CARE 2026 – Whole Heart Track Test Phase Docker Submission Instructions

Thank you for participating in the CARE 2026 Whole Heart Track!

During the test phase, each team must submit a Docker image containing their trained algorithm. The organizers will evaluate this image on a hidden test set to ensure fairness and reproducibility.

Introduction

Prepare a Docker image with your prediction pipeline and submit the following via email:

Include in the email body:

  • A download link to your Docker image, hosted on Google Drive, Mega, Baidu Netdisk, or a similar service.
  • The docker commands to run the Docker container (if not using an ENTRYPOINT), along with any additional instructions required to execute your pipeline. Note: we would like to run all code CPU-only for compatibility reasons. If you want to use a GPU, please let us know.

Each team is allowed up to 3 submissions. Failed submissions (e.g., due to runtime errors or invalid outputs) do not count toward this limit. After a successful first submission, we will provide a feedback report with evaluation metrics. You may then submit an improved Docker image for the second attempt.

Docker Requirements

Your Docker container must:

  • Read input images from the mounted /input directory (read-only).
  • Write predictions to the mounted /output directory.

We will load and run your Docker image using commands similar to the following:

docker load --input <your_image_file>

docker run \
    −v <our_test_directory>:/input:ro \
    −v :/output \
    −it <your_image_file> <your_command>
  • The container should run in a non-interactive mode if possible; avoid requiring user input.
  • Ensure the container exits gracefully upon completion.

Note that the file strucure of /input is as follows:

input/
│    ├──ct_test/
│    │    ├──CaseCTTest001_image.nii.gz
│    │    ├──CaseCTTest002_image.nii.gz
│    │    ├──CaseCTTest003_image.nii.gz
│    │    ***
│    ├──mr_test/
│    │    ├──CaseMRTest001_image.nii.gz
│    │    ├──CaseMRTest002_image.nii.gz
│    │    ├──CaseMRTest003_image.nii.gz
│    │    ***

The expected output structure mirrors the validation phase：

output/
│    ├──ct_test/
│    │    ├──CaseCTTest001_pred.nii.gz
│    │    ├──CaseCTTest002_pred.nii.gz
│    │    ├──CaseCTTest003_pred.nii.gz
│    │    ***
│    ├──mr_test/
│    │    ├──CaseMRTest001_pred.nii.gz
│    │    ├──CaseMRTest002_pred.nii.gz
│    │    ├──CaseMRTest003_pred.nii.gz
│    │    ***

We will copy the prediction results in /output to our local directory and do evaluation.

Building Your Docker Image

Here is a minimal Dockerfile example for a Python-based pipeline:

FROM python:3.9-slim

WORKDIR /workspace

COPY requirements.txt .
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt

COPY . .

ENTRYPOINT ["python", "main.py"]

To build and export the image:

docker build -t your_image_name .
docker save your_image_name | gzip > your_image_name.tar.gz
  • Replace main.py with your entry script, which should handle reading from /input, processing all cases, and writing to /output.
  • Test your image locally by mounting sample directories to simulate the evaluation environment.

You can view Docker Homepage for further reference.

Additional Guidelines

  • Predictions: Must match the input images’ shapes, orientations, and data types.
  • No Training: The container should only perform inference; no training or model updates are allowed.
  • No Internet Access: The container must run offline—do not include dependencies requiring network access (e.g., no pip installs at runtime).
  • Efficiency: Optimize for reasonable runtime on standard hardware (e.g., GPU if specified; indicate in your instructions if a GPU is required via --gpus all).
  • Error Handling: Include robust logging and error handling to aid debugging.

Important Dates

  • Test Phase Start: June 10, 2026
  • Docker Submission Deadline: August 03, 2026 (Updated!)
  • Abstract & Paper Submission Deadline: July 27, 2026 (Updated!)

Final Notes

  • The validation phase remains active during the test phase; you may continue submitting validation predictions as per previous instructions, and the leaderboard will update accordingly.
  • For questions or issues, contact: care26challenge@163.com or care2026challenge@outlook.com