Time Estimator

The console progress display and the scheduler's critical-path ordering use estimated module durations. ModularPipelines registers a default provider, so estimates work without any setup: it stores the latest measured duration of each module and sub-module as a small text file under %APPDATA%/ModularPipelines/EstimatedTimes (the user's application-data folder on each platform).

Estimates are best-effort. If the provider cannot read or write its storage (for example a read-only profile, or several pipelines saving at once), the failure is logged, a default estimate of two minutes is used, and the module's outcome is unaffected. The default provider replaces entries atomically, so concurrent pipelines never read a partially written value.

Custom providers

Replace the default provider to share estimates between machines, or to derive them from another source such as run history:

var builder = Pipeline.CreateBuilder(args);

builder
    .AddModule<Module1>()
    .AddModule<Module2>();

builder.AddModuleEstimatedTimeProvider<MyEstimatedTimeProvider>();

await builder.RunAsync();

Implement GetModuleEstimatedTimeAsync and SaveModuleTimeAsync. The sub-module members have default implementations (no stored estimates, and saving does nothing); override them when the provider should also estimate sub-modules.

public sealed class MyEstimatedTimeProvider(IMyDurationStore store) : IModuleEstimatedTimeProvider
{
    public async Task<TimeSpan> GetModuleEstimatedTimeAsync(
        ModuleId moduleId,
        CancellationToken cancellationToken = default)
    {
        return await store.GetAsync(moduleId.Value, cancellationToken)
            ?? TimeSpan.FromMinutes(2);
    }

    public Task SaveModuleTimeAsync(
        ModuleId moduleId,
        TimeSpan duration,
        CancellationToken cancellationToken = default)
    {
        return store.SaveAsync(moduleId.Value, duration, cancellationToken);
    }
}

When run history is enabled, IRunHistoryReader.GetModuleDurationTrendAsync returns recent measured durations for a module, which a custom provider can average instead of keeping its own storage. Configure RunReportOptions.PipelineIdentity explicitly through builder.ConfigureOptions before querying the reader. The identity derived automatically when writing reports is not used by IRunHistoryReader; a missing or blank identity causes InvalidOperationException. See Run reports and history for configuration and query examples.

All provider methods use ModularPipelines.ModuleId, shared with run history, artifacts, and execution backends. Use ModuleId.FromType(typeof(MyModule)) to derive an identifier. A [ModuleId("build")] attribute keeps the identifier stable when a module is renamed. Construct an identifier with new ModuleId(value) or an explicit cast from a string; invalid identifiers throw during this explicit validation step. Reading an identifier as a string remains implicit. The default provider hashes identifiers into safe filenames. Existing estimates are rebuilt under the new keys after upgrading to v4.

Custom providers​

Custom providers