NPU Runtime Requirements and Compatibility Check

This document describes the internal data flow behind the ov::runtime_requirements and ov::compatibility_check properties across compilation, export, and import in the Intel NPU plugin.

For the user-facing description, supported values, and usage examples of these properties, see the Supported Properties table in the NPU plugin README.

Overview

The compiler produces a compatibility descriptor for the generated blob.
The plugin stores that descriptor in the graph object attached to the compiled model.
When the user calls compiled_model.get_property(ov::runtime_requirements), the plugin embeds that compiler-generated descriptor in its human-readable metadata string and returns it as the complete runtime requirements at the plugin level.
During export_model(...), the raw descriptor is written into NPU metadata.
During import_model(...), the raw descriptor is restored from metadata as an owning std::string passed to the parser (before the metadata object is discarded), attached to the parsed graph, and later exposed again through ov::runtime_requirements.

Sequence

mermaid

sequenceDiagram
    autonumber
    actor User as OV User
    participant Plugin as NPU Plugin
    participant Adapter as Compiler Adapter
    participant Compiler as Compiler
    participant Graph as IGraph / Graph
    participant PM as PropertyManager
    participant Meta as NPU Metadata

    User->>Plugin: compile_model(model, "NPU", config)
    Plugin->>Adapter: compile(model, config)
    Adapter->>Compiler: obtain blob + compatibility descriptor
    Note over Adapter,Compiler: CIP: VCLCompilerImpl::compile()
CID: driver builds graph,
 then zeDeviceGetRuntimeRequirements()
    Compiler-->>Adapter: blob + compatibilityDescriptor
    Adapter->>Graph: construct Graph(..., compatibilityDescriptor)
    Adapter-->>Plugin: compiled graph (stores descriptor)
    Plugin-->>User: ov::CompiledModel

    User->>Plugin: get_property(ov::runtime_requirements)
    Plugin->>PM: getProperty("RUNTIME_REQUIREMENTS")
    PM->>Graph: get_compatibility_descriptor()
    Graph-->>PM: raw compatibilityDescriptor
    PM->>Meta: Metadata(..., descriptor).write_as_text()
    Meta-->>PM: human-readable requirements string
    PM-->>User: requirements string

    User->>Plugin: export_model(stream)
    Plugin->>Graph: export_blob() + get_compatibility_descriptor()
    Graph-->>Plugin: blob bytes + compatibilityDescriptor
    Plugin->>Meta: Metadata(..., descriptor).write(stream)
    Meta-->>User: stream = blob + metadata payload

    User->>Plugin: import_model(stream)
    Plugin->>Meta: read_metadata_from(stream)
    Meta-->>Plugin: blobSize + compatibilityDescriptor
    Plugin->>Graph: parse(blob, descriptor), construct restored Graph
    Plugin-->>User: imported ov::CompiledModel

Main Code Paths

Descriptor-to-property generation: compiled_model_property_manager.cpp, buildRuntimeRequirements(...)
Compiler-in-plugin descriptor fetch: plugin_compiler_adapter.cpp, VCLCompilerImpl::compile(...)
Compiler-in-driver descriptor fetch: driver_compiler_adapter.cpp, ze_graph_ext_wrappers.cpp
Graph storage: graph.cpp
Export metadata write: compiled_model.cpp, metadata.cpp
Import metadata read and graph reconstruction: plugin.cpp, parser.cpp, metadata.cpp