# Frigate
###### guide-by-example
# Purpose & Overview
Managing security cameras - recording, detection, notifications.
* [Official site](https://frigate.video/)
* [Github](https://github.com/blakeblackshear/frigate)
Frigate is a software NVR - network video recorder.
Simple, clean web-based interface with possible integration in to home assistant
and its app.
Frigate offers powerful **AI object detection**, by using OpenCV and Tensorflow.
In contrast to cameras of old time which just detect movement,
Frigate can recognize if object in view moving is a cat, a car or a human.
This detection is cpu heavy and to ease the load
[Google Coral TPU](https://docs.frigate.video/frigate/hardware#google-coral-tpu)
is recommended if planning to run multiple cameras with detection.
Recently
[OpenVINO](https://docs.frigate.video/configuration/object_detectors#openvino-detector)
has been integrated, which should allow use of igpu of intel 6th+ gen cpus
as a detector.
But do not have too high expectations. False positives are plenty,
especially when shadows are present. Same with not detecting a cat when
one sits right there. Config allows for some improvements and the AI model will
likely get better with time too.
Open source, written in Python and JavaScript.
Terminology
* **PoE** - Power over ethernet, camera is powered by the same cat cable that
carries data. You want POE(802.3af) or POE+(802.3at),
none of the passive poe by mikrotik or ubiquity.
* **IR** - infrared light for night vision, attracts bugs that see it,
reflects off walls or shiny surfaces, loss of color information
* **onvif** - It's a forum. It strives to maintain an industry standard
that allows stuff from different manufacturers to work.
* **rtsp** - a protocol for controling remotely cameras and streaming
* **ptz** - Pan-Tilt-Zoom allows remote movement of a camera
* **IoT** - Internet of Things
* **mqtt** - Messaging protocol widely used in IoT.
[Youtube playlist about it.](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRkdoPznE1EMXLW6XoYLGd4uUaB6wB0wd)
### To consider...
Is it worth investing time and hardware?
Modern commercial camera systems offer similar AI aided objects
detection, while maintaining the configurability. Phone apps are also often
far better.
Meanwhile Frigate lacks even proper ptz control.
One should view it as a few people hobby project on github,
though exceptionally well done.
An NVR, for example Dahua `DHI-NVR2108HS-8P-S3` costs less than 200€,
and it comes with **POE for 8 cameras**.
It might be worth considering to just get an NVR that you lock out of
the internet with VLANs or firewall rules... than buying a separate PC for
Frigate and a separate poe switch to keep the 24/7 cameras traffic away from your
main LAN and Coral TPU... and whatnot.
On the other hand, setting Frigate up provides knowledge and the feeling of
being more in control, with more flexibility, when it does not tight you
to a manufacturer and the hardware used can be repurposed at any time.
# Cameras choice
[Frigate got a page for that.](https://docs.frigate.video/frigate/hardware/)
My opinion
* **Dahua** - If you got decent budget, they have good stuff and very rich configuration.
Going for that 1/1.8" sensor for good low light performance with IR being off,
though dont expect magic.
* **TP-Link** are the cameras I am actually playing with, cheap 4MP.
No issues with them. Followed frigates
[brand specific configuration](https://docs.frigate.video/configuration/camera_specific/#tp-link-vigi-cameras)
which says to **switch all streams to H264** and **turn off Smart Coding**.
* [VIGI C440](https://www.tp-link.com/my/business-networking/vigi-network-camera/vigi-c440/)
\- A fuckup as its an interior camera and I did not notice when ordering.
It's stil outside as it's not directly on elements, survived one winter so far.
* [VIGI C240](https://www.tp-link.com/ae/business-networking/vigi-network-camera/vigi-c240/)
\- Cheap and outdoor, enough settings to feel fine.
It actually decently see at night without IR, but you realize its kinda lie
as if something moves there its a smudge at best or invisible predator at worst.
* Some random aliexpress camera given to me, it has ptz.
Once I am running frigate and cameras for some real time... more than a year,
I will decide which cameras to get long term.
# Files and directory structure
```
/mnt/
└── 🗁 frigate_hdd/
| └── 🗁 frigate_media/
|
/home/
└── ~/
└── docker/
└── frigate/
├── 🗁 frigate_config/
| └── 🗋 config.yml
├── 🗋 .env
└── 🗋 docker-compose.yml
```
* `frigate_media/` - storage for frigate recordings and jpg snapshots
* `frigate_config/` - config and database directory
* `config.yml` - main frigate config file
* `.env` - a file containing environment variables for docker compose
* `docker-compose.yml` - a docker compose file, telling docker how to run the containers
You need to create `frigate_config` directory which gets mounted in to the container,
and in to it place `config.yml`.
