diff --git a/docs/qwen-vision-20260911.md b/docs/qwen-vision-20260911.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..68c9fd3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/qwen-vision-20260911.md
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+# Qwen vision verification — 2026-09-11
+
+Qwen3.8 Flash Next now accepts the existing PNG/JPEG attachments. Its optional
+vision encoder has a separate Model Manager entry; downloading, validating or
+deleting it does not alter the text-model artifact set. The existing keep-vision-
+weights-loaded preference also applies to Qwen. Application preprocessing,
+loading and inference are Rust, using the existing Metal runtime kernels.
+
+The four pinned vision files (897,900,287 bytes total) were downloaded and SHA-256
+verified in `~/Library/Application Support/de.rfc1437.ds4server/models/qwen3.8-flash-next`.
+The artifact revision is `74559cdf34fbfc0b593de72d17e93f37fd4f9ea7` of
+`Youssofal/Qwen3.8-Flash-Next-MTPLX-Bare-Speed`; the text manifest remains unchanged.
+The video processor configuration is part of that artifact set; this change
+implements still images.
+
+## Grounding check
+
+Every primary description run used exactly `Describe this image`. The supplied
+1024×1024 PNG was copied unchanged to
+`local-eval-results/qwen-vision-input/image.png`. Its SHA-256 is
+`b7568d90f4df6180d9af14a824dd553cd995457561d29167354c1ba66b728347`.
+Only the image bytes and prompt enter the model; neither the source filename nor
+the neutral filename is included in its text input.
+
+Rust/Metal generation succeeded both with MTP and with ordinary autoregressive
+decoding. Qwen described a golden-tan cartoon llama/alpaca, large eyes, upright
+ears, an open smiling mouth, mountains, a sunset and a grainy poster texture.
+These details are visible in the supplied image. The direct cold-session result
+begins:
+
+> This is a stylized, cartoon-style illustration of a llama (or alpaca) shown from the neck up, set against a sunset landscape.
+
+Controls used the same prompt:
+
+| Input / session | Observed result |
+| --- | --- |
+| No image, Rust and MTPLX | Reports no attached image and requests one |
+| Solid blue image, same dimensions, after the animal image | Describes a uniform blue field; zero cached prompt tokens |
+| Same image repeated | Same description; all 1,069 prompt tokens reused |
+| Saved checkpoint, reset, restore, follow-up | Correct animal description; 1,446 cached tokens out of 1,460 |
+
+This demonstrates image-dependent descriptions for these inputs, not a general
+guarantee against hallucinations.
+
+## Oracle and reproducibility
+
+The oracle is local MTPLX reference `e652d55` with MLX 0.32.2. Python scripts under
+`tools/qwen-vision*-reference.py` run only that reference, never the application.
+The Rust tower matches its exported values exactly at patch embedding, position
+embedding, rotary positions, blocks 0 and 26, and the final merger. Both the
+1024×1024 input (2,621,440 final values) and a small non-square fixture (168,960
+final values) had zero differing values. CPU resize/preprocessing also matches
+three Pillow/MTPLX golden hashes. This is exact encoder agreement; full generated
+token-sequence parity is not claimed.
+
+Local evidence is retained under `local-eval-results/`:
+
+- `qwen-vision-rust-mtp.jsonl`, `qwen-vision-rust-ar.jsonl`,
+  `qwen-vision-rust-no-image.jsonl`: complete application runs.
+- `qwen-vision-lifecycle.jsonl`: cold, repeat, restored and changed-image runs.
+- `qwen-vision-chat-reference.jsonl`: oracle image/no-image runs.
+- `qwen-vision-image/`, `qwen-vision-small/`: exported oracle arrays.
+- `qwen-vision-small-rust.log`: small-fixture exact comparison.
+
+Example application invocation (empty YAML config avoids an unrelated system
+prompt):
+
+```sh
+target/release/ds4-server model-eval \
+  --model qwen3.8-flash-next --config /tmp/qwen-vision-config.yaml \
+  --prompt 'Describe this image' \
+  --image-file local-eval-results/qwen-vision-input/image.png \
+  --context 8192 --max-tokens 1024 --reasoning low \
+  --temperature 0 --top-p 0.95 --seed 1 --acceleration on \
+  --prefill-chunk 2048 --warmup off --canary on --max-memory-gib 108
+```
+
+The ignored GPU tests `qwen_vision_tower_matches_mtplx_image` and
+`qwen_vision_chat_checkpoint_preserves_image_identity` are runnable with
+`DS4_QWEN38_ARTIFACTS` pointing to the model directory and respectively
+`DS4_QWEN_VISION_REFERENCE` pointing to exported arrays or
+`DS4_QWEN_VISION_IMAGE` pointing to the neutral input. Run one GPU model process
+at a time under `test-supervisor` with an appropriate memory limit.
+
+Final checks: `cargo fmt --all -- --check`, Clippy with all targets/features and
+warnings denied, `RUST_TEST_THREADS=1 cargo test --all-features` (315 passed,
+204 opt-in tests ignored), and `make bundle` all succeeded. The two encoder
+comparisons and image lifecycle test were additionally executed explicitly with
+GPU access. The updated, signed application is `target/release/DS4Server.app`.
diff --git a/src/app.rs b/src/app.rs
index aed98e9..7927edc 100644
--- a/src/app.rs
+++ b/src/app.rs
@@ -1402,7 +1402,7 @@ impl App {
             }
             Message::ComposerAction(action) => self.composer.perform(action),
             Message::ChooseVisionImage => {
-                if self.config.model != ModelChoice::Glm53Flash || self.generating {
+                if !self.config.model.supports_vision() || self.generating {
                     return Task::none();
                 }
                 return Task::perform(
diff --git a/src/app/preferences.rs b/src/app/preferences.rs
index ec5e603..ea52fab 100644
--- a/src/app/preferences.rs
+++ b/src/app/preferences.rs
@@ -604,7 +604,7 @@ impl App {
             return;
         }
         self.config = config;
-        if self.config.model != ModelChoice::Glm53Flash {
+        if !self.config.model.supports_vision() {
             self.pending_vision_image = None;
         }
         self.context_limit = self.config.active_generation().context_tokens.max(0) as u32;
@@ -889,7 +889,7 @@ impl App {
             }
             Message::PreferenceKeepVisionLoadedChanged(value) => {
                 self.preference_draft.keep_vision_loaded =
-                    self.preference_draft.acceleration_model == ModelChoice::Glm53Flash && value;
+                    self.preference_draft.acceleration_model.supports_vision() && value;
                 self.preference_error = None;
             }
             Message::PreferenceDsparkConfidenceChanged(value) => {
diff --git a/src/app/projects.rs b/src/app/projects.rs
index 7f3a761..26c7c6e 100644
--- a/src/app/projects.rs
+++ b/src/app/projects.rs
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ impl App {
         self.config = config;
         self.preference_draft = PreferenceDraft::from_saved(&self.config);
         self.context_limit = self.config.active_generation().context_tokens.max(0) as u32;
-        if model != ModelChoice::Glm53Flash {
+        if !model.supports_vision() {
             self.pending_vision_image = None;
         }
         #[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
diff --git a/src/app/view/chat.rs b/src/app/view/chat.rs
index f0a7e0e..b0db497 100644
--- a/src/app/view/chat.rs
+++ b/src/app/view/chat.rs
@@ -337,8 +337,8 @@ impl App {
                 .padding([2, 6])
                 .into()
             };
-            let vision_ready = self.config.model == ModelChoice::Glm53Flash
-                && model::engine_artifacts(ModelChoice::Glm53Flash, false, &models_path())
+            let vision_ready = self.config.model.supports_vision()
+                && model::engine_artifacts(self.config.model, false, &models_path())
                     .vision
                     .is_some();
             let attach = if vision_ready && !self.generating && self.pending_vision_image.is_none()
@@ -356,8 +356,10 @@ impl App {
                             attach,
                             container(text(if vision_ready {
                                 "Attach PNG or JPEG"
+                            } else if self.config.model.supports_vision() {
+                                "Download the vision encoder in Model Manager"
                             } else {
-                                "GLM 5.3 Flash vision sidecar is not ready"
+                                "This model does not support image attachments"
                             }))
                             .padding(8)
                             .style(preference_group_style),
diff --git a/src/app/view/preferences.rs b/src/app/view/preferences.rs
index 937ae9d..4100fe1 100644
--- a/src/app/view/preferences.rs
+++ b/src/app/view/preferences.rs
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ impl App {
             .supports_integrated_mtp()
             .then_some(Message::PreferenceGlmMtpTimingChanged);
         let keep_vision_loaded_toggle: Option<fn(bool) -> Message> =
-            (self.preference_draft.acceleration_model == ModelChoice::Glm53Flash)
+            (self.preference_draft.acceleration_model.supports_vision())
                 .then_some(Message::PreferenceKeepVisionLoadedChanged);
         let dspark_strict_toggle: Option<fn(bool) -> Message> = self
             .preference_draft
@@ -623,7 +623,7 @@ impl App {
                 ),
                 hint(
                     toggle(self.preference_draft.keep_vision_loaded)
-                        .label("Keep GLM 5.3 vision weights loaded")
+                        .label("Keep vision weights loaded")
                         .on_toggle_maybe(keep_vision_loaded_toggle),
                     "Keeps the vision encoder mapped between image turns for lower image latency. Off releases it after encoding all images in a turn, leaving more memory for long text contexts.",
                 ),
diff --git a/src/engine.rs b/src/engine.rs
index 0d13620..ceb3cf0 100644
--- a/src/engine.rs
+++ b/src/engine.rs
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ mod kvstore;
 #[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
 mod metal;
 mod qwen;
+mod qwen_vision;
 #[cfg(test)]
 #[path = "../tools/sampler-replay-benchmark.rs"]
 mod sampler_replay_benchmark;
@@ -1504,9 +1505,6 @@ impl Generator {
             .iter()
             .any(|message| message.content.contains(VISION_DATA_START));
         if let metal::Executor::QwenMtplx(executor) = &mut self.executor {
-            if has_vision {
-                return Err("vision input requires GLM 5.3 Flash".into());
-            }
             return executor.generate(messages, settings, cancelled, &self.metrics, progress, emit);
         }
         let (tokens, overlays) = if has_vision {
diff --git a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx.rs b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx.rs
index 3a8efba..b2b22c4 100644
--- a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx.rs
+++ b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx.rs
@@ -70,6 +70,8 @@ mod stream;
 mod submission;
 mod unary;
 mod views;
+mod vision;
+mod vision_kernels;
 mod weights;
 #[cfg(test)]
 pub(super) use encoder::Scope;
diff --git a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/compile_graph.rs b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/compile_graph.rs
index fb67710..ee74f91 100644
--- a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/compile_graph.rs
+++ b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/compile_graph.rs
@@ -549,6 +549,7 @@ fn equivalent_operation(a: &Operation, b: &Operation, x: &Array, y: &Array) -> b
         | (Softmax(a), Softmax(b))
         | (SearchSorted(a), SearchSorted(b))
         | (CumsumLastF32(a), CumsumLastF32(b)) => a == b,
+        (Vision(a), Vision(b)) => a == b,
         (RmsNorm(a), RmsNorm(b)) => a == b,
         (
             SdpaVector {
diff --git a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/dense.rs b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/dense.rs
index a0c4dbe..235870e 100644
--- a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/dense.rs
+++ b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/dense.rs
@@ -181,6 +181,15 @@ fn dot(a: &Array, b: &Array, out: &Array, k: u32) -> Result<(), String> {
 }
 
