diff --git a/src/ipa/libipa/algorithm.cpp b/src/ipa/libipa/algorithm.cpp
index 398d5372..269a4beb 100644
--- a/src/ipa/libipa/algorithm.cpp
+++ b/src/ipa/libipa/algorithm.cpp
@@ -29,6 +29,21 @@ namespace ipa {
  * to manage algorithms regardless of their specific type.
  */
 
+/**
+ * \fn Algorithm::init()
+ * \brief Configure the Algorithm with default parameters
+ * \param[in] context The shared IPA context
+ * \param[in] params The initial parameters used to tune algorithms
+ *
+ * This function is called once before the camera is running to get default
+ * algorithm parameters.
+ *
+ * Algorithms are responsible to read the parameters given and extract their
+ * parameter configuration.
+ *
+ * \return 0 if successful, an error code otherwise
+ */
+
 /**
  * \fn Algorithm::configure()
  * \brief Configure the Algorithm given an IPAConfigInfo
diff --git a/src/ipa/libipa/algorithm.h b/src/ipa/libipa/algorithm.h
index 766aee5d..f5be1caf 100644
--- a/src/ipa/libipa/algorithm.h
+++ b/src/ipa/libipa/algorithm.h
@@ -10,12 +10,20 @@ namespace libcamera {
 
 namespace ipa {
 
-template<typename Context, typename Config, typename Params, typename Stats>
+template<typename Context, typename TuningData,
+	 typename Config, typename Params, typename Stats>
+
 class Algorithm
 {
 public:
 	virtual ~Algorithm() {}
 
+	virtual int init([[maybe_unused]] Context &context,
+			 [[maybe_unused]] const TuningData *params)
+	{
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	virtual int configure([[maybe_unused]] Context &context,
 			      [[maybe_unused]] const Config &configInfo)
 	{