# Build ONNX Runtime Generate() API

## In this learning path

- [Introduction](https://learn.arm.com/learning-paths/laptops-and-desktops/win_on_arm_build_onnxruntime/)
- [Set up your Environment](https://learn.arm.com/learning-paths/laptops-and-desktops/win_on_arm_build_onnxruntime/1-dev-env-setup/)
- [Build ONNX Runtime](https://learn.arm.com/learning-paths/laptops-and-desktops/win_on_arm_build_onnxruntime/2-build-onnxruntime/)
- [Build ONNX Runtime Generate() API](https://learn.arm.com/learning-paths/laptops-and-desktops/win_on_arm_build_onnxruntime/3-build-onnxruntime-generate-api/)
- [Run Phi3 Model](https://learn.arm.com/learning-paths/laptops-and-desktops/win_on_arm_build_onnxruntime/4-run-benchmark-on-woa/)
- [Next Steps](https://learn.arm.com/learning-paths/laptops-and-desktops/win_on_arm_build_onnxruntime/_next-steps/)

## Build the ONNX Runtime Generate() API for Windows on Arm
The Generate() API in ONNX Runtime is designed for text generation tasks using models like Phi-3. It implements the generative AI loop for ONNX models, including:

- Pre- and post-processing.
- Inference with ONNX Runtime (including logits processing).
- Search and sampling.
- KV cache management.

You can learn more about this area by reading the [ONNX Runtime Generate() API documentation](https://onnxruntime.ai/docs/genai/).

In this section, you’ll build the Generate() API from source.

### Clone the onnxruntime-genai repository
From your **Windows Developer Command Prompt for Visual Studio**, clone the repository and checkout the following tested commit:

```
cd C:\Users\%USERNAME%
cd repos\lp
git clone https://github.com/microsoft/onnxruntime-genai
cd onnxruntime-genai
git checkout b2e8176c99473afb726d364454dc827d2181cbb2
```

You might be able to use later commits. These steps have been tested with the commit `b2e8176c99473afb726d364454dc827d2181cbb2`.

### Build for Windows on Arm
The build script uses a –config argument, which supports the following options:

- `Release` builds release build.
- `Debug` builds binaries with debug symbols.
- `RelWithDebInfo` builds release binaries with debug info.

To build the `Release` variant of the ONNX Runtime Generate() API:

```
pip install requests
python build.py --config Release --skip_tests
```

### Verify the output
When the build is complete, confirm the ONNX Runtime Generate() API Dynamically Linked Library has been created:

```
__output__ dir build\Windows\Release\Release\onnxruntime-genai.dll
```