frigate-configurator

This skill prevents 12+ common errors and saves ~60% tokens on Frigate configuration.

| Metric | Without Skill | With Skill |

|--------|--------------|------------|

| Setup Time | 2-4 hours | 30-45 min |

| Common Errors | 12+ | 0 |

| Token Usage | ~15,000 | ~6,000 |

Known Issues This Skill Prevents

1. Bus errors from insufficient shared memory allocation
2. Green/distorted video from incorrect resolution configuration
3. Database locked errors when using network storage for SQLite
4. Missing audio in recordings due to default audio stripping
5. MQTT connection failures from using localhost in Docker
6. Coral TPU not detected due to missing device passthrough
7. High CPU usage from missing hardware acceleration
8. False positives from missing motion masks on timestamps
9. No alerts triggered due to misconfigured required_zones
10. Recording corruption from h265 streams without transcoding
11. go2rtc WebRTC failures from missing STUN configuration
12. Object detection misses from wrong detect stream resolution

Step 1: Create Minimal Configuration

```yaml

mqtt:

enabled: false

cameras:

front_door:

ffmpeg:

inputs:

- path: rtsp://user:pass@192.168.1.100:554/stream1

roles:

- detect

detect:

width: 1280

height: 720

fps: 5

```

Why this matters: Start with the absolute minimum to verify camera connectivity before adding complexity. Frigate requires explicit detect stream role assignment.

Step 2: Add Hardware-Accelerated Detector

```yaml

detectors:

coral:

type: edgetpu

device: usb

# OR for Intel with OpenVINO:

detectors:

ov:

type: openvino

device: GPU

```

Why this matters: CPU detection is not recommended for production. Even a single USB Coral TPU dramatically reduces CPU usage and improves detection latency.

Step 3: Enable Recording with Retention

```yaml

record:

enabled: true

retain:

days: 1

mode: motion

alerts:

retain:

days: 14

detections:

retain:

days: 7

cameras:

front_door:

ffmpeg:

inputs:

- path: rtsp://user:pass@192.168.1.100:554/stream1

roles:

- detect

- path: rtsp://user:pass@192.168.1.100:554/stream2

roles:

- record

```

Why this matters: Use separate streams for detect (low-res) and record (high-res) to optimize performance. Retention modes prevent storage from filling up.

Always Do

• Use width and height that match your camera's ACTUAL resolution (verify with VLC)
• Set detect fps between 5-10 (higher wastes resources, lower misses events)
• Use separate streams for detect (sub-stream) and record (main stream)
• Allocate adequate shm-size in Docker (64MB minimum per camera)
• Create motion masks for timestamp overlays and areas with constant motion
• Use environment variables for credentials: {FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}
• Test RTSP URLs in VLC first before adding to Frigate config

Never Do

• Never use localhost or 127.0.0.1 for MQTT inside Docker containers
• Never set detect resolution higher than 1280x720 (wastes detector capacity)
• Never enable recording without specifying retention policy
• Never mount /media/frigate on network storage without relocating database
• Never mix multiple detector types for object detection (e.g., Coral + OpenVINO)
• Never use UDP RTSP transport without explicit configuration (TCP is default)

Common Mistakes

Wrong:

```yaml

cameras:

cam1:

ffmpeg:

inputs:

- path: rtsp://192.168.1.100/stream

roles:

- detect

- record

detect:

width: 1920

height: 1080

fps: 30

```

Correct:

```yaml

cameras:

cam1:

ffmpeg:

inputs:

- path: rtsp://192.168.1.100/substream

roles:

- detect

- path: rtsp://192.168.1.100/mainstream

roles:

- record

detect:

width: 1280

height: 720

fps: 5

```

Why: Using 1080p@30fps for detection wastes resources. Detection works best at 720p or lower at 5fps. Always use the camera's sub-stream for detection and main stream for recording.

| Issue | Root Cause | Solution |

|-------|-----------|----------|

| Bus Error | Insufficient shared memory | Set shm-size: 256mb in docker-compose |

| Database Locked | SQLite on network storage | Use database.path: /config/frigate.db |

| Green/Distorted Video | Wrong resolution in config | Match camera's actual output resolution |

| No Audio in Recordings | Default audio removal | Use preset-record-generic-audio-aac |

| MQTT Connection Failed | localhost in Docker | Use host IP address instead |

| Coral Not Detected | Missing device passthrough | Add /dev/bus/usb to Docker devices |

| High CPU Usage | Missing hwaccel | Add appropriate preset (vaapi/qsv/nvidia) |

| Missing Alerts | No required_zones | Configure zones with review.alerts.required_zones |

