Source snapshot of github.com/Scottcjn/npu-linux-kit, also on GitLab with full history. Code only: nothing here runs on Hugging Face infrastructure.

🧰 npu-linux-kit

Practical applications for the AMD XDNA NPU on Linux — the things the NPU is actually good at, in one kit. Built on the open-xdna gen-1 (XDNA1 / Phoenix) bring-up.

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Why

AMD's NPU is underused on Linux: the official LLM stack targets XDNA2, and the NPU's real strengths (low-power, conv/vision, batchable compute, offload) aren't packaged into usable Linux apps. This kit does that — each module plays to a measured NPU strength, and the status of each is stated honestly (no "coming soon" dressed up as done).

Modules

Module	What it does	NPU fit	Status
camera/	Real-time webcam effects → a v4l2 virtual camera (Zoom/OBS/browser)	conv/vision — its native strength	✅ working (edge-stylize)
camera/ — background blur	Sharp foreground + blurred background (real MODNet segmentation)	conv/CNN	✅ working (clean CPU blur + real seg; NPU blur path experimental)
embeddings/	Batch sentence/RAG embeddings, offloaded from CPU/iGPU	batchable matmul → amortizes dispatch	🔬 candidate
audio/	Wake-word / real-time denoise	the NPU's classic edge job	🔬 candidate (untested)
ggml-backend/	XDNA backend for ggml/llama.cpp	foundational enabler	🚧 planned (biggest lift)

Featured: camera effects (working today)

Live webcam → NPU effect → virtual camera, measured on a Ryzen 7 8845HS (XDNA1):

• Full per-frame conv/colorspace pipeline: 220 FPS @1080p / 451 FPS @720p (incl. host DMA round-trip).
• In the live daemon the NPU effect adds ~2 ms/frame at ~6.6 W — end-to-end is camera-capture-bound, never NPU-bound. So there's large headroom for heavier effects (segmentation).
• Outputs to a v4l2loopback device — any app sees NPU Camera.

# (after the open-xdna NPU stack is up + this kit's requirements installed)
sudo modprobe v4l2loopback video_nr=10 card_label="NPU Camera" exclusive_caps=1
python3 camera/npu_camera_fps.py                                  # FPS feasibility gate
python3 camera/npu_camera_daemon.py --loopback /dev/video10 --stream-frames 0   # live → virtual cam
# then pick "NPU Camera" in Zoom/OBS/your browser

Requirements

A working XDNA NPU stack (XRT + amd/xdna-driver + IRON/mlir-aie + Peano) — see open-xdna for the bring-up. Plus host deps: pip install -r requirements.txt (opencv-python-headless, pyvirtualcam, numpy, ml_dtypes) and v4l2loopback for the virtual camera.

Honesty / scope

Verified on XDNA1 (Phoenix), Ubuntu 25.10 / kernel 6.17. The camera module is real and measured; the other modules are marked candidate/planned and make no working claims until built. Research/community project, not a production stack.

License

AGPLv3 + commercial dual-license — see LICENSE and COMMERCIAL.md. © 2026 Scott Boudreaux / Elyan Labs.