diff --git a/packages/engine/src/index.ts b/packages/engine/src/index.ts
index e03db7ea94..265f114b34 100644
--- a/packages/engine/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/engine/src/index.ts
@@ -310,6 +310,7 @@ export {
   type WorkerResult,
   type WorkerSizing,
   type WorkerSizingBound,
+  type WorkerSizingConfig,
   type LandedFrame,
   type ParallelProgress,
   type ParallelWorkerPhaseDiagnostic,
diff --git a/packages/engine/src/services/parallelCoordinator.test.ts b/packages/engine/src/services/parallelCoordinator.test.ts
index 646bfdfc9d..d6aa0dc331 100644
--- a/packages/engine/src/services/parallelCoordinator.test.ts
+++ b/packages/engine/src/services/parallelCoordinator.test.ts
@@ -167,6 +167,22 @@ describe("computeWorkerSizing", () => {
     expect(computeWorkerSizing(1300, undefined, { concurrency: "auto" }).workers).toBe(5);
   });
 
+  it("sizes Apple-GPU disk capture by its own heap and core budget", () => {
+    vi.mocked(cpus).mockReturnValue(
+      Array.from({ length: 14 }, () => ({}) as ReturnType<typeof cpus>[number]),
+    );
+    vi.mocked(totalmem).mockReturnValue(24 * 1024 ** 3);
+    vi.mocked(getHeapStatistics).mockReturnValue({
+      heap_size_limit: 4192 * 1024 ** 2,
+    } as ReturnType<typeof getHeapStatistics>);
+    const apple = { concurrency: "auto" as const, appleGpuDiskCapture: true };
+    const sizing = computeWorkerSizing(1300, undefined, apple);
+    expect(sizing.workers).toBe(8);
+    expect(sizing.boundBy).toBe("memory");
+    expect(sizing.exceedsHeapAdvisory).toBe(false);
+    expect(computeWorkerSizing(1300, undefined, { ...apple, coresPerWorker: 4 }).workers).toBe(3);
+  });
+
   it("matches calculateOptimalWorkers and reports every constraint", () => {
     const config = { concurrency: "auto" as const };
     const sizing = computeWorkerSizing(900, undefined, config);
diff --git a/packages/engine/src/services/parallelCoordinator.ts b/packages/engine/src/services/parallelCoordinator.ts
index 17b9f083aa..98d8afee77 100644
--- a/packages/engine/src/services/parallelCoordinator.ts
+++ b/packages/engine/src/services/parallelCoordinator.ts
@@ -131,6 +131,8 @@ export interface WorkerSizingConfig extends Partial<
    * than a plain DOM screenshot. Explicit --workers requests ignore this hint.
    */
   captureCostMultiplier?: number;
+  /** macOS, hardware GPU, screenshot frames written to disk (not streamed through this process). */
+  appleGpuDiskCapture?: boolean;
 }
 
