From 1d74d73045b6b61289c7ed51e445cba404612df9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: kushalkolar <kushalkolar@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2025 22:33:29 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] start zmq worker implementation

---
 fastplotlib/utils/_zmq.py | 63 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 63 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 fastplotlib/utils/_zmq.py

diff --git a/fastplotlib/utils/_zmq.py b/fastplotlib/utils/_zmq.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..baecfb7f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fastplotlib/utils/_zmq.py
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+from functools import wraps
+
+import numpy as np
+import zmq
+
+from .. import Graphic, Figure
+
+
+class ZmqWorker:
+    def __init__(self, address: str = "tcp://127.0.0.1", port_start: int = 5555):
+        self._address = address
+        self._port_start = port_start
+        self._port_iterator = 0
+
+        self._context = zmq.Context()
+        # maps (graphic, feature) -> Socket
+        self._sockets: dict[(str, str), zmq.Socket] = dict()
+
+        self._figures: set[Figure] = set()
+
+    def _create_socket(self, graphic: Graphic):
+        for feature in graphic._features:
+            subscriber = self._context.socket(zmq.SUB)
+            subscriber.setsocketopt(zmq.SUBSCRIBE, b"")
+            subscriber.setsocketopt(zmq.CONFLATE, 1)
+
+            subscriber.connect(f"{self._address}:{self._port_start + self._port_iterator}")
+
+            self._port_iterator += 1
+
+            self._sockets[(graphic, feature)] = subscriber
+
+    def _add_figure(self, figure: Figure):
+        if figure in self._figures:
+            return
+        figure.add_animations(self._receive)
+
+    def _receive(self, figure: Figure):
+        """receive new data and update for all graphics in the given Figure"""
+
+        for (graphic, feature), subscriber in self._sockets.items():
+            if graphic._plot_area.get_figure() is not figure:
+                continue
+            try:
+                new_bytes = subscriber.recv(zmq.NOBLOCK)
+            except zmq.Again:
+                pass
+            else:
+                current_data = getattr(graphic, feature).value
+                new_data = np.frombuffer(new_bytes, dtype=current_data.dtype).reshape(current_data.shape)
+                setattr(graphic, feature, new_data)
+
+    def dispatch(self, graphics: list[Graphic] = None):
+        def decorator(compute_func):
+            @wraps(compute_func)
+            def dispatch_compute(*args, **kwargs):
+                # create socket and subscriber for each graphic
+                for g in graphics:
+                    self._create_socket(g)
+                    self._add_figure(g._plot_area.get_figure())
+
+            return dispatch_compute
+        return decorator