uniface/docs/concepts/execution-providers.md

Execution Providers

UniFace uses ONNX Runtime for model inference, which supports multiple hardware acceleration backends.

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Automatic Provider Selection

UniFace automatically selects the optimal execution provider based on available hardware:

from uniface.detection import RetinaFace

# Automatically uses best available provider
detector = RetinaFace()

Priority order:

1. CoreMLExecutionProvider - Apple Silicon
2. CUDAExecutionProvider - NVIDIA GPU
3. CPUExecutionProvider - Fallback

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Explicit Provider Selection

You can specify which execution provider to use by passing the providers parameter:

from uniface.detection import RetinaFace
from uniface.recognition import ArcFace

# Force CPU execution (even if GPU is available)
detector = RetinaFace(providers=['CPUExecutionProvider'])
recognizer = ArcFace(providers=['CPUExecutionProvider'])

# Use CUDA with CPU fallback
detector = RetinaFace(providers=['CUDAExecutionProvider', 'CPUExecutionProvider'])

All ONNX-based model classes accept the providers parameter:

• Detection: RetinaFace, SCRFD, YOLOv5Face, YOLOv8Face
• Recognition: ArcFace, AdaFace, MobileFace, SphereFace
• Landmarks: Landmark106
• Gaze: MobileGaze
• Parsing: BiSeNet, XSeg
• Attributes: AgeGender, FairFace
• Anti-Spoofing: MiniFASNet

!!! note "Non-ONNX components" - Emotion uses TorchScript and selects its device automatically (mps / cuda / cpu). It does not accept the providers parameter. - BlurFace is a pure OpenCV utility and does not load any model.

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Check Available Providers

import onnxruntime as ort

providers = ort.get_available_providers()
print("Available providers:", providers)

Example outputs:

=== "macOS (Apple Silicon)"

```
['CoreMLExecutionProvider', 'CPUExecutionProvider']
```

=== "Linux (NVIDIA GPU)"

```
['CUDAExecutionProvider', 'CPUExecutionProvider']
```

=== "Windows (CPU)"

```
['CPUExecutionProvider']
```

---

Platform-Specific Setup

Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4)

No additional setup required. ARM64 optimizations are built into onnxruntime:

pip install uniface[cpu]

Verify ARM64:

python -c "import platform; print(platform.machine())"
# Should show: arm64

!!! tip "Performance" Apple Silicon Macs use CoreML acceleration automatically, providing excellent performance for face analysis tasks.

---

NVIDIA GPU (CUDA)

Install with GPU support (this installs onnxruntime-gpu, which already includes CPU fallback):

pip install uniface[gpu]

Requirements:

• CUDA 11.x or 12.x
• cuDNN 8.x
• Compatible NVIDIA driver

Verify CUDA:

import onnxruntime as ort

if 'CUDAExecutionProvider' in ort.get_available_providers():
    print("CUDA is available!")
else:
    print("CUDA not available, using CPU")

---

CPU Fallback

CPU execution is always available:

pip install uniface[cpu]

Works on all platforms without additional configuration.

---

Internal API

For advanced use cases, you can access the provider utilities:

from uniface.onnx_utils import get_available_providers, create_onnx_session

# Check available providers
providers = get_available_providers()
print(f"Available: {providers}")

# Models use create_onnx_session() internally
# which auto-selects the best provider

---

Performance Tips

1. Use GPU When Available

For batch processing or real-time applications, GPU acceleration provides significant speedups:

pip install uniface[gpu]

2. Optimize Input Size

Smaller input sizes are faster but may reduce accuracy:

from uniface.detection import RetinaFace

# Faster, lower accuracy
detector = RetinaFace(input_size=(320, 320))

# Balanced (default)
detector = RetinaFace(input_size=(640, 640))

3. Batch Processing

Process multiple images to maximize GPU utilization:

# Process images in batch (GPU-efficient)
for image_path in image_paths:
    image = cv2.imread(image_path)
    faces = detector.detect(image)
    # ...

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Troubleshooting

CUDA Not Detected

1. Verify CUDA installation:

   nvidia-smi
   

2. Check CUDA version compatibility with ONNX Runtime

3. Reinstall with GPU support:

   pip uninstall onnxruntime onnxruntime-gpu -y
   pip install uniface[gpu]
   

Slow Performance on Mac

Verify you're using ARM64 Python (not Rosetta):

python -c "import platform; print(platform.machine())"
# Should show: arm64 (not x86_64)

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Next Steps

• Model Cache & Offline - Model management
• Thresholds & Calibration - Tuning parameters