Adversarial Robustness Toolbox (ART)

Use this repo skill when a task names adversarial-robustness-toolbox, art, ART estimators, adversarial examples, robustness defences, poisoning/backdoor attacks, privacy inference attacks, model extraction, robustness metrics, or certification workflows.

ART is a Python library for wrapping ML models as estimators, attacking and defending them, and evaluating robustness. This skill covers the core CPU-capable Python workflows verified for ART 1.20.1; heavy speech, object-detection, tracking, malware, GAN/generation, experimental, notebook, and container-only workflows are treated as out of selected runtime scope unless a future refresh expands them.

Start here

1. If ART is not installed or imports fail, go to sub-skills/setup-and-backends/.

2. For a quick installed-environment check, run the bundled diagnostic from this skill directory:

   python scripts/inspect_art_install.py --json
   

3. If a model is not yet wrapped as an ART estimator, use sub-skills/estimators-and-models/ before choosing attacks or metrics.

4. Choose the workflow owner from the route table below, then read that sub-skill's references and bundled scripts.

5. Before deciding whether this skill matches a newer checkout, read references/repo-provenance.md.

Route map

User request	Load this sub-skill	Why
Install ART, verify import art, choose CPU/GPU packages, resolve optional dependency or backend errors	setup-and-backends	Owns package groups, backend matrix, and import diagnostics.
Wrap sklearn, PyTorch, TensorFlow/Keras, boosted-tree, GPy, black-box, or regression models for ART	estimators-and-models	Owns estimator constructor contracts, labels, shapes, clip_values, gradients, and black-box limitations.
Generate evasion adversarial examples, choose FGSM/PGD/AutoAttack/HopSkipJump/patch attacks, add preprocessors, or plan adversarial training	evasion-and-preprocessing	Owns attack-family compatibility, perturbation budgets, preprocessing defences, and trainer recipes.
Plan poisoning/backdoor, membership/attribute inference, model inversion/reconstruction, model extraction/stealing, or detector/mitigation workflows	poisoning-inference-extraction	Owns poisoning, privacy inference, extraction, Neural Cleanse, Activation Defence, STRIP, and query/data split guidance.
Compute robustness/privacy metrics, run SecurityCurve or GREAT score, use SummaryWriter routing, run tree verification, or choose certification wrappers	evaluation-and-certification	Owns ART metrics, evaluation objects, gradient checks, tree verification, randomized smoothing, DeepZ, and interval/IBP routes.

Shared references

• references/backend-matrix.md — install groups, optional backend families, and CPU/GPU notes used across sub-skills.
• references/workflow-overview.md — end-to-end workflow order, input/label conventions, and cross-sub-skill handoffs.
• references/examples-and-tests-map.md — bundled helper map and native-candidate categories, without requiring source examples at runtime.
• references/troubleshooting.md — cross-cutting install/import, data shape, optional dependency, and workflow-routing failures.
• references/repo-routing-metadata.json — structured router placement consumed during managed repo-skill import.

Public install check

For a normal user environment, start with the base package and only add backend libraries needed by the selected workflow:

python -m pip install adversarial-robustness-toolbox
python -c "import art; print(art.__version__)"

For PyTorch CPU workflows, be explicit in ART wrappers that accept a device parameter:

classifier = PyTorchClassifier(..., device_type="cpu")

ART's PyTorch wrappers often default to GPU-oriented device selection, so this explicit CPU choice avoids no-CUDA confusion.

Guardrails

• Do not run original repository examples, notebooks, tests, or CI scripts as runtime instructions for users. Use the bundled scripts and distilled references in this skill tree.
• Do not claim a black-box estimator supports white-box attacks requiring loss_gradient; route to compatible attacks or rebuild a gradient-enabled estimator.
• Do not treat successful attack generation as proof of robustness. Use the metrics/certification sub-skill for evaluation, stronger attacks, and gradient-obfuscation checks.
• Do not import or update the managed repo-skill library from this runtime skill. Import is a separate verified creation workflow step.