 pub(super) fn evaluate(a: &Array, b: &Array, out: &Array) -> Result<(), String> {
+    evaluate_bias(a, b, None, out)
+}
+
+pub(super) fn evaluate_bias(
+    a: &Array,
+    b: &Array,
+    bias: Option<&Array>,
+    out: &Array,
+) -> Result<(), String> {
     let dtype = out.layout().dtype();
     let dtype_name = dtype.kernel_name();
     if a.layout().size() == 0 || b.layout().size() == 0 {
@@ -247,6 +256,7 @@ pub(super) fn evaluate(a: &Array, b: &Array, out: &Array) -> Result<(), String>
     }
     let ab = a.buffer();
     let bb = b.buffer();
+    let cb = bias.map(Array::buffer);
     let ob = out.buffer();
     let ai = |index| {
         tensor(index, &ab)
@@ -480,15 +490,33 @@ pub(super) fn evaluate(a: &Array, b: &Array, out: &Array) -> Result<(), String>
                 },
                 [32, wn, wm],
             )?;
+            let zero = 0_i32;
+            let one = 1_i32;
+            let scale = 1_f32;
+            let mut accum = vec![
+                tensor(0, &intermediate).input(parts as usize * stride as usize),
+                output(1),
+                bytes(2, &parts),
+                bytes(3, &stride),
+                bytes(4, &n),
+            ];
+            if let (Some(c), Some(cb)) = (bias, cb.as_ref()) {
+                accum.extend([
+                    tensor(5, cb)
+                        .at_byte_offset(c.offset())
+                        .input(c.data_size()),
+                    bytes(6, &zero),
+                    bytes(7, &one),
+                    bytes(8, &scale),
+                    bytes(9, &scale),
+                ]);
+            }
             dispatch_geometry(
-                &format!("steel_gemm_splitk_accum_{dtype_name}_float32"),
-                &[
-                    tensor(0, &intermediate).input(parts as usize * stride as usize),
-                    output(1),
-                    bytes(2, &parts),
-                    bytes(3, &stride),
-                    bytes(4, &n),
-                ],
+                &format!(
+                    "steel_gemm_splitk_accum_{dtype_name}_float32{}",
+                    if bias.is_some() { "_axbpy" } else { "" }
+                ),
+                &accum,
                 &[],
                 [n, m, 1],
                 super::block_dims([n, m, 1]),
@@ -520,6 +548,29 @@ pub(super) fn evaluate(a: &Array, b: &Array, out: &Array) -> Result<(), String>
                 padding: 0,
             };
             let mut bindings = vec![ai(0), bi(1), output(3), bytes(4, &params)];
+            #[repr(C)]
+            struct Add {
+                ldc: i32,
+                fdc: i32,
+                stride: i64,
+                alpha: f32,
+                beta: f32,
+            }
+            let add = Add {
+                ldc: 0,
+                fdc: 1,
+                stride: 0,
+                alpha: 1.,
+                beta: 1.,
+            };
+            if let (Some(c), Some(cb)) = (bias, cb.as_ref()) {
+                bindings.extend([
+                    tensor(2, cb)
+                        .at_byte_offset(c.offset())
+                        .input(c.data_size()),
+                    bytes(5, &add),
+                ]);
+            }
             let batch_strides = a_batch.iter().chain(&b_batch).copied().collect::<Vec<_>>();
             if batch_ndim > 1 {
                 bindings.extend([
@@ -535,7 +586,7 @@ pub(super) fn evaluate(a: &Array, b: &Array, out: &Array) -> Result<(), String>
                 &bindings,
                 &constants(&[
                     (10, batch_ndim > 1),
-                    (100, false),
+                    (100, bias.is_some()),
                     (110, false),
                     (200, m.is_multiple_of(64)),
                     (201, n.is_multiple_of(bn)),
diff --git a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/execution.rs b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/execution.rs
index 19fc5b1..e275eb7 100644
--- a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/execution.rs
+++ b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/execution.rs
@@ -216,6 +216,7 @@ impl Options {
 
 pub(super) struct Execution {
     pub(super) model: BoundModel,
+    pub(super) vision_prompt: Option<(Vec<i32>, Vec<crate::engine::qwen_vision::Identity>)>,
     pub(super) cache: Vec<Option<Cache>>,
     pub(super) mtp_cache: [Option<Cache>; 1],
     pub(super) streams: Streams,
@@ -324,6 +325,7 @@ impl Execution {
         let mtp_cache = model.borrow_dependent().make_mtp_cache(4);
         Ok(Self {
             model,
+            vision_prompt: None,
             cache,
             mtp_cache,
             streams,
diff --git a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/fused.rs b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/fused.rs
index 7966649..04f537a 100644
--- a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/fused.rs
+++ b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/fused.rs
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ pub(super) fn operator(op: &Operation) -> Option<&'static str> {
             U::Rsqrt => "Rsqrt",
             U::Sin => "Sin",
             U::Cos => "Cos",
+            U::Erf => "Erf",
         },
         Operation::Binary(op) => match op {
             B::Equal => "Equal",
diff --git a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/model.rs b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/model.rs
index 4f392c5..247ee98 100644
--- a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/model.rs
+++ b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/model.rs
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ pub(super) struct TextModel<'a> {
     pub(super) mixer: hyper::GatedResidual<'a>,
     pub(super) head: Option<Linear<'a>>, // None means tied embedding weights.
     pub(super) mtp: Option<super::mtp::Mtp<'a>>,
+    pub(super) vision: Option<super::vision::Input>,
     pub(super) last_widened: Option<Array>,
     policy: CompilePolicy,
     decode_runs: Option<Vec<Run>>,
@@ -111,7 +112,7 @@ pub(super) struct Output {
     pub(super) hidden: Option<Array>,
 }
 
-fn embedding(layer: Linear<'_>, ids: &Array, stream: Stream) -> Result<Array, String> {
+pub(super) fn embedding(layer: Linear<'_>, ids: &Array, stream: Stream) -> Result<Array, String> {
     match layer {
         Linear::Dense(weight) => indexing::take_rows(weight, ids, stream),
         Linear::Quantized(layer) => linear::dequantize(
@@ -171,6 +172,7 @@ impl<'a> TextModel<'a> {
             head,
             parameter_order: Vec::new(),
             mtp: None,
+            vision: None,
             last_widened: None,
             policy,
             decode_runs: None,
@@ -213,6 +215,8 @@ impl<'a> TextModel<'a> {
         streams: &Streams,
         stream: Stream,
     ) -> Result<Output, String> {
+        let image = self.vision.clone();
+        let vision = vision.or_else(|| image.as_ref().map(|v| (Some(&v.table), v.delta)));
         let emb = embedding(self.embedding, ids, stream)?;
         let mtp = self
             .mtp
@@ -242,7 +246,18 @@ impl<'a> TextModel<'a> {
         streams: &Streams,
         stream: Stream,
     ) -> Result<Array, String> {
-        let emb = match input_embeddings {
+        let image = self.vision.clone();
+        let vision = vision.or_else(|| image.as_ref().map(|v| (Some(&v.table), v.delta)));
+        let spliced = match (&image, input_embeddings) {
+            (Some(v), None) => v.embeddings(
+                self.embedding,
+                ids,
+                super::vision::cache_position(cache.as_deref()) + 1,
+                stream,
+            )?,
+            _ => None,
+        };
+        let emb = match input_embeddings.or(spliced.as_ref()) {
             Some(emb) => emb.clone(),
             None => embedding(self.embedding, ids, stream)?,
         };
@@ -440,7 +455,18 @@ impl<'a> TextModel<'a> {
         streams: &Streams,
         stream: Stream,
     ) -> Result<Output, String> {
-        let h = match input_embeddings {
+        let image = self.vision.clone();
+        let vision = vision.or_else(|| image.as_ref().map(|v| (Some(&v.table), v.delta)));
+        let spliced = match (&image, input_embeddings) {
+            (Some(v), None) => v.embeddings(
+                self.embedding,
+                ids,
+                super::vision::cache_position(cache.as_deref()),
+                stream,
+            )?,
+            _ => None,
+        };
+        let h = match input_embeddings.or(spliced.as_ref()) {
             Some(h) => h.clone(),
             None => embedding(self.embedding, ids, stream)?,
         };
diff --git a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/ops.rs b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/ops.rs
index d435aae..e43b863 100644
--- a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/ops.rs
+++ b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/ops.rs
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ use super::stream::{Device, Stream, Streams};
 use super::{eval, views};
 
 pub(super) enum Operation {
+    Vision(super::vision_kernels::Kernel),
     Compiled(super::fused::Expression),
     Load(super::load::Load),
     Reshape,
@@ -208,7 +209,7 @@ impl Operation {
             | Self::ArangeU32
             | Self::ArangeF32 { .. }
             | Self::ArangeI64 => Err("invalid indexing arity".into()),
-            Self::RmsNorm(_) => Err("RMSNorm requires two inputs".into()),
+            Self::Vision(_) | Self::RmsNorm(_) => Err("RMSNorm requires two inputs".into()),
             Self::QuantizedLinearBf16 { .. } => Err("quantized linear requires four inputs".into()),
             Self::GatherQmmBf16 { .. } => Err("GatherQMM requires six inputs".into()),
             Self::AffineQuantize { .. } => Err("quantize requires three sibling outputs".into()),
@@ -257,6 +258,9 @@ pub(super) fn evaluate(
                 .operation()
                 .ok_or("array has no executable primitive")?;
             match &*operation {
+                Operation::Vision(k) => {
+                    return super::vision_kernels::evaluate(*k, inputs, &outputs[0]);
+                }
                 Operation::Compiled(expression) => {
                     if stream.device() != Device::Gpu {
                         return Err("compiled expression requires Metal".into());
diff --git a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/owner.rs b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/owner.rs
index 195c68b..880d8be 100644
--- a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/owner.rs
+++ b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/owner.rs
@@ -15,6 +15,9 @@ use std::sync::atomic::AtomicBool;
 pub(in crate::engine) struct QwenExecutor {
     // All snapshot arrays must die before the executor's native Metal context.
     live: LiveSession,
+    vision_tower: Option<super::vision::Tower>,
+    vision_path: Option<std::path::PathBuf>,
+    keep_vision_loaded: bool,
     metadata: QwenMetadata,
     identity: Identity,
     policy: TurnOptions<'static>,
@@ -43,6 +46,13 @@ impl QwenExecutor {
         let (execution, policy) = Execution::open(settings)?;
         Ok(Self {
             live: LiveSession::default(),
+            vision_tower: None,
+            vision_path: settings
+                .artifacts
+                .vision
+                .as_ref()
+                .map(|_| settings.artifacts.model.clone()),
+            keep_vision_loaded: settings.speculative.keep_vision_loaded,
             metadata,
             identity,
             policy,
@@ -67,6 +77,43 @@ impl QwenExecutor {
         if settings.context_tokens != self.identity.context as i32 {
             return Err("Qwen turn context differs from the loaded engine".into());
         }
+        self.execution.vision_prompt = None;
+        self.execution
+            .model
+            .with_dependent_mut(|_, model| model.vision = None);
+        if messages
+            .iter()
+            .any(|m| m.content.contains(crate::engine::VISION_DATA_START))
+        {
+            let root = self
+                .vision_path
+                .as_ref()
+                .ok_or("Qwen vision encoder is not installed; download it in Model Manager")?;
+            if self.vision_tower.is_none() {
+                self.vision_tower = Some(super::vision::Tower::load(
+                    root,
+                    &self.execution.streams,
+                    self.execution.stream,
+                )?);
+            }
+            let prepared = super::vision::prepare(
+                cancelled,
+                &self.metadata,
+                messages,
+                settings,
+                self.vision_tower.as_ref().unwrap(),
+                &self.execution.streams,
+                self.execution.stream,
+            );
+            if !self.keep_vision_loaded {
+                self.vision_tower = None;
+            }
+            let (ids, input, identities) = prepared?;
+            self.execution
+                .model
+                .with_dependent_mut(|_, model| model.vision = Some(input));
+            self.execution.vision_prompt = Some((ids, identities));
+        }
         let baseline = self.stats;
         let stats = &mut self.stats;
         let result = self.live.generate(
@@ -163,6 +210,10 @@ impl QwenExecutor {
 
