(AVAILABLE_MODELS.keys())
+    parser = HyperOptArgumentParser(strategy=strategy, add_help=False)
+    add_default_args(parser, root_dir, possible_model_names, SEED)
+    return parser
+
+
+def get_model_name(args):
+    for i, arg in enumerate(args):
+        if 'model_name' in arg:
+            return args[i+1]
+
+
+def optimize_on_cluster(hyperparams):
+    # enable cluster training
+    cluster = SlurmCluster(
+        hyperparam_optimizer=hyperparams,
+        log_path=hyperparams.tt_save_path,
+        test_tube_exp_name=hyperparams.tt_name
+    )
+
+    # email for cluster coms
+    cluster.notify_job_status(email='add_email_here', on_done=True, on_fail=True)
+
+    # configure cluster
+    cluster.per_experiment_nb_gpus = hyperparams.per_experiment_nb_gpus
+    cluster.job_time = '48:00:00'
+    cluster.gpu_type = '1080ti'
+    cluster.memory_mb_per_node = 48000
+
+    # any modules for code to run in env
+    cluster.add_command('source activate research_lib')
+
+    # name of exp
+    job_display_name = hyperparams.tt_name.split('_')[0]
+    job_display_name = job_display_name[0:3]
+
+    # run hopt
+    print('submitting jobs...')
+    cluster.optimize_parallel_cluster_gpu(
+        main,
+        nb_trials=hyperparams.nb_hopt_trials,
+        job_name=job_display_name
+    )
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+
+    model_name = get_model_name(sys.argv)
+
+    # use default args
+    root_dir = os.path.split(os.path.dirname(sys.modules['__main__'].__file__))[0]
+    parent_parser = get_default_parser(strategy='random_search', root_dir=root_dir)
+
+    # allow model to overwrite or extend args
+    TRAINING_MODEL = AVAILABLE_MODELS[model_name]
+    parser = TRAINING_MODEL.add_model_specific_args(parent_parser)
+    parser.json_config('-c', '--config', default=root_dir + '/run_configs/local.json')
+    hyperparams = parser.parse_args()
+
+    # format GPU layout
+    os.environ["CUDA_DEVICE_ORDER"] = "PCI_BUS_ID"
+    gpu_ids = hyperparams.gpus.split(';')
+
+    # RUN TRAINING
+    if hyperparams.on_cluster:
+        print('RUNNING ON SLURM CLUSTER')
+        os.environ["CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES"] = ','.join(gpu_ids)
+        optimize_on_cluster(hyperparams)
+
+    elif hyperparams.single_run_gpu:
+        print(f'RUNNING 1 TRIAL ON GPU. gpu: {gpu_ids[0]}')
+        os.environ["CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES"] = gpu_ids[0]
+        main(hyperparams, None, None)
+
+    elif hyperparams.local or hyperparams.single_run:
+        os.environ["CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES"] = '0'
+        print('RUNNING LOCALLY')
+        main(hyperparams, None, None)
+
+    else:
+        print(f'RUNNING MULTI GPU. GPU ids: {gpu_ids}')
+        hyperparams.optimize_parallel_gpu(
+            main_local,
+            gpu_ids=gpu_ids,
+            nb_trials=hyperparams.nb_hopt_trials,
+            nb_workers=len(gpu_ids)
+        )
diff --git a/research_lib/utils/__init__.py b/research_lib/utils/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/research_lib/utils/arg_parse.py b/research_lib/utils/arg_parse.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a3302b0009
--- /dev/null
+++ b/research_lib/utils/arg_parse.py
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+def add_default_args(parser, root_dir, possible_model_names, rand_seed):
+
+    # tng, test, val check intervals
+    parser.add_argument('--eval_test_set', dest='eval_test_set', action='store_true', help='true = run test set also')
+    parser.add_argument('--check_val_every_n_epoch', default=1, type=int, help='check val every n epochs')
+    parser.opt_list('--accumulate_grad_batches', default=1, type=int, tunable=False,
+                    help='accumulates gradients k times before applying update. Simulates huge batch size')
+    parser.add_argument('--max_nb_epochs', default=200, type=int, help='cap epochs')
+    parser.add_argument('--min_nb_epochs', default=2, type=int, help='min epochs')
+    parser.add_argument('--train_percent_check', default=1.0, type=float, help='how much of tng set to check')
