swap-cli 0.1.3

Real-time deepfake on your desktop. Bring your own Decart API key.

swap-cli

Real-time deepfake on your desktop. Bring your own Decart API key.

Live face-swap built on Decart Lucy 2 — your camera, your machine, your Decart account. We charge once for the wrapper; you pay Decart directly for the seconds you stream.

pip install swap-cli
swap setup        # paste license + Decart key, one time
swap doctor       # verify everything works
swap gui          # OR  swap run -r face.jpg

---

What you need before you start

Item	Where to get it	Cost
A laptop with a webcam	Your own	—
Python 3.11+	python.org / Homebrew	Free
swap-cli license key	Bought at swap.ikieguy.online	One-time fee
Decart API key	platform.decart.ai	Free credits → ~$0.01/sec after

---

1 — Install

pip install swap-cli

Pulls native deps: decart, aiortc, opencv-python, customtkinter, pyvirtualcam. ~150 MB, ~60 seconds on a normal connection.

If swap isn't on your $PATH after install, fix it:

python -m swap_cli --help

macOS users — read this first. Don't use the system Python at /usr/bin/python3. Its Tcl/Tk is 8.5.9 (broken) and the GUI will fail. Use Homebrew Python or python.org Python:

brew install python@3.11 python-tk@3.11        # GUI needs Tcl/Tk ≥ 8.6.9
xcode-select --install                          # git + C compiler (voice)
brew install blackhole-2ch                      # voice routing (optional)
# Then download OBS Studio for the virtual camera driver:
#   https://obsproject.com/download
pip install swap-cli

See macOS compatibility below for the full breakdown.

---

2 — First-time setup

$ swap setup
License key (SWAP-CLI-…): SWAP-CLI-7K3M-9PQR-XW4T
Decart API key (dct_…):  ************************

╭───────── ✓ Setup complete ─────────╮
│ Saved to ~/.config/swap-cli/config.toml
│ License: SWAP…XW4T
│ Decart key: dct_…AB12
╰────────────────────────────────────╯

Both keys live at ~/.config/swap-cli/config.toml (chmod 600). Linux/macOS: ~/.config/swap-cli/. Windows: %APPDATA%\swap-cli\.

---

3 — Verify (recommended)

$ swap doctor
                 swap-cli doctor
 license key set         ✓
 decart api key set      ✓
 dns swap.ikieguy.online  ✓
 dns api.decart.ai        ✓
 license validate         ✓ ok
 camera probe             ✓
 aiortc import            ✓
 decart import            ✓
 opencv import            ✓
 av import                ✓

Any ✗ tells you exactly what to fix before opening a real session.

---

4 — Run it

Option A — GUI (recommended for non-developers)

swap gui

A small dark window opens:

┌────────────────────────────────────┐
│ swap-cli · live deepfake           │
├────────────────────────────────────┤
│       ┌────────────────┐           │
│       │  [face thumb]  │           │
│       └────────────────┘           │
│       [ ① Select a face ]          │
│                                    │
│  ⚪ Mirror camera   ⚪ Record MP4  │
│                                    │
│  Model  [ lucy-2 (1280×720, 20fps)▼│
│  Decart fixes resolution per model.│
│                                    │
│  ⚙ Advanced                        │
│                                    │
│  ② Camera                          │
│  [ Camera 0 (default) ▼ ]    [↻]   │
│                                    │
│  [    ③  Live    ]   [   Stop   ]  │
└────────────────────────────────────┘

Three steps:

1. Select a face — file picker → JPG/PNG of who you want to become
2. Camera — auto-populated; ↻ refreshes
3. Live — opens the deepfake stream in a new window

The "⚙ Advanced" expander reveals an optional prompt textbox if you want to add stylistic modifiers ("…with neon eye makeup", etc). Most users leave it alone.

Option B — CLI (power users / scripting)

swap run --reference identity.jpg

Long form:

swap run \
  --reference faces/elon.jpg \
  --prompt "Match the reference person's face and identity" \
  --model lucy-2 \
  --device 0 \
  --record output.mp4

Phase log on stdout:

[runtime] connection: connecting
[runtime] connection: connected
[runtime] connection: generating
streaming · 14s

Press Q in the preview window or Ctrl-C in the terminal to stop.

---

How it works under the hood

                    YOUR LAPTOP
   ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
   │                                             │
   │  webcam ──► cv2.VideoCapture                │
   │              ↓                              │
   │       aiortc VideoStreamTrack               │
   │              ↓                              │
   │           WebRTC ─────────► api.decart.ai   │
   │                              (Lucy 2 GPU)   │
   │                                ↓            │
   │           WebRTC ◄────────── transformed    │
   │              ↓                stream        │
   │       cv2.imshow window                     │
   │              ↓                              │
   │  optional MP4 recording                     │
   └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

• Latency: ~150–300 ms end-to-end (camera → Decart → screen)
• FPS: 20 (capped by Lucy 2; higher tiers TBA)
• Quality: 1280×720 fixed (model-side; we don't choose)
• Network: ~2–3 Mbps up + down per stream
• Privacy: every frame stays between your laptop and Decart. swap-cli phones home once per launch for license validation — no camera frames, no audio, ever leave your machine via us.

