Is there some way to save best model only with tensorflow.estimator.train_and_evaluate()?

Question

I try retrain TF Object Detection API model from checkpoint with already .config file for training pipeline with tf.estimator.train_and_evaluate() method like in models/research

Answer 1

You can try using BestExporter. As far as I know, it's the only option for what you're trying to do.

exporter = tf.estimator.BestExporter(
      compare_fn=_loss_smaller,
      exports_to_keep=5)

eval_spec = tf.estimator.EvalSpec(
    input_fn,
    steps,
    exporters)

https://www.tensorflow.org/api_docs/python/tf/estimator/BestExporter