     fn clear_execution_cache(&mut self) -> Result<(), String> {
         self.execution.streams.synchronize(self.execution.stream)?;
+        self.execution.vision_prompt = None;
+        self.execution
+            .model
+            .with_dependent_mut(|_, model| model.vision = None);
         let model = self.execution.model.borrow_dependent();
         self.execution.cache = model.make_cache(4);
         self.execution.mtp_cache = model.make_mtp_cache(4);
@@ -866,3 +917,126 @@ fn qwen_product_generator_chat_matches_reference() {
         std::panic::resume_unwind(error);
     }
 }
+
+#[test]
+#[ignore = "requires installed Qwen, Metal, and DS4_QWEN_VISION_IMAGE; run under test-supervisor"]
+fn qwen_vision_chat_checkpoint_preserves_image_identity() {
+    use crate::settings::{
+        GenerationPreferences, ReasoningMode, RuntimePreferences, SpeculativePreferences,
+    };
+    use base64::Engine as _;
+    let root = std::path::PathBuf::from(std::env::var("DS4_QWEN38_ARTIFACTS").unwrap());
+    let image = std::fs::read(std::env::var("DS4_QWEN_VISION_IMAGE").unwrap()).unwrap();
+    let directory = std::env::temp_dir().join(format!("qwen-vision-chat-{}", std::process::id()));
+    std::fs::create_dir_all(&directory).unwrap();
+    let settings = crate::settings::effective_settings(
+        crate::model::ModelChoice::Qwen38FlashNext,
+        &GenerationPreferences {
+            context_tokens: 8192,
+            max_generated_tokens: 1024,
+            system_prompt: String::new(),
+            temperature: Some(0.),
+            top_p: Some(0.95),
+            min_p: Some(0.),
+            seed: Some(1),
+            reasoning_mode: ReasoningMode::Low,
+        },
+        &RuntimePreferences {
+            speculative: SpeculativePreferences {
+                glm_mtp: true,
+                ..Default::default()
+            },
+            ..Default::default()
+        },
+        root.parent().unwrap(),
+    )
+    .unwrap();
+    eprintln!("vision lifecycle: loading Qwen");
+    let mut executor = QwenExecutor::open(&settings.engine).unwrap();
+    let metrics = Metrics::new(&directory);
+    let cancelled = AtomicBool::new(false);
+    let user = |content: String| ChatTurn {
+        user: true,
+        tool: false,
+        system: false,
+        skip_previous_eos: false,
+        reasoning: None,
+        reasoning_complete: false,
+        content,
+    };
+    let marker = crate::engine::vision_data_marker(&format!(
+        "data:image/png;base64,{}",
+        base64::engine::general_purpose::STANDARD.encode(image)
+    ));
+    let mut messages = vec![user(format!("Describe this image{marker}"))];
+    let run = |executor: &mut QwenExecutor, messages: &[ChatTurn], label: &str| {
+        let (output, complete) = executor
+            .generate(
+                messages,
+                &settings.turn,
+                &cancelled,
+                &metrics,
+                |p, _, _| {
+                    if p % 128 == 0 {
+                        eprintln!("{label}: position {p}");
+                    }
+                },
+                |_, _| {},
+            )
+            .unwrap();
+        assert!(complete);
+        assert_eq!(output.finish_reason, "stop");
+        println!(
+            "{}",
+            serde_json::json!({"event":"vision_lifecycle","phase":label,"content":output.message.content,"reasoning":output.message.reasoning,"prompt":output.prompt_tokens,"cached":output.cached_tokens})
+        );
+        output
+    };
+    let first = run(&mut executor, &messages, "cold");
+    assert_eq!(first.prompt_tokens, 1069);
+    assert_eq!(first.cached_tokens, 0);
+    let content = first.message.content.to_lowercase();
+    assert!(content.contains("llama") || content.contains("alpaca"));
+    assert!(content.contains("mountain"));
+    assert!(
+        executor.vision_tower.is_none(),
+        "default policy must release vision weights"
+    );
+    assert_eq!(executor.live.current_images.len(), 1);
+    let identities = executor.live.current_images.clone();
+    let repeat = run(&mut executor, &messages, "same_image");
+    assert_eq!(repeat.cached_tokens, first.prompt_tokens);
+    assert_eq!(repeat.message.content, first.message.content);
+    messages.push(repeat.message);
+    let tag = crate::engine::conversation_tag("", ReasoningMode::Low, &messages);
+    let checkpoint = directory.join("vision.kv");
+    executor
+        .save_checkpoint(&checkpoint, tag, &mut |_| {})
+        .unwrap();
+    executor.reset().unwrap();
+    assert!(executor.load_checkpoint(&checkpoint, &mut |_| {}).unwrap());
+    assert_eq!(executor.live.current_images, identities);
+    messages.push(user("Describe this image".into()));
+    let followup = run(&mut executor, &messages, "restored_followup");
+    assert!(followup.cached_tokens >= first.prompt_tokens);
+    let text = followup.message.content.to_lowercase();
+    assert!(text.contains("llama") || text.contains("alpaca"));
+    // Same text and same image-pad span, different pixels must miss the old KV.
+    let blue = image::RgbImage::from_pixel(1024, 1024, image::Rgb([0, 0, 255]));
+    let mut encoded = std::io::Cursor::new(Vec::new());
+    blue.write_to(&mut encoded, image::ImageFormat::Png)
+        .unwrap();
+    let marker = crate::engine::vision_data_marker(&format!(
+        "data:image/png;base64,{}",
+        base64::engine::general_purpose::STANDARD.encode(encoded.get_ref())
+    ));
+    let changed = run(
+        &mut executor,
+        &[user(format!("Describe this image{marker}"))],
+        "different_image",
+    );
+    assert_eq!(changed.cached_tokens, 0);
+    assert!(changed.message.content.to_lowercase().contains("blue"));
+    assert_ne!(changed.message.content, first.message.content);
+    std::fs::remove_dir_all(directory).unwrap();
+}
diff --git a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/request.rs b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/request.rs
index b3408d9..762b702 100644
--- a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/request.rs
+++ b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/request.rs
@@ -95,6 +95,8 @@ pub(in crate::engine) struct LiveSession {
     pub(super) current: Option<SessionSnapshot>,
     pub(super) prefix: Option<SessionSnapshot>,
     pub(super) tag: [u8; 32],
+    pub(super) current_images: Vec<crate::engine::qwen_vision::Identity>,
+    pub(super) prefix_images: Vec<crate::engine::qwen_vision::Identity>,
 }
 
 impl LiveSession {
@@ -129,7 +131,10 @@ impl LiveSession {
         emit: impl FnMut(bool, String),
         observe: impl FnMut(TurnProgress) -> Result<(), String>,
     ) -> Result<TextTurn, String> {
-        let prompt = self.prompt(model, messages, settings);
+        let (prompt, images) = execution
+            .vision_prompt
+            .clone()
+            .unwrap_or_else(|| (self.prompt(model, messages, settings), Vec::new()));
         let context = u32::try_from(settings.context_tokens)
             .ok()
             .filter(|&n| n > 0)
@@ -154,11 +159,18 @@ impl LiveSession {
                 o.stops = &stop_ids;
             }
         }
-        let saved = [&self.current, &self.prefix]
-            .into_iter()
-            .flatten()
-            .filter(|s| prompt.starts_with(&s.token_ids))
-            .max_by_key(|s| s.token_ids.len());
+        let saved = [
+            (&self.current, &self.current_images),
+            (&self.prefix, &self.prefix_images),
+        ]
+        .into_iter()
+        .filter_map(|(s, old)| {
+            s.as_ref().filter(|s| {
+                crate::engine::qwen_vision::same_prefix(old, &images, s.token_ids.len())
+            })
+        })
+        .filter(|s| prompt.starts_with(&s.token_ids))
+        .max_by_key(|s| s.token_ids.len());
         let mut captured_prefix = None;
         let result = execution.generate_text(
             &prompt,
@@ -182,6 +194,7 @@ impl LiveSession {
         // errors. Never tag those partial turns as a completed conversation.
         if let Some(prefix) = captured_prefix {
             self.prefix = Some(prefix);
+            self.prefix_images = images.clone();
         }
         let mut result = result?;
         if let Some(snapshot) = result
@@ -194,6 +207,7 @@ impl LiveSession {
             self.tag =
                 conversation_tag(&settings.system_prompt, settings.reasoning_mode, &completed);
             self.current = Some(snapshot);
+            self.current_images = images;
         }
         Ok(result)
     }
diff --git a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/session_checkpoint.rs b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/session_checkpoint.rs
index bafacc4..b83a04f 100644
--- a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/session_checkpoint.rs
+++ b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/session_checkpoint.rs
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ pub(super) struct Identity {
 struct Manifest {
     identity: Identity,
     tag: [u8; 32],
+    #[serde(default)]
+    images: Vec<crate::engine::qwen_vision::Identity>,
     tokens: Vec<i32>,
     lazy_kv: bool,
     payload: serde_json::Value,
@@ -111,6 +113,7 @@ impl LiveSession {
             let manifest = serde_json::to_vec(&Manifest {
                 identity,
                 tag,
+                images: self.current_images.clone(),
                 tokens: saved.token_ids.clone(),
                 lazy_kv: saved.lazy_kv,
                 payload,
@@ -230,6 +233,8 @@ impl LiveSession {
         self.current = Some(saved);
         self.prefix = None;
         self.tag = manifest.tag;
+        self.current_images = manifest.images;
+        self.prefix_images.clear();
         Ok(true)
     }
 }
@@ -258,6 +263,8 @@ fn qwen_checkpoint_roundtrip_and_failed_restore_preserve_live_state() {
     .unwrap();
     let state = Some(State::Recurrent(vec![Some(leaf.clone()), None]));
     let mut live = LiveSession {
+        current_images: Vec::new(),
+        prefix_images: Vec::new(),
         current: Some(SessionSnapshot {
             token_ids: vec![1, 2, 3, 4],
             logits: leaf.clone(),
diff --git a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/unary.rs b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/unary.rs
index ff17b7f..e5cee1a 100644
--- a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/unary.rs
+++ b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/unary.rs
@@ -15,12 +15,12 @@ pub(super) enum Unary {
     #[cfg_attr(not(test), expect(dead_code, reason = "Reference diagnostic API"))]
     Log,
     Sigmoid,
-    #[cfg_attr(not(test), expect(dead_code, reason = "Reference diagnostic API"))]
     Tanh,
     Sqrt,
     Rsqrt,
     Sin,
     Cos,
+    Erf,
 }
 