 type WorkerBrowserPoolDecision = {
@@ -151,6 +153,10 @@ const HEAP_RESERVED_MB = 1024;
 // default heap ⇒ >~500MB/worker + base. Caps auto sizing; an explicit
 // `--workers N` is still the operator's call.
 const HEAP_PER_WORKER_MB = 640;
+// Apple-GPU disk capture measured ~15-25 MB parent heap per worker; 14 cores kept gaining to 8.
+const APPLE_DISK_HEAP_PER_WORKER_MB = 128;
+const APPLE_DISK_CORES_PER_WORKER = 1.75;
+const APPLE_DISK_MAX_WORKERS = 8;
 const MIN_WORKERS = 1;
 const MAX_WORKER_DIAGNOSTIC_LINES = 8;
 // Hard ceiling on explicit `--workers N` requests. Above this, the cost of
@@ -321,9 +327,13 @@ export function computeWorkerSizing(
   // is immediately reclaimable.
   const totalMemoryMb = getSystemTotalMb();
   const heapLimitMb = Math.round(getHeapStatistics().heap_size_limit / (1024 * 1024));
+  const appleDisk = config?.appleGpuDiskCapture === true;
   const heapBasedWorkers = Math.max(
     1,
-    Math.floor((heapLimitMb - HEAP_RESERVED_MB) / HEAP_PER_WORKER_MB),
+    Math.floor(
+      (heapLimitMb - HEAP_RESERVED_MB) /
+        (appleDisk ? APPLE_DISK_HEAP_PER_WORKER_MB : HEAP_PER_WORKER_MB),
+    ),
   );
   const cpuBasedWorkers = Math.max(1, cpuCount - 2);
   const memoryBasedWorkers = Math.max(1, Math.floor((totalMemoryMb * 0.5) / MEMORY_PER_WORKER_MB));
@@ -362,9 +372,15 @@ export function computeWorkerSizing(
     if (concurrency !== "auto") {
       return Math.max(MIN_WORKERS, Math.min(ABSOLUTE_MAX_WORKERS, Math.floor(concurrency)));
     }
-    return defaultSafeMaxWorkers();
+    return appleDisk
+      ? Math.max(defaultSafeMaxWorkers(), APPLE_DISK_MAX_WORKERS)
+      : defaultSafeMaxWorkers();
   })();
-  const effectiveCoresPerWorker = config?.coresPerWorker ?? DEFAULT_CONFIG.coresPerWorker;
+  const configuredCoresPerWorker = config?.coresPerWorker ?? DEFAULT_CONFIG.coresPerWorker;
+  const effectiveCoresPerWorker =
+    appleDisk && configuredCoresPerWorker === DEFAULT_CONFIG.coresPerWorker
+      ? APPLE_DISK_CORES_PER_WORKER
+      : configuredCoresPerWorker;
   const effectiveMinParallelFrames = config?.minParallelFrames ?? DEFAULT_CONFIG.minParallelFrames;
   const effectiveLargeRenderThreshold =
     config?.largeRenderThreshold ?? DEFAULT_CONFIG.largeRenderThreshold;
diff --git a/packages/producer/src/services/render/captureCost.ts b/packages/producer/src/services/render/captureCost.ts
index b162484095..3a89b4d589 100644
--- a/packages/producer/src/services/render/captureCost.ts
+++ b/packages/producer/src/services/render/captureCost.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import {
   type CaptureSession,
   type EngineConfig,
   type WorkerSizing,
+  type WorkerSizingConfig,
   calculateOptimalWorkers,
   captureFrameToBuffer,
   closeCaptureSession,
@@ -138,7 +139,7 @@ export function buildHeapAdvisoryWarning(
 export function resolveRenderWorkerCount(
   totalFrames: number,
   requestedWorkers: number | undefined,
-  cfg: EngineConfig,
+  cfg: EngineConfig & Pick<WorkerSizingConfig, "appleGpuDiskCapture">,
   compiled: Pick<CompiledComposition, "hasShaderTransitions" | "renderModeHints">,
   log: ProducerLogger = defaultLogger,
   measuredCaptureCost?: CaptureCostEstimate,
diff --git a/packages/producer/src/services/renderOrchestrator.test.ts b/packages/producer/src/services/renderOrchestrator.test.ts
index d8e6a36b1c..8f28f4653b 100644
--- a/packages/producer/src/services/renderOrchestrator.test.ts
+++ b/packages/producer/src/services/renderOrchestrator.test.ts
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ import {
   SEGMENTED_MIN_SECONDS_AFTER_SOAK,
   resolveParallelCaptureMode,
   shouldStreamParallelCapture,
+  isAppleGpuDiskCapture,
   shouldUseStreamingEncode,
   resolveObservedCaptureMode,
   createCaptureObservabilityUpdater,
@@ -3665,6 +3666,23 @@ describe("calibrationCaptureConfig", () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe("isAppleGpuDiskCapture", () => {
+  const disk = {
+    platform: "darwin",
+    browserGpuMode: "hardware",
+    layered: false,
+    parallelStream: false,
+  } as const;
+
+  it("holds only for hardware-GPU Mac renders that write frames to disk", () => {
+    expect(isAppleGpuDiskCapture(disk)).toBe(true);
+    expect(isAppleGpuDiskCapture({ ...disk, layered: true })).toBe(false);
+    expect(isAppleGpuDiskCapture({ ...disk, parallelStream: true })).toBe(false);
+    expect(isAppleGpuDiskCapture({ ...disk, browserGpuMode: "software" })).toBe(false);
+    expect(isAppleGpuDiskCapture({ ...disk, platform: "win32" })).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
+
 describe("shouldClampDefaultDrawElement (default-on drawElement clamp)", () => {
   const unverifiedParallel = {
     useDrawElement: true,
diff --git a/packages/producer/src/services/renderOrchestrator.ts b/packages/producer/src/services/renderOrchestrator.ts
index c3c7a380f7..6c0dbe44c4 100644
--- a/packages/producer/src/services/renderOrchestrator.ts
+++ b/packages/producer/src/services/renderOrchestrator.ts
@@ -2797,6 +2797,21 @@ export function shouldSegmentCapture(args: {
   return args.durationSeconds >= resolveSegmentedMinSeconds(args.env);
 }
 
+/** Worker sizing's Apple-GPU budget fits only frames written to disk by screenshot workers. */
+export function isAppleGpuDiskCapture(args: {
+  platform: NodeJS.Platform;
+  browserGpuMode: "software" | "hardware";
+  layered: boolean;
+  parallelStream: boolean;
+}): boolean {
+  return (
+    args.platform === "darwin" &&
+    args.browserGpuMode === "hardware" &&
+    !args.layered &&
+    !args.parallelStream
+  );
+}
+
 export function shouldStreamParallelCapture(args: {
   /** Router switch for this render — see isCaptureParallelStreamRouterEnabled. */
   routerEnabled: boolean;
@@ -4037,10 +4052,28 @@ async function executeRenderPipeline(input: {
 
     // Low-memory safe-mode's single-worker pin lives inside
     // resolveRenderWorkerCount so its "why workers=N" logging stays coherent.
+    const appleGpuDiskCapture = isAppleGpuDiskCapture({
+      platform: process.platform,
+      browserGpuMode: resolvedBrowserGpuMode,
+      layered: shouldUseLayeredComposite({
+        hasHdrContent,
+        hasShaderTransitions: compiled.hasShaderTransitions && !isGif,
+        isPngSequence,
+      }),
+      parallelStream: isCaptureParallelStreamRouterEnabled(
+        process.env,
+        resolveParallelCaptureMode({
+          platform: process.platform,
+          headlessShellPath: resolveHeadlessShellPath(cfg),
+          forceScreenshot: captureForceScreenshot,
+          deviceScaleFactor: captureOptions.deviceScaleFactor,
+        }),
+      ),
+    });
     workerCount = resolveRenderWorkerCount(
       totalFrames,
       job.config.workers,
-      cfg,
+      { ...cfg, appleGpuDiskCapture },
       compiled,
       log,
       captureCalibration?.estimate,