Plugins

Plugins extend camera.ui. Most of what it does beyond live view comes from plugins you install: the AI backends and motion engines that power detection, audio detection, smart-home bridges like HomeKit, and integrations for various camera brands. Managing plugins is an admin task.

Two things, kept separate

• Installing a plugin adds it to your server, once. That's what this section covers.
• Assigning a plugin to a camera decides which camera uses it, for example which motion engine a camera runs. That's done per camera, in Set up sensors.

Managing plugins

Open Plugins from the menu to see everything installed, each as a card with a live status (ready, started, stopped, error). From a card you can:

• Enable or disable it, and start, stop, or restart its process.
• Update it when a new version is available, or pick a specific version.
• Open its settings, or view its logs if something's wrong.
• Uninstall it, optionally removing its stored data.

Plugins run as their own process, so one misbehaving plugin won't take down the rest. They can be written in Node, Python, or Go; a small badge on each card shows which.

Installing a plugin

Choose Search plugins to find ones to install. camera.ui looks up published plugins (any package on npm tagged as a camera.ui plugin), so the catalog isn't a fixed list. Pick one and install it, choosing the version if you like. Once installed, enable it and assign it where it's needed.

Settings

A plugin's own settings live on its page, under Settings, and apply server-wide. Settings that affect a single camera are edited in that camera's settings instead. Recording-plugin settings are kept with the rest of recording.

Setup guides

• HomeKit — add your cameras to Apple Home.