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Executorch

On-device AI across mobile, embedded and edge for PyTorch

From pytorch·Updated May 30, 2026·View on GitHub·

**executorch** is a On-device AI across mobile, embedded and edge for PyTorch The project is written primarily in Python, distributed under the Other license, first published in 2022. It has gained significant community traction with 4,668 stars and 1,013 forks on GitHub. Key topics include: deep-learning, embedded, gpu, machine-learning, mobile.

Latest release: v1.3.1
May 29, 2026View Changelog →
<div align="center"> <img src="docs/source/_static/img/et-logo.png" alt="ExecuTorch logo mark" width="200"> <h1>ExecuTorch</h1> <p><strong>On-device AI inference powered by PyTorch</strong></p> </div> <div align="center"> <a href="https://pypi.org/project/executorch/"><img src="https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/executorch?style=for-the-badge&color=blue" alt="PyPI - Version"></a> <a href="https://github.com/pytorch/executorch/graphs/contributors"><img src="https://img.shields.io/github/contributors/pytorch/executorch?style=for-the-badge&color=blue" alt="GitHub - Contributors"></a> <a href="https://github.com/pytorch/executorch/stargazers"><img src="https://img.shields.io/github/stars/pytorch/executorch?style=for-the-badge&color=blue" alt="GitHub - Stars"></a> <a href="https://discord.gg/Dh43CKSAdc"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Discord-Join%20Us-blue?logo=discord&logoColor=white&style=for-the-badge" alt="Discord - Chat with Us"></a> <a href="https://docs.pytorch.org/executorch/main/index.html"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Documentation-blue?logo=googledocs&logoColor=white&style=for-the-badge" alt="Documentation"></a> </div>

ExecuTorch is PyTorch's unified solution for deploying AI models on-device—from smartphones to microcontrollers—built for privacy, performance, and portability. It powers Meta's on-device AI across Instagram, WhatsApp, Quest 3, Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, and more.

Deploy LLMs, vision, speech, and multimodal models with the same PyTorch APIs you already know—accelerating research to production with seamless model export, optimization, and deployment. No manual C++ rewrites. No format conversions. No vendor lock-in.

<details> <summary><strong>📘 Table of Contents</strong></summary> </details>

Why ExecuTorch?

  • 🔒 Native PyTorch Export — Direct export from PyTorch. No .onnx, .tflite, or intermediate format conversions. Preserve model semantics.
  • ⚡ Production-Proven — Powers billions of users at Meta with real-time on-device inference.
  • 💾 Tiny Runtime — 50KB base footprint. Runs on microcontrollers to high-end smartphones.
  • 🚀 12+ Hardware Backends — Open-source acceleration for Apple, Qualcomm, ARM, MediaTek, Vulkan, and more.
  • 🎯 One Export, Multiple Backends — Switch hardware targets with a single line change. Deploy the same model everywhere.

How It Works

ExecuTorch uses ahead-of-time (AOT) compilation to prepare PyTorch models for edge deployment:

  1. 🧩 Export — Capture your PyTorch model graph with torch.export()
  2. ⚙️ Compile — Quantize, optimize, and partition to hardware backends → .pte
  3. 🚀 Execute — Load .pte on-device via lightweight C++ runtime

Models use a standardized Core ATen operator set. Partitioners delegate subgraphs to specialized hardware (NPU/GPU) with CPU fallback.

Learn more: How ExecuTorch WorksArchitecture Guide

Quick Start

Installation

bash
pip install executorch

For platform-specific setup (Android, iOS, embedded systems), see the Quick Start documentation for additional info.

Export and Deploy in 3 Steps

python
import torch from executorch.exir import to_edge_transform_and_lower from executorch.backends.xnnpack.partition.xnnpack_partitioner import XnnpackPartitioner # 1. Export your PyTorch model model = MyModel().eval() example_inputs = (torch.randn(1, 3, 224, 224),) exported_program = torch.export.export(model, example_inputs) # 2. Optimize for target hardware (switch backends with one line) program = to_edge_transform_and_lower( exported_program, partitioner=[XnnpackPartitioner()] # CPU | CoreMLPartitioner() for iOS | QnnPartitioner() for Qualcomm ).to_executorch() # 3. Save for deployment with open("model.pte", "wb") as f: f.write(program.buffer) # Test locally via ExecuTorch runtime's pybind API (optional) from executorch.runtime import Runtime runtime = Runtime.get() method = runtime.load_program("model.pte").load_method("forward") outputs = method.execute([torch.randn(1, 3, 224, 224)])

Run on Device

C++

cpp
#include <executorch/extension/module/module.h> #include <executorch/extension/tensor/tensor.h> Module module("model.pte"); auto tensor = make_tensor_ptr({2, 2}, {1.0f, 2.0f, 3.0f, 4.0f}); auto outputs = module.forward(tensor);

Swift (iOS)

swift
import ExecuTorch let module = Module(filePath: "model.pte") let input = Tensor<Float>([1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0], shape: [2, 2]) let outputs = try module.forward(input)