`frigate_media` directory should be placed on a HDD drive as nonstop writes
would exhaust ssd drive writes, or would be eating in to network bandwith
if storage would be NAS.
# docker-compose
* [Official compose file documentation.](https://docs.frigate.video/frigate/installation/#docker)
This docker compose is based off the official one except few changes.
Using **bind mounts** instead of volumes, moved variables to the **`.env` file**.
Increased [shm_size](https://docs.frigate.video/frigate/installation/#calculating-required-shm-size)
which is a preset max **ram** for interprocess communication of the container.
**Privileged** mode is used, which allows access to the
[gpu stats](https://docs.frigate.video/configuration/hardware_acceleration/#configuring-intel-gpu-stats-in-docker)
and avoids issue with access to recordings and having to deal with permissions.
For hwaccel support theres **devices section** with renderD128 mapped in to the container.
Check the `/dev/dri/` path to see what you got there.
The section can be deleted if planning to use just the cpu.
Or [adjusted](https://docs.frigate.video/frigate/installation/#docker) for colar or pcie gpu.
`docker-compose.yml`
```yml
services:
frigate:
image: ghcr.io/blakeblackshear/frigate:0.13.2
container_name: frigate
hostname: frigate
restart: unless-stopped
env_file: .env
privileged: true
shm_size: "256mb"
devices:
- /dev/dri/renderD128 # for intel hwaccel, needs to be updated for your hardware
volumes:
- /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
- ./frigate_config:/config
- /mnt/frigate_hdd/frigate_media:/media/frigate
- type: tmpfs # 1GB of memory
target: /tmp/cache
tmpfs:
size: 1000000000
ports:
- "5000:5000" # Web GUI
- "8554:8554" # RTSP feeds
- "8555:8555/tcp" # WebRTC over tcp
- "8555:8555/udp" # WebRTC over udp
networks:
default:
name: $DOCKER_MY_NETWORK
external: true
```
`.env`
```bash
# GENERAL
DOCKER_MY_NETWORK=caddy_net
TZ=Europe/Bratislava
# FRIGATE
FRIGATE_RTSP_USER=admin
FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD=dontlookatmekameras
# FRIGATE_MQTT_USER=
# FRIGATE_MQTT_PASSWORD=
```
**All containers must be on the same network**.
Which is named in the `.env` file.
If one does not exist yet: `docker network create caddy_net`
# Reverse proxy
Caddy is used, details
[here](https://github.com/DoTheEvo/selfhosted-apps-docker/tree/master/caddy_v2).
`Caddyfile`
```
cam.{$MY_DOMAIN} {
reverse_proxy frigate:5000
}
```
To allow only traffic from LAN to have access to your Frigate.
`Caddyfile`
```
(LAN_only) {
@fuck_off_world {
not remote_ip private_ranges
}
respond @fuck_off_world 403
}
cam.{$MY_DOMAIN} {
import LAN_only
reverse_proxy frigate:5000
}
```
# Configuration
Configuration is done through singular file `config.yml`
Here we be in small steps adding to it, making sure stuff works
before moving to a next thing.
As dumping full `config.yml` is just too much for first time running.
* [Official documentation for config.yml](https://docs.frigate.video/configuration/)
* [Official full reference config](https://docs.frigate.video/configuration/reference)
* [Some youtube video on config adjustment](https://youtu.be/gRCtvRsTHm0)
### Preparation
Connect a camera to your network.
Find url of your camera streams, either by googling your model,
or theres a handy windows utility -
[onvif-device-manager](https://sourceforge.net/projects/onvifdm/).
Unfortunately all official urls seem dead,
[this](https://softradar.com/onvif-device-manager/)
worked for me and passed virustotal at the time. There are also comments
with some links at its sourceforge page.
Camera discovery of onvif-device-manager is almost instant, if the camera requires
credentials, set them in the top left corner.
In live view there should be stream url displayed. Like: "rtsp://10.0.19.41:554/stream1"
Ideally your camera has several streams.
A primary one in full resolution full frame rate for recording,
and then secondary one in much smaller resolution and fps for observing.
### First config - one camera
Bare config that should show camera stream once frigate is running.
Credentails are contained in the url - `rtsp://username:password@ip:port/url`
Disabled mqtt since no communication with home assistant or anything else.
