Runs the iqvd perception model on an Apple-Silicon Mac and serves 2D detections to one IQ device over wifi. The device (iqvd) ships the camera frame, the Mac runs YOLO on the Metal GPU/NPU, and only boxes come back — the device does no inference, so vision dots no longer contend with the driving model.

Wire path

IQ device (auto-hotspot AP)  ──wifi──▶  Mac (IQ Vision.app)
  iqvd VisionClient                       iqmacvisiond server
  read frame → downscale 640w             cv2 decode → YOLOv8n (Metal)
  JPEG encode → INFER  ───────────────▶   detect
  RESULT ◀───────────────────────────     {tracks: [2D boxes]}
  publish iqVehicleTracks (dots)
  publish iqEnvironment (3D via ground-plane + calibration)

Discovery: the device UDP-broadcasts IQVISION_DISCOVER_V1 on the subnet; the Mac replies IQVISION_HERE_V1:<tcp_port>. No config, no pairing.
Protocol: iqvd_private_src/offload/protocol.py (length-prefixed frames, JSON header + optional binary blob). Shared verbatim by both sides — it is the ABI.
Ports: tcp/51998 inference, udp/51999 discovery, tcp/51995 localhost status.

The Mac app

Menu-bar app (◎ waiting, ◉ connected). Menu shows device, frames served, inference p50/p99, and Quit.
Keeps the Mac awake while running (caffeinate).
Ships the model in the dmg — no download on first run.
First launch creates a small venv (numpy, opencv-headless, rumps); tinygrad is bundled.

Build

tools/iqmacvisiond/macos/build_dmg.sh

Produces IQ Vision.app and IQVision.dmg. See macos/SIGNING.md for signing + notarization.

Run from source (dev)

DEV=METAL python3 tools/iqmacvisiond/server.py          # server only
python3 tools/iqmacvisiond/menubar.py                    # menu-bar wrapper
python3 tools/iqmacvisiond/test_offload.py               # protocol/geometry/loopback

Gating on the device: VisionVehicleTracks enables iqvd; when maciqmodeld (the eMac driving offload) is running, iqvd is Mac-or-nothing — it never runs local inference. On non-eMac setups iqvd falls back to on-device YOLO if no Mac is found.