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MLOps Academy · Lesson

Export to ONNX for Portability

Move a model across frameworks and runtimes.

Export to ONNX for Portability is a free MLOps Academy lesson on CoddyKit — lesson 3 of 4. You can read the complete lesson below for free — then practise it hands-on in the browser with a built-in code editor and a 24/7 AI tutor. It is part of the MLOps Academy learning path, one of 4 lessons in the course, and your progress syncs across the web and the CoddyKit app.

The Portability Problem

You trained in PyTorch but want to serve in C++ or the browser. A framework-locked file makes that painful. ONNX fixes it. 🌍

What ONNX Is

ONNX is an open, shared format for models. It describes the math as a graph that many frameworks and runtimes can read.

A Graph of Operators

Under the hood an ONNX model is a graph of standard operators like MatMul and Relu, plus the learned weights.

Train Once, Run Anywhere

Export once and the same file runs on servers, mobile, and edge devices through different runtimes, no retraining needed.

Export from PyTorch

PyTorch ships an exporter. You pass the model and a sample input to torch.onnx.export so it can trace the graph.

import torch
torch.onnx.export(model, sample, 'model.onnx')

Why a Sample Input?

The exporter runs your model on the sample to record which ops fire. That traced run becomes the graph it saves.

Convert from sklearn

For scikit-learn use the skl2onnx library. You give it the model and the input shape to produce an ONNX graph.

from skl2onnx import to_onnx
onx = to_onnx(model, X[:1])

Run with ONNX Runtime

ONNX Runtime is a fast, cross-platform engine. You load the .onnx file into a session and call run to get predictions.

import onnxruntime as ort
sess = ort.InferenceSession('model.onnx')

Speed and Hardware

ONNX Runtime can use execution providers like CUDA or TensorRT to accelerate the same model on different hardware. ⚡

Opset Versions

Each export targets an opset version that defines available operators. Match it to what your runtime supports, or loading fails.

Always Verify Outputs

After export, run both models on the same input and compare. Confirm the ONNX result matches the original before you ship it. ✅

Quick Check

Let's see how well you understand ONNX.

Recap

You can export models to ONNX, run them with ONNX Runtime on any hardware, mind the opset, and always verify outputs match. 🎉

Frequently asked questions

Is the “Export to ONNX for Portability” lesson free?

Yes — the full text of “Export to ONNX for Portability” is free to read here on the web, and the MLOps Academy course includes 4 lessons in total. To practise it interactively (a built-in code editor and a 24/7 AI tutor) and unlock the rest of the MLOps Academy course, upgrade to CoddyKit PRO.

What will I learn in “Export to ONNX for Portability”?

Move a model across frameworks and runtimes. You practise MLOps Academy with hands-on code you run directly in the browser, and a 24/7 AI tutor answers your questions as you work through the lesson.

Do I need any experience to start MLOps Academy?

No prior experience is required. MLOps Academy on CoddyKit is structured for beginners through advanced learners; this is — lesson 3 of 4, so you can start here or from the beginning and move at your own pace.

How long does the “Export to ONNX for Portability” lesson take?

Most CoddyKit lessons take about 5–10 minutes. Each one is bite-sized and interactive, so you make steady progress and pick up exactly where you left off across the web and the app.

Can I write and run code in this MLOps Academy lesson?

Yes. Every MLOps Academy lesson includes a built-in code editor, so you write and run real code right in your browser and get instant AI feedback — no local setup required.

All lessons in this course

  1. Serialize with Pickle and Joblib
  2. The MLflow Model Flavor
  3. Export to ONNX for Portability
  4. Define a Model Signature and Schema
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