And a single camera stream that pulls credentials from environment variables.
`config-1.yml`
```yml
mqtt:
enabled: false
cameras:
K1-Gate:
ffmpeg:
inputs:
- path: rtsp://{FRIGATE_RTSP_USER}:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@10.0.19.41:554/stream1
```
---
### Second config - detection, recording, two cameras
config-2.yml
```yml
mqtt:
enabled: false
detectors:
default_detector_for_all:
type: cpu
objects:
track:
- person
- cat
- dog
record:
enabled: true
retain:
days: 60
mode: all
events:
retain:
default: 360
mode: motion
snapshots:
enabled: true
crop: true
retain:
default: 360
birdseye:
mode: continuous
cameras:
K1-Gate:
ffmpeg:
inputs:
- path: rtsp://{FRIGATE_RTSP_USER}:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@10.0.19.41:554/stream1
roles:
- record
- path: rtsp://{FRIGATE_RTSP_USER}:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@10.0.19.41:554/stream2
roles:
- detect
detect:
width: 640
height: 480
fps: 5
motion:
mask:
- 640,480,640,0,0,0,0,480,316,480,308,439,179,422,162,121,302,114,497,480
K2-Pergola:
ffmpeg:
inputs:
- path: rtsp://{FRIGATE_RTSP_USER}:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@10.0.19.42:554/stream1
roles:
- record
- path: rtsp://{FRIGATE_RTSP_USER}:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@10.0.19.42:554/stream2
roles:
- detect
detect:
width: 640
height: 480
fps: 5
motion:
mask:
- 640,78,640,0,0,0,0,480,316,480,452,171
```
---
---
If a camera is runnig and stream can be viewed, it's time to move to
core NVR functions like recording and basic detection.
Settings in root of the config file, **global** - applicable for all cameras:
* `detectors` - Could be omitted as the default is the cpu,
but its good to have this explicitly stated and ready
as most people will be switching to non-cpu detection.
* `objects` - What the detector will be looking for.
Later on this config can grow as more specific parameters are added.
* `record` - Globally enabled record and set retention time on all cameras.
* `snapshots` - If jpg pictures of detect events should be made and some of its options.
* `birdseye` - Webgui section where one can see current view of all cameras.
It's enabled by default, but the default mode being `objects` means
it only shows cameras that detected something in the last 30s.
So it is switched to `continuous` mode.
In **per camera** section:
* `roles` - Added lower resolution stream and roles define which to record
and which to use for detection.
* `detect` - Section defines resolution and fps for detect job, you want it to match
what camera is sending. This can be often [set directly on a camera](https://i.imgur.com/ifis9zH.png).
You can then check if its respected with `onvif-device-manager` in its
[profile section](https://i.imgur.com/1H6RZiO.png),
or in Frigate > System > [FFPROBE](https://i.imgur.com/IBhlKNt.png)
* `Motion mask` - Defines which parts of the view to ignore. Watch the [youtube
video](https://youtu.be/gRCtvRsTHm0?t=705).
You might wanna run the 2nd config for a day or two to see how it behaves.
### Third config - intel openvino and hardware acceleration
config-3.yml
```yml
mqtt:
enabled: false
detectors:
ov:
type: openvino
device: AUTO
model:
path: /openvino-model/ssdlite_mobilenet_v2.xml
model:
width: 300
height: 300
input_tensor: nhwc
input_pixel_format: bgr
labelmap_path: /openvino-model/coco_91cl_bkgr.txt
ffmpeg:
hwaccel_args: preset-vaapi
detect:
max_disappeared: 2500
objects:
track:
- person
- cat
- dog
record:
enabled: true
retain:
days: 60
mode: all
events:
retain:
default: 360
mode: motion
snapshots:
enabled: true
crop: true
retain:
default: 360
birdseye:
mode: continuous
cameras:
K1-Gate:
ffmpeg:
inputs:
- path: rtsp://{FRIGATE_RTSP_USER}:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@10.0.19.41:554/stream1
roles:
- record
- path: rtsp://{FRIGATE_RTSP_USER}:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@10.0.19.41:554/stream2
roles:
- detect
detect:
width: 640
height: 480
fps: 5
motion:
mask:
- 640,480,640,0,0,0,0,480,316,480,308,439,179,422,162,121,302,114,497,480
K2-Pergola:
ffmpeg:
inputs:
- path: rtsp://{FRIGATE_RTSP_USER}:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@10.0.19.42:554/stream1
roles:
- record
- path: rtsp://{FRIGATE_RTSP_USER}:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@10.0.19.42:554/stream2
roles:
- detect
detect:
width: 640
height: 480
fps: 5
motion:
mask:
- 640,78,640,0,0,0,0,480,316,480,452,171
```
---
---
Only two changes in the 3rd config.