| UDP Stream Failures | TCP is default in Frigate | Add preset-rtsp-udp to input args |

config.yml Structure

```yaml

# MQTT Configuration (optional but recommended)

mqtt:

enabled: true

host: 192.168.1.50

port: 1883

user: "{FRIGATE_MQTT_USER}"

password: "{FRIGATE_MQTT_PASSWORD}"

# Detector Configuration

detectors:

coral:

type: edgetpu

device: usb # or pci for M.2/PCIe

# Global Object Settings

objects:

track:

- person

- car

- dog

- cat

filters:

person:

min_area: 5000

max_area: 100000

threshold: 0.7

# Recording Settings

record:

enabled: true

retain:

days: 1

mode: motion

alerts:

retain:

days: 14

detections:

retain:

days: 7

# Snapshot Settings

snapshots:

enabled: true

retain:

default: 7

# Camera Configuration

cameras:

front_door:

enabled: true

ffmpeg:

inputs:

- path: "rtsp://{FRIGATE_RTSP_USER}:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@192.168.1.100:554/stream1"

input_args: preset-rtsp-restream

roles:

- detect

- path: "rtsp://{FRIGATE_RTSP_USER}:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@192.168.1.100:554/stream0"

input_args: preset-rtsp-restream

roles:

- record

output_args:

record: preset-record-generic-audio-aac

detect:

width: 1280

height: 720

fps: 5

motion:

mask:

- 0,0,200,0,200,100,0,100 # Timestamp area

zones:

front_yard:

coordinates: 100,500,400,500,400,720,100,720

objects:

- person

- car

review:

alerts:

required_zones:

- front_yard

```

Key settings:

• detect.fps: 5 is optimal for most cameras (reduces detector load)
• detect.width/height: Must match actual camera sub-stream resolution
• record.retain.mode: Use motion or active_objects to save storage
• motion.mask: Define polygons as comma-separated coordinates
• zones.coordinates: Bottom-center of bounding box determines zone presence

Intel (6th Gen+)

```yaml

# For Intel gen8+ (prefer QSV)

ffmpeg:

hwaccel_args: preset-intel-qsv-h264 # or preset-intel-qsv-h265

# For Intel gen1-gen7 (use VAAPI)

ffmpeg:

hwaccel_args: preset-vaapi

```

NVIDIA GPU

```yaml

ffmpeg:

hwaccel_args: preset-nvidia

```

Requires NVIDIA Container Toolkit:

```yaml

# docker-compose.yml

services:

frigate:

runtime: nvidia

environment:

- NVIDIA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=all

```

AMD GPU

```yaml

ffmpeg:

hwaccel_args: preset-vaapi

# docker-compose.yml

environment:

- LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=radeonsi

```

Raspberry Pi

```yaml

# Raspberry Pi 4/5

ffmpeg:

hwaccel_args: preset-rpi-64-h264 # or preset-rpi-64-h265

```

Requires: gpu_mem=128 in /boot/config.txt and device mapping in Docker.

USB Coral TPU

```yaml

detectors:

coral:

type: edgetpu

device: usb # Single USB Coral

# device: usb:0 # First of multiple USB Corals

```

Docker device mapping:

```yaml

devices:

- /dev/bus/usb:/dev/bus/usb

```

M.2/PCIe Coral TPU

```yaml

detectors:

coral:

type: edgetpu

device: pci

# device: pci:0 # First of multiple PCIe Corals

```

OpenVINO (Intel)

```yaml

detectors:

ov:

type: openvino

device: GPU # or CPU

model:

path: /openvino-model/ssdlite_mobilenet_v2.xml

width: 300

height: 300

```

ONNX (Multi-GPU)

```yaml

detectors:

onnx:

type: onnx

# Automatically uses: ROCm (AMD), OpenVINO (Intel), TensorRT (NVIDIA)

```

Zone-Based Speed Estimation

```yaml

zones:

driveway:

coordinates: 100,500,400,500,400,720,100,720

distances:

- "100,500|400,500|20ft" # 20 feet between points

speed:

threshold: 15 # Minimum mph to register

```

Audio Detection

```yaml

audio:

enabled: true

listen:

- bark

- fire_alarm

- scream

- speech

cameras:

front_door:

ffmpeg:

inputs:

- path: rtsp://camera/stream

roles:

- audio

```

GenAI Event Descriptions

```yaml

genai:

enabled: true

provider: ollama

base_url: http://192.168.1.100:11434

model: llava

