# TensorFlow Lite APIs TensorFlow Lite provides programming APIs in C++ and Java, and in both cases the API design reflects a preference for performance over ease of use. TensorFlow Lite is designed for fast inference on small devices so it should be no surprise that the APIs try to avoid unnecessary copies at the expense of convenience. Similarly, consistency with TensorFlow APIs was not an explicit goal and some variance is to be expected. There is also a Python API for TensorFlow Lite described [here](../toco/g3doc/python_api.md#interpreter). ## C++ In order to run the inference model in TensorFlow Lite, one has to load the model into a `FlatBufferModel` object which then can be executed by an `Interpreter`. The `FlatBufferModel` needs to remain valid for the whole lifetime of the `Interpreter`, and a single `FlatBufferModel` can be simultaneously used by more than one `Interpreter`. In concrete terms, the `FlatBufferModel` object must be created before any `Interpreter` objects that use it, and must be kept around until they have all been destroyed. The simplest usage of TensorFlow Lite will look like this: ```c++ tflite::FlatBufferModel model(path_to_model); tflite::ops::builtin::BuiltinOpResolver resolver; std::unique_ptr interpreter; tflite::InterpreterBuilder(*model, resolver)(&interpreter); // Resize input tensors, if desired. interpreter->AllocateTensors(); float* input = interpreter->typed_input_tensor(0); // Fill `input`. interpreter->Invoke(); float* output = interpreter->typed_output_tensor(0); ``` ### Data Alignment TensorFlow Lite data is usually aligned to 16-byte boundaries. It is recommended that all data provided to TensorFlow Lite be aligned that way. ### Error Reporting In many places TensorFlow Lite returns status information through `TfLiteStatus` objects: ```c++ typedef enum { kTfLiteOk = 0, kTfLiteError = 1 } TfLiteStatus; ``` Failures can be easily verified with: ```c++ if (status != kTfLiteOk) { // ... error handling here ... } ``` In order to obtain detailed error information an ErrorReporter must be provided: ```c++ class ErrorReporter { virtual int Report(const char* format, va_list args) = 0; }; ``` The `DefaultErrorReporter` takes care of reporting to `stderr`. ### Loading a Model The `FlatBufferModel` class encapsulates a model and can be built in a couple of slightly different ways depending on where the model is stored: ```c++ class FlatBufferModel {  // Build a model based on a file. Return a nullptr in case of failure.  static std::unique_ptr BuildFromFile(      const char* filename,      ErrorReporter* error_reporter);  // Build a model based on a pre-loaded flatbuffer. The caller retains  // ownership of the buffer and should keep it alive until the returned object  // is destroyed. Return a nullptr in case of failure.  static std::unique_ptr BuildFromBuffer(      const char* buffer,      size_t buffer_size,      ErrorReporter* error_reporter); }; ``` Note that if TensorFlow Lite detects the presence of Android's NNAPI it will automatically try to use shared memory to store the FlatBufferModel. ### Running a Model Running a model involves a few simple steps: * Build an `Interpreter` based on an existing `FlatBufferModel` * Optionally resize input tensors if the predefined sizes are not desired. * Set input tensor values * Invoke inference * Read output tensor values The important parts of public interface of the `Interpreter` are provided below. It should be noted that: * Tensors are represented by integers, in order to avoid string comparisons (and any fixed dependency on string libraries). * An interpreter must not be accessed from concurrent threads. * Memory allocation for input and output tensors must be triggered by calling AllocateTensors() right after resizing tensors. ```c++ class Interpreter { Interpreter(ErrorReporter* error_reporter); // Read only access to list of inputs. const std::vector& inputs() const; // Read only access to list of outputs. const std::vector& outputs() const; // Change the dimensionality of a given tensor. TfLiteStatus ResizeInputTensor(int tensor_index, const std::vector& dims); // Returns status of success or failure. TfLiteStatus AllocateTensors(); // Return a pointer into the data of a given input tensor. template T* typed_input_tensor(int index) { return typed_tensor(inputs_[index]); } // Return a pointer into the data of a given output tensor. template T* typed_output_tensor(int index) { return typed_tensor(outputs_[index]); } // Execute the model, populating output tensors. TfLiteStatus Invoke(); }; ``` ### Writing Custom Operators All TensorFlow Lite operators (both custom and builtin) are defined using a simple pure-C interface that consists of four functions: ```c++ typedef struct { void* (*init)(TfLiteContext* context, const char* buffer, size_t length); void (*free)(TfLiteContext* context, void* buffer); TfLiteStatus (*prepare)(TfLiteContext* context, TfLiteNode* node); TfLiteStatus (*invoke)(TfLiteContext* context, TfLiteNode* node); } TfLiteRegistration; ``` Refer to `context.h` for details on `TfLiteContext` and `TfLiteNode`. The former provides error reporting facilities and access to global objects, including all the tensors. The latter allows implementations to access their inputs and outputs. When the interpreter loads a model, it calls `init()` once for each node in the graph. A given `init()` will be called more than once if the op is used multiple times in the graph. For custom ops a configuration buffer will be provided, containing a flexbuffer that maps parameter names to their values. The buffer is empty for builtin ops because the interpreter has already parsed the op parameters. Kernel implementation that require state should initialize it here and transfer ownership to the caller. For each `init()` call, there will be a corresponding call to `free()`, allowing implementations to dispose of the buffer they might have allocated in `init()`. Whenever the input tensors are resized the interpreter will go through the graph notifying implementations of the change. This gives them the chance to resize their internal buffer, check validity of input shapes and types, and recalculate output shapes. This is all done through `prepare()` and