diff --git a/tests/unit/test_face.py b/tests/unit/test_face.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a45ab86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/test_face.py
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+import numpy as np
+import pytest
+from vigilar.detection.face import FaceRecognizer, FaceResult
+
+
+def test_face_recognizer_init():
+    fr = FaceRecognizer(match_threshold=0.6)
+    assert fr._threshold == 0.6
+    assert fr.is_loaded is False
+
+
+def test_load_profiles_empty(test_db):
+    fr = FaceRecognizer()
+    fr.load_profiles(test_db)
+    assert fr.is_loaded is True
+    assert len(fr._known_encodings) == 0
+
+
+def test_add_encoding():
+    fr = FaceRecognizer()
+    fr.is_loaded = True
+    enc = np.random.rand(128).astype(np.float32)
+    fr.add_encoding(1, enc)
+    assert len(fr._known_encodings) == 1
+
+
+def test_find_match():
+    fr = FaceRecognizer(match_threshold=0.6)
+    fr.is_loaded = True
+    enc = np.random.rand(128).astype(np.float32)
+    fr.add_encoding(1, enc)
+    result = fr._find_match(enc)
+    assert result is not None
+    assert result[0] == 1
+
+
+def test_no_match():
+    fr = FaceRecognizer(match_threshold=0.6)
+    fr.is_loaded = True
+    fr.add_encoding(1, np.ones(128, dtype=np.float32))
+    result = fr._find_match(-np.ones(128, dtype=np.float32))
+    assert result is None
+
+
+def test_face_result_dataclass():
+    crop = np.zeros((100, 100, 3), dtype=np.uint8)
+    r = FaceResult(1, "Bob", 0.85, crop, (10, 20, 50, 50))
+    assert r.profile_id == 1
diff --git a/vigilar/detection/face.py b/vigilar/detection/face.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0d4fc51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vigilar/detection/face.py
@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+"""Local face recognition using face_recognition library (dlib-based)."""
+
+import base64
+import logging
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+
+import numpy as np
+from sqlalchemy.engine import Engine
+
+log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+@dataclass
+class FaceResult:
+    profile_id: int | None
+    name: str | None
+    confidence: float
+    face_crop: np.ndarray
+    bbox: tuple[int, int, int, int]
+
+
+class FaceRecognizer:
+    def __init__(self, match_threshold: float = 0.6):
+        self._threshold = match_threshold
+        self._known_encodings: list[np.ndarray] = []
+        self._known_profile_ids: list[int] = []
+        self._known_names: list[str | None] = []
+        self.is_loaded = False
+
+    def load_profiles(self, engine: Engine) -> None:
+        from vigilar.storage.queries import get_all_profiles, get_embeddings_for_profile
+        self._known_encodings = []
+        self._known_profile_ids = []
+        self._known_names = []
+        profiles = get_all_profiles(engine)
+        for profile in profiles:
+            embeddings = get_embeddings_for_profile(engine, profile["id"])
+            for emb in embeddings:
+                try:
+                    raw = base64.b64decode(emb["embedding"])
+                    encoding = np.frombuffer(raw, dtype=np.float32)
+                    if len(encoding) == 128:
+                        self._known_encodings.append(encoding)
+                        self._known_profile_ids.append(profile["id"])
+                        self._known_names.append(profile.get("name"))
+                except Exception:
+                    continue
+        self.is_loaded = True
+        log.info(
+            "Loaded %d face encodings from %d profiles",
+            len(self._known_encodings),
+            len(profiles),
+        )
+
+    def add_encoding(self, profile_id: int, encoding: np.ndarray, name: str | None = None) -> None:
+        self._known_encodings.append(encoding)
+        self._known_profile_ids.append(profile_id)
+        self._known_names.append(name)
+
+    def identify(self, frame: np.ndarray) -> list[FaceResult]:
+        if not self.is_loaded:
+            return []
+        try:
+            import face_recognition
+        except ImportError:
+            log.warning("face_recognition not installed")
+            return []
+        face_locations = face_recognition.face_locations(frame)
+        if not face_locations:
+            return []
+        face_encodings = face_recognition.face_encodings(frame, face_locations)
+        results = []
+        for (top, right, bottom, left), encoding in zip(face_locations, face_encodings):
+            face_crop = frame[top:bottom, left:right].copy()
+            bbox = (left, top, right - left, bottom - top)
+            match = self._find_match(encoding)
+            if match:
+                pid, conf, name = match
+                results.append(FaceResult(pid, name, conf, face_crop, bbox))
+            else:
+                results.append(FaceResult(None, None, 0.0, face_crop, bbox))
+        return results
+
+    def _find_match(self, encoding: np.ndarray) -> tuple[int, float, str | None] | None:
+        if not self._known_encodings:
+            return None
+        distances = [float(np.linalg.norm(encoding - k)) for k in self._known_encodings]
+        min_idx = int(np.argmin(distances))
+        if distances[min_idx] < self._threshold:
+            return (
+                self._known_profile_ids[min_idx],
+                1.0 - distances[min_idx],
+                self._known_names[min_idx],
+            )
+        return None
+
+
+def encoding_to_b64(encoding: np.ndarray) -> str:
+    return base64.b64encode(encoding.astype(np.float32).tobytes()).decode()
+
+
+def b64_to_encoding(b64_str: str) -> np.ndarray:
+    return np.frombuffer(base64.b64decode(b64_str), dtype=np.float32)