go2rtc ACAP for Axis Cameras

Run the go2rtc streaming server directly on an Axis camera as an ACAP application. go2rtc is a single, zero-dependency Go binary, so it packages cleanly into a native ACAP.

Disclaimer: Independent, community-developed ACAP package. Not an official Axis product and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or supported by Axis Communications AB or the go2rtc project. Use at your own risk.

Overview

Watch the camera live in any modern browser over WebRTC, with sub-second latency and no plugin or RTSP client required. go2rtc converts the camera's RTSP into WebRTC / MSE / HLS / MJPEG on the fly, acting as a protocol bridge for clients that can't speak RTSP, and restreams a single feed to many viewers from the camera itself. It is also a great building block for web apps: a standards-based WebRTC/HTTP endpoint straight from the device.

• The full go2rtc dashboard (WebRTC / MSE / RTSP players, config editor, stream stats) served from the camera on port 1984.
• An RTSP server on 8554 and WebRTC on 8555.
• Runs as the unprivileged ACAP user (no root required).
• Config is stored on the device and survives restarts; removed on uninstall.

Compatibility

• AXIS OS: 11.x through 13.
• Verified on AXIS OS 13 (13.0.0, aarch64).
• Architectures: aarch64 and armv7hf.

HKSV variant

Each release also includes a second package, go2rtc_HKSV_*.eap, built from Mo3he/go2rtc (hksv branch) with in-progress Apple HomeKit Secure Video support. It installs as a separate app (go2rtc_hksv) alongside the normal go2rtc app above, using the same default ports, so install whichever one you want to run (not both at once). Treat it as experimental; binaries track the fork's rolling hksv-latest build rather than a pinned version.

Configuring HKSV

This is not a feature of stock go2rtc, so it isn't part of the default go2rtc.yaml above. To expose a camera to Apple Home as a HomeKit Secure Video accessory, add a homekit: block to the config (edit it from this app's dashboard, same as any other go2rtc setting):

streams:
  outdoor: rtsp://admin:password@127.0.0.1/axis-media/media.amp

homekit:
  outdoor:            # same stream ID from streams list
    hksv: true        # enable HomeKit Secure Video
    motion: continuous # or detect / onvif / api - see fork docs below

Full options (PIN, motion modes, non-16:9 recording_resolution, doorbell category, ONVIF motion, the HTTP motion API) are documented in the fork's HomeKit module README, not here, since they're fork-specific and change independently of this ACAP.

Installation

Signed packages: Release .eap files are signed with the Axis ACAP signing service and install normally on AXIS OS 12.10 and later.

Upgrading from an earlier version? The signing vendor changed, so installing over a previously installed unsigned build can fail with "Couldn't install: app" (device log: "Vendor ID in manifest does not match the vendor ID of the previous version"). To upgrade: back up your app configuration, uninstall the old version, then install the signed one.

Download the .eap from the latest release and install it via the camera's web interface under Apps -> Add app, then start the app. Click Open (or browse to http://<camera-ip>:1984/) to reach the dashboard.

Configuration

Add streams from the dashboard's Config tab. For the camera's own stream, use a local RTSP URL:

streams:
  camera: rtsp://USER:PASS@127.0.0.1:554/axis-media/media.amp

Ports & security

Service	Port	URL
Web UI / HTTP API	1984	http://<camera-ip>:1984/
RTSP server	8554	rtsp://<camera-ip>:8554/<stream>
WebRTC	8555	TCP/UDP

Security: by default the Web UI / API on 1984 has no authentication. go2rtc can run shell commands through its source modules, so an open API is effectively remote access to the device. Before exposing the app beyond a trusted network, set username / password under api: in app/go2rtc.yaml (and rtsp: if you serve RTSP), and prefer a dedicated limited-privilege device account in your stream URLs.

How it works

File	Role
app/manifest.json	ACAP metadata; architecture is stamped in at build time.
app/supervisor.c	Tiny ACAP main executable. Launches the run script, restarts it if it dies, forwards SIGTERM for a clean stop.
app/go2rtc_run	Seeds the default config into localdata/ on first run, then execs the go2rtc binary.
app/go2rtc.yaml	Default config, copied to the persistent localdata/ dir once.
app/lib/go2rtc	go2rtc binary, downloaded during the Docker build.
app/html/index.html	Settings page with a link to the dashboard.

Build from source

Requires Docker. The go2rtc release binary is downloaded at build time, so no binaries are committed here.

./build.sh                      # builds aarch64 and armv7hf
ARCHS="aarch64" ./build.sh      # single architecture
GO2RTC_VERSION=v1.9.14 ./build.sh

The resulting go2rtc_*_<arch>.eap files are copied into the project root.

Notes

• ffmpeg is optional and modular. No ffmpeg binary ships in this package. ffmpeg-dependent features (JPEG snapshots, transcoding, any ffmpeg: source) are disabled until you install the companion ffmpeg ACAP (Mo3he/Axis_Cam_ffmpeg). Streaming that needs no transcoding works without it: WebRTC, MSE, RTSP, and MP4 pass the camera's H.264 through untouched.
• WebRTC works best on the local network. For external access, port 8555 (TCP/UDP) must be reachable, or configure a TURN server in go2rtc.
• To serve the dashboard under the camera's own web server suburl instead of port 1984, set api.base_path in go2rtc.yaml and add a reverseProxy entry to the manifest.

Links

• go2rtc
• Axis Communications

License

The packaging code in this repository is licensed under BSD 3-Clause (see LICENSE). Bundled upstream components are listed in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.