FriedasBirdview is a small desktop companion for Linux/KDE Plasma and Windows 11, compatible with Frigate NVR. When Frigate detects something you care about—such as a person, pet, bird, or named animal—the app opens a temporary camera feed above your work without taking keyboard focus.
FriedasBirdview is an independent application compatible with Frigate. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Frigate, Inc.
Built by Marcel Kühn with OpenAI Codex (GPT-5.6 Terra, Extra High reasoning).
The Frieda artwork in this repository was created from photographs supplied by the project maintainer.
The previews below use illustrative artwork and example-only configuration data. They contain no real connection details, camera names, credentials, or event history.
- Watches recent Frigate events and review activity every two seconds.
- Can instead receive Frigate event and review updates over MQTT for lower delivery latency, while retaining HTTP polling as the no-setup default.
- Can start itself at sign-in through freedesktop XDG autostart on native Linux, the desktop Background portal in Flatpak, or the current-user Windows startup registry entry.
- Opens a movable, timed feed for selected classifications or any tracked object.
- Shows the detected label, confidence, camera, and countdown.
- Uses JPEG snapshots by default, with an authenticated low-latency go2rtc MSE live-stream option. On Linux, native MSE through Qt Multimedia and the system FFmpeg backend is the default; progressive MP4 and Qt WebEngine MSE remain selectable compatibility paths. Each safely falls back to JPEG if playback is unavailable, stalls, or repeatedly fails.
- Can play an opt-in, user-selected sound for a newly detected matching event.
- Offers independent, optional cooldowns for automatic popups and sound alerts.
- Stores an optional Frigate password in KDE Wallet on Linux or Windows Credential Manager on Windows; settings and the WebEngine profile do not persist passwords or session cookies.
- Remembers the feed window’s size and position without taking keyboard focus. In a Plasma Wayland session it uses the available Xwayland compatibility backend, because standard Wayland does not permit an app to restore an absolute top-level position.
- Shows connection-lost/restored notifications and a red tray icon when Frigate cannot be reached.
- Linux: KDE Plasma on a current Linux distribution, under Wayland or X11. Building from source requires CMake, a C++20 compiler, Qt 6 (Core, Gui, Widgets, Network, Multimedia, MultimediaWidgets, WebSockets, WebChannel, and WebEngineWidgets), a Qt Multimedia FFmpeg backend, and KF6 Wallet development packages.
- Windows: Windows 11 x64. The Setup installer includes Qt, the Microsoft C++ runtime, and OpenSSL; live video uses the Windows 11 WebView2 runtime, which is supplied and updated by Windows. No developer tools are needed.
- A reachable Frigate NVR server.
- A certificate the operating system trusts, or its issuing CA certificate for the in-app custom-CA picker. FriedasBirdview deliberately keeps normal TLS validation enabled.
On distributions that split development packages, install the Qt WebEngine and
KWallet development packages, OpenSSL development files, and the NSS
certutil tool in addition to the base Qt 6 and KF6 packages.
From this repository:
./build-and-install.shThe script builds a release binary and installs it below ~/.local. Log out
and back in, or refresh your Plasma application menu, if it does not appear
immediately. You can also run the binary directly from build/friedasbirdview.
Pass an alternative prefix as the script’s first argument if needed.
To choose another install location, use CMake directly:
cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build --parallel
cmake --install build --prefix /your/chosen/prefix- Windows 11: download
FriedasBirdview-<version>-Setup-x64.exefrom the latest GitHub Release, then run the installer. It includes all runtime dependencies and provides an uninstaller. Public installers are currently unsigned, so Windows may show a SmartScreen warning until public code signing is added. - Linux Flatpak bundle: download
friedasbirdview-x86_64.flatpakfrom the latest GitHub Release, then install it withflatpak install --user ./friedasbirdview-x86_64.flatpak. - Flatpak build and Flathub submission notes — the cross-distribution package for KDE, GNOME, and other Linux desktops.
- Gentoo ebuild and local-overlay instructions.
- Start FriedasBirdview and open its tray icon’s Settings. Settings are grouped into compact General, Feed & alerts, Triggers, Security, and Event delivery tabs; the last selected tab is remembered.
- On General, optionally enable Start FriedasBirdview automatically when I sign in. Native Linux installs use your desktop’s XDG autostart location, Flatpak installs ask the desktop’s Background portal for approval, and Windows uses the current user’s startup entry.
- Enter the full Frigate base URL, including
https://and any non-standard port, such ashttps://frigate.example.net:8971, then choose Apply. If the scheme is omitted, FriedasBirdview useshttps://; an explicithttp://address remains available only for a deliberately insecure local deployment. - If Frigate has login enabled, enter the username and password. The password is saved in KDE Wallet on Linux or Windows Credential Manager on Windows, not in the application settings. Leave Password empty when applying unrelated settings to retain the saved password.
- If Frigate uses a private CA, open Security and add its public root/issuing CA certificate in Custom certificate authorities, then restart FriedasBirdview before using live video. This adds only that CA as a trust anchor; certificate host-name and expiry checks remain enabled.