+    parser.add_argument('--val_percent_check', default=1.0, type=float, help='how much of val set to check')
+    parser.add_argument('--test_percent_check', default=1.0, type=float, help='how much of test set to check')
+
+    parser.add_argument('--val_check_interval', default=0.95, type=float, help='how much within 1 epoch to check val')
+    parser.add_argument('--log_save_interval', default=100, type=int, help='how many batches between log saves')
+    parser.add_argument('--add_log_row_interval', default=100, type=int, help='add log every k batches')
+
+    # early stopping
+    parser.add_argument('--disable_early_stop', dest='enable_early_stop', action='store_false')
+    parser.add_argument('--early_stop_metric', default='val_acc', type=str)
+    parser.add_argument('--early_stop_mode', default='min', type=str)
+    parser.add_argument('--early_stop_patience', default=3, type=int, help='number of epochs until stop')
+
+    # gradient handling
+    parser.add_argument('--gradient_clip', default=-1, type=int)
+    parser.add_argument('--track_grad_norm', default=-1, type=int, help='if > 0, will track this grad norm')
+
+    # model saving
+    parser.add_argument('--model_save_path', default=root_dir + '/model_weights')
+    parser.add_argument('--model_save_monitor_value', default='val_acc')
+    parser.add_argument('--model_save_monitor_mode', default='max')
+
+    # model paths
+    parser.add_argument('--model_load_weights_path', default=None, type=str)
+    parser.add_argument('--model_name', default='', help=','.join(possible_model_names))
+
+    # test_tube settings
+    parser.add_argument('-en', '--tt_name', default='r_lib_')
+    parser.add_argument('-td', '--tt_description', default='test research  lib')
+    parser.add_argument('--tt_save_path', default=root_dir + '/test_tube_logs', help='logging dir')
+    parser.add_argument('--enable_single_run', dest='single_run', action='store_true')
+    parser.add_argument('--nb_hopt_trials', default=1, type=int)
+    parser.add_argument('--log_stdout', dest='log_stdout', action='store_true')
+
+    # GPU
+    parser.add_argument('--per_experiment_nb_gpus', default=1, type=int)
+    parser.add_argument('--gpus', default='0', type=str)
+    parser.add_argument('--single_run_gpu', dest='single_run_gpu', action='store_true')
+    parser.add_argument('--disable_cuda', dest='disable_cuda', action='store_true')
+
+    # run on hpc
+    parser.add_argument('--on_cluster', dest='on_cluster', action='store_true')
+
+    # FAST training
+    # use these settings to make sure network has no bugs without running a full dataset
+    parser.add_argument('--fast_dev_run', dest='fast_dev_run', default=False, action='store_true', help='runs validation after 1 tng step')
+    parser.add_argument('--enable_tqdm', dest='enable_tqdm', default=False, action='store_true', help='false removes the prog bar')
+    parser.add_argument('--overfit', default=-1, type=float, help='% of dataset to use with this option. float, or -1 for none')
+
+    # debug args
+    parser.add_argument('--random_seed', default=rand_seed, type=int)
+    parser.add_argument('--live', dest='live', action='store_true', help='runs on gpu without cluster')
+    parser.add_argument('--enable_debug', dest='debug', action='store_true', help='enables/disables test tube')
+    parser.add_argument('--enable_local', dest='local', action='store_true', help='enables local tng')
+
+    # optimizer
+    parser.add_argument('--lr_scheduler_milestones', default=None, type=str)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/research_lib/utils/embeddings.py b/research_lib/utils/embeddings.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5f064fcb98
--- /dev/null
+++ b/research_lib/utils/embeddings.py
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+import torch
+import numpy as np
+from copy import deepcopy
+
+
+class PretrainedEmbedding(torch.nn.Embedding):
+
+    def __init__(self, embedding_path, embedding_dim, task_vocab, freeze=True, *args, **kwargs):
+        """
+        Loads a prebuilt pytorch embedding from any embedding formated file.
+        Padding=0 by default.