 pub(super) fn unary(input: &Array, op: Unary, stream: Stream) -> Result<Array, String> {
diff --git a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/vision.rs b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/vision.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6261739
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/vision.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,544 @@
+//! Qwen3-VL tower, following MTPLX e652d55 vision/qwen3_vl_tower.py.
+use super::array::{Array, Dtype};
+use super::binary::{Binary, binary};
+use super::stream::{Stream, Streams};
+use super::{
+    indexing, ops,
+    unary::{Unary, unary},
+    vision_kernels::{self, Kernel},
+};
+use std::path::Path;
+
+pub(super) fn f32_array(shape: &[i32], data: &[f32]) -> Result<Array, String> {
+    Array::new(
+        shape,
+        Dtype::F32,
+        super::scalar_buffer(
+            &data
+                .iter()
+                .flat_map(|x| x.to_le_bytes())
+                .collect::<Vec<_>>(),
+        )?,
+    )
+}
+fn i32_array(shape: &[i32], data: &[i32]) -> Result<Array, String> {
+    Array::new(
+        shape,
+        Dtype::I32,
+        super::scalar_buffer(
+            &data
+                .iter()
+                .flat_map(|x| x.to_le_bytes())
+                .collect::<Vec<_>>(),
+        )?,
+    )
+}
+fn scalar(x: f32, dtype: Dtype, s: Stream) -> Result<Array, String> {
+    ops::astype(&f32_array(&[], &[x])?, dtype, false, s)
+}
+fn add(a: &Array, b: &Array, s: Stream) -> Result<Array, String> {
+    binary(a, b, Binary::Add, s)
+}
+fn mul(a: &Array, b: &Array, s: Stream) -> Result<Array, String> {
+    binary(a, b, Binary::Multiply, s)
+}
+fn pad_last(a: &Array, extra: i32, s: Stream) -> Result<Array, String> {
+    let mut shape = a.layout().shape().to_vec();
+    *shape.last_mut().unwrap() = extra;
+    ops::concatenate(
+        &[a.clone(), ops::zeros(&shape, a.layout().dtype(), s)?],
+        -1,
+        s,
+    )
+}
+fn contiguous(a: &Array, s: Stream) -> Result<Array, String> {
+    ops::contiguous(a, false, s)
+}
+
+pub(super) struct Tower {
+    weights: super::weights::Parameters,
+}
+impl Tower {
+    pub(super) fn load(root: &Path, streams: &Streams, s: Stream) -> Result<Self, String> {
+        let weights = super::load::safetensors(&root.join("model-vision.safetensors"), streams)?;
+        if weights.len() != 333 || weights.keys().any(|k| !k.starts_with("vision_tower.")) {
+            return Err("Qwen vision tower must contain its 333 pinned tensors".into());
+        }
+        let mut tower = Self { weights };
+        let key = "vision_tower.patch_embed.proj.weight";
+        let w = tower
+            .weights
+            .get(key)
+            .ok_or("missing Qwen vision patch weight")?;
+        let w = match w.layout().shape() {
+            [1152, 3, 2, 16, 16] => ops::transpose(w, &[0, 2, 3, 4, 1], s)?,
+            [1152, 2, 16, 16, 3] => w.clone(),
+            _ => return Err("unexpected Qwen vision patch layout".into()),
+        };
+        tower
+            .weights
+            .insert(key.into(), contiguous(&pad_last(&w, 13, s)?, s)?);
+        ops::evaluate(
+            streams,
+            &tower.weights.values().cloned().collect::<Vec<_>>(),
+            s,
+            false,
+        )?;
+        Ok(tower)
+    }
+    fn weight(&self, name: &str) -> Result<&Array, String> {
+        self.weights
+            .get(&format!("vision_tower.{name}"))
+            .ok_or_else(|| format!("missing Qwen vision tensor {name}"))
+    }
+    fn linear(&self, x: &Array, name: &str, s: Stream) -> Result<Array, String> {
+        let w = self.weight(&format!("{name}.weight"))?;
+        let b = self.weight(&format!("{name}.bias"))?;
+        let rows = x.layout().dim(0)?;
+        if rows < 16
+            || x.layout().dtype() != Dtype::BF16
+            || x.layout().shape().len() != 2
+            || x.layout().dim(1)? != w.layout().dim(1)?
+        {
+            return Err("invalid Qwen vision projection layout".into());
+        }
+        vision_kernels::call(
+            Kernel::Linear,
+            &[contiguous(x, s)?, ops::transpose(w, &[1, 0], s)?, b.clone()],
+            &[rows, w.layout().dim(0)?],
+            s,
+        )
+    }
+    fn norm(&self, x: &Array, name: &str, s: Stream) -> Result<Array, String> {
+        vision_kernels::call(
+            Kernel::LayerNorm,
+            &[
+                contiguous(x, s)?,
+                self.weight(&format!("{name}.weight"))?.clone(),
+                self.weight(&format!("{name}.bias"))?.clone(),
+            ],
+            x.layout().shape(),
+            s,
+        )
+    }
+    fn positions(&self, h: i32, w: i32, s: Stream) -> Result<(Array, Array), String> {
+        let mut indices = [Vec::new(), Vec::new(), Vec::new(), Vec::new()];
+        let mut weights = [Vec::new(), Vec::new(), Vec::new(), Vec::new()];
+        let mut rotary = Vec::new();
+        for br in 0..h / 2 {
+            for bc in 0..w / 2 {
+                for ir in 0..2 {
+                    for ic in 0..2 {
+                        let (r, c) = (br * 2 + ir, bc * 2 + ic);
+                        // mx.linspace(0,47,n) uses a double step cast to F32.
+                        let y = (r as f64 * 47.0 / f64::from(h - 1)) as f32;
+                        let x = (c as f64 * 47.0 / f64::from(w - 1)) as f32;
+                        let (yf, xf) = (y as i32, x as i32);
+                        let (yc, xc) = ((yf + 1).min(47), (xf + 1).min(47));
+                        let (dy, dx) = (y - yf as f32, x - xf as f32);
+                        for (i, (idx, v)) in [
+                            (yf * 48 + xf, (1. - dy) * (1. - dx)),
+                            (yf * 48 + xc, (1. - dy) * dx),
+                            (yc * 48 + xf, dy * (1. - dx)),
+                            (yc * 48 + xc, dy * dx),
+                        ]
+                        .into_iter()
+                        .enumerate()
+                        {
+                            indices[i].push(idx);
+                            weights[i].push(v)
+                        }
+                        rotary.extend([r as f32, c as f32]);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        let mut parts = Vec::new();
+        for i in 0..4 {
+            let p = indexing::take_rows(
+                self.weight("pos_embed.weight")?,
+                &i32_array(&[h * w], &indices[i])?,
+                s,
+            )?;
+            let weights =
+                ops::astype(&f32_array(&[h * w, 1], &weights[i])?, Dtype::BF16, false, s)?;
+            parts.push(mul(&p, &weights, s)?);
+        }
+        let position = add(
+            &add(&add(&parts[0], &parts[1], s)?, &parts[2], s)?,
+            &parts[3],
+            s,
+        )?;
+        let exponent = binary(
+            &f32_array(&[18], &(0..18).map(|i| (i * 2) as f32).collect::<Vec<_>>())?,
+            &f32_array(&[], &[36.])?,
+            Binary::Divide,
+            s,
+        )?;
+        let powers = binary(&f32_array(&[], &[10000.])?, &exponent, Binary::Power, s)?;
+        let inv = binary(&f32_array(&[], &[1.])?, &powers, Binary::Divide, s)?;
+        let rotary = ops::reshape(
+            &mul(&f32_array(&[h * w, 2, 1], &rotary)?, &inv, s)?,
+            &[h * w, 36],
+            s,
+        )?;
+        Ok((position, rotary))
+    }
+    fn attention(&self, x: &Array, name: &str, rotary: &Array, s: Stream) -> Result<Array, String> {
+        let n = x.layout().dim(0)?;
+        let qkv = self.linear(x, &format!("{name}.qkv"), s)?;
+        let qkv = ops::transpose(&ops::reshape(&qkv, &[n, 3, 16, 72], s)?, &[1, 0, 2, 3], s)?;
+        let mut parts = ops::split(&qkv, &[1, 2], 0, s)?;
+        let angles = ops::reshape(rotary, &[1, n, 1, 36], s)?;
+        let cos = unary(&angles, Unary::Cos, s)?;
+        let sin = unary(&angles, Unary::Sin, s)?;
+        let cos = ops::concatenate(&[cos.clone(), cos], -1, s)?;
+        let sin = ops::concatenate(&[sin.clone(), sin], -1, s)?;
+        for p in &mut parts[..2] {
+            let halves = ops::split(p, &[36], -1, s)?;
+            let rotated = ops::concatenate(
+                &[unary(&halves[1], Unary::Negative, s)?, halves[0].clone()],
+                -1,
+                s,
+            )?;
+            *p = ops::astype(
+                &add(&mul(p, &cos, s)?, &mul(&rotated, &sin, s)?, s)?,
+                Dtype::BF16,
+                false,
+                s,
+            )?;
+        }
+        let inputs = parts
+            .iter()
+            .map(|p| contiguous(&pad_last(&ops::transpose(p, &[0, 2, 1, 3], s)?, 8, s)?, s))
+            .collect::<Result<Vec<_>, _>>()?;
+        let output = vision_kernels::call(Kernel::Attention, &inputs, &[1, 16, n, 80], s)?;
+        let output = ops::slice(&output, &[0, 0, 0, 0], &[1, 16, n, 72], &[1; 4], s)?;
+        let output = ops::reshape(&ops::transpose(&output, &[0, 2, 1, 3], s)?, &[n, 1152], s)?;
+        self.linear(&output, &format!("{name}.proj"), s)
+    }
+    pub(super) fn encode(
+        &self,
+        pixels: &Array,
+        h: i32,
+        w: i32,
+        streams: &Streams,
+        s: Stream,
+        mut observe: impl FnMut(&str, &Array) -> Result<(), String>,
+    ) -> Result<Array, String> {
+        if h < 2 || w < 2 || h % 2 != 0 || w % 2 != 0 || pixels.layout().shape() != [h * w, 1536] {
+            return Err("invalid Qwen vision patch grid".into());
+        }
+        let pixels = ops::astype(pixels, Dtype::BF16, false, s)?;
+        let patches = ops::transpose(
+            &ops::reshape(&pixels, &[h * w, 3, 2, 16, 16], s)?,
+            &[0, 2, 3, 4, 1],
+            s,
+        )?;
+        let patches = contiguous(&pad_last(&patches, 13, s)?, s)?;
+        let mut x = vision_kernels::call(
+            Kernel::PatchConv,
+            &[patches, self.weight("patch_embed.proj.weight")?.clone()],
+            &[h * w, 1152],
+            s,
+        )?;
+        x = add(&x, self.weight("patch_embed.proj.bias")?, s)?;
+        observe("patch", &x)?;
+        let (position, rotary) = self.positions(h, w, s)?;
+        observe("position", &position)?;
+        observe("rotary", &rotary)?;
+        x = add(&x, &position, s)?;
+        for i in 0..27 {
+            observe("progress", &x)?;
+            let name = format!("blocks.{i}");
+            let a = self.attention(
+                &self.norm(&x, &format!("{name}.norm1"), s)?,
+                &format!("{name}.attn"),
+                &rotary,
+                s,
+            )?;
+            x = add(&x, &a, s)?;
+            let mlp = self.linear(
+                &self.norm(&x, &format!("{name}.norm2"), s)?,
+                &format!("{name}.mlp.linear_fc1"),
+                s,
+            )?;
+            let mlp = gelu(&mlp, true, s)?;
+            x = add(
+                &x,
+                &self.linear(&mlp, &format!("{name}.mlp.linear_fc2"), s)?,
+                s,
+            )?;
+            ops::evaluate(streams, std::slice::from_ref(&x), s, false)?;
+            if i == 0 || i == 26 {
+                observe(&format!("block{i}"), &x)?;
+            }
+        }
+        let x = ops::reshape(&self.norm(&x, "merger.norm", s)?, &[h * w / 4, 4608], s)?;
+        let x = gelu(&self.linear(&x, "merger.linear_fc1", s)?, false, s)?;
+        let x = self.linear(&x, "merger.linear_fc2", s)?;
+        ops::evaluate(streams, std::slice::from_ref(&x), s, false)?;
+        observe("embeddings", &x)?;
+        Ok(x)
+    }
+}
+fn gelu(x: &Array, approx: bool, s: Stream) -> Result<Array, String> {
+    let inputs = std::slice::from_ref(x);
+    let graph = super::compiled::Replay::trace_compiled(inputs, |args| {
+        let x = &args[0];
+        let dtype = x.layout().dtype();
+        let c = |v| scalar(v, dtype, s);
+        let result = if approx {
+            let cubic = binary(x, &c(3.)?, Binary::Power, s)?;
+            let inner = mul(
+                &c((2_f64 / std::f64::consts::PI).sqrt() as f32)?,
+                &add(x, &mul(&c(0.044715)?, &cubic, s)?, s)?,
+                s,
+            )?;
+            mul(
+                &mul(&c(0.5)?, x, s)?,
+                &add(&c(1.)?, &unary(&inner, Unary::Tanh, s)?, s)?,
+                s,
+            )?
+        } else {
+            let erf = unary(
+                &binary(x, &c(2_f64.sqrt() as f32)?, Binary::Divide, s)?,
+                Unary::Erf,
+                s,
+            )?;
+            binary(
+                &mul(x, &add(&c(1.)?, &erf, s)?, s)?,
+                &c(2.)?,
+                Binary::Divide,
+                s,
+            )?
+        };
+        Ok(vec![result])
+    })?;
+    Ok(graph.run(inputs)?.remove(0))
+}
+
+#[test]
+#[ignore = "requires Metal and pinned Qwen vision artifacts/reference values"]
+fn qwen_vision_tower_matches_mtplx_image() {
+    super::configure_sources().unwrap();
+    let _context = super::super::gpu::Context::open_qwen(0).unwrap();
+    let streams = Streams::new(Some(super::allocator::Allocator::new().unwrap()));
+    let s = streams.default_stream(super::stream::Device::Gpu).unwrap();
+    let root = std::path::PathBuf::from(std::env::var("DS4_QWEN38_ARTIFACTS").unwrap());
+    let dir = std::path::PathBuf::from(std::env::var("DS4_QWEN_VISION_REFERENCE").unwrap());
+    let read = |name: &str| {
+        std::fs::read(dir.join(format!("{name}.f32")))
+            .unwrap()
+            .chunks_exact(4)
+            .map(|b| f32::from_le_bytes(b.try_into().unwrap()))
+            .collect::<Vec<_>>()
+    };
+    let grid: Vec<i32> =
+        serde_json::from_slice(&std::fs::read(dir.join("grid.json")).unwrap()).unwrap();
+    let (h, w) = (grid[1], grid[2]);
+    let pixels = f32_array(&[h * w, 1536], &read("pixels")).unwrap();
+    let tower = Tower::load(&root, &streams, s).unwrap();
+    tower
+        .encode(&pixels, h, w, &streams, s, |name, a| {
+            if name == "progress" {
+                return Ok(());
+            }
+            let a = ops::astype(a, Dtype::F32, false, s)?;
+            ops::evaluate(&streams, std::slice::from_ref(&a), s, false)?;
+            let got = ops::read_f32_as_f64(&a, &streams, s)?;
+            let expected = read(name);
+            let max = got
+                .iter()
+                .zip(&expected)
+                .map(|(a, b)| (a - f64::from(*b)).abs())
+                .fold(0., f64::max);
+            let different = got
+                .iter()
+                .zip(&expected)
+                .filter(|(a, b)| **a != f64::from(**b))
+                .count();
+            eprintln!(
+                "{name}: values={} different={different} max_error={max}",
+                got.len()
+            );
+            assert_eq!(got.len(), expected.len());
+            assert_eq!(different, 0, "{name} differs from MTPLX (max error {max})");
+            Ok(())
+        })
+        .unwrap();
+}
+
+#[derive(Clone)]
+pub(super) struct Input {
+    pub(super) table: Array,
+    pub(super) delta: i32,
+    pub(super) images: Vec<(std::ops::Range<usize>, Array)>,
+}
+impl Input {
+    pub(super) fn embeddings(
+        &self,
+        layer: super::mlp::Linear<'_>,
+        ids: &Array,
+        start: usize,
+        s: Stream,
+    ) -> Result<Option<Array>, String> {
+        let n = ids.layout().dim(1)? as usize;
+        let end = start.checked_add(n).ok_or("Qwen image window overflow")?;
+        if !self
+            .images
+            .iter()
+            .any(|(r, _)| start < r.end && end > r.start)
+        {
+            return Ok(None);
+        }
+        let mut embedded = super::model::embedding(layer, ids, s)?;
+        for (span, rows) in &self.images {
+            let a = start.max(span.start);
+            let b = end.min(span.end);
+            if a >= b {
+                continue;
+            }
+            let rows = ops::slice(
+                rows,
+                &[(a - span.start) as i32, 0],
+                &[(b - span.start) as i32, 2560],
+                &[1, 1],
+                s,
+            )?;
+            let rows = ops::reshape(&rows, &[1, (b - a) as i32, 2560], s)?;
+            embedded = ops::slice_update(
+                &embedded,
+                &rows,
+                &[0, (a - start) as i32, 0],
+                &[1, (b - start) as i32, 2560],
+                &[1; 3],
+                s,
+            )?;
+        }
+        Ok(Some(embedded))
+    }
+}
+pub(super) fn cache_position(cache: Option<&[Option<super::decoder::Cache>]>) -> usize {
+    cache
+        .into_iter()
+        .flatten()
+        .flatten()
+        .find_map(|c| match &c.attention {
+            super::decoder::AttentionCache::Qsa(c) => Some(c.kv.offset as usize),
+            _ => None,
+        })
+        .unwrap_or(0)
+}
+
+pub(super) fn prepare(
+    cancelled: &std::sync::atomic::AtomicBool,
+    model: &crate::engine::qwen::QwenMetadata,
+    messages: &[crate::engine::ChatTurn],
+    settings: &crate::settings::TurnSettings,
+    tower: &Tower,
+    streams: &Streams,
+    s: Stream,
+) -> Result<(Vec<i32>, Input, Vec<crate::engine::qwen_vision::Identity>), String> {
+    use crate::engine::{VISION_DATA_END, VISION_DATA_START};
+    use base64::Engine as _;
+    use sha2::{Digest, Sha256};
+    let check = || {
+        if cancelled.load(std::sync::atomic::Ordering::Relaxed) {
+            Err("Qwen vision input cancelled".to_owned())
+        } else {
+            Ok(())
+        }
+    };
+    check()?;
+    let mut rendered = messages.to_vec();
+    let mut decoded = Vec::new();
+    let mut total = 0;
+    for message in &mut rendered {
+        if !message.content.contains(VISION_DATA_START) {
+            continue;
+        }
+        if !message.user && !message.tool {
+            return Err("vision input is allowed only in user or tool messages".into());
+        }
+        let mut content = String::new();
+        let mut rest = message.content.as_str();
+        while let Some(start) = rest.find(VISION_DATA_START) {
+            content.push_str(&rest[..start]);
+            let image = &rest[start + VISION_DATA_START.len()..];
+            let end = image
+                .find(VISION_DATA_END)
+                .ok_or("unterminated image input")?;
+            let uri = &image[..end];
+            let payload = uri
+                .strip_prefix("data:image/png;base64,")
+                .or_else(|| uri.strip_prefix("data:image/jpeg;base64,"))
+                .ok_or("image input must be an inline PNG or JPEG data URI")?;
+            if decoded.len() >= 16 || payload.len() > 90 * 1024 * 1024 {
+                return Err("image request exceeds limits".into());
+            }
+            check()?;
+            let raw = base64::engine::general_purpose::STANDARD
+                .decode(payload)
+                .map_err(|_| "invalid image base64")?;
+            total += raw.len();
+            if total > 64 * 1024 * 1024 {
+                return Err("image inputs exceed the 64 MiB request limit".into());
+            }
+            let digest: [u8; 32] = Sha256::digest(&raw).into();
+            let image = crate::engine::qwen_vision::decode(&raw)?;
+            decoded.push((image, digest));
+            content.push_str("<|vision_start|><|image_pad|><|vision_end|>");
+            rest = &rest[start + VISION_DATA_START.len() + end + VISION_DATA_END.len()..];
+        }
+        content.push_str(rest);
+        message.content = content;
+    }
+    let plain =
+        model.render_conversation(&settings.system_prompt, &rendered, settings.reasoning_mode);
+    let mut ids = Vec::new();
+    let mut spans = Vec::new();
+    let mut index = 0;
+    for id in plain {
+        if id == 248056 {
+            let (image, digest) = decoded
+                .get(index)
+                .ok_or("image pad has no supplied image")?;
+            let start = ids.len();
+            ids.extend(std::iter::repeat_n(id, (image.h * image.w / 4) as usize));
+            spans.push(crate::engine::qwen_vision::Identity {
+                start,
+                end: ids.len(),
+                digest: *digest,
+            });
+            index += 1;
+        } else {
+            ids.push(id)
+        }
+        if ids.len() >= settings.context_tokens as usize {