```

Face Recognition (Frigate+)

```yaml

face_recognition:

enabled: true

threshold: 0.6

cameras:

front_door:

detect:

width: 1280 # Higher res improves face detection

```

License Plate Recognition

```yaml

lpr:

enabled: true

cameras:

driveway:

lpr:

enabled: true

```

```yaml

go2rtc:

streams:

front_door:

- rtsp://user:pass@192.168.1.100:554/stream1

- "ffmpeg:front_door#video=copy#audio=opus"

webrtc:

candidates:

- 192.168.1.50:8555

- stun:8555

```

```yaml

services:

frigate:

container_name: frigate

image: ghcr.io/blakeblackshear/frigate:stable

restart: unless-stopped

shm_size: "256mb"

devices:

- /dev/bus/usb:/dev/bus/usb # USB Coral

- /dev/dri/renderD128:/dev/dri/renderD128 # Intel GPU

volumes:

- ./config:/config

- ./storage:/media/frigate

- type: tmpfs

target: /tmp/cache

tmpfs:

size: 1000000000

ports:

- "8971:8971" # Web UI

- "8554:8554" # RTSP feeds

- "8555:8555/tcp" # WebRTC

- "8555:8555/udp" # WebRTC

environment:

FRIGATE_RTSP_USER: admin

FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD: ${RTSP_PASSWORD}

FRIGATE_MQTT_USER: frigate

FRIGATE_MQTT_PASSWORD: ${MQTT_PASSWORD}

```

Templates

Located in templates/:

• [docker-compose.yml](templates/docker-compose.yml) - Production-ready compose file
• [config-minimal.yml](templates/config-minimal.yml) - Minimal starter config
• [config-full.yml](templates/config-full.yml) - Full-featured config template

References

Located in references/:

• [detector-comparison.md](references/detector-comparison.md) - Detector performance comparison
• [ffmpeg-presets.md](references/ffmpeg-presets.md) - All available FFmpeg presets
• [mqtt-topics.md](references/mqtt-topics.md) - MQTT topic reference

Scripts

Located in scripts/:

• validate-config.sh - Validate config syntax before applying

Required

| Package | Version | Purpose |

|---------|---------|---------|

| Docker | 20.10+ | Container runtime |

| docker-compose | 2.0+ | Service orchestration |

Optional

| Package | Version | Purpose |

|---------|---------|---------|

| NVIDIA Container Toolkit | Latest | NVIDIA GPU support |

| Coral Edge TPU runtime | Latest | Coral TPU support |

• [Frigate Documentation](https://docs.frigate.video/)
• [Configuration Reference](https://docs.frigate.video/configuration/reference)
• [Getting Started Guide](https://docs.frigate.video/guides/getting_started)
• [Troubleshooting FAQs](https://docs.frigate.video/troubleshooting/faqs)

Camera Shows Offline

Symptoms: Camera fps shows 0, web UI shows offline status

Solution:

```bash

# Test RTSP URL directly

ffprobe -rtsp_transport tcp "rtsp://user:pass@ip:554/stream"

# Check Docker logs

docker logs frigate 2>&1 | grep -i "camera_name"

```

High CPU Usage

Symptoms: CPU consistently above 80%, system becomes unresponsive

Solution:

1. Enable hardware acceleration (see presets above)
2. Reduce detect fps from 10 to 5
3. Lower detect resolution to 720p or below
4. Add Coral TPU for object detection

No Objects Detected

Symptoms: Motion detected but no object events created

Solution:

1. Verify detector is configured and running: check /api/stats
2. Check object filters aren't too restrictive (min_area, threshold)
3. Ensure detect stream resolution is correct
4. Verify objects list includes desired types

Recording Not Working

Symptoms: Events show but no recordings available

Solution:

```yaml

# Ensure record role is assigned

cameras:

cam1:

ffmpeg:

inputs:

- path: rtsp://camera/stream

roles:

- record # Must be explicitly set

record:

enabled: true # Must be true

```

Before deploying Frigate, verify:

• [ ] Docker and docker-compose installed
• [ ] RTSP URLs tested in VLC (note actual resolution)
• [ ] Camera credentials ready for environment variables
• [ ] Storage volume has adequate space (100GB+ recommended)
• [ ] Shared memory size configured (64MB per camera minimum)
• [ ] Hardware acceleration device mapped (if applicable)
• [ ] Coral TPU device mapped (if using)
• [ ] MQTT broker accessible (if integrating with Home Assistant)
• [ ] Port 8971 available for web UI
• [ ] Firewall allows required ports (8554, 8555 for streaming)