+
+        >>> emb = PretrainedEmbedding(embedding_path='glove.840B.300d.txt',embedding_dim=300, task_vocab={'hello': 1, 'world': 2})
+        >>> data = torch.Tensor([[0, 1], [0, 2]]).long()
+        >>> embedded = emb(data)
+        tensor([[[ 0.0000,  0.0000,  0.0000,  ...,  0.0000,  0.0000,  0.0000],
+         [ 0.2523,  0.1018, -0.6748,  ...,  0.1787, -0.5192,  0.3359]],
+
+        [[ 0.0000,  0.0000,  0.0000,  ...,  0.0000,  0.0000,  0.0000],
+         [-0.0067,  0.2224,  0.2771,  ...,  0.0594,  0.0014,  0.0987]]])
+
+
+        :param embedding_path:
+        :param emb_dim:
+        :param task_vocab:
+        :param freeze:
+        :return:
+        """
+        # count the vocab
+        self.vocab_size = max(task_vocab.values()) + 1
+        super(PretrainedEmbedding, self).__init__(self.vocab_size, embedding_dim, padding_idx=0, *args, **kwargs)
+
+        # load pretrained embeddings
+        new_emb = self.__load_task_specific_embeddings(deepcopy(task_vocab), embedding_path, embedding_dim, freeze)
+
+        # transfer weights
+        self.weight = new_emb.weight
+
+        # apply freeze
+        self.weight.requires_grad = not freeze
+
+    def __load_task_specific_embeddings(self, vocab_words, embedding_path, emb_dim, freeze):
+        """
+        Iterates embedding file to only pull out task specific embeddings
+        :param vocab_words:
+        :param embedding_path:
+        :param emb_dim:
+        :param freeze:
+        :return:
+        """
+
+        # holds final embeddings for relevant words
+        embeddings = np.zeros(shape=(self.vocab_size, emb_dim))
+
+        # load embedding line by line and extract relevant embeddings
+        with open(embedding_path, encoding='utf-8') as f:
+            for line in f:
+                tokens = line.split(' ')
+                word = tokens[0]
+                embedding = tokens[1:]
+                embedding[-1] = embedding[-1][:-1]  # remove last new line
+
+                if word in vocab_words:
+                    vocab_word_i = vocab_words[word]
+
+                    # skip words that try to overwrite pad idx
+                    if vocab_word_i == 0:
+                        del vocab_words[word]
+                        continue
+
+                    emb_vals = np.asarray([float(x) for x in embedding])
+                    embeddings[vocab_word_i] = emb_vals
+
+                    # remove vocab word to early terminate
+                    del vocab_words[word]
+
+                # early break
+                if len(vocab_words) == 0:
+                    break
+
+        # add random vectors for the non-pretrained words
+        # these are vocab words NOT found in the pretrained embeddings
+        for w, i in vocab_words.items():
+            # skip words that try to overwrite pad idx
+            if i == 0:
+                continue
+
+            embedding = np.random.normal(size=emb_dim)
+            embeddings[i] = embedding
+
+        # turn into pt embedding
+        embeddings = torch.FloatTensor(embeddings)
+        embeddings = torch.nn.Embedding.from_pretrained(embeddings, freeze=freeze)
+
+        return embeddings
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    emb = PretrainedEmbedding(
+        embedding_path='/Users/waf/Developer/NGV/research-fermat/fermat/.vector_cache/glove.840B.300d.txt',
+        embedding_dim=300,
+        task_vocab={'hello': 1, 'world': 2}
+    )
+
+    data = torch.Tensor([[0, 1], [0, 2]]).long()
+    embedded = emb(data)
+    print(embedded)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/research_lib/utils/plotting.py b/research_lib/utils/plotting.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..95fe64cc50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/research_lib/utils/plotting.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+from matplotlib import pyplot as plt
+import numpy as np
+np.seterr(divide='ignore', invalid='ignore')
+
+
+def plot_confusion_matrix(cm,
+                          save_path,
+                          normalize=False,
+                          title='Confusion matrix',
+                          ylabel='y',
+                          xlabel='x'):
+    """
+    This function prints and plots the confusion matrix.
+    Normalization can be applied by setting `normalize=True`.
