Obscura

Obscura is a simple node app that runs on a RaspberryPi (in my case, a Pi Zero 2 W). It can be used to stream live video and take pictures remotely over the web, but it's principal function is to periodically take a snapshot and provide a streaming interface to allow time-lapse photography.

Features

• Auto-adjusts quality & frame-rate to suit network conditions.
• Simple, embedded API for viewing live video, taking HQ photos and playing time-lapses

Requirements

A RaspberryPi with enabled camera (see raspi-config). Developed and tested on RaspberryPi buster, later OS versions may need an additional download (for camera / MMAL support) as the camera module is built on that API for performance.

Installation

npm i pi-obscura

Alternatively, clone (and npm i) the repo at https://github.com/MatAtBread/obscura.git and run with pm2. In this configuration, you can aurto-deploy updates remotely (see Security for more info).

I run it with pm2 to ensure it starts up after a reboot or if the app crashes.

You can then view your images & video at http://<your-pi-host>:8000

Security

The app has no known security issues, however, connecting a Raspberry Pi to the internet without any protection is unwise. Potential mitigation strategies are:

• Don't install anything else on the Pi. I recommend a "lite, headless" OS install to keep the performance up. Do not install browers or anything that stores passwords.
• Don't save any passwords for other services you use on the Pi. In that case, even if your Pi is hacked (brute force on a Pi connected to the internet isn't very hard), there will be nothing of value other than your images.
• Disable PasswordAuthetication in sshd and only allow access via pre-installed keys.
• Don't use NAT or put a hole in your firewall that directly accesses the service (default port is 8000). If you want to see you images remotely, use SSH and a tunnel: ssh -L 8001:localhost:8000 and access the service as http://localhost:8001

The /admin page offers auto-deployment from source github repo (if you installed from github & run under pm2). If you make you Obscura available on the internet, any one can redeploy to your server. It is recommended that Obscura is not available to the public (ie only done on a home network, VPN or via a SSH tunnel) unless you disable this feature.

TO DO

• Add some kind of simple auth to the /admin URL
• Add options for managing storage (it will at present eventually fill your SD card)