IO_demo checkpointing

[Ed Hone (EdHone)]

PR Summary

Sci/Tech Reviewer:
Code Reviewer: Andrew Coughtrie (@andrewcoughtrie)

This PR enables the IO_demo app to checkpoint itself. This is achieved by the addition of a small new module (~100 lines of code) which creates a new checkpointing context, creates the definitions for the relevant checkpoint/restart files and adds the context to the clock event loop.
Where possible, this should be the template used to set up checkpointing for all LFRic applications.
I have also added some nrun-vs-crun tests to the IO_demo rose-stem developer tests which pass, demonstrating the new functionality.
I also moved some things around in the lfric_xios_context_mod, namely the callipers which were confusingly outside of the if statement that controlled whether the measured code would be run.

Code Quality Checklist

• I have performed a self-review of my own code
• My code follows the project's style guidelines
• Comments have been included that aid understanding and enhance the readability of the code
• My changes generate no new warnings
• All automated checks in the CI pipeline have completed successfully

Testing

• I have tested this change locally, using the LFRic Core rose-stem suite
• If required (e.g. API changes) I have also run the LFRic Apps test suite using this branch
• If any tests fail (rose-stem or CI) the reason is understood and acceptable (e.g. kgo changes)
• I have added tests to cover new functionality as appropriate (e.g. system tests, unit tests, etc.)
• Any new tests have been assigned an appropriate amount of compute resource and have been allocated to an appropriate testing group (i.e. the developer tests are for jobs which use a small amount of compute resource and complete in a matter of minutes)

trac.log

Test Suite Results - lfric_core - lfric_core-287-io_demo-cruns/run9

Suite Information

Item	Value
Suite Name	lfric_core-287-io_demo-cruns/run9
Suite User	edward.hone
Workflow Start	2026-03-09T12:12:06
Groups Run	io_demo_developer

Dependency	Reference	Main Like
lfric_core	EdHone/lfric_core@287-io_demo-cruns	False
SimSys_Scripts	MetOffice/SimSys_Scripts@2025.12.1	True

Task Information

✅ succeeded tasks - 73

Security Considerations

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• Sensitive data is properly handled (if applicable)
• Authentication and authorisation are properly implemented (if applicable)

Performance Impact

• Performance of the code has been considered and, if applicable, suitable performance measurements have been conducted

AI Assistance and Attribution

• Some of the content of this change has been produced with the assistance of Generative AI tool name (e.g., Met Office Github Copilot Enterprise, Github Copilot Personal, ChatGPT GPT-4, etc) and I have followed the Simulation Systems AI policy (including attribution labels)

Documentation

• Where appropriate I have updated documentation related to this change and confirmed that it builds correctly

PSyclone Approval

• If you have edited any PSyclone-related code (e.g. PSyKAl-lite, Kernel interface, optimisation scripts, LFRic data structure code) then please contact the TCD Team

Sci/Tech Review

• I understand this area of code and the changes being added
• The proposed changes correspond to the pull request description
• Documentation is sufficient (do documentation papers need updating)
• Sufficient testing has been completed

(Please alert the code reviewer via a tag when you have approved the SR)

Code Review

• All dependencies have been resolved
• Related Issues have been properly linked and addressed
• CLA compliance has been confirmed
• Code quality standards have been met
• Tests are adequate and have passed
• Documentation is complete and accurate
• Security considerations have been addressed
• Performance impact is acceptable

[Andrew Coughtrie (andrewcoughtrie)]

Looks good and neat overall, my only question is whether the checkpointing in io_demo should be made flexible to allow (and demonstrate) how to checkpoint at multiple points in the run. This may be better off in a separate issue but I think it's important to have in there.

[Ed Hone (EdHone)]

Looks good and neat overall, my only question is whether the checkpointing in io_demo should be made flexible to allow (and demonstrate) how to checkpoint at multiple points in the run. This may be better off in a separate issue but I think it's important to have in there.

Yeah I was planning to implement flexible checkpointing in a separate issue, but I can have a look to see how much extra work it would be to implement here, it might make more sense to do it now

[Ed Hone (EdHone)]

I've added flexible checkpointing and a test which includes it, everything works as expected!
I've also merged up to the head of main in the latest commit - back over to you Andrew Coughtrie (@andrewcoughtrie)