---

Output files

If you passed --record:

$ ls -la *.mp4
-rw-r--r-- 12.4M  output.mp4

Standard H.264 MP4 of the transformed stream. Drag into iMovie / Premiere / DaVinci, ffmpeg-crop to 9:16 for TikTok or 1:1 for Instagram, upload anywhere.

⚠ swap-cli streams at the model's native 16:9 — Decart doesn't accept other ratios on the wire. To export 9:16 / 1:1 / 4:5 for social, ffmpeg-crop the saved MP4 after the session.

---

Costs you pay, ongoing

We bill once for the license. Compute is on your Decart account.

Decart pricing tier (your account)	Cost / sec	5 min session	1 hour session
Lucy Fast	~$0.01	$3	$36
Lucy Pro	~$0.05	$15	$180

Your Decart dashboard shows the running tally. We're never in that loop.

---

Commands

Command	Purpose
swap setup	Save license + Decart API key
swap config	Show current config (keys redacted)
swap doctor	Verify camera, network, license, deps
swap gui	Launch the desktop GUI
swap run	Start a realtime session from the terminal
swap version	Print version

---

Troubleshooting

swap doctor says license validate ✗

Reason	Fix
license_revoked	Email the seller — most likely chargeback or abuse flag
license_expired	Renew with the seller
too_many_machines	You hit your seat cap. Email the seller to either bump it or reset registered machines
invalid_format	You typed it wrong. Re-paste with swap setup

camera probe ✗ no camera at index 0

• macOS: System Settings → Privacy → Camera → enable for Terminal/iTerm
• Windows: Settings → Privacy → Camera → allow desktop apps
• Linux: check /dev/video* exists and your user is in the video group

Preview window is black / frozen

• Decart's first frames take ~2 seconds to arrive. Wait.
• Stuck longer than 10s? Press Q, check swap doctor, retry
• Decart credits exhausted → check your dashboard at platform.decart.ai

tkinter import error on Linux

sudo apt install python3-tk    # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dnf install python3-tkinter  # Fedora

---

macOS compatibility

The base install (pip install swap-cli) works cleanly on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs — every base dependency has a pre-built arm64 wheel, no compilation needed. The differences are concentrated in the optional voice features.

Feature	macOS support
Live deepfake (Decart Lucy 2)	✅ Works — runs in Decart's cloud, no local GPU needed
swap gui (customtkinter window)	⚠️ Needs Tcl/Tk ≥ 8.6.9 — system Python's 8.5.9 won't work; use python.org or brew install python-tk@3.11
Virtual camera output → Zoom / Meet / Discord	✅ Works via OBS Virtual Camera (install OBS Studio once)
swap voices add (one-shot reference voice extraction)	✅ Works on CPU, ~5 s per add
Live RVC voice streaming on Apple Silicon	⚠️ CPU-only — too slow for real-time conversation; doctor reports honestly
Live RVC voice streaming on Intel Mac	❌ Unsupported (no NVIDIA, no usable CPU path)
First-time voice install (swap voices install)	⚠️ Needs Xcode CLT for git + C compiler (xcode-select --install)
Audio routing into Zoom/Meet	✅ BlackHole (brew install blackhole-2ch)

macOS install (one-time setup)

# 1. Python 3.11 with proper Tcl/Tk
brew install python@3.11 python-tk@3.11

# 2. Xcode Command Line Tools (git + C compiler)
xcode-select --install

# 3. Optional: virtual audio cable for voice routing into Zoom/Meet
brew install blackhole-2ch

# 4. Optional: OBS Studio for the virtual camera driver
# https://obsproject.com/download    (no need to run the OBS app)

# 5. swap-cli itself
pip install swap-cli

# 6. Verify
swap doctor

Every row in swap doctor should be ✓. The macOS-specific rows (tcl/tk version, virtual camera) tell you exactly what to fix if they're not.

What does NOT work well on macOS yet

• Live voice on Apple Silicon — RVC streaming is GPU-bound; Apple's MPS path is broken upstream for fairseq (the model loader). On M-series CPUs you'll get ~4–6× real-time speed which is too slow for live conversation. Voice add/extract still works fine.
• Live voice on Intel Mac — no GPU path at all.
• FaceTime / iOS apps — Apple sandboxes virtual cameras for those. Zoom / Meet / Discord / browsers see "OBS Virtual Camera" normally.

---

Update

pip install --upgrade swap-cli

License keys carry over (stored in user config, not in the package). Your machine ID stays stable so you don't burn a slot on the seat cap.

---

Privacy

• Your Decart API key never leaves your machine.
• License validation pings swap.ikieguy.online once per launch with a hashed machine ID. No camera frames, no IP geolocation, no analytics.
• Generated frames stay on your machine unless you opt in to recording.

---

License

Commercial. See LICENSE.md. Buy a license key at swap.ikieguy.online.

---

In one screen

pip install swap-cli                                     # install
swap setup                                               # paste keys once
swap doctor                                              # verify
swap gui          # OR:  swap run -r face.jpg            # use it

That's the whole system.