- Open Feed & alerts to set Keep feed open and select JPEG snapshots or Live stream. On Linux, choose Native MSE for the lowest-latency default. The progressive-MP4 and WebEngine choices are compatibility options. Live negotiation timeout controls how long a player has to obtain a Frigate video format. Once one is announced, JPEG remains visible for up to 15 seconds while the player waits for a decodable key frame. It switches only after playback is actually running. Enable Write live-player diagnostics to terminal output for private-data-free state lines, including codec negotiation, received/appended media rates, decoded/dropped frames, buffer gap, and playback state.
- In Event delivery, keep HTTP polling for the compatible default or
select MQTT for lower event-delivery latency. MQTT requires the broker
host, port, TLS choice, topic prefix (normally
frigate), and optionally a dedicated read-only broker account. Its password is stored only in KDE Wallet or Windows Credential Manager. Custom CAs from Security also apply to TLS MQTT connections. MQTT reduces app delivery delay but does not reduce Frigate's own detection or camera-stream startup time. Use Test connection after applying the settings to verify TLS, credentials, and both Frigate topic subscriptions without changing active monitoring. - With HTTP polling, enable Fast event detection for doorbell-like feeds. It checks Frigate once per second instead of every two seconds, at twice the API-polling load.
- Optionally enable Sound alerts, then choose a sound and volume. Use Preview to test the selected alert.
- Optionally enable a Popup cooldown or Sound cooldown and choose an interval from 1 second to 1 hour. Manual Show Feed and sound Preview remain available during a cooldown.
- In Triggers, select Selected classifications and tick the labels/sub-labels that should open a feed, or choose Any tracked object.
- Use Refresh from Frigate to retrieve known labels and sub-labels. You
can always add a custom name, for example
Frieda.
Fresh installs use the intentionally unreachable https://frigate.invalid
placeholder. A connection failure leaves the app running with the disconnected
tray state; it never terminates the app.
- Click the image or video to dismiss it early.
- The lower-right countdown shows the automatic dismissal time.
- Drag the hand control to move the window.
- Use the diagonal-arrow button to enlarge or restore the feed.
- The requested position and size are preserved. In a Plasma Wayland session, FriedasBirdview uses Xwayland automatically when it is available so the saved position can be restored without manual KWin rules.
For Live stream, the selected camera needs a working Frigate/go2rtc MSE
restream and a codec the platform player can play. FriedasBirdview uses the Frigate
configuration mapping cameras.<camera>.live.streams; a camera name is not
assumed to be the go2rtc stream name. No extra Frigate ports, RTSP credentials,
or per-camera restream configuration is required. Linux opens the native MSE
relay first by default because it avoids progressive HTTP's added latency while
still using Qt Multimedia's system FFmpeg decoder. Progressive MP4 and Qt
WebEngine MSE can be selected for compatibility. All paths ultimately fall
back to JPEG snapshots after incompatible, stalled, or repeatedly failed
playback. Windows uses Edge WebView2 for live
playback, so it uses the H.264 support already maintained by Windows rather
than bundling a proprietary codec library.
Birdseye’s continuous, motion, and objects modes decide what Frigate draws in its Birdseye mosaic. They do not create a FriedasBirdview popup by themselves. FriedasBirdview reacts to new Frigate event and review records and filters them by object classification.
| Problem | What to check |
|---|---|
| Tray icon is red | Confirm the URL, Frigate availability, TLS trust, and login details. |
| No popup | Confirm monitoring is running. Temporarily choose Any tracked object, then inspect the tray menu’s last activity. |
| MQTT does not connect | Confirm Frigate is configured for MQTT, the broker host/port and topic prefix are correct, and the broker account can subscribe to <prefix>/events and <prefix>/reviews. Prefer TLS; add its issuing CA in Security if needed. |
| A new event did not reopen the feed or play a sound | Check whether the respective cooldown is enabled and has not yet elapsed. |
| A name never triggers | Add the exact event label or sub-label reported by Frigate. A Birdseye image without a new event does not count. |
| Password cannot be saved | On Linux, enable and unlock KDE Wallet; on Windows, check Credential Manager access for the current user. Then apply the settings again. |
| The app does not start after sign-in | Confirm the Startup switch is enabled. Linux native installs use XDG autostart, Flatpak requires desktop Background portal approval, and Windows uses the current user’s startup entry. Re-enable after moving a native Linux executable. |
| No sound is heard | Enable Sound alerts, use Preview, and check the desktop output device and volume. |
| Private CA works for JPEG but not live video on Windows | WebView2 trusts the Windows Current User certificate store. Import Frigate’s issuing CA there; FriedasBirdview never bypasses certificate validation. Linux native packages use the private NSS database, and the Flatpak includes certutil. |
| Live stream switches to JPEG | Confirm the stream plays in Frigate and a compatible go2rtc codec is available. On Linux, start with Native MSE; the progressive-MP4 and Qt WebEngine options are available for compatibility testing. |
| Feed is on the wrong screen | Drag it to the intended display once. On Wayland placement is ultimately controlled by KWin. |
- Linux source-build details
- Windows build, installer, and release details
- Release process and versioning
- Flatpak package
- Gentoo ebuild and local-overlay instructions
- Changelog
- Third-party notices
- Contributors
FriedasBirdview is licensed under the MIT License. Frigate-derived MSE handling and the OpenSSL X.509 API use are covered by the attribution in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.