Implementation:Ray project Ray Ray Init For Actors

Knowledge Sources	Ray Ray Actors
Domains	Distributed_Computing, Actor_Model
Last Updated	2026-02-13 17:00 GMT

Overview

Concrete tool for initializing the Ray runtime for actor lifecycle operations provided by the Ray Java SDK.

Description

The same Ray.init() method used for task execution, documented here in the actor lifecycle context. After initialization, the runtime supports Ray.actor() for creating actors, handle.task() for invoking actor methods, Ray.getActor() for named actor lookup, and handle.kill() / Ray.exitActor() for termination.

Usage

Call Ray.init() before any actor creation or management operations. The initialization is a one-time operation shared across task and actor workflows within the same JVM process.

Code Reference

Source Location

• Repository: ray-project/ray
• File: java/api/src/main/java/io/ray/api/Ray.java
• Lines: L15-34

Signature

public static void init()

Import

import io.ray.api.Ray;

I/O Contract

Inputs

Name	Type	Required	Description
(none)	—	—	Zero-argument method.

Outputs

Name	Type	Description
Ray.runtime	RayRuntime	Initialized runtime supporting actor operations

Usage Examples

Initialize for Actor Usage

import io.ray.api.Ray;
import io.ray.api.ActorHandle;

public class ActorApp {
    public static class Counter {
        private int value = 0;
        public int increment() { return ++value; }
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Initialize Ray — required before actor creation
        Ray.init();

        ActorHandle<Counter> counter = Ray.actor(Counter::new).remote();
        // ... use actor ...

        Ray.shutdown();
    }
}

Related Pages

Implements Principle

• Principle:Ray_project_Ray_Actor_Runtime_Initialization

Requires Environment

• Environment:Ray_project_Ray_Java_Build_Environment