⚡MediumFine-Tuning & TrainingPREMIUM

Instruction Tuning & Chat Templates

Master instruction tuning (SFT) and chat templates. Learn how raw base models are transformed into helpful assistants using structured data, loss masking, and sequence packing.

What you'll master

SFT on instruction datasets

Chat template formats (ChatML, Llama)

System/User/Assistant roles

Data quality vs quantity (LIMA)

Loss masking for user tokens

Conversation packing strategies

Self-Instruct methodology

Chat template mismatch debugging

Medium25 min readIncludes code examples, architecture diagrams, and expert-level follow-up questions.

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Code examplesArchitecture diagramsModel answersScoring rubricCommon pitfallsFollow-up Q&A

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