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January Community Conversation

This meeting was held on Tuesday, January 13, 2026 at 11:30am ET. Monthly community meetings are convened over Zoom to discuss topics of interest. Usually there are no planned agendas and community members bring ideas and questions to share.

Quick recap

The ColdFront Community Conversation focused on updates to the architecture and security of the platform. The team working on the NSF POS grant will begin i-Corps training next week, requiring 100 interviews to gather user feedback on ColdFront. John provided an overview of the architecture updates, including code cleanup and plans for a new 2.0 version with improved structure and customization options. Andrew mentioned the removal of outdated JavaScript libraries and the completion of a security audit, which did not reveal significant issues. Chris shared progress on his Tufts instance of ColdFront, highlighting UI changes and template modifications. The group discussed user migration and PI changes in ColdFront, with John and Dori explaining their manual processes for handling such cases. Catherine inquired about handling PI changes for project-level allocations, leading to a discussion of current practices and challenges.

Next steps

• Dori/NSF POS grant team: Interview 100 people (ColdFront users and non-users) as part of I-COR training, including reaching out to community and beyond for participants.
• Community members: Share ideas or contacts for potential interviewees (especially non-HPC, scientific instrument, or corporate users) with Dori/team.
• Andrew: Merge the Bootstrap 5 PR and any associated fixes, then freeze the 1.X branch for new features (only bug fixes/security backports after this point).
• Cecilia: Review and provide feedback on Chris's code for the storage plugin working group.
• Chris: Send code for review to Cecilia for the storage plugin working group.
• Dori/Grant team: Review draft governance document from Ramender and approve for sharing with the governance working group.
• Dori/Grant team: Meet later today to discuss/approve the draft governance document for the working group.
• Joe (Rabil): Reach out to Cecilia and/or SMU team via Slack or direct meeting to discuss ColdFront/Slurm migration and user sync details.
• Chris: Provide feedback on UI changes for the next version of ColdFront to Andrew.
• Community members: Sign up for or share the interview registration link to help reach the 100-interview goal.

Summary

i-Corps Training for NSF POSE Grant

Dori announced the start of i-Corps training for the NSF POSE grant team, which involves interviewing 100 people to gather feedback on ColdFront and other tools. She encouraged the community to help identify potential interviewees, including those who have tried but not used ColdFront, and suggested reaching out to companies using scientific instruments. Dori invited ideas for expanding the search beyond the HPC community for potential ColdFront users.

Transition to 2.0 Version Planning

The team discussed plans for a new release, marking the end of the 1.X versions and the start of a 2.0 version focused on improving structure for easier customization. Andrew has done significant code overhaul, and the team aims to separate core functionality from optional plugins to allow for more flexible updates. The immediate goal is to release a consistent 1.X version with bug fixes only, while preparing for the 2.0 version that will include more structured views and class-based components.

Bootstrap 5 Upgrade and Security

The team discussed the status of Bootstrap 5 upgrade, with Andrew planning to merge the PR along with Cecilia's fixes to complete the upgrade. John reported that a security audit was completed, finding no significant issues, though some outdated JavaScript libraries were noted and have since been updated. Chris mentioned ongoing work on the storage plugin working group, while Dori provided an update on the governance working group led by Ramender, who shared a draft governance document for review.

ColdFront and Slurm Migration

The meeting focused on discussing the integration and migration between ColdFront and Slurm systems. John explained that while ColdFront is the source of truth for Slurm, there is a one-way sync, but users did not lose access during the transition. Joe, representing George Washington University, inquired about the migration process and was informed by John and Dori that a migration script was used to transfer users from Slurm to ColdFront. The group discussed the challenges of managing user access and departmental changes, with Dori highlighting ColdFront's ability to handle multiple allocations and accounts. Joe planned to reach out on Slack for further discussions and assistance with the migration process.

Tufts ColdFront UI Enhancements

Chris demonstrated progress on the Tufts ColdFront instance, including template changes and user interface improvements such as surfacing notifications to the project header and cleaning up project information. He explained how he manages template updates through a separate GitHub repository and showed various cosmetic and functional modifications, including changes to labels, breadcrumb UI elements, and storage allocation displays. The instance currently uses external Tableau reporting for storage use tracking, with help documentation accessible through a menu.

ColdFront UI and Access Management

The group discussed user interface changes in ColdFront, with Chris demonstrating a new storage quota gauge and Andrew expressing interest in incorporating similar elements into the next version of ColdFront. They also discussed how to handle PI changes for allocations, with Dori and John describing their manual processes of updating user permissions and expiring allocations when PIs leave. Catherine inquired about these processes, and John explained their system of checking AD regularly, creating a log of owner changes, and revoking access to data when necessary. The conversation ended with a reminder about upcoming interviews for the project.