Hi @kerrliam3
With OAK4 there are two modes of operation:
Peripheral mode: Here you are running the app on the device and sending data back to the host machine. This means that there is a need for a host computer and some data transfer is happening so it might affect the speed of the overall application.Standalone mode: Here you package the application in the OAK App and deploy it on the OAK4. The program then runs entirely on the device and doesn't require any host machine. You can read more about the concept of apps here.
Oakctl is a tool that helps you interact with your OAK4 and manage your applications. And generally is only needed when you are developing standalone applications. We recommend that you first develop a peripheral one because you can iterate faster and then, when ready, you can adjust it to be a standalone one by adding the oakapp.toml, packaging it into an "app" and pushing it onto the device using oakctl. Feel free to also check out our oak-examples repository with many ready to use ones.
Hope this helps you understand the process a bit more, if not, don't hesitate to follow up with questions.
Regards,
Klemen
