alterlab-scikit-learn

Scikit-learn

Overview

This skill provides comprehensive guidance for machine learning tasks using scikit-learn, the industry-standard Python library for classical machine learning. Use this skill for classification, regression, clustering, dimensionality reduction, preprocessing, model evaluation, and building production-ready ML pipelines.

Installation

# Install scikit-learn using uv
uv pip install scikit-learn

# Optional: Install visualization dependencies
uv pip install matplotlib seaborn

# Commonly used with
uv pip install pandas numpy

When to Use This Skill

Use the scikit-learn skill when:

• Building classification or regression models
• Performing clustering or dimensionality reduction
• Preprocessing and transforming data for machine learning
• Evaluating model performance with cross-validation
• Tuning hyperparameters with grid or random search
• Creating ML pipelines for production workflows
• Comparing different algorithms for a task
• Working with both structured (tabular) and text data
• Need interpretable, classical machine learning approaches

Quick Start

Minimal classification flow: stratified train_test_split → StandardScaler (fit on train only) → fit estimator → classification_report. For mixed numeric/categorical data, wrap preprocessing in a ColumnTransformer inside a Pipeline so it cross-validates without leakage.

See references/worked_examples.md for full copy-paste classification and mixed-data pipeline examples.

Core Capabilities

1. Supervised Learning

Comprehensive algorithms for classification and regression tasks.

Key algorithms:

• Linear models: Logistic Regression, Linear Regression, Ridge, Lasso, ElasticNet
• Tree-based: Decision Trees, Random Forest, Gradient Boosting
• Support Vector Machines: SVC, SVR with various kernels
• Ensemble methods: AdaBoost, Voting, Stacking
• Neural Networks: MLPClassifier, MLPRegressor
• Others: Naive Bayes, K-Nearest Neighbors