home-assistant.io/source/_integrations/camera.markdown

title	description	ha_category	ha_release	ha_quality_scale	ha_domain	ha_codeowners	ha_integration_type	ha_platforms
Camera	Instructions on how to integrate cameras within Home Assistant.	Camera Media source	0.7	internal	camera	@home-assistant/core	entity	diagnostics

The camera integration allows you to use IP cameras with Home Assistant.

{% include integrations/building_block_integration.md %}

Streaming video

If your camera supports it, and the stream integration is setup, you will be able to stream your cameras in the frontend and on supported media players.

The Preload stream option will start the camera feed on Home Assistant startup and continue to keep the stream alive. This will result in reduced latency when opening the stream in the frontend, as well as when using the play_stream action or Google Assistant integration. It does, however, utilize more resources on your machine, so it is recommended to check CPU usage if you plan to use this feature.

Example showing the Preload Stream option in the camera dialog.

The state of a camera

A camera can have the following states. Not all camera integrations support all states.

• Streaming: The camera transmits a live play-back of the video data it is recording.
• Recording: The camera is currently capturing video content.
• Idle: The camera is not currently capturing video content.
• Unavailable: The entity is currently unavailable.
• Unknown: The state is not yet known.

Actions

Once loaded, the camera platform will expose actions that can be called to perform various actions.

Available actions: enable_motion_detection, disable_motion_detection, play_stream, record, snapshot, turn_off and turn_on.

Action enable_motion_detection

Enable the motion detection in a camera.

Data attribute	Optional	Description
entity_id	yes	Name(s) of entities to enable motion detection, e.g., camera.living_room_camera.

Action disable_motion_detection

Disable the motion detection in a camera.

Data attribute	Optional	Description
entity_id	yes	Name(s) of entities to disable motion detection, e.g., camera.living_room_camera.

Action play_stream

Play a live stream from a camera to selected media player(s). Requires stream integration to be set up.

Data attribute	Optional	Description
entity_id	no	Name of entity to fetch stream from, e.g., camera.living_room_camera.
media_player	no	Name of media player to play stream on, e.g., media_player.living_room_tv.
format	yes	Stream format supported by stream integration and selected media_player. Default: hls

For example, the following action in an automation would send an hls live stream to your chromecast.

actions:
  - action: camera.play_stream
    target:
      entity_id: camera.yourcamera
    data:
      media_player: media_player.chromecast

Action record

Make a .mp4 recording from a camera stream. Requires stream integration to be set up.

Both duration and lookback options are suggestions, but should be consistent per camera. The actual length of the recording may vary. It is suggested that you tweak these settings to fit your needs.

Data attribute	Optional	Description
entity_id	no	Name(s) of entities to create a snapshot from, e.g., camera.living_room_camera.
filename	no	Recording file name.
duration	yes	Target recording length (in seconds). Default: 30
lookback	yes	Target lookback period (in seconds) to include in addition to duration. Only available if there is currently an active HLS stream. Default: 0

The path part of filename must be an entry in the allowlist_external_dirs in your homeassistant: section of your {% term "configuration.yaml" %} file.

For example, the following action in an automation would take a recording from "yourcamera" and save it to /tmp with a timestamped filename.

{% raw %}

actions:
  - variables:
      my_camera_id: camera.yourcamera  # Store the camera entity_id in a variable for reuse
  - action: camera.record
    target:
      entity_id: '{{ my_camera_id }}'
    data:
      filename: '/tmp/{{ my_camera_id }}_{{ now().strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S") }}.mp4'

{% endraw %}

Action snapshot

Take a snapshot from a camera.

Data attribute	Optional	Description
entity_id	no	Name(s) of entities to create a snapshot from, e.g., camera.living_room_camera.
filename	no	Snapshot file name.

The path part of filename must be an entry in the allowlist_external_dirs in your homeassistant: section of your {% term "configuration.yaml" %} file.

For example, the following action in an automation would take a snapshot from "yourcamera" and save it to /tmp with a timestamped filename.

{% raw %}

actions:
  - variables:
      my_camera_id: camera.yourcamera  # Store the camera entity_id in a variable for reuse
  - action: camera.snapshot
    target:
      entity_id: '{{ my_camera_id }}'
    data:
      filename: '/tmp/{{ my_camera_id }}_{{ now().strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S") }}.jpg'

{% endraw %}

Action turn_off

Turn off camera. Not all camera models support this action, please consult individual camera page.

Data attribute	Optional	Description
entity_id	yes	Name(s) of entities to turn off, e.g., camera.living_room_camera.

Action turn_on

Turn on camera. Not all camera models support this action, please consult individual camera page.

Data attribute	Optional	Description
entity_id	yes	Name(s) of entities to turn on, e.g., camera.living_room_camera.

Test if it works

A way to test if you have set up your camera platform correctly, is to use Actions from the Developer Tools. Choose your action from the dropdown menu Action, enter something like the sample below into the data field, and select Perform action.

entity_id: camera.living_room_camera