+            return Err("image prompt exceeds configured context".into());
+        }
+    }
+    if index != decoded.len() {
+        return Err("rendered Qwen prompt lost an image placeholder".into());
+    }
+    let grids = decoded.iter().map(|(i, _)| (i.h, i.w)).collect::<Vec<_>>();
+    let (table, delta) = crate::engine::qwen_vision::positions(&ids, &grids)?;
+    let table = i32_array(&[3, ids.len() as i32], &table)?;
+    let mut images = Vec::new();
+    for ((image, _), span) in decoded.iter().zip(&spans) {
+        check()?;
+        let pixels = f32_array(&[image.h * image.w, 1536], &image.pixels)?;
+        let rows = tower.encode(&pixels, image.h, image.w, streams, s, |_, _| check())?;
+        images.push((span.start..span.end, rows));
+    }
+    Ok((
+        ids,
+        Input {
+            table,
+            delta,
+            images,
+        },
+        spans,
+    ))
+}
diff --git a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/vision_kernels.rs b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/vision_kernels.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..32ff886
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/vision_kernels.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,191 @@
+//! Vision-only dispatches from pinned MLX 0.32.2 normalization, conv and SDPA.
+//! Rust supplies the same layouts and parameters to the existing Metal library.
+use super::super::gpu::{Buffer, MetalConstant};
+use super::array::{Array, Dtype, Layout};
+use super::{bytes, dispatch_geometry, dispatch_specialized, ops, stream::Stream, tensor};
+
+#[derive(Clone, Copy, PartialEq)]
+pub(super) enum Kernel {
+    LayerNorm,
+    PatchConv,
+    Attention,
+    Linear,
+}
+
+pub(super) fn call(
+    kernel: Kernel,
+    inputs: &[Array],
+    shape: &[i32],
+    stream: Stream,
+) -> Result<Array, String> {
+    Array::make_operation_with_inputs(
+        stream,
+        inputs,
+        Layout::new(shape, Dtype::BF16)?,
+        ops::Operation::Vision(kernel),
+    )
+}
+
+pub(super) fn evaluate(kernel: Kernel, inputs: &[Array], out: &Array) -> Result<(), String> {
+    if kernel == Kernel::Linear {
+        return super::dense::evaluate_bias(&inputs[0], &inputs[1], Some(&inputs[2]), out);
+    }
+    let nbytes = out.layout().nbytes() as u64;
+    out.set_data(Buffer::mtplx_bytes(nbytes)?)?;
+    let buffers = inputs.iter().map(Array::buffer).collect::<Vec<_>>();
+    let ob = out.buffer();
+    let mut bindings = inputs
+        .iter()
+        .zip(&buffers)
+        .enumerate()
+        .map(|(i, (a, b))| {
+            tensor(i as u32, b)
+                .at_byte_offset(a.offset())
+                .input(a.data_size())
+        })
+        .collect::<Vec<_>>();
+    bindings.push(tensor(inputs.len() as u32, &ob).output(out.data_size()));
+    match kernel {
+        Kernel::Linear => {
+            super::dense::evaluate_bias(&inputs[0], &inputs[1], Some(&inputs[2]), out)
+        }
+        Kernel::LayerNorm => {
+            let axis = out.layout().dim(-1)? as u32;
+            let rows = out.layout().size() as u32 / axis;
+            let threads = axis.div_ceil(8).div_ceil(32) * 32;
+            let eps = 1e-6_f32;
+            let stride = 1_u32;
+            bindings.extend([
+                bytes(4, &eps),
+                bytes(5, &axis),
+                bytes(6, &stride),
+                bytes(7, &stride),
+            ]);
+            dispatch_geometry(
+                "layer_normbfloat16",
+                &bindings,
+                &[],
+                [rows * threads, 1, 1],
+                [threads, 1, 1],
+                true,
+            )
+        }
+        Kernel::PatchConv => {
+            // Inputs are contiguous [patches,2,16,16,16], weights
+            // [1152,2,16,16,16]. Original Conv3d pads RGB channels to 16.
+            #[repr(C)]
+            struct Params {
+                n: i32,
+                c: i32,
+                o: i32,
+                input: [i32; 3],
+                weight: [i32; 3],
+                output: [i32; 3],
+                stride: [i32; 3],
+                pad: [i32; 3],
+                kdil: [i32; 3],
+                idil: [i32; 3],
+                is: [i64; 5],
+                ws: [i64; 5],
+                os: [i64; 5],
+                groups: i32,
+                flip: u8,
+                padding: [u8; 3],
+            }
+            let n = out.layout().dim(0)?;
+            let params = Params {
+                n,
+                c: 16,
+                o: 1152,
+                input: [2, 16, 16],
+                weight: [2, 16, 16],
+                output: [1, 1, 1],
+                stride: [2, 16, 16],
+                pad: [0; 3],
+                kdil: [1; 3],
+                idil: [1; 3],
+                is: [8192, 4096, 256, 16, 1],
+                ws: [8192, 4096, 256, 16, 1],
+                os: [1152, 1152, 1152, 1152, 1],
+                groups: 1,
+                flip: 0,
+                padding: [0; 3],
+            };
+            let gemm = [n, 1152, 8192, 512, 16, 16, 16, -8160, 18, (n + 31) / 32, 0];
+            bindings.extend([bytes(3, &params), bytes(4, &gemm)]);
+            dispatch_specialized(
+                "implicit_gemm_conv_3d_bfloat16_bm32_bn64_bk16_wm2_wn2_filter_s",
+                &bindings,
+                &[],
+                [18, ((n + 31) / 32) as u32, 1],
+                [32, 2, 2],
+            )
+        }
+        Kernel::Attention => {
+            #[repr(C)]
+            struct Params {
+                b: i32,
+                h: i32,
+                d: i32,
+                ql: i32,
+                kl: i32,
+                gqa: i32,
+                scale: f32,
+                nq: i32,
+                nk: i32,
+                aq: i32,
+                ak: i32,
+                rq: i32,
+                rk: i32,
+                off: i32,
+                strides: [[i64; 3]; 4],
+            }
+            let shape = out.layout().shape().to_vec();
+            let n = shape[2];
+            let mut strides = [[0; 3]; 4];
+            for (s, a) in strides
+                .iter_mut()
+                .zip(inputs.iter().chain(std::iter::once(out)))
+            {
+                s.copy_from_slice(&a.layout().strides()[..3]);
+            }
+            let params = Params {
+                b: 1,
+                h: 16,
+                d: 80,
+                ql: n,
+                kl: n,
+                gqa: 1,
+                scale: (72_f64.powf(-0.5)) as f32,
+                nq: ((n + 31) / 32),
+                nk: ((n + 31) / 32),
+                aq: n / 32,
+                ak: n / 32,
+                rq: n % 32,
+                rk: n % 32,
+                off: 0,
+                strides,
+            };
+            let constants = [
+                (200, n % 32 == 0),
+                (201, n % 32 == 0),
+                (300, false),
+                (301, false),
+                (302, false),
+            ]
+            .map(|(index, v)| MetalConstant {
+                index,
+                value: u32::from(v),
+                kind: 0,
+            });
+            bindings.push(bytes(4, &params));
+            dispatch_specialized(
+                "steel_attention_bfloat16_bq32_bk32_bd80_wm4_wn1_maskbfloat16",
+                &bindings,
+                &constants,
+                [((n + 31) / 32) as u32, 16, 1],
+                [32, 4, 1],
+            )
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/weights.rs b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/weights.rs
index 4236c23..1bd0541 100644
--- a/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/weights.rs
+++ b/src/engine/metal/qwen_mtplx/weights.rs
@@ -34,7 +34,10 @@ pub(super) fn load_shards(
         let entry = entry.map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
         let name = entry.file_name();
         let Some(name) = name.to_str() else { continue };
-        if name.starts_with("model") && name.ends_with(".safetensors") {
+        if name.starts_with("model")
+            && name.ends_with(".safetensors")
+            && name != "model-vision.safetensors"
+        {
             parameters.extend(super::load::safetensors(&entry.path(), streams)?);
             files += 1;
         }
diff --git a/src/engine/qwen.rs b/src/engine/qwen.rs
index bdc6390..8d1626c 100644
--- a/src/engine/qwen.rs
+++ b/src/engine/qwen.rs
@@ -200,7 +200,9 @@ impl QwenMetadata {
                 )
                 .ok_or("Qwen artifact size overflows")?;
         }
-        Ok(Self::new(tokenizer, mapped_bytes, tensor_count))
+        let mut metadata = Self::new(tokenizer, mapped_bytes, tensor_count);
+        metadata.summary.vision_loaded = root.join("model-vision.safetensors").is_file();
+        Ok(metadata)
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/engine/qwen_vision.rs b/src/engine/qwen_vision.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8123480
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/engine/qwen_vision.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,284 @@
+//! PNG/JPEG preprocessing and image positions from MTPLX's Qwen3-VL path.
+use image::{DynamicImage, ImageDecoder, ImageReader, RgbImage};
+use std::io::Cursor;
+
+pub(super) struct Image {
+    pub(super) pixels: Vec<f32>,
+    pub(super) h: i32,
+    pub(super) w: i32,
+}
+
+pub(super) fn decode(bytes: &[u8]) -> Result<Image, String> {
+    if bytes.is_empty() || bytes.len() > 50 * 1024 * 1024 {
+        return Err("Qwen image exceeds the 50 MiB encoded limit".into());
+    }
+    let reader = ImageReader::new(Cursor::new(bytes))
+        .with_guessed_format()
+        .map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    if !matches!(
+        reader.format(),
+        Some(image::ImageFormat::Png | image::ImageFormat::Jpeg)
+    ) {
+        return Err("Qwen images must be PNG or JPEG".into());
+    }
+    let mut decoder = reader.into_decoder().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    let (w, h) = decoder.dimensions();
+    if w == 0 || h == 0 || w > 8000 || h > 8000 {
+        return Err("Qwen images must have dimensions between 1 and 8000".into());
+    }
+    let orientation = decoder.orientation().map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    let mut image = DynamicImage::from_decoder(decoder).map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+    image.apply_orientation(orientation);
+    let mut image = image.into_rgb8();
+    let (w, h) = image.dimensions();
+    let (rh, rw) = smart_resize(h, w)?;
+    if (w, h) != (rw, rh) {
+        image = resize(&image, rw, rh);
+    }
+    let (h, w) = ((rh / 16) as i32, (rw / 16) as i32);
+    let mut pixels = Vec::with_capacity(h as usize * w as usize * 1536);
+    for br in 0..h / 2 {
+        for bc in 0..w / 2 {
+            for ir in 0..2 {
+                for ic in 0..2 {
+                    for c in 0..3 {
+                        for _t in 0..2 {
+                            for y in 0..16 {
+                                for x in 0..16 {
+                                    let v = image.get_pixel(
+                                        ((bc * 2 + ic) * 16 + x) as u32,
+                                        ((br * 2 + ir) * 16 + y) as u32,
+                                    )[c];
+                                    pixels.push((f32::from(v) * (1_f32 / 255.) - 0.5) / 0.5);
+                                }
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    Ok(Image { pixels, h, w })
+}
+fn smart_resize(h: u32, w: u32) -> Result<(u32, u32), String> {
+    if f64::from(h.max(w)) / f64::from(h.min(w)) > 200. {
+        return Err("Qwen image aspect ratio exceeds 200".into());
+    }
+    let (hf, wf) = (f64::from(h), f64::from(w));
+    let (mut rh, mut rw) = (
+        (hf / 32.).round_ties_even() as u32 * 32,
+        (wf / 32.).round_ties_even() as u32 * 32,
+    );
+    if u64::from(rh) * u64::from(rw) > 16777216 {
+        let beta = (hf * wf / 16777216.).sqrt();
+        rh = ((hf / beta / 32.).floor() as u32 * 32).max(32);
+        rw = ((wf / beta / 32.).floor() as u32 * 32).max(32);
+    } else if u64::from(rh) * u64::from(rw) < 65536 {
+        let beta = (65536. / (hf * wf)).sqrt();
+        rh = (hf * beta / 32.).ceil() as u32 * 32;
+        rw = (wf * beta / 32.).ceil() as u32 * 32;
+    }
+    Ok((rh, rw))
+}
+// Pillow Resample.c: bicubic a=-0.5, normalized 22-bit coefficients,
+// horizontal then vertical passes with rounding/clipping after each pass.
+fn coefficients(input: u32, output: u32) -> Vec<(usize, Vec<i32>)> {
+    let scale = f64::from(input) / f64::from(output);
+    let filter_scale = scale.max(1.);
+    let support = 2. * filter_scale;
+    (0..output)
+        .map(|i| {
+            let center = (f64::from(i) + 0.5) * scale;
+            let first = ((center - support + 0.5) as i64).max(0) as usize;
+            let last = ((center + support + 0.5) as i64).min(i64::from(input)) as usize;
+            let ws = (first..last)
+                .map(|j| {
+                    let x = ((j as f64 - center + 0.5) / filter_scale).abs();
+                    if x < 1. {
+                        ((1.5 * x - 2.5) * x) * x + 1.
+                    } else if x < 2. {
+                        (((x - 5.) * x + 8.) * x - 4.) * (-0.5)
+                    } else {
+                        0.
+                    }
+                })
+                .collect::<Vec<_>>();
+            let sum = ws.iter().sum::<f64>();
+            (
+                first,
+                ws.iter()
+                    .map(|w| (w / sum * 4194304.).round() as i32)
+                    .collect(),
+            )
+        })
+        .collect()
+}
+fn resize(input: &RgbImage, w: u32, h: u32) -> RgbImage {
+    let horizontal = if w == input.width() {
+        input.clone()
+    } else {
+        let coeff = coefficients(input.width(), w);
+        RgbImage::from_fn(w, input.height(), |x, y| {
+            let (start, ws) = &coeff[x as usize];
+            image::Rgb(std::array::from_fn(|c| {
+                let sum = ws.iter().enumerate().fold(1_i64 << 21, |sum, (i, k)| {
+                    sum + i64::from(*k) * i64::from(input.get_pixel((*start + i) as u32, y)[c])
+                });
+                (sum >> 22).clamp(0, 255) as u8
+            }))
+        })
+    };
+    if h == horizontal.height() {
+        return horizontal;
+    }
+    let coeff = coefficients(horizontal.height(), h);
+    RgbImage::from_fn(w, h, |x, y| {
+        let (start, ws) = &coeff[y as usize];
+        image::Rgb(std::array::from_fn(|c| {
+            let sum = ws.iter().enumerate().fold(1_i64 << 21, |sum, (i, k)| {
+                sum + i64::from(*k) * i64::from(horizontal.get_pixel(x, (*start + i) as u32)[c])
+            });
+            (sum >> 22).clamp(0, 255) as u8
+        }))
+    })
+}
+
+pub(super) fn positions(ids: &[i32], grids: &[(i32, i32)]) -> Result<(Vec<i32>, i32), String> {
+    let n = ids.len();
+    let mut axes = vec![0; n * 3];
+    let (mut start, mut next) = (0, 0_i32);
+    for &(h, w) in grids {
+        let h = h / 2;
+        let w = w / 2;
+        if h <= 0 || w <= 0 {
+            return Err("invalid Qwen image grid".into());
+        }
+        let end = start
+            + ids[start..]
+                .iter()
+                .position(|&t| t == 248056)
+                .ok_or("missing Qwen image pad")?;
+        for i in start..end {
+            for axis in 0..3 {
+                axes[axis * n + i] = next + (i - start) as i32;
+            }
+        }
+        next += (end - start) as i32;
+        let count = (h * w) as usize;
+        if end + count > n || ids[end..end + count].iter().any(|&t| t != 248056) {
+            return Err("Qwen image pad count differs from grid".into());
+        }
+        for i in 0..count {
+            axes[end + i] = next;
+            axes[n + end + i] = next + i as i32 / w;
+            axes[n * 2 + end + i] = next + i as i32 % w;
+        }
+        next += h.max(w).max(1);
+        start = end + count;
+    }
+    if ids[start..].contains(&248056) {
+        return Err("Qwen image pads exceed image grids".into());
+    }
+    for i in start..n {
+        for axis in 0..3 {
+            axes[axis * n + i] = next + (i - start) as i32;
+        }
+    }
+    next += (n - start) as i32;
+    Ok((axes, next - n as i32))
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn qwen_vision_positions_and_resize_contract() {
+    assert_eq!(smart_resize(1024, 1024).unwrap(), (1024, 1024));
+    assert_eq!(smart_resize(16, 16).unwrap(), (256, 256));
+    assert!(smart_resize(1, 201).is_err());
+    let (table, delta) = positions(&[1, 248056, 248056, 248056, 248056, 2], &[(4, 4)]).unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(
+        table,
+        vec![0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 0, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3]
+    );
+    assert_eq!(delta, -2);
+    assert!(positions(&[248056], &[(4, 4)]).is_err());
+}
+
+#[derive(Clone, Debug, Default, PartialEq, Eq, serde::Serialize, serde::Deserialize)]
+pub(super) struct Identity {
+    pub(super) start: usize,
+    pub(super) end: usize,
+    pub(super) digest: [u8; 32],
+}
+
+pub(super) fn same_prefix(a: &[Identity], b: &[Identity], tokens: usize) -> bool {
+    a.iter()
+        .filter(|i| i.start < tokens)
+        .eq(b.iter().filter(|i| i.start < tokens))
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn qwen_image_preprocessing_matches_pillow_mtplx() {
+    use sha2::{Digest, Sha256};
+    for (w, h, gh, gw, expected) in [
+        (
+            17,
+            31,
+            22,
+            12,
+            "339e4ac4e02bb8fcab6d521194200191e4c77fbcce224de98b40d8d48393930f",
+        ),
+        (
+            333,
+            177,
+            12,
+            22,
+            "3fc0890cb34e0c37bf32c5ce2a8bfa9b178ae3564c8e97b8e6496e71a66b2644",
+        ),
+        (
+            1537,
+            257,
+            16,
+            96,
+            "96bcea68014063c4edc51b422af82930e1bd43984d57a41e12f44865eed45368",
+        ),
+    ] {
+        let image = RgbImage::from_fn(w, h, |x, y| {
+            image::Rgb(std::array::from_fn(|c| {
+                ((x * 13 + y * 7 + c as u32 * 31) % 256) as u8
+            }))
+        });
+        let mut bytes = Cursor::new(Vec::new());
+        image.write_to(&mut bytes, image::ImageFormat::Png).unwrap();
+        let input = decode(bytes.get_ref()).unwrap();
+        assert_eq!((input.h, input.w), (gh, gw));
+        let hash = Sha256::digest(
+            input
+                .pixels
+                .iter()
+                .flat_map(|v| v.to_le_bytes())
+                .collect::<Vec<_>>(),
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            hash.iter().map(|b| format!("{b:02x}")).collect::<String>(),
+            expected,
+            "{w}x{h}"
+        );
+    }
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn qwen_image_cache_keys_distinguish_pixels_and_preserve_prior_text() {
+    let old = vec![Identity {
+        start: 10,
+        end: 14,
+        digest: [1; 32],
+    }];
+    let changed = vec![Identity {
+        start: 10,
+        end: 14,
+        digest: [2; 32],
+    }];
+    assert!(same_prefix(&old, &old, 20));
+    assert!(!same_prefix(&old, &changed, 20));
+    assert!(same_prefix(&old, &changed, 10));
+    assert!(!same_prefix(&old, &[], 20));
+}
diff --git a/src/model.rs b/src/model.rs
index 4470bab..8d7ae1c 100644
--- a/src/model.rs
+++ b/src/model.rs
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ pub(crate) const MODEL_CHOICES: [ModelChoice; 5] = [
     ModelChoice::Glm53Flash,
     ModelChoice::Qwen38FlashNext,
 ];
-pub(crate) const MANAGED_ARTIFACTS: [ManagedArtifactId; 7] = [
+pub(crate) const MANAGED_ARTIFACTS: [ManagedArtifactId; 8] = [
     ManagedArtifactId::DeepSeekV4Flash0731,
     ManagedArtifactId::DeepSeekV4Flash0731Dspark,
     ManagedArtifactId::DeepSeekV4Pro,
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ pub(crate) const MANAGED_ARTIFACTS: [ManagedArtifactId; 7] = [
     ManagedArtifactId::Glm53Flash,
     ManagedArtifactId::Glm53FlashVision,
     ManagedArtifactId::Qwen38FlashNext,
+    ManagedArtifactId::Qwen38FlashNextVision,
 ];
 