* Detector is switched from the cpu to intel igpu using openvino.
Just copy/paste from [the official documentation.](https://docs.frigate.video/configuration/object_detectors/#openvino-detector)
* [Hardware acceleration](https://docs.frigate.video/configuration/hardware_acceleration/)
is enabled for ffmpeg, using vaapi.
It's globaly set for all streams by just two lines in the config.
The first time I switched to hwaccl and igpu openvino detection I had daily freezes.
I was ready to tackle it based on some
[github disscussion,](https://github.com/blakeblackshear/frigate/issues/8470#issuecomment-1823556062)
but once I started from scratch with latest version I had no more freezes.
### Fourth config - notifications with mqtt and ntfy
Time for push **notifications** about events happenig in front of cameras.
I use **ntfy** and the first result when googling for "frigate ntfy" is
[this guide.](https://beneaththeradar.blog/frigate-portainer-and-notifications-using-ntfy/)
It works so that is what will be used.
The idea is:
* An event worthy of notification happens.
* Frigate sends mqtt to the mqtt broker - EMQX.
* EMQX receives it and has a [webhook](https://www.emqx.io/docs/en/latest/dashboard/bridge.html)
set for your ntfy instance.
* ntfy receives it and sends push notification to your phone/browser with snapshot of detection.
EMQX had a major interface changes since version used in the guide,
but as I was unable to make it work...
the *"older"* version will be used, which was relased Nov 30, 2023.
#### 1. Have ntfy working
[ntfy guide here.](https://github.com/DoTheEvo/selfhosted-apps-docker/tree/master/gotify-ntfy-signal)
I run without authentification on ntfy.
#### 2. Edit the compose, adding emqx container
EMQX default login is `admin` / `public` and its webgui is on port `18083`
For some reason EMQX needs to be run as root or it does not have
access to its own folder set to be bindmounted.
docker-compose.yml
```yml
services:
frigate:
image: ghcr.io/blakeblackshear/frigate:0.13.2
container_name: frigate
hostname: frigate
restart: unless-stopped
env_file: .env
privileged: true
shm_size: "256mb"
devices:
- /dev/dri/renderD128 # for intel hwaccel, needs to be updated for your hardware
volumes:
- /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
- ./frigate_config:/config
- /mnt/frigate_hdd/frigate_media:/media/frigate
- type: tmpfs # 1GB of memory
target: /tmp/cache
tmpfs:
size: 1000000000
ports:
- "5000:5000" # Web GUI
- "8554:8554" # RTSP feeds
- "8555:8555/tcp" # WebRTC over tcp
- "8555:8555/udp" # WebRTC over udp
emqx:
image: emqx/emqx:5.3.2
container_name: emqx
hostname: frigate
restart: unless-stopped
env_file: .env
user: root
volumes:
- ./emqx_data:/opt/emqx/data
ports:
- 1883:1883
- 8083:8083
- 8084:8084
- 8883:8883
- 18083:18083 # Web GUI
networks:
default:
name: $DOCKER_MY_NETWORK
external: true
```
#### 3. Edit the Frigate's config.yml
All that is done in this **fourth config** version is enabling mqtt.
Set IP address and port of the mqtt broker.
If your broker has authentification, set `FRIGATE_MQTT_USER` and
`FRIGATE_MQTT_PASSWORD` in the `.env` file.