+    """
+    if normalize:
+        cm = cm.astype('float') / cm.sum(axis=1)[:, np.newaxis]
+        print("Normalized confusion matrix")
+    else:
+        print('Confusion matrix, without normalization')
+
+    fig = plt.figure()
+    plt.matshow(cm)
+    plt.title(title)
+    plt.colorbar()
+    plt.ylabel(ylabel)
+    plt.xlabel(xlabel)
+    plt.savefig(save_path)
diff --git a/research_lib/utils/pt_callbacks.py b/research_lib/utils/pt_callbacks.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6c3888139e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/research_lib/utils/pt_callbacks.py
@@ -0,0 +1,261 @@
+import numpy as np
+import os, shutil
+
+
+class Callback(object):
+    """Abstract base class used to build new callbacks.
+    # Properties
+        params: dict. Training parameters
+            (eg. verbosity, batch size, number of epochs...).
+        model: instance of `keras.models.Model`.
+            Reference of the model being trained.
+    The `logs` dictionary that callback methods
+    take as argument will contain keys for quantities relevant to
+    the current batch or epoch.
+    Currently, the `.fit()` method of the `Sequential` model class
+    will include the following quantities in the `logs` that
+    it passes to its callbacks:
+        on_epoch_end: logs include `acc` and `loss`, and
+            optionally include `val_loss`
+            (if validation is enabled in `fit`), and `val_acc`
+            (if validation and accuracy monitoring are enabled).
+        on_batch_begin: logs include `size`,
+            the number of samples in the current batch.
+        on_batch_end: logs include `loss`, and optionally `acc`
+            (if accuracy monitoring is enabled).
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.validation_data = None
+        self.model = None
+
+    def set_params(self, params):
+        self.params = params
+
+    def set_model(self, model):
+        self.model = model
+
+    def on_epoch_begin(self, epoch, logs=None):
+        pass
+
+    def on_epoch_end(self, epoch, logs=None):
+        pass
+
+    def on_batch_begin(self, batch, logs=None):
+        pass
+
+    def on_batch_end(self, batch, logs=None):
+        pass
+
+    def on_train_begin(self, logs=None):
+        pass
+
+    def on_train_end(self, logs=None):
+        pass
+
+
+class EarlyStopping(Callback):
+    """Stop training when a monitored quantity has stopped improving.
+    # Arguments
+        monitor: quantity to be monitored.
+        min_delta: minimum change in the monitored quantity
+            to qualify as an improvement, i.e. an absolute
+            change of less than min_delta, will count as no
+            improvement.
+        patience: number of epochs with no improvement
+            after which training will be stopped.
+        verbose: verbosity mode.
+        mode: one of {auto, min, max}. In `min` mode,
+            training will stop when the quantity
+            monitored has stopped decreasing; in `max`
+            mode it will stop when the quantity
+            monitored has stopped increasing; in `auto`
+            mode, the direction is automatically inferred
+            from the name of the monitored quantity.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, monitor='val_loss',
+                 min_delta=0.0, patience=0, verbose=0, mode='auto'):
+        super(EarlyStopping, self).__init__()
+
+        self.monitor = monitor
+        self.patience = patience
+        self.verbose = verbose
+        self.min_delta = min_delta
+        self.wait = 0
+        self.stopped_epoch = 0
+
+        if mode not in ['auto', 'min', 'max']:
+            print('EarlyStopping mode %s is unknown, fallback to auto mode.' % mode)
+            mode = 'auto'
+
+        if mode == 'min':
+            self.monitor_op = np.less
+        elif mode == 'max':
+            self.monitor_op = np.greater
+        else:
+            if 'acc' in self.monitor:
+                self.monitor_op = np.greater
+            else:
+                self.monitor_op = np.less
+
+        if self.monitor_op == np.greater:
+            self.min_delta *= 1
+        else:
+            self.min_delta *= -1
+
+        self.on_train_begin()
+
+    def on_train_begin(self, logs=None):
+        # Allow instances to be re-used
+        self.wait = 0
+        self.stopped_epoch = 0
+        self.best = np.Inf if self.monitor_op == np.less else -np.Inf
+
+    def on_epoch_end(self, epoch, logs=None):
+        current = logs.get(self.monitor)
+        stop_training = False
+        if current is None:
+            print('Early stopping conditioned on metric `%s` ''which is not available. Available metrics are: %s' %
+                (self.monitor, ','.join(list(logs.keys()))), RuntimeWarning
+            )
+            exit(-1)
+
+        if self.monitor_op(current - self.min_delta, self.best):
+            self.best = current
+            self.wait = 0
+        else:
+            self.wait += 1
+            if self.wait >= self.patience:
+                self.stopped_epoch = epoch
+                stop_training = True
+                self.on_train_end()
+
+        return stop_training
+
+    def on_train_end(self, logs=None):
+        if self.stopped_epoch > 0 and self.verbose > 0:
+            print('Epoch %05d: early stopping' % (self.stopped_epoch + 1))
+
+
+class ModelCheckpoint(Callback):
+    """Save the model after every epoch.