 const DEEPSEEK_REPOSITORY: &str = "antirez/deepseek-v4-gguf";
@@ -128,6 +129,10 @@ impl ModelChoice {
         self == Self::Qwen38FlashNext
     }
 
+    pub(crate) fn supports_vision(self) -> bool {
+        matches!(self, Self::Glm53Flash | Self::Qwen38FlashNext)
+    }
+
     pub(crate) fn supports_integrated_mtp(self) -> bool {
         self.is_glm() || self.is_qwen38()
     }
@@ -189,7 +194,8 @@ pub(crate) fn engine_artifacts(
         return EngineArtifacts {
             model: qwen::root(models_path),
             support: None,
-            vision: None,
+            vision: qwen::vision_is_installed(&qwen::root(models_path))
+                .then(|| qwen::root(models_path).join("model-vision.safetensors")),
         };
     }
     EngineArtifacts {
@@ -218,8 +224,14 @@ pub(crate) fn validate_engine_artifacts(
         return Err(format!("DSpark is not compatible with {model}"));
     }
     if model.is_qwen38() {
-        if artifacts.support.is_some() || artifacts.vision.is_some() {
-            return Err("Qwen3.8 does not accept GGUF support or vision artifacts".into());
+        if artifacts.support.is_some() {
+            return Err("Qwen3.8 does not accept GGUF support artifacts".into());
+        }
+        if let Some(path) = &artifacts.vision
+            && (path != &artifacts.model.join("model-vision.safetensors")
+                || !qwen::vision_is_installed(&artifacts.model))
+        {
+            return Err("Qwen vision artifacts have not passed verification".into());
         }
         return qwen::validate_installed(&artifacts.model);
     }
@@ -258,9 +270,14 @@ pub(crate) enum ManagedArtifactId {
     Glm53Flash,
     Glm53FlashVision,
     Qwen38FlashNext,
+    Qwen38FlashNextVision,
 }
 
 impl ManagedArtifactId {
+    fn is_qwen(self) -> bool {
+        self.model().is_qwen38()
+    }
+
     pub(crate) fn model(self) -> ModelChoice {
         match self {
             Self::DeepSeekV4Flash0731 | Self::DeepSeekV4Flash0731Dspark => {
@@ -269,7 +286,7 @@ impl ManagedArtifactId {
             Self::DeepSeekV4Pro => ModelChoice::DeepSeekV4Pro,
             Self::Glm52 => ModelChoice::Glm52,
             Self::Glm53Flash | Self::Glm53FlashVision => ModelChoice::Glm53Flash,
-            Self::Qwen38FlashNext => ModelChoice::Qwen38FlashNext,
+            Self::Qwen38FlashNext | Self::Qwen38FlashNextVision => ModelChoice::Qwen38FlashNext,
         }
     }
 
