diff --git a/hydragnn/utils/deephyper.py b/hydragnn/utils/deephyper.py
index dd7a622f3..5169c0a82 100644
--- a/hydragnn/utils/deephyper.py
+++ b/hydragnn/utils/deephyper.py
@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@ def master_from_host(host):
 
 def read_node_list():
     node_list = os.environ["SLURM_NODELIST"]
+    if not "[" in node_list:
+        return [
+            node_list,
+        ], node_list
     nodes = []
     system = os.getenv("HYDRAGNN_SYSTEM", "frontier")
     if system == "frontier":