Setup

Frigate NVR — Docker Setup Guide 

 Frigate is a self-hosted NVR (Network Video Recorder) with real-time object detection, face recognition, license plate recognition, and semantic search. This guide covers deploying Frigate via Docker Compose with go2rtc stream rebroadcasting, SMB-mounted NAS storage for footage, and role-based camera access control. 

 

 Prerequisites 

 

 Docker and Docker Compose installed on the host 

 A dedicated storage path for footage (local or NAS mount — see SMB section below) 

 IP cameras with RTSP streams accessible from the host 

 Host machine on the same network/VLAN as the cameras 

 

 

 Directory Structure 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 ~/frigate/

├── docker-compose.yml

└── config/

 └── config.yml 

 

 SMB NAS Mount (fstab) 

 Footage is stored on a NAS via SMB share, mounted at boot using /etc/fstab . Add the following entry to /etc/fstab : 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 //YOUR_NAS_IP/share_name /homedata/cameras cifs credentials=/etc/smb-credentials,uid=1000,gid=1000,_netdev,auto 0 0 

 Create the credentials file: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 bash 

 

 

 sudo nano /etc/smb-credentials 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 username=YOUR_SMB_USER

password=YOUR_SMB_PASSWORD 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 bash 

 

 

 sudo chmod 600 /etc/smb-credentials

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/nvr/cameras

sudo mount -a 

 Verify the mount is working before starting Frigate: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 bash 

 

 

 df -h | grep cameras 

 

 Docker Compose 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 yaml 

 

 

 services:

 frigate:

 container_name: frigate

 privileged: true

 restart: unless-stopped

 image: ghcr.io/blakeblackshear/frigate:stable

 shm_size: "64mb"

 volumes:

 - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro

 - ./config:/config

 - /mnt/nvr/cameras:/media/frigate # NAS SMB mount

 - type: tmpfs

 target: /tmp/cache

 tmpfs:

 size: 1000000000 # 1GB tmpfs for decode cache

 ports:

 - "5000:5000" # Web UI

 - "8971:8971" # go2rtc web UI

 - "8554:8554" # RTSP restream feeds

 - "8555:8555/tcp" # WebRTC

 - "8555:8555/udp" # WebRTC

 environment:

 - FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD=YOUR_RTSP_PASSWORD 

 

 Note: privileged: true is required for hardware acceleration access on most setups. If you're not using a Coral TPU or specific GPU passthrough, you can try dropping this and mounting only the devices you need. 

 

 

 config.yml 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 yaml 

 

 

 version: 0.17-0

go2rtc:

 webrtc:

 listen: :8555

 candidates:

 - YOUR_HOST_IP:8555 # LAN IP of the Frigate host

 - stun:8555

 streams:

 camera_name_1:

 - rtsp://USER:PASS@CAMERA_IP:554/stream_path

 camera_name_2:

 - rtsp://USER:PASS@CAMERA_IP:554/stream_path

 # Add additional streams as needed

mqtt:

 enabled: false # Enable and configure if using Home Assistant or MQTT alerts

# -------------------------------------------------------

# Recording

# -------------------------------------------------------

record:

 enabled: true

 continuous:

 days: 1 # 1 day of continuous footage retention

 detections:

 retain:

 days: 7

 mode: motion # Keep only clips with motion

 alerts:

 retain:

 days: 14

 mode: motion # Keep alert clips longer

# -------------------------------------------------------

# Auth & Role-Based Camera Access

# -------------------------------------------------------

auth:

 enabled: true

 roles:

 username:

 - camera_name_1

 - camera_name_2

 # List only the cameras this user should have access to

# -------------------------------------------------------

# FFmpeg Global Settings

# -------------------------------------------------------

ffmpeg:

 input_args: preset-rtsp-restream

# -------------------------------------------------------

# Object Detection

# -------------------------------------------------------

objects:

 track:

 - person

 - dog

 - cat

 - car

 filters:

 person:

 threshold: 0.7 # Confidence threshold — tune to reduce false positives

# -------------------------------------------------------

# AI Features

# -------------------------------------------------------

semantic_search:

 enabled: true

 model_size: small # Options: small, large

face_recognition:

 enabled: true

 model_size: small

lpr:

 enabled: true # License plate recognition

classification:

 bird:

 enabled: true

# -------------------------------------------------------

# Notifications

# -------------------------------------------------------

notifications:

 enabled: true

 email: YOUR_EMAIL@domain.com

# -------------------------------------------------------

# Cameras

# -------------------------------------------------------

cameras:

 camera_name_1:

 enabled: true

 ffmpeg:

 inputs:

 - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/camera_name_1?video=copy

 input_args: preset-rtsp-restream

 roles:

 - detect

 - record

 - audio

 detect:

 enabled: true

 width: 896

 height: 512

 fps: 8

 notifications:

 enabled: true

 camera_name_2:

 enabled: true

 ffmpeg:

 inputs:

 # Use separate high-res and sub-stream inputs when available

 - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/camera_name_2_main

 input_args: preset-rtsp-restream

 roles:

 - record

 - audio

 - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/camera_name_2_sub

 input_args: preset-rtsp-restream

 roles:

 - detect

 live:

 height: 360

 detect:

 enabled: true

 width: 1280

 height: 360

 fps: 8

 notifications:

 enabled: true

 # Camera with ONVIF PTZ support

 ptz_camera:

 enabled: true

 ffmpeg:

 inputs:

 - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/ptz_camera?video=copy

 input_args: preset-rtsp-restream

 roles:

 - detect

 - record

 - audio

 detect:

 enabled: true

 width: 896

 height: 512

 fps: 8

 onvif:

 host: CAMERA_IP

 port: 80

 user: YOUR_USER

 password: YOUR_PASSWORD

 notifications:

 enabled: true 

 

 Starting Frigate 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 bash 

 

 

 cd ~/frigate

docker compose up -d 

 Check logs: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 bash 

 

 

 docker logs -f frigate 

 

 Accessing the UI 

 

 

 

 

 Service 

 URL 

 

 

 

 

 Frigate Web UI 

 http://HOST_IP:5000 

 

 

 go2rtc Web UI 

 http://HOST_IP:8971 

 

 

 RTSP Restreams 

 rtsp://HOST_IP:8554/camera_name