Problem statement
Based on the thoughts on camera support in Home Assistant we want to address a more streamlined way to handle storing and interacting with camera recordings.
Currently, if users want a native approach to recording, clip management, or AI-based detection, they need to install and configure solutions like Frigate as a separate app and essentially wiring Frigate's entities back into Home Assistant. It works, and it works well, but it's a multi-step process that assumes a fairly high level of technical comfort. While users could fallback to the respective vendor app (if it in fact provides missing functionality) this is generally something we should aim to establish in a more native way within Home Assistant. Making it more approachable for cameras and managing recordings thereof.
Thus, offering a more streamlined way of recording that potentially can be attached to an existing cloud offering by one of our commercial partners could contemplate this missing feature. Generally, aiming to have that use case covered from a local only perspective that works end-to-end remains key, but keeping options like NVR and cloud offerings in mind.
Community signals
-
Frigate is the de facto standard, but the barrier to entry is high. It is the only real answer to NVR-style recording in Home Assistant, but setup regularly takes hours of working through outdated documentation. Its clip review UI lives outside Home Assistant entirely. For mainstream users, this is a dealbreaker.
-
camera.record is sometimes reported as unreliable and limited. Years of forum threads report issues like recordings failing silently, streams locking with "already recording" errors, and no way to start or stop recording programmatically.
-
Users arrive expecting an NVR and don't find it. The expectation gap is real.
-
Additional use cases like motion-triggered recording to external storage is a common ask with no clean answer yet. Manually wiring together a motion sensor, the record action, and an actual storage destination requires significant custom automation work. A use case that should be straightforward making Home Assistant more approachable.
Scope & Boundaries
In scope
- Local storage
- Network video recording (NVR)
- Cloud recording
Not in scope
Foreseen solution
No response
Risks & open questions
No response
Appetite
No response
Execution issues
No response
Decision log
Problem statement
Based on the thoughts on camera support in Home Assistant we want to address a more streamlined way to handle storing and interacting with camera recordings.
Currently, if users want a native approach to recording, clip management, or AI-based detection, they need to install and configure solutions like Frigate as a separate app and essentially wiring Frigate's entities back into Home Assistant. It works, and it works well, but it's a multi-step process that assumes a fairly high level of technical comfort. While users could fallback to the respective vendor app (if it in fact provides missing functionality) this is generally something we should aim to establish in a more native way within Home Assistant. Making it more approachable for cameras and managing recordings thereof.
Thus, offering a more streamlined way of recording that potentially can be attached to an existing cloud offering by one of our commercial partners could contemplate this missing feature. Generally, aiming to have that use case covered from a local only perspective that works end-to-end remains key, but keeping options like NVR and cloud offerings in mind.
Community signals
Frigate is the de facto standard, but the barrier to entry is high. It is the only real answer to NVR-style recording in Home Assistant, but setup regularly takes hours of working through outdated documentation. Its clip review UI lives outside Home Assistant entirely. For mainstream users, this is a dealbreaker.
camera.record is sometimes reported as unreliable and limited. Years of forum threads report issues like recordings failing silently, streams locking with "already recording" errors, and no way to start or stop recording programmatically.
Users arrive expecting an NVR and don't find it. The expectation gap is real.
Additional use cases like motion-triggered recording to external storage is a common ask with no clean answer yet. Manually wiring together a motion sensor, the record action, and an actual storage destination requires significant custom automation work. A use case that should be straightforward making Home Assistant more approachable.
Scope & Boundaries
In scope
Not in scope
Foreseen solution
No response
Risks & open questions
No response
Appetite
No response
Execution issues
No response
Decision log