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motioneye-project/motioneye

4,590PythonAudience · generalComplexity · 3/5Setup · moderate

TLDR

A browser-based dashboard for the motion video surveillance program, letting you view live camera feeds, review motion-triggered recordings, and adjust detection settings without editing config files.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((motionEye))
    What it does
      Web dashboard
      Camera management
    Features
      Live feed view
      Motion-triggered recording
      Settings via browser
    Setup
      Python pip install
      Port 8765 access
      Default admin login
    Platforms
      Raspberry Pi
      Linux servers
      ARM devices
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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Set up a Raspberry Pi home security camera system with a browser-based management interface and no config file editing.

USE CASE 2

Monitor multiple camera feeds from one dashboard and review motion-triggered video clips remotely.

USE CASE 3

Configure motion detection sensitivity, recording schedules, and camera settings through a graphical web interface.

Tech stack

Pythonmotion

Getting it running

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

On older Raspberry Pi ARM processors extra build tools are needed so Python libraries can compile from source before installation completes.

In plain English

motionEye is a web-based interface for a video surveillance program called motion. The motion program handles the actual camera feeds and motion detection, motionEye puts a graphical front-end on top of it so you can manage everything through a browser instead of editing configuration files by hand. The project is popular with Raspberry Pi setups, where a small, low-cost computer is connected to a camera and used as a home security monitor. You point a browser at the device's IP address on port 8765 and get a dashboard where you can view live feeds, review recorded clips, and adjust settings for when motion triggers a recording. Installation is done on a Linux machine through Python's package manager. The README walks through the steps: install Python 3.7 or later, install pip (Python's package installer), then run two commands to install motionEye and initialize it as a system service that starts automatically. On most standard Linux distributions this is straightforward. On older ARM processors like those in early Raspberry Pi models, or on some less common processor architectures, a few extra developer tools need to be installed first so that certain Python libraries can be compiled from source. Once running, you access the interface with the username admin and no password by default. The README is explicit that you should set a real password before exposing the installation to the internet. Upgrading is handled with pip as well, though the README recommends stopping the service before upgrading and restarting it afterward to avoid running a mix of old and new code in memory at the same time. The project is multilingual as of version 0.43, and translations are managed through a community platform called Weblate where volunteers can contribute. The detailed configuration documentation lives in the project's wiki rather than the README.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
I've installed motionEye on a Raspberry Pi connected to a USB camera. How do I access the dashboard, add the camera, and configure it to record a 30-second clip when motion is detected?
Prompt 2
My motionEye service stops detecting motion after a few hours and I have to restart it manually. What are common causes and how do I add an automatic restart on failure?
Prompt 3
How do I set up motionEye to email me a snapshot or save recordings to a network folder when motion is detected at a specific camera?
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