diff --git a/mttl/config.py b/mttl/config.py
index e791eb3be..b939f188d 100644
--- a/mttl/config.py
+++ b/mttl/config.py
@@ -317,6 +317,16 @@ class TransformArgs(
 
 @dataclass
 class TrainingArgs(DataArgs):
+    # model arguments
+    model: str = None
+    model_family: str = None
+    attn_implementation: str = None
+    device_map: str = "cpu"
+    load_in_4bit: bool = False
+    load_in_8bit: bool = False
+    do_train: bool = True
+
+    # output directories
     cache_dir: str = os.getenv("CACHE_DIR", "./cache")
     data_dir: str = os.getenv("TRAIN_DIR", "/tmp/")
     output_dir: str = os.getenv("OUTPUT_DIR", "./output")
@@ -359,14 +369,6 @@ class TrainingArgs(DataArgs):
     precision: str = "32"
     monitor_grad_alignment_on: str = None
 
-    model: str = None
-    model_family: str = None
-    attn_implementation: str = None
-    device_map: str = "cpu"
-    load_in_4bit: bool = False
-    load_in_8bit: bool = False
-    do_train: bool = True
-
     # logging
     wandb_project: str = None
     tensorboard: bool = False
@@ -402,6 +404,10 @@ def dataset_config(self):
                 DataArgs.registrable_class.get_config_class_by_name(self.dataset_type),
                 self,
             )
+        else:
+            raise ValueError(
+                "Trying to access dataset config without specifying `dataset_type`!"
+            )
 
     def __post_init__(self):
         if self.attn_implementation == "eager" and self.pack_sequences:
@@ -430,6 +436,18 @@ def __post_init__(self):
                 + "into account when computing `gradient_accumulation_steps`."
             )
 
+        if self.model_family is None:
+            # infer model family automatically
+            if "t5" in self.model or "T0" in self.model:
+                self.model_family = "seq2seq"
+            else:
+                self.model_family = "gpt"
+
+            logger.warn(
+                "Model family was not specified, inferring from model name:",
+                self.model_family,
+            )
+
 
 @dataclass
 class ExpertConfig(TrainingArgs, ModifierArgs):
@@ -515,3 +533,14 @@ class MoEExpertConfig(MultiExpertConfig):
     moe_ent_reg: float = 0.0
     moe_ent_free_bits: float = 0.0
     moe_num_experts: int = 8
+
+
+@dataclass
+class RankerConfig(TrainingArgs, SelectorArgs):
+    encoder_model_name: str = "all-MiniLM-L6-v2"
+    text_embedding_dim: int = 384
+    expert_embedding_dim: int = 512
+    projection_dim: int = 512
+    val_check_interval = 1.0
+    limit_val_batches: float = 1.0
+    limit_train_batches: float = 1.0