Stop module spider from filling the 5 MB cluster home with the Lmod cache

module spider py-torch/2.5.1

```

{{% alert title="module spider can fill your cluster home" color="warning" %}}

`module spider` makes Lmod write a module list cache of about 5 MB to `~/.cache/lmod`, which on its own exceeds the 5 MB quota of the cluster home. The [`.daicrc` file](/quickstart/shell-setup/) prevents this by setting `LMOD_SHORT_TIME`. If it already happened, remove the cache with `rm -r ~/.cache/lmod`.

{{% /alert %}}

## Loading modules

**Load a single module:**

## What .daicrc contains

`.daicrc` only exports environment variables and creates the target directories. It defines no aliases or functions and changes no tool behaviour beyond where files are written, so it is safe to source in non-interactive shells and in job scripts.

`.daicrc` only exports environment variables and creates the target directories. It defines no aliases or functions and changes no tool behaviour beyond where files are written (for Lmod: whether a cache is written), so it is safe to source in non-interactive shells and in job scripts.

An entry belongs in `.daicrc` when a tool writes files into the home directory that grow beyond a few kilobytes and the tool offers an environment variable to relocate them. Configuration files (`.bashrc`, `.ssh/`, `.gitconfig`, tool settings) stay in the cluster home; `XDG_CONFIG_HOME` is deliberately not redirected. Tools without a relocation variable are handled per user with a symlink, as described under [Storage](/docs/storage/storage/#redirecting-caches-out-of-the-cluster-home).

| `KERAS_HOME` | `~/linuxhome/.keras` | Keras datasets and models |

| `CUDA_CACHE_PATH` | `~/linuxhome/.cache/nv/ComputeCache` | CUDA JIT compute cache (default `~/.nv`); fills the quota on its own after a few GPU jobs |

| `JUPYTER_DATA_DIR` | `~/linuxhome/.local/share/jupyter` | Jupyter kernelspecs and extensions |

| `LMOD_SHORT_TIME` | not a path; set to `86400` | The module system (Lmod) writing a module list cache of about 5 MB to `~/.cache/lmod` when you run `module spider`. Lmod offers no variable to relocate this cache and ignores `XDG_CACHE_HOME`; it only writes the cache when building the list took longer than `LMOD_SHORT_TIME` seconds. The cost is that every `module spider` rebuilds the list, which takes a few seconds. |

It also prepends `~/linuxhome/.local/bin` and `~/linuxhome/.pixi/bin` to `PATH` so tools installed by uv, pip, and pixi are found.

quota -s

```

If you have not stored anything there yourself, a tool has written a cache. Find it with `du -ak ~ | sort -rn | head`. A common one is `~/.cache/lmod` (about 5 MB), written by `module spider`; it is safe to delete. Installing [`.daicrc`](/quickstart/shell-setup/) prevents this and redirects the caches of other tools, see [Redirecting caches out of the cluster home](/docs/storage/storage/#redirecting-caches-out-of-the-cluster-home).

### Job fails immediately with no output

**Cause:** Often a missing module or incorrect path.

# Jupyter

export JUPYTER_DATA_DIR=~/linuxhome/.local/share/jupyter

# Lmod: do not write the module spider cache. It is about 5 MB, its location

# (~/.cache/lmod) cannot be changed, and XDG_CACHE_HOME is ignored. Lmod only

# writes it when building the module list took longer than this many seconds.

export LMOD_SHORT_TIME=86400

# pip install --user (packages and scripts under ~/.local)

export PYTHONUSERBASE=~/linuxhome/.local