Stop 17 · MLOps & Model DeploymentProjects · 2/2

End-to-End ML Pipeline

Part of the AI Engineer Roadmap

In short

Training one model in a notebook is step one. This project takes raw data all the way to a deployed, monitored model that retrains itself, which is what ML teams actually run.

A full pipeline from raw data to a monitored, deployed model — the project that proves you can own an ML system, not just a single training script.

The blob sorts ripe mangoes from crates onto a small conveyor that leads to a loaded cart.

Think of it like this

Mangoes from orchard to market

Mangoes are picked, sorted, the bad ones thrown out, packed, trucked and sold. The trader then listens to customers and changes the orchard he buys from. An ML pipeline is the same chain: collect, clean, train, check, ship, then watch and repeat.

Watch it happen

Build plan for the full pipeline

Ingest
Validate
Train
Compare
Deploy
Monitor

1/6Pull fresh data from a source on a schedule, like a public API or a daily CSV.

The big ideas

What you need to know

Each step is a function

Small, testable steps that pass data along. Easy to rerun one step when it fails.

Champion vs challenger

A new model replaces production only if it beats it on the same data.

Runs on a schedule

Use cron, GitHub Actions on a schedule, Prefect or Airflow, so nobody has to remember to retrain.

Close the loop

Monitoring tells you when the world changed. That's the signal to retrain.

See it in code

Walk through the code

python
1def run_pipeline(raw_path):2    df = ingest(raw_path)3    validate(df)  # raises if schema or null rates look wrong4    model, metrics = train_and_eval(df)5 6    prod = load_prod_metrics()7    if metrics["f1"] <= prod["f1"]:8        print(f"Keeping production: {metrics['f1']:.3f} <= {prod['f1']:.3f}")9        return10 11    version = register(model, metrics)12    deploy(version)13    print(f"Deployed {version} with f1={metrics['f1']:.3f}")

1/3Ingest, then validate before spending time on training.

The pipeline's backbone. You write each step function; the shape keeps bad data and worse models out of production.

Save yourself the pain

Common mistakes

Oops

Comparing the new model on fresh data and the old one on last month's.

Do this instead

Score both on the same validation set, or the comparison means nothing.

Oops

One giant notebook that does everything top to bottom.

Do this instead

Split into step functions in .py files so you can test, schedule and rerun them.

Your mission

First milestone: a pipeline that refuses

~45 min

Quick check

Your new model's F1 is 0.80. Production's is 0.83 on the same data. What should the pipeline do?

Go deeper

  1. 1Build data ingestion, training, evaluation, deployment and monitoring as connected stages.
  2. 2Automate at least the training-to-deployment handoff, not just individual steps.
  3. 3Document the pipeline architecture so someone else could operate it.

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