+    `filepath` can contain named formatting options,
+    which will be filled the value of `epoch` and
+    keys in `logs` (passed in `on_epoch_end`).
+    For example: if `filepath` is `weights.{epoch:02d}-{val_loss:.2f}.hdf5`,
+    then the model checkpoints will be saved with the epoch number and
+    the validation loss in the filename.
+    # Arguments
+        filepath: string, path to save the model file.
+        monitor: quantity to monitor.
+        verbose: verbosity mode, 0 or 1.
+        save_best_only: if `save_best_only=True`,
+            the latest best model according to
+            the quantity monitored will not be overwritten.
+        mode: one of {auto, min, max}.
+            If `save_best_only=True`, the decision
+            to overwrite the current save file is made
+            based on either the maximization or the
+            minimization of the monitored quantity. For `val_acc`,
+            this should be `max`, for `val_loss` this should
+            be `min`, etc. In `auto` mode, the direction is
+            automatically inferred from the name of the monitored quantity.
+        save_weights_only: if True, then only the model's weights will be
+            saved (`model.save_weights(filepath)`), else the full model
+            is saved (`model.save(filepath)`).
+        period: Interval (number of epochs) between checkpoints.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, filepath, save_function, monitor='val_loss', verbose=0,
+                 save_best_only=False, save_weights_only=False,
+                 mode='auto', period=1, prefix=''):
+        super(ModelCheckpoint, self).__init__()
+        self.monitor = monitor
+        self.save_function = save_function
+        self.verbose = verbose
+        self.filepath = filepath
+        self.save_best_only = save_best_only
+        self.save_weights_only = save_weights_only
+        self.period = period
+        self.epochs_since_last_save = 0
+        self.prefix = prefix
+
+        if mode not in ['auto', 'min', 'max']:
+            print('ModelCheckpoint mode %s is unknown, '
+                          'fallback to auto mode.' % (mode),
+                          RuntimeWarning)
+            mode = 'auto'
+
+        if mode == 'min':
+            self.monitor_op = np.less
+            self.best = np.Inf
+        elif mode == 'max':
+            self.monitor_op = np.greater
+            self.best = -np.Inf
+        else:
+            if 'acc' in self.monitor or self.monitor.startswith('fmeasure'):
+                self.monitor_op = np.greater
+                self.best = -np.Inf
+            else:
+                self.monitor_op = np.less
+                self.best = np.Inf
+
+    def save_model(self, filepath, overwrite):
+        dirpath = '/'.join(filepath.split('/')[:-1])
+
+        # make paths
+        os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(filepath), exist_ok=True)
+
+        if overwrite:
+            for filename in os.listdir(dirpath):
+                if self.prefix in filename:
+                    path_to_delete = os.path.join(dirpath, filename)
+                    try:
+                        shutil.rmtree(path_to_delete)
+                    except OSError:
+                        os.remove(path_to_delete)
+
+        # delegate the saving to the model
+        self.save_function(filepath)
+
+    def on_epoch_end(self, epoch, logs=None):
+        logs = logs or {}
+        self.epochs_since_last_save += 1
+        if self.epochs_since_last_save >= self.period:
+            self.epochs_since_last_save = 0
+            filepath = '{}/{}_ckpt_epoch_{}.ckpt'.format(self.filepath, self.prefix, epoch + 1)
+            if self.save_best_only:
+                current = logs.get(self.monitor)
+                if current is None:
+                    print('Can save best model only with %s available, '
+                                  'skipping.' % (self.monitor), RuntimeWarning)
+                else:
+                    if self.monitor_op(current, self.best):
+                        if self.verbose > 0:
+                            print('\nEpoch %05d: %s improved from %0.5f to %0.5f,'
+                                  ' saving model to %s'
+                                  % (epoch + 1, self.monitor, self.best,
+                                     current, filepath))
