A free NVR add-on for Home Assistant
Install Litmus NVR from the Home Assistant app store, set it up in the browser, and use its detections in your automations. The add-on connects to Home Assistant without entering an address or token.
Install the add-on
- Requires Home Assistant OS or Supervised.
- In Home Assistant, open Settings > Apps > App store and add https://github.com/grablo/litmus-hass-addons under Repositories in the top-right menu.
- Find Litmus NVR in the store, click Install, then Start.
- Open the local screen in a browser on the same network at http://<Home Assistant IP address>:8128. The setup code for the first visit appears in the add-on’s Log tab.
Use detections in automations
Add a <b>Home Assistant</b> action to an alert. Litmus creates a sensor in Home Assistant and turns it on for 5 seconds on each detection. On the add-on, check <b>Installed as a Home Assistant add-on</b> and no address or token is needed.
| Sensor attribute | Content |
|---|---|
| camera | Camera name |
| label | What was detected (person, car, truck, bus, motorcycle; car for license plate actions) |
| sub_label | Name of a registered face or nickname of a registered vehicle |
| recognized_license_plate | The plate number that was read |
| score | Confidence (0 to 1) |
| zone | Detection zone name |
The attribute names match the detection data Frigate sends to Home Assistant. Attributes require device software 2.1.0 or later.
Example: open the gate for registered vehicles
Trigger on the sensor turning on, and add a condition that sub_label is not empty. To open it for one vehicle only, add a condition that recognized_license_plate equals its plate number.
Not running Home Assistant OS?
On Home Assistant Container or Core, run Litmus NVR in Docker or install it on another computer, and connect it with a Home Assistant server address and a long-lived access token.
What Litmus does
- Every person and vehicle becomes a card. Litmus detects people and vehicles as it records and turns each one into a card, so you browse who was there instead of scrubbing a timeline.
- Follow someone across cameras. Open a card to play that person’s scenes from every camera in time order.
- Four ways to search. By appearance (clothing and build), by face with no enrollment, by a description such as “a person in a yellow shirt”, or by attributes like clothing color, bag, hat and age group. Vehicles can be searched by license plate, and a partial plate works.
- Works locally, no sign-up. On your network, open it in a browser without a Litmus account.
- Remote viewing without port forwarding. Add the device to your Litmus account, and the phone app and browser connect over an encrypted peer-to-peer connection, which works on most home and office routers.
- Video stays on your hardware. Recordings and analysis are stored on the computer running Litmus, not in the cloud.
Questions
How many cameras can it handle?
It depends on the machine running Home Assistant. A Raspberry Pi 5 handles 1 to 2 cameras with AI analysis on, an Intel N100 mini PC 1 to 2, and a 12th-gen Core i5 5 to 6.
Is Litmus NVR really free?
Yes. Every feature is free with no camera limit. Live View over a direct connection is unlimited.
Does my video go to the cloud?
Recordings and AI analysis stay on the computer running Litmus. Where a network blocks direct connections, encrypted video passes through our relay server without being stored. Alert photos are kept in cloud storage.