Kotlin (Android)

kotlin
val module = Module.load("model.pte") val inputTensor = Tensor.fromBlob(floatArrayOf(1.0f, 2.0f, 3.0f, 4.0f), longArrayOf(2, 2)) val outputs = module.forward(EValue.from(inputTensor))

LLM Example: Llama

Export Llama models using the export_llm script or Optimum-ExecuTorch:

bash
# Using export_llm python -m executorch.extension.llm.export.export_llm --model llama3_2 --output llama.pte # Using Optimum-ExecuTorch optimum-cli export executorch \ --model meta-llama/Llama-3.2-1B \ --task text-generation \ --recipe xnnpack \ --output_dir llama_model

Run on-device with the LLM runner API:

C++

cpp
#include <executorch/extension/llm/runner/text_llm_runner.h> auto runner = create_llama_runner("llama.pte", "tiktoken.bin"); executorch::extension::llm::GenerationConfig config{ .seq_len = 128, .temperature = 0.8f}; runner->generate("Hello, how are you?", config);

Swift (iOS)

swift
import ExecuTorchLLM let runner = TextRunner(modelPath: "llama.pte", tokenizerPath: "tiktoken.bin") try runner.generate("Hello, how are you?", Config { $0.sequenceLength = 128 }) { token in print(token, terminator: "") }

Kotlin (Android)API DocsDemo App

kotlin
val llmModule = LlmModule("llama.pte", "tiktoken.bin", 0.8f) llmModule.load() llmModule.generate("Hello, how are you?", 128, object : LlmCallback { override fun onResult(result: String) { print(result) } override fun onStats(stats: String) { } })

For multimodal models (vision, audio), use the MultiModal runner API which extends the LLM runner to handle image and audio inputs alongside text. See Llava and Voxtral examples.

See examples/models/llama for complete workflow including quantization, mobile deployment, and advanced options.

Next Steps:

Platform & Hardware Support

PlatformSupported Backends
AndroidXNNPACK, Vulkan, Qualcomm, MediaTek, Samsung Exynos
iOSXNNPACK, CoreML (Neural Engine), MPS (deprecated)
Linux / WindowsXNNPACK, OpenVINO, CUDA (experimental)
macOSXNNPACK, Metal (experimental), MPS (deprecated)
Embedded / MCUXNNPACK, ARM Ethos-U, NXP, Cadence DSP

See Backend Documentation for detailed hardware requirements and optimization guides. For desktop/laptop GPU inference with CUDA and Metal, see the Desktop Guide. For Zephyr RTOS integration, see the Zephyr Guide.

Production Deployments

ExecuTorch powers on-device AI at scale across Meta's family of apps, VR/AR devices, and partner deployments. View success stories →

Examples & Models

LLMs: Llama 3.2/3.1/3, Qwen 3, Phi-4-mini, LiquidAI LFM2

Multimodal: Llava (vision-language), Voxtral (audio-language), Gemma (vision-language)

Vision/Speech: MobileNetV2, DeepLabV3, YOLO26, Whisper <!-- @lint-ignore -->

Resources: examples/ directory • executorch-examples out-of-tree demos • Optimum-ExecuTorch for HuggingFace models • Unsloth for fine-tuned LLM deployment <!-- @lint-ignore -->

Key Features

ExecuTorch provides advanced capabilities for production deployment:

  • Quantization — Built-in support via torchao for 8-bit, 4-bit, and dynamic quantization
  • Memory Planning — Optimize memory usage with ahead-of-time allocation strategies
  • Developer Tools — ETDump profiler, ETRecord inspector, and model debugger
  • Selective Build — Strip unused operators to minimize binary size
  • Custom Operators — Extend with domain-specific kernels
  • Dynamic Shapes — Support variable input sizes with bounded ranges

See Advanced Topics for quantization techniques, custom backends, and compiler passes.

Documentation

Community & Contributing

We welcome contributions from the community!

Citing ExecuTorch

If you found ExecuTorch helpful in your research and would like to acknowledge it, please cite us using the following BibTeX:

bibtex
@article{executorch2026, title={{ExecuTorch} - A Unified {PyTorch} Solution to Run {AI} Models On-Device}, author={Nachin, Mergen and Desai, Digant and Jia, Sicheng Stephen and Lai, Chen and Liu, Mengwei and Szwejbka, Jacob and Alvarez, Raziel and Ascani, RJ and Bort, Dave and Candales, Manuel and others}, journal={arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.08195}, url={https://github.com/pytorch/executorch}, year={2026} }

License

ExecuTorch is BSD licensed, as found in the LICENSE file.

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<div align="center"> <p><strong>Part of the PyTorch ecosystem</strong></p> <p> <a href="https://github.com/pytorch/executorch">GitHub</a> • <a href="https://docs.pytorch.org/executorch">Documentation</a> </p> </div>

Contributors

Showing top 12 contributors by commit count.

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This article is auto-generated from pytorch/executorch via the GitHub API.Last fetched: 5/31/2026