+                        self.best = current
+                        self.save_model(filepath, overwrite=True)
+
+                    else:
+                        if self.verbose > 0:
+                            print('\nEpoch %05d: %s did not improve' %
+                                  (epoch + 1, self.monitor))
+            else:
+                if self.verbose > 0:
+                    print('\nEpoch %05d: saving model to %s' % (epoch + 1, filepath))
+                self.save_model(filepath, overwrite=False)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    c = EarlyStopping(min_delta=0.9, patience=2, verbose=True)
+    losses = [10, 9, 8, 8, 6, 4.3, 5, 4.4, 2.8, 2.5]
+    for i, loss in enumerate(losses):
+        should_stop = c.on_epoch_end(i, logs={'val_loss': loss})
+        print(loss)
+        if should_stop:
+            break
+
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..474f549659
--- /dev/null
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+
+from setuptools import setup, find_packages
+
+setup(name='pytorch-lightning',
+      version='0.0.1',
+      description='Rapid research framework',
+      author='',
+      author_email='',
+      url='https://github.com/williamFalcon/pytorch-lightning',
+      install_requires=[],
+      packages=find_packages()
+      )
diff --git a/tests/README.md b/tests/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..18c7a537c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+# Testing setup
+
+## A. Enable CircleCI for your project
+1. Integrate CircleCI by clicking "Set up Project" at [this link](https://circleci.com/add-projects/gh/NextGenVest).
+
+## B. Add your own tests
+1. In the /tests, emulate exactly the folder structure for your module found under /bot_seed
+2. To create a test for file ```/bot_seed/folder/example.py```:
+    - create the file ```/tests/folder/example_test.py```
+    - notice the **_test**
+    - notice the mirror path under **/tests**
+
+3. Your ```example_test.py``` file should have these main components
+
+```python
+# example.py
+
+def function_i_want_to_test(x):
+    return x*2
+
+def square(x):
+    return x*x
+
+```
+
+```python
+# example_test.py
+
+import pytest
+
+# do whatever imports you need
+from app.bot_seed.folder.example import function_i_want_to_test, square
+
+def test_function_i_want_to_test():
+    answer = function_i_want_to_test(4)
+    assert answer == 8
+
+# -----------------------------------
+# Your function must start with test_
+# -----------------------------------
+def test_square():
+    answer = square(3)
+    assert answer == 9
+
+# -----------------------------------
+# boilerplate (link this file to pytest)
+# -----------------------------------
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    pytest.main([__file__])
+```
+
+## C. Add build passing badge
+1. Create a CircleCI status token:
+    - Go here: https://circleci.com/gh/NextGenVest/your-project-name/edit#api
+    - Click create token
+    - Select status
+    - Type "badge status"
+
+2. Get a copy of the markdown code:
+    - Go here: https://circleci.com/gh/NextGenVest/your-project-name/edit#badges
+    - Select master
+    - Select "badge status" token
+    - Select image URL
+    - Copy the image url link and change the html at the top of the root README.md file for your project
+    
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/__init__.py b/tests/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/tests/research_proj/__init__.py b/tests/research_proj/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/tests/research_proj/sample_model_template/__init__.py b/tests/research_proj/sample_model_template/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/tests/research_proj/sample_model_template/model_template_test.py b/tests/research_proj/sample_model_template/model_template_test.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1ab841611b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/research_proj/sample_model_template/model_template_test.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+import pytest
+
+"""
+Example test to show how to add a test for anything in the project.  
+Look at the README for more instructions   
+"""
+
+
+def test_cube():
+    assert 27 == 27
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    pytest.main([__file__])