CamPi — ONVIF Camera DVR for Raspberry Pi

A self-hosted, bandwidth-conscious camera monitoring system. Continuously records a rolling 10-minute buffer from any RTSP/ONVIF camera and serves a modern web UI for on-demand snapshots and clip playback — zero data leaves your LAN.

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Features

• Rolling buffer — Continuous 10-minute (configurable) recording via ffmpeg
• On-demand only — Snapshots and video served only when you click a button
• Modern dark UI — Dashboard, gallery, clips browser, settings, diagnostics
• Diagnostics — CPU, RAM, temperature, disk, recorder uptime, error log
• Settings page — Camera IP, RTSP path, codec, retention, storage cap, MQTT
• Plugin system — MQTT stub included; easy to add more (webhook, Telegram, etc.)
• Systemd service — Auto-starts on boot, restarts on failure

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Requirements

• Raspberry Pi (any model with enough storage; Pi 4/5 recommended)
• Raspberry Pi OS / Debian Bookworm (aarch64 or armhf)
• Camera with RTSP stream (ONVIF compatible recommended)
• Network access between Pi and camera

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Quick Install

git clone https://github.com/yourname/campi  # or copy files to ~/campi
cd ~/campi
sudo bash install.sh

The installer will:

1. Install ffmpeg and Python 3 via apt
2. Create a Python virtual environment and install dependencies
3. Create media/ subdirectories for clips, snapshots, exports
4. Write a default config.json
5. Install and start a systemd service (campi.service)

After install, open http://<raspberry-pi-ip>:8081 (default port; configurable in config.json).

Live preview supports WebRTC (via go2rtc, with aiortc fallback) and MJPEG; use the stream selector on the dashboard (Auto / Force WebRTC / Force MJPEG).

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First-Time Setup

1. Navigate to Settings in the web UI
2. Enter your camera's IP address, username, password
3. Set the RTSP stream path (check your camera manual; common values below)
4. Click Test Connection — if a snapshot appears, you're good
5. Save Settings — the recorder restarts automatically

Common RTSP paths by brand

Brand	Typical path
Hikvision	/Streaming/Channels/101
Dahua	/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0
Reolink	/h264Preview_01_main
Amcrest	/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0
Generic	/stream1 or /video1

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File Layout

campi/
├── app.py              Main Flask application + API routes
├── recorder.py         ffmpeg-based rolling buffer recorder
├── config.py           Settings manager (JSON-backed)
├── config.json         Your settings (auto-created)
├── requirements.txt
├── install.sh
├── templates/
│   ├── base.html       Shared shell, sidebar, topbar
│   ├── index.html      Dashboard
│   ├── snapshots.html  Snapshot gallery
│   ├── clips.html      Clip browser
│   ├── settings.html   Settings form
│   └── diagnostics.html System health
├── plugins/
│   └── mqtt_plugin.py  MQTT extension stub
└── media/              Created at runtime
    ├── clips/          Rolling buffer segments (seg_*.mp4)
    ├── snapshots/      Captured frames (snap_*.jpg)
    └── exports/        Merged clip exports (export_*.mp4)

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API Reference

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/snapshot	Capture fresh snapshot, return path
GET	/api/snapshot/latest	Path of latest saved snapshot
GET	/api/snapshots/list	List snapshots (?limit=N)
DELETE	/api/snapshots/clear	Delete all snapshots
GET	/api/clips/list	List buffer segments
GET	/api/clips/last10	Export & return merged last-10-min clip
GET	/api/settings	Get current settings (passwords redacted)
POST	/api/settings	Update settings (JSON body)
GET	/api/diagnostics	Full system health JSON
POST	/api/recorder/start	Start recorder
POST	/api/recorder/stop	Stop recorder
POST	/api/recorder/restart	Restart recorder
GET	/api/plugins	List active plugins

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Adding a Plugin

1. Create plugins/myplugin.py with a register(app, config, recorder) function
2. Import and call it from app.py (after recorder = Recorder(config))
3. The plugin can publish routes, subscribe to events, or run background threads
4. See plugins/mqtt_plugin.py for the pattern

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Configuration Reference

Key	Default	Description
camera_ip	192.168.1.100	Camera LAN IP
camera_user	admin	RTSP/ONVIF username
camera_password	admin	RTSP/ONVIF password
rtsp_port	554	RTSP port
rtsp_path	/stream1	Stream path on camera
rtsp_url_override	""	Full RTSP URL (overrides all above if set)
buffer_minutes	10	Rolling buffer retention in minutes
segment_seconds	60	Length of each buffer segment file
video_codec	copy	copy = no re-encode; h264 / h265 = encode
snapshot_interval_s	0	Auto-snapshot interval (0 = on-demand only)
max_storage_mb	2048	Hard storage cap; oldest clips deleted first
web_port	8080	Flask listen port
autostart	true	Start recorder on app launch
mqtt_enabled	false	Enable MQTT plugin

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Logs

journalctl -u campi -f          # Follow live logs
journalctl -u campi --since today

Service management

sudo systemctl start campi
sudo systemctl stop campi
sudo systemctl restart campi
sudo systemctl status campi