diff --git a/src/sparsify/auto/scripts/main.py b/src/sparsify/auto/scripts/main.py
index a06ce301..131ae4ff 100644
--- a/src/sparsify/auto/scripts/main.py
+++ b/src/sparsify/auto/scripts/main.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
     request_student_teacher_configs,
     save_history,
 )
-from sparsify.schemas import APIArgs, Metrics, SparsificationTrainingConfig
+from sparsify.schemas import APIArgs, Metrics, RunMode, SparsificationTrainingConfig
 from tensorboard.program import TensorBoard
 
 
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ def main(api_args: Optional[APIArgs] = None):
             student_config = SparsificationTrainingConfig(**config_dict)
         else:
             teacher_config = SparsificationTrainingConfig(**config_dict)
-            if not api_args.teacher_only:
+            if RunMode(api_args.run_mode) != RunMode.teacher_only:
                 student_config = api_request_config(api_args)
 
         save_directory = api_args.resume
diff --git a/src/sparsify/auto/utils/nm_api.py b/src/sparsify/auto/utils/nm_api.py
index 671568ab..e3470a73 100644
--- a/src/sparsify/auto/utils/nm_api.py
+++ b/src/sparsify/auto/utils/nm_api.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 import requests
 
 from sparsify.login import import_sparsifyml_authenticated
-from sparsify.schemas import APIArgs, Metrics, SparsificationTrainingConfig
+from sparsify.schemas import APIArgs, Metrics, RunMode, SparsificationTrainingConfig
 from sparsify.utils import get_base_url, strtobool
 
 
@@ -86,14 +86,14 @@ def request_student_teacher_configs(
 
     student_config, teacher_config = None, None
 
-    if api_args.teacher_only:
+    if RunMode(api_args.run_mode) == RunMode.teacher_only:
         teacher_config = SparsificationTrainingConfig(**api_request_config(api_args))
 
     else:
         student_config = SparsificationTrainingConfig(**api_request_config(api_args))
         if student_config.distill_teacher == "auto":
             teacher_input_args = api_args.copy(deep=True)
-            teacher_input_args.teacher_only = True
+            teacher_input_args.run_mode = RunMode.teacher_only
             teacher_config = SparsificationTrainingConfig(
                 **api_request_config(teacher_input_args)
             )
diff --git a/src/sparsify/cli/run.py b/src/sparsify/cli/run.py
index daa5ee0a..1210e2b4 100644
--- a/src/sparsify/cli/run.py
+++ b/src/sparsify/cli/run.py
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ def sparse_transfer(**kwargs):
     from sparsify import auto
 
     # recipe arg should be a sparse transfer recipe
-    auto.main(_parse_run_args_to_auto(**kwargs))
+    auto.main(_parse_run_args_to_auto(sparse_transfer=True, **kwargs))
 
 
 @main.command()
@@ -83,10 +83,10 @@ def training_aware(**kwargs):
     from sparsify import auto
 
     # recipe arg should be a training aware recipe
-    auto.main(_parse_run_args_to_auto(**kwargs))
+    auto.main(_parse_run_args_to_auto(sparse_transfer=False, **kwargs))
 
 
-def _parse_run_args_to_auto(**kwargs):
+def _parse_run_args_to_auto(sparse_transfer: bool, **kwargs):
     from sparsify.schemas import APIArgs
 
     if kwargs["eval_metric"] == "kl":
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ def _parse_run_args_to_auto(**kwargs):
         teacher_kwargs={},
         tuning_parameters=None,
         teacher_tuning_parameters=None,
-        teacher_only=False,
+        run_mode="sparse_transfer" if sparse_transfer else "training_aware",
     )
 
 
diff --git a/src/sparsify/schemas/auto_api.py b/src/sparsify/schemas/auto_api.py
index ffe6ee8c..cd330e51 100644
--- a/src/sparsify/schemas/auto_api.py
+++ b/src/sparsify/schemas/auto_api.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 import argparse
 import json
 import os
+from enum import Enum
 from functools import total_ordering
 from typing import Any, Dict, List, Optional, Union
 
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@
 
 __all__ = [
     "APIArgs",
+    "RunMode",
     "SparsificationTrainingConfig",
     "Metrics",
     "DEFAULT_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY",
@@ -40,6 +42,16 @@
 DEFAULT_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY = "./output"
 
 
+class RunMode(Enum):
+    """
+    Class defining options for auto runner modes
+    """
+
+    training_aware = "training_aware"  # full sparsification run from dense baseline
+    sparse_transfer = "sparse_transfer"
+    teacher_only = "teacher_only"  # only train dense upstream teacher
+
+
 class APIArgs(BaseModel):
     """
     Class containing the front-end arguments for Sparsify.Auto
@@ -163,10 +175,13 @@ class APIArgs(BaseModel):
         "settings. See example tuning config output for expected format",
         default=None,
     )
-    teacher_only: bool = Field(
-        title="teacher_only",
-        description=("set to True to only auto tune the teacher"),
-        default=False,
+    run_mode: RunMode = Field(
+        title="run_mode",
+        description=(
+            "training run mode objective - 'sparse_transfer', 'training_aware', or "
+            "'teacher_only'. Default is 'sparse_transfer'"
+        ),
+        default=RunMode.sparse_transfer,
     )
 
     @validator("task")