@@ -281,15 +298,17 @@ impl ManagedArtifactId {
             Self::Glm52 => &GLM,
             Self::Glm53Flash => &GLM53_FLASH,
             Self::Glm53FlashVision => &GLM53_FLASH_VISION,
-            Self::Qwen38FlashNext => unreachable!("Qwen uses a pinned artifact set"),
+            Self::Qwen38FlashNext | Self::Qwen38FlashNextVision => {
+                unreachable!("Qwen uses a pinned artifact set")
+            }
         }
     }
 }
 
 impl fmt::Display for ManagedArtifactId {
     fn fmt(&self, formatter: &mut fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> fmt::Result {
-        if *self == Self::Qwen38FlashNext {
-            formatter.write_str(qwen::LABEL)
+        if self.is_qwen() {
+            formatter.write_str(qwen::label(*self))
         } else {
             formatter.write_str(self.artifact().label)
         }
@@ -480,8 +499,8 @@ pub(crate) fn managed_artifacts(models_path: &Path) -> Vec<ManagedArtifact> {
     MANAGED_ARTIFACTS
         .into_iter()
         .map(|id| {
-            if id == ManagedArtifactId::Qwen38FlashNext {
-                return qwen::managed_artifact(models_path);
+            if id.is_qwen() {
+                return qwen::managed_artifact(id, models_path);
             }
             let model = id.model();
             let artifact = id.artifact();
@@ -527,8 +546,8 @@ pub(crate) fn artifact_download_progress(
     id: ManagedArtifactId,
     models_path: &Path,
 ) -> DownloadProgress {
-    if id == ManagedArtifactId::Qwen38FlashNext {
-        return qwen::download_progress(models_path);
+    if id.is_qwen() {
+        return qwen::download_progress(id, models_path);
     }
     let model = id.model();
     let artifact = id.artifact();
@@ -560,8 +579,8 @@ pub(crate) fn artifact_verification_progress(
     id: ManagedArtifactId,
     verified: u64,
 ) -> DownloadProgress {
-    if id == ManagedArtifactId::Qwen38FlashNext {
-        return qwen::verification_progress(verified);
+    if id.is_qwen() {
+        return qwen::verification_progress(id, verified);
     }
     let artifact = id.artifact();
     DownloadProgress {
diff --git a/src/model/qwen.rs b/src/model/qwen.rs
index aec32f2..5cff06b 100644
--- a/src/model/qwen.rs
+++ b/src/model/qwen.rs
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ struct Manifest {
     format: u32,
     source: Source,
     files: Vec<Artifact>,
+    excluded: Vec<Artifact>,
 }
 
 #[derive(Deserialize)]
@@ -33,6 +34,7 @@ struct Source {
 #[derive(Deserialize)]
 pub(super) struct Artifact {
     pub(super) path: String,
+    #[serde(default)]
     pub(super) role: String,
     pub(super) size: u64,
     pub(super) sha256: String,
@@ -61,6 +63,23 @@ pub(super) fn artifacts() -> &'static [Artifact] {
     &manifest().files
 }
 
+pub(super) fn selected(id: ManagedArtifactId) -> &'static [Artifact] {
+    match id {
+        ManagedArtifactId::Qwen38FlashNext => artifacts(),
+        ManagedArtifactId::Qwen38FlashNextVision => &manifest().excluded,
+        _ => unreachable!("not a Qwen artifact set"),
+    }
+}
+
+pub(super) fn label(id: ManagedArtifactId) -> &'static str {
+    match id {
+        ManagedArtifactId::Qwen38FlashNext => LABEL,
+        ManagedArtifactId::Qwen38FlashNextVision => "Qwen3.8 Flash Next vision encoder",
+        _ => unreachable!("not a Qwen artifact set"),
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
 pub(super) fn total_bytes() -> u64 {
     artifacts().iter().map(|artifact| artifact.size).sum()
 }
@@ -106,6 +125,12 @@ pub(super) fn is_installed(root: &Path) -> bool {
         .all(|artifact| artifact_is_installed(root, artifact))
 }
 
+pub(super) fn vision_is_installed(root: &Path) -> bool {
+    selected(ManagedArtifactId::Qwen38FlashNextVision)
+        .iter()
+        .all(|a| artifact_is_installed(root, a))
+}
+
 pub(super) fn validate_installed(root: &Path) -> Result<(), String> {
     for artifact in artifacts() {
         let artifact_path = path(root, artifact);
@@ -136,8 +161,8 @@ pub(super) fn validate_installed(root: &Path) -> Result<(), String> {
     Ok(())
 }
 
-fn stored_bytes(root: &Path) -> u64 {
-    artifacts()
+fn stored_bytes(id: ManagedArtifactId, root: &Path) -> u64 {
+    selected(id)
         .iter()
         .flat_map(|artifact| [path(root, artifact), partial_path(root, artifact)])
         .filter_map(|path| path.metadata().ok())
@@ -145,8 +170,8 @@ fn stored_bytes(root: &Path) -> u64 {
         .sum()
 }
 
-fn downloaded_bytes(root: &Path) -> u64 {
-    artifacts()
+fn downloaded_bytes(id: ManagedArtifactId, root: &Path) -> u64 {
+    selected(id)
         .iter()
         .map(|artifact| {
             if artifact_is_installed(root, artifact) {
@@ -161,8 +186,8 @@ fn downloaded_bytes(root: &Path) -> u64 {
         .sum()
 }
 
-fn complete_payloads(root: &Path) -> bool {
-    artifacts().iter().all(|artifact| {
+fn complete_payloads(id: ManagedArtifactId, root: &Path) -> bool {
+    selected(id).iter().all(|artifact| {
         path(root, artifact)
             .metadata()
             .or_else(|_| partial_path(root, artifact).metadata())
@@ -170,12 +195,12 @@ fn complete_payloads(root: &Path) -> bool {
     })
 }
 
-pub(super) fn managed_artifact(models_path: &Path) -> ManagedArtifact {
+pub(super) fn managed_artifact(id: ManagedArtifactId, models_path: &Path) -> ManagedArtifact {
     let root = root(models_path);
-    let stored = stored_bytes(&root);
-    let state = if is_installed(&root) {
+    let stored = stored_bytes(id, &root);
+    let state = if selected(id).iter().all(|a| artifact_is_installed(&root, a)) {
         ManagedArtifactState::Ready
-    } else if complete_payloads(&root) {
+    } else if complete_payloads(id, &root) {
         ManagedArtifactState::NeedsVerification
     } else if stored > 0 {
         ManagedArtifactState::Partial
@@ -183,44 +208,45 @@ pub(super) fn managed_artifact(models_path: &Path) -> ManagedArtifact {
         ManagedArtifactState::Missing
     };
     ManagedArtifact {
-        id: ManagedArtifactId::Qwen38FlashNext,
+        id,
         stored,
-        expected: total_bytes(),
+        expected: selected(id).iter().map(|a| a.size).sum(),
         state,
     }
 }
 
-pub(super) fn download_progress(models_path: &Path) -> DownloadProgress {
+pub(super) fn download_progress(id: ManagedArtifactId, models_path: &Path) -> DownloadProgress {
     let root = root(models_path);
-    let downloaded = downloaded_bytes(&root);
-    let installed = is_installed(&root);
-    let verification = (!installed && complete_payloads(&root)).then_some(VerificationProgress {
-        verified: 0,
-        total: total_bytes(),
-    });
+    let downloaded = downloaded_bytes(id, &root);
+    let installed = selected(id).iter().all(|a| artifact_is_installed(&root, a));
+    let verification =
+        (!installed && complete_payloads(id, &root)).then_some(VerificationProgress {
+            verified: 0,
+            total: selected(id).iter().map(|a| a.size).sum(),
+        });
     let phase = if installed {
         DownloadPhase::Complete
     } else if verification.is_some() {
-        DownloadPhase::Verifying(LABEL)
+        DownloadPhase::Verifying(label(id))
     } else if downloaded > 0 {
-        DownloadPhase::Downloading(LABEL)
+        DownloadPhase::Downloading(label(id))
     } else {
-        DownloadPhase::Pending(LABEL)
+        DownloadPhase::Pending(label(id))
     };
     DownloadProgress {
         downloaded,
-        total: total_bytes(),
+        total: selected(id).iter().map(|a| a.size).sum(),
         phase,
         verification,
     }
 }
 
-pub(super) fn verification_progress(verified: u64) -> DownloadProgress {
-    let total = total_bytes();
+pub(super) fn verification_progress(id: ManagedArtifactId, verified: u64) -> DownloadProgress {
+    let total = selected(id).iter().map(|a| a.size).sum();
     DownloadProgress {
         downloaded: total,
         total,
-        phase: DownloadPhase::Verifying(LABEL),
+        phase: DownloadPhase::Verifying(label(id)),
         verification: Some(VerificationProgress {
             verified: verified.min(total),
             total,
@@ -336,3 +362,41 @@ mod tests {
         fs::remove_dir_all(root).unwrap();
     }
 }
+
+#[test]
+fn qwen_vision_is_an_independent_managed_artifact_set() {
+    let id = ManagedArtifactId::Qwen38FlashNextVision;
+    let root = std::env::temp_dir().join(format!("qwen-vision-catalog-{}", std::process::id()));
+    let model_root = self::root(&root);
+    fs::create_dir_all(&model_root).unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(selected(id).len(), 4);
+    assert_eq!(
+        selected(id).iter().map(|a| a.size).sum::<u64>(),
+        897_900_287
+    );
+    assert!(
+        selected(id)
+            .iter()
+            .all(|v| artifacts().iter().all(|a| a.path != v.path))
+    );
+    for artifact in selected(id) {
+        File::create(path(&model_root, artifact))
+            .unwrap()
+            .set_len(artifact.size)
+            .unwrap();
+        fs::write(verification_path(&model_root, artifact), &artifact.sha256).unwrap();
+    }
+    let text = model_root.join("model-00001-of-00017.safetensors");
+    fs::write(&text, b"preserve text model").unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(
+        managed_artifact(id, &root).state,
+        ManagedArtifactState::Ready
+    );
+    assert_eq!(download_progress(id, &root).phase, DownloadPhase::Complete);
+    assert!(!is_installed(&model_root));
+    assert!(vision_is_installed(&model_root));
+    super::delete_managed_artifact(id, &root).unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(fs::read(&text).unwrap(), b"preserve text model");
+    assert!(!vision_is_installed(&model_root));
+    fs::remove_dir_all(root).unwrap();
+}
diff --git a/src/model/transfer.rs b/src/model/transfer.rs
index 7c9d31c..5b609e8 100644
--- a/src/model/transfer.rs
+++ b/src/model/transfer.rs
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@ pub(crate) fn download_managed_artifact(
     cancel: &AtomicBool,
     verified_bytes: &AtomicU64,
 ) -> Result<DownloadOutcome, String> {
-    if id == ManagedArtifactId::Qwen38FlashNext {
-        return download_qwen(models_path, cancel, verified_bytes);
+    if id.is_qwen() {
+        return download_qwen(id, models_path, cancel, verified_bytes);
     }
     download_artifact_with_cancel(
         id.model(),
@@ -32,8 +32,8 @@ pub(crate) fn validate_managed_artifact(
     cancel: &AtomicBool,
     verified_bytes: &AtomicU64,
 ) -> Result<DownloadOutcome, String> {
-    if id == ManagedArtifactId::Qwen38FlashNext {
-        return validate_qwen(models_path, cancel, verified_bytes);
+    if id.is_qwen() {
+        return validate_qwen(id, models_path, cancel, verified_bytes);
     }
     let model = id.model();
     let artifact = id.artifact();
@@ -73,8 +73,8 @@ pub(crate) fn delete_managed_artifact(
     id: ManagedArtifactId,
     models_path: &Path,
 ) -> Result<(), String> {
-    if id == ManagedArtifactId::Qwen38FlashNext {
-        return delete_qwen(models_path);
+    if id.is_qwen() {
+        return delete_qwen(id, models_path);
     }
     let model = id.model();
     let artifact = id.artifact();
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@ pub(crate) fn delete_managed_artifact(
 }
 
 fn download_qwen(
+    id: ManagedArtifactId,
     models_path: &Path,
     cancel: &AtomicBool,
     verified_bytes: &AtomicU64,
@@ -100,7 +101,7 @@ fn download_qwen(
     let root = qwen::root(models_path);
     fs::create_dir_all(&root).map_err(|error| format!("{}: {error}", root.display()))?;
     verified_bytes.store(0, Ordering::Relaxed);
-    for artifact in qwen::artifacts() {
+    for artifact in qwen::selected(id) {
         if cancel.load(Ordering::Relaxed) {
             return Ok(DownloadOutcome::Stopped);
         }
@@ -145,26 +146,29 @@ fn download_qwen(
         fs::write(qwen::verification_path(&root, artifact), &artifact.sha256)
             .map_err(|error| error.to_string())?;
     }
-    if let Err(error) = crate::engine::validate_qwen_artifacts(&root) {
-        clear_qwen_markers(&root)?;
+    if id == ManagedArtifactId::Qwen38FlashNext
+        && let Err(error) = crate::engine::validate_qwen_artifacts(&root)
+    {
+        clear_qwen_markers(id, &root)?;
         return Err(error);
     }
     Ok(DownloadOutcome::Complete)
 }
 
 fn validate_qwen(
+    id: ManagedArtifactId,
     models_path: &Path,
     cancel: &AtomicBool,
     verified_bytes: &AtomicU64,
 ) -> Result<DownloadOutcome, String> {
     let root = qwen::root(models_path);
     verified_bytes.store(0, Ordering::Relaxed);
-    for artifact in qwen::artifacts() {
+    for artifact in qwen::selected(id) {
         if !qwen::path(&root, artifact).exists() && !qwen::partial_path(&root, artifact).exists() {
             return Err(format!("{} is not downloaded", artifact.path));
         }
     }
-    for artifact in qwen::artifacts() {
+    for artifact in qwen::selected(id) {
         let destination = qwen::path(&root, artifact);
         let partial = qwen::partial_path(&root, artifact);
         let (source, promote) = if destination.exists() {
@@ -189,15 +193,17 @@ fn validate_qwen(
         fs::write(qwen::verification_path(&root, artifact), &artifact.sha256)
             .map_err(|error| error.to_string())?;
     }
-    if let Err(error) = crate::engine::validate_qwen_artifacts(&root) {
-        clear_qwen_markers(&root)?;
+    if id == ManagedArtifactId::Qwen38FlashNext
+        && let Err(error) = crate::engine::validate_qwen_artifacts(&root)
+    {
+        clear_qwen_markers(id, &root)?;
         return Err(error);
     }
     Ok(DownloadOutcome::Complete)
 }
 