implementation can access their state using `node->user_data`. Finally, each time inference runs the interpreter traverses the graph calling `invoke()`, and here too the state is available as `node->user_data`. Custom ops can be implemented in exactly the same way as builtin ops, by defined those four functions and a global registration function that usually looks like this: ```c++ namespace tflite { namespace ops { namespace custom { TfLiteRegistration* Register_MY_CUSTOM_OP() { static TfLiteRegistration r = {my_custom_op::Init, my_custom_op::Free, my_custom_op::Prepare, my_custom_op::Eval}; return &r; } } // namespace custom } // namespace ops } // namespace tflite ``` Note that registration is not automatic and an explicit call to `Register_MY_CUSTOM_OP` should be made somewhere. While the standard `BuiltinOpResolver` (available from the `:builtin_ops` target) takes care of the registration of builtins, custom ops will have to be collected in separate custom libraries. ### Customizing the kernel library Behind the scenes the interpreter will load a library of kernels which will be assigned to execute each of the operators in the model. While the default library only contains builtin kernels, it is possible to replace it with a custom library. The interpreter uses an `OpResolver` to translate operator codes and names into actual code: ```c++ class OpResolver { virtual TfLiteRegistration* FindOp(tflite::BuiltinOperator op) const = 0; virtual TfLiteRegistration* FindOp(const char* op) const = 0; virtual void AddOp(tflite::BuiltinOperator op, TfLiteRegistration* registration) = 0; virtual void AddOp(const char* op, TfLiteRegistration* registration) = 0; }; ``` Regular usage will require the developer to use the `BuiltinOpResolver` and write: ```c++ tflite::ops::builtin::BuiltinOpResolver resolver; ``` They can then optionally register custom ops: ```c++ resolver.AddOp("MY_CUSTOM_OP", Register_MY_CUSTOM_OP()); ``` before the resolver is passed to the `InterpreterBuilder`. If the set of builtin ops is deemed to be too large, a new `OpResolver` could be code-generated based on a given subset of ops, possibly only the ones contained in a given model. This is the equivalent of TensorFlow's selective registration (and a simple version of it is available in the `tools` directory). ## Java TensorFlow Lite's Java API supports on-device inference and is provided as an Android Studio Library that allows loading models, feeding inputs, and retrieving inference outputs. The simplest usage of Tensorflow Lite Java API looks like this: ```java try (Interpreter interpreter = new Interpreter(file_of_a_tensorflowlite_model)) { interpreter.run(input, output); } ``` ### Loading a Model The `Interpreter.java` class drives model inference with TensorFlow Lite. In most of the cases, this is the only class an app developer will need. #### Initializing an `Interpreter` With a Model File The `Interpreter` can be initialized with a model file using the constructor: ```java public Interpreter(@NotNull File modelFile); ``` or with a `MappedByteBuffer`: ```java public Interpreter(@NotNull MappedByteBuffer mappedByteBuffer); ``` In both cases a valid TensorFlow Lite must be provided or an `IllegalArgumentException` with be thrown. If a `MappedByteBuffer` is used to initialize an Interpreter, it should remain unchanged for the whole lifetime of the `Interpreter`. ### Running a Model #### Supported Data Types To use TensorFlow Lite, the data types of the input and output tensors must be one of the following primitive types: * `float` * `int` * `long` * `byte` If other data types, including boxed types like `Integer` and `Float`, are used, an `IllegalArgumentException` will be thrown. #### Inputs Each input should be an array or multi-dimensional array of the supported primitive types, or a raw `ByteBuffer` of the appropriate size. If the input is an array or multi-dimensional array, the associated input tensor will be implicitly resized to the array's dimensions at inference time. If the input is a ByteBuffer, the caller should first manually resize the associated input tensor (via `Interpreter.resizeInput()`) before running inference. When using 'ByteBuffer', prefer using direct byte buffers, as this allows the `Interpreter` to avoid unnecessary copies. If the `ByteBuffer` is a direct byte buffer, its order must be `ByteOrder.nativeOrder()`. After it is used for a model inference, it must remain unchanged until the model inference is finished. #### Outputs Each output should be an array or multi-dimensional array of the supported primitive types, or a ByteBuffer of the appropriate size. Note that some models have dynamic outputs, where the shape of output tensors can vary depending on the input. There's no straightforward way of handling this with the existing Java inference API, but planned extensions will make this possible. #### Running Model Inference If a model takes only one input and returns only one output, the following will trigger an inference run: ```java interpreter.run(input, output); ``` For models with multiple inputs, or multiple outputs, use: ```java interpreter.runForMultipleInputsOutputs(inputs, map_of_indices_to_outputs); ``` where each entry in `inputs` corresponds to an input tensor and `map_of_indices_to_outputs` maps indices of output tensors to the corresponding output data. In both cases the tensor indices should correspond to the values given to the [TensorFlow Lite Optimized Converter](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/tree/master/tensorflow/contrib/lite/toco/g3doc/cmdline_examples.md) when the model was created. Be aware that the order of tensors in `input` must match the order given to the `TensorFlow Lite Optimized Converter`. The Java API also provides convenient functions for app developers to get the index of any model input or output using a tensor name: ```java public int getInputIndex(String tensorName); public int getOutputIndex(String tensorName); ``` If tensorName is not a valid name in model, an `IllegalArgumentException` will be thrown. ### Releasing Resources After Use An `Interpreter` owns resources. To avoid memory leak, the resources must be released after use by: ```java interpreter.close(); ```