config-4.yml
```yml
mqtt:
enabled: true
host: 10.0.19.40
port: 1883
detectors:
ov:
type: openvino
device: AUTO
model:
path: /openvino-model/ssdlite_mobilenet_v2.xml
model:
width: 300
height: 300
input_tensor: nhwc
input_pixel_format: bgr
labelmap_path: /openvino-model/coco_91cl_bkgr.txt
ffmpeg:
hwaccel_args: preset-vaapi
detect:
max_disappeared: 2500
objects:
track:
- person
- cat
- dog
record:
enabled: true
retain:
days: 60
mode: all
events:
retain:
default: 360
mode: motion
snapshots:
enabled: true
crop: true
retain:
default: 360
birdseye:
mode: continuous
cameras:
K1-Gate:
ffmpeg:
inputs:
- path: rtsp://{FRIGATE_RTSP_USER}:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@10.0.19.41:554/stream1
roles:
- record
- path: rtsp://{FRIGATE_RTSP_USER}:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@10.0.19.41:554/stream2
roles:
- detect
detect:
width: 640
height: 480
fps: 5
motion:
mask:
- 640,480,640,0,0,0,0,480,316,480,308,439,179,422,162,121,302,114,497,480
K2-Pergola:
ffmpeg:
inputs:
- path: rtsp://{FRIGATE_RTSP_USER}:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@10.0.19.42:554/stream1
roles:
- record
- path: rtsp://{FRIGATE_RTSP_USER}:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@10.0.19.42:554/stream2
roles:
- detect
detect:
width: 640
height: 480
fps: 5
motion:
mask:
- 640,78,640,0,0,0,0,480,316,480,452,171
```
#### 4. Follow emqx -> ntfy guide
[The guide](https://beneaththeradar.blog/frigate-portainer-and-notifications-using-ntfy/)
* Login to emqx at the \:18083
* Integration > Data Bridges > Create > HTTP Server
* Name - `frigate-ntfy`
* Method - `POST`
* URL - `https://ntfy.example.com/frigate`
* Key
* `content-type` - `application/json`
* `Actions` - `view, Picture, https://cam.example.com/api/events/${id}/snapshot.jpg, clear=true;view, Video, https://cam.example.com/api/events/${id}/clip.mp4, clear=true;`
* `Attach` - `https://cam.example.com/api/events/${id}/thumbnail.jpg?format=android`
* `Tags` - `camera_flash`
* `Title` - `Motion Detected`
* Body - `${message}`
Obviously change all the instances of the `cam.example.com` and `ntfy.example.com`
to whatever you got going.
[Picture](https://i.imgur.com/SbohgYI.png) from the guide, this setup skips
Authentification.
Test conectivity, it should be successful, then Create.
A question pops up Would you like to create a rule using this data bridge?
You do so - create.
```
SELECT
payload.after.id as id, payload.after.label + ' detected on ' + payload.after.camera as message
FROM
"frigate/events"
WHERE
payload.type='new' and payload.after.has_snapshot = true and payload.after.has_clip = true
```
# My current config
config.yml
```
mqtt:
enabled: true
host: 10.0.19.40
port: 1883
detectors:
ov:
type: openvino
device: AUTO
model:
path: /openvino-model/ssdlite_mobilenet_v2.xml
model:
width: 300
height: 300
input_tensor: nhwc
input_pixel_format: bgr
labelmap_path: /openvino-model/coco_91cl_bkgr.txt
ffmpeg:
hwaccel_args: preset-vaapi
detect:
max_disappeared: 2500
objects:
track:
- person
- cat
- dog
filters:
person:
min_area: 1000
threshold: 0.82
cat:
min_area: 200
threshold: 0.5
record:
enabled: true
retain:
days: 60
mode: all
events:
retain:
default: 360
mode: motion
snapshots:
enabled: true
bounding_box: true
crop: true
retain:
default: 360
birdseye:
mode: continuous
cameras:
K1-Gate:
ffmpeg:
inputs:
- path: rtsp://{FRIGATE_RTSP_USER}:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@10.0.19.41:554/stream1
roles:
- record
- path: rtsp://{FRIGATE_RTSP_USER}:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@10.0.19.41:554/stream2
roles:
- detect
detect:
width: 640
height: 480
fps: 5
motion:
mask:
- 640,480,640,0,0,0,0,480,316,480,308,439,179,422,162,121,302,114,497,480
K2-Pergola:
ffmpeg:
inputs:
- path: rtsp://{FRIGATE_RTSP_USER}:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@10.0.19.42:554/stream1
roles:
- record
- path: rtsp://{FRIGATE_RTSP_USER}:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@10.0.19.42:554/stream2
roles:
- detect
detect:
width: 640
height: 480
fps: 5
motion:
mask:
- 640,78,640,0,0,0,0,480,316,480,452,171
K3-Dvor:
birdseye:
order: 3
ffmpeg:
inputs:
- path: rtsp://10.0.19.43:554/0/av1
roles:
- record
- path: rtsp://10.0.19.43:554/0/av1
roles:
- detect
detect:
width: 640
height: 352
fps: 8
snapshots:
enabled: True
bounding_box: True
record:
enabled: True
retain:
days: 21
motion:
mask:
- 0,37,198,38,174,0,0,0
- 640,90,640,352,210,352
```
---
---
# Update
Manual image update:
- `docker-compose pull`
- `docker-compose up -d`
- `docker image prune`