-fn clear_qwen_markers(root: &Path) -> Result<(), String> {
-    for artifact in qwen::artifacts() {
+fn clear_qwen_markers(id: ManagedArtifactId, root: &Path) -> Result<(), String> {
+    for artifact in qwen::selected(id) {
         let path = qwen::verification_path(root, artifact);
         match fs::remove_file(&path) {
             Ok(()) => {}
@@ -208,9 +214,9 @@ fn clear_qwen_markers(root: &Path) -> Result<(), String> {
     Ok(())
 }
 
-fn delete_qwen(models_path: &Path) -> Result<(), String> {
+fn delete_qwen(id: ManagedArtifactId, models_path: &Path) -> Result<(), String> {
     let root = qwen::root(models_path);
-    for artifact in qwen::artifacts() {
+    for artifact in qwen::selected(id) {
         for path in [
             qwen::path(&root, artifact),
             qwen::partial_path(&root, artifact),
@@ -225,7 +231,14 @@ fn delete_qwen(models_path: &Path) -> Result<(), String> {
     }
     match fs::remove_dir(&root) {
         Ok(()) => Ok(()),
-        Err(error) if error.kind() == std::io::ErrorKind::NotFound => Ok(()),
+        Err(error)
+            if matches!(
+                error.kind(),
+                std::io::ErrorKind::NotFound | std::io::ErrorKind::DirectoryNotEmpty
+            ) =>
+        {
+            Ok(())
+        }
         Err(error) => Err(format!("{}: {error}", root.display())),
     }
 }
@@ -480,7 +493,7 @@ mod tests {
         );
         assert!(ModelChoice::from_id("unknown").is_none());
         assert_eq!(MODEL_CHOICES.len(), 5);
-        assert_eq!(MANAGED_ARTIFACTS.len(), 7);
+        assert_eq!(MANAGED_ARTIFACTS.len(), 8);
         assert_eq!(
             ModelChoice::from_id("qwen3.8-flash-next"),
             Some(ModelChoice::Qwen38FlashNext)
@@ -600,20 +613,31 @@ mod tests {
         ))
         .unwrap();
         assert!(
-            validate_qwen(&models, &AtomicBool::new(false), &AtomicU64::new(0))
-                .unwrap_err()
-                .contains("mtp.safetensors is not downloaded")
+            validate_qwen(
+                ManagedArtifactId::Qwen38FlashNext,
+                &models,
+                &AtomicBool::new(false),
+                &AtomicU64::new(0)
+            )
+            .unwrap_err()
+            .contains("mtp.safetensors is not downloaded")
         );
         fs::hard_link(source.join("mtp.safetensors"), root.join("mtp.safetensors")).unwrap();
         let verified = AtomicU64::new(0);
         assert_eq!(
-            validate_qwen(&models, &AtomicBool::new(false), &verified).unwrap(),
+            validate_qwen(
+                ManagedArtifactId::Qwen38FlashNext,
+                &models,
+                &AtomicBool::new(false),
+                &verified
+            )
+            .unwrap(),
             DownloadOutcome::Complete
         );
         assert_eq!(verified.load(Ordering::Relaxed), qwen::total_bytes());
         assert!(qwen::is_installed(&root));
         assert!(crate::engine::validate_qwen_artifacts(&root).is_ok());
-        delete_qwen(&models).unwrap();
+        delete_qwen(ManagedArtifactId::Qwen38FlashNext, &models).unwrap();
         assert!(!root.exists());
         fs::remove_dir_all(models).unwrap();
     }
diff --git a/src/model_eval.rs b/src/model_eval.rs
index 0353789..73c004b 100644
--- a/src/model_eval.rs
+++ b/src/model_eval.rs
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ struct Options {
     prompt: String,
     additional_prompts: Vec<String>,
     input_file: Option<PathBuf>,
+    image_file: Option<PathBuf>,
     models_path: PathBuf,
     config_path: PathBuf,
     plain_chat: bool,
@@ -68,6 +69,7 @@ impl Options {
         let mut prompt_overridden = false;
         let mut additional_prompts = Vec::new();
         let mut input_file = None;
+        let mut image_file = None;
         let mut models_path = crate::app::models_path();
         let mut config_path = crate::app::config_path();
         let mut context = None;
@@ -120,6 +122,7 @@ impl Options {
                         prompt_overridden = true;
                     }
                 }
+                "--image-file" => image_file = Some(value()?.into()),
                 "--input-file" => input_file = Some(value()?.into()),
                 "--models-dir" => models_path = value()?.into(),
                 "--config" => config_path = value()?.into(),
@@ -190,6 +193,7 @@ impl Options {
             prompt,
             additional_prompts,
             input_file,
+            image_file,
             models_path,
             config_path,
             plain_chat,
@@ -249,6 +253,7 @@ Models: deepseek-v4-flash-0731, deepseek-v4-pro, glm-5.2, glm-5.3-flash, qwen3.8
 Options:\n\
   --prompt TEXT             Chat turn; repeat for one ongoing conversation\n\
                             (default: autonomous short story)\n\
+  --image-file PATH         Attach PNG/JPEG pixels to the first turn (no filename sent)\n\
   --input-file PATH         Append a UTF-8 file to the first turn (maximum: 16 MiB)\n\
   --context TOKENS          Context size; otherwise use the model profile\n\
   --max-tokens TOKENS       Override the model profile generation limit\n\
@@ -937,6 +942,30 @@ fn stop_worker(
 }
 
 fn prompts_with_input_file(options: &Options) -> Result<Vec<String>, String> {
+    let mut prompts = text_prompts_with_input_file(options)?;
+    if let Some(path) = &options.image_file {
+        use base64::Engine as _;
+        if !options.model.supports_vision() {
+            return Err("selected model does not support images".into());
+        }
+        if fs::metadata(path).map_err(|e| e.to_string())?.len() > 50 * 1024 * 1024 {
+            return Err("image exceeds 50 MiB".into());
+        }
+        let bytes = fs::read(path).map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;
+        let mime = match image::guess_format(&bytes).map_err(|e| e.to_string())? {
+            image::ImageFormat::Png => "image/png",
+            image::ImageFormat::Jpeg => "image/jpeg",
+            _ => return Err("image must be PNG or JPEG".into()),
+        };
+        prompts[0].push_str(&crate::engine::vision_data_marker(&format!(
+            "data:{mime};base64,{}",
+            base64::engine::general_purpose::STANDARD.encode(bytes)
+        )));
+    }
+    Ok(prompts)
+}
+
+fn text_prompts_with_input_file(options: &Options) -> Result<Vec<String>, String> {
     let mut prompts = Vec::with_capacity(1 + options.additional_prompts.len());
     let Some(path) = &options.input_file else {
         prompts.push(options.prompt.clone());
diff --git a/src/settings.rs b/src/settings.rs
index 562cb18..60c58a9 100644
--- a/src/settings.rs
+++ b/src/settings.rs
@@ -51,8 +51,8 @@ impl SpeculativePreferences {
         if !model.supports_integrated_mtp() && (self.glm_mtp || self.glm_mtp_timing) {
             return Err("Integrated MTP is unavailable for the selected model.".into());
         }
-        if self.keep_vision_loaded && model != ModelChoice::Glm53Flash {
-            return Err("Persistent vision weights are available only for GLM 5.3 Flash.".into());
+        if self.keep_vision_loaded && !model.supports_vision() {
+            return Err("Persistent vision weights are available only for GLM 5.3 Flash and Qwen3.8 Flash Next.".into());
         }
         if self.dspark_enabled && !model.supports_dspark() {
             return Err("DSpark is not available for the selected model.".into());
diff --git a/tools/qwen-vision-chat-reference.py b/tools/qwen-vision-chat-reference.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9764908
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/qwen-vision-chat-reference.py
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+"""Describe a neutral image and run a no-image control through pinned MTPLX.
+Usage: test-supervisor ... --command python tools/qwen-vision-chat-reference.py MODEL_DIR IMAGE
+Uses the reference runtime only as an oracle; application inference is Rust/Metal.
+"""
+import os,sys,json,time,argparse
+from pathlib import Path
+root=Path(sys.argv[1]);image=Path(sys.argv[2])
+from mtplx.server.openai import _server_runtime_env_overrides
+os.environ.update(_server_runtime_env_overrides(argparse.Namespace(model=str(root),generation_mode='mtp'),None))
+os.environ['MTPLX_SUSTAINED_PREFILL']='1'
+os.environ['MTPLX_PREFILL_CHUNK_SIZE']='2048'
+import mlx.core as mx
+from mlx_lm.utils import load_model
+from mtplx.models import qwen4_exp as qwen
+from mtplx.runtime import _load_tokenizer_resilient,MTPLXRuntime
+from mtplx.mtp_patch import MTPContract
+from mtplx.sampling import SamplerConfig
+from mtplx.generation import generate_mtpk
+from mtplx.server.openai import ChatMessage,_encode_messages_uncached,_materialize_vision_splice
+print(json.dumps(dict(event='loading')),flush=True)
+tokenizer=_load_tokenizer_resilient(root,json.loads((root/'config.json').read_text()))
+model,_=load_model(root,lazy=False,strict=True,get_model_classes=lambda **_:(qwen.Model,qwen.ModelArgs))
+model.post_weight_load(root);assert model.attach_mtp(root)
+rt=MTPLXRuntime(model,tokenizer,root,True,MTPContract())
+for with_image in [True,False]:
+ text='Describe this image'+('<|vision_start|><|image_pad|><|vision_end|>' if with_image else '')
+ ids=_encode_messages_uncached(tokenizer,[ChatMessage(role='user',content=text)],enable_thinking=True,reasoning_effort='low',preserve_reasoning_history=True,tools=None)
+ splice=None
+ if with_image:ids,splice=_materialize_vision_splice(argparse.Namespace(args=argparse.Namespace(model=str(root))),[image.read_bytes()],ids)
+ print(json.dumps(dict(event='input',with_image=with_image,prompt='Describe this image',ids=ids)),flush=True)
+ out=generate_mtpk(rt,ids,max_tokens=1024,sampler=SamplerConfig(temperature=0.,top_p=.95,top_k=20),speculative_depth=3,seed=1,stop_token_ids=set(tokenizer.eos_token_ids),mtp_history_policy='committed',verify_strategy='batched',vision_splice=splice,capture_final_state=True,prefill_callback=lambda d:print(json.dumps(dict(event='prefill',**d)),flush=True),token_callback=lambda ids:print(json.dumps(dict(event='tokens',ids=ids)),flush=True))
+ print(json.dumps(dict(event='result',with_image=with_image,text=out.text,tokens=out.tokens,finish_reason=out.finish_reason)),flush=True)
diff --git a/tools/qwen-vision-reference.py b/tools/qwen-vision-reference.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9f7007f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/qwen-vision-reference.py
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+"""Export pinned MTPLX vision stages; oracle only, never application code.
+Usage: python tools/qwen-vision-reference.py MODEL_DIR IMAGE OUTPUT_DIR
+Run in the pinned MTPLX reference environment with GPU access.
+"""
+import sys,json,hashlib,pathlib
+import mlx.core as mx
+import numpy as np
+from mtplx.vision import load_vision_tower
+from mtplx.vision.processing import decode_image,preprocess_images
+root=pathlib.Path(sys.argv[1]); image=pathlib.Path(sys.argv[2]); out=pathlib.Path(sys.argv[3]);out.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
+def save(name,x):
+ mx.eval(x); a=np.asarray(x.astype(mx.float32));a.tofile(out/(name+'.f32')); print(json.dumps(dict(stage=name,shape=list(x.shape),dtype=str(x.dtype),min=float(a.min()),max=float(a.max()),sha256=hashlib.sha256(a.tobytes()).hexdigest())),flush=True)
+pixels,grids=preprocess_images([decode_image(image.read_bytes())],json.loads((root/'preprocessor_config.json').read_text()))
+(out/'grid.json').write_text(json.dumps(grids[0]));save('pixels',pixels); print(json.dumps(dict(grids=grids)),flush=True)
+tower=load_vision_tower(root)
+h=tower.patch_embed(pixels.astype(tower.patch_embed.proj.weight.dtype));save('patch',h)
+p=tower.fast_pos_embed_interpolate(grids);save('position',p)
+h=h+p;r=tower.rot_pos_emb(grids);save('rotary',r)
+for i,b in enumerate(tower.blocks):
+ h=b(h,[],r)
+ if i in [0,26]:save('block'+str(i),h)
+ else:mx.eval(h)
+ print(json.dumps(dict(block=i)),flush=True)
+h=tower.merger(h);save('embeddings',h)