Reolink Cameras and NVRs

Reolink cameras and NVRs that expose the public /cgi-bin/api.cgi JSON API on the LAN. The driver polls per-channel motion and AI detection state, captures snapshots, drives PTZ, and toggles spotlight and siren accessories.

Prerequisites

• Reolink camera or NVR with firmware that exposes the JSON API. Most cameras shipped from 2018 onward qualify; older firmwares only expose the legacy CGI interface and are out of scope.
• A non-default admin (or operator) account on the device. The driver authenticates via Login, which is rate-limited — a long string of bad password attempts will lock the account for several minutes.
• TCP access to the camera's HTTP port (default 80) from the GEM controller. Some battery-powered models (Argus, Go) only accept the JSON API over HTTPS on port 443; set the protocol and port attributes accordingly.

Setup

1. Confirm the camera is reachable from GEM. Browsing to http://<camera-ip>/cgi-bin/api.cgi?cmd=Login should return a JSON envelope (an error envelope is fine — it confirms the API is alive).
2. Create the device row in System → Devices with driver reolink.
3. Set the required attributes (see table below) and save. The driver will run Login followed by GetDevInfo and log the model + channel count on success.
4. Run the get_channels command to print the per-channel ids and names.
5. Create one zone per channel under the device. Set the zone address to the channel index — 0 for a single camera, 0..N-1 for an NVR.

Required attributes

Attribute	Description
ip	LAN IP or hostname of the camera or NVR.
username	Camera / NVR account. Operator-level minimum; admin recommended.
password	Camera / NVR account password. Stored encrypted.

Optional attributes

Attribute	Default	Description
port	80	HTTP(S) port. 443 for HTTPS-only models.
protocol	http	http or https. Battery-powered models usually require https.
status_interval	5000	How often (ms) to poll motion / AI state per channel. Keep ≥ 2000 ms.
request_timeout	8000	Per-request timeout (ms).

Zone address format

The zone address is the channel index as a string: "0" for a single camera, "0".."N-1" for an NVR (where N is channelNum from GetDevInfo).

Per-zone optional attributes:

Attribute	Description
ai_types	Comma-separated list of AI types to monitor on this channel (people, vehicle, dog_cat, face). Empty = all reported.

Commands

Command	Args	Notes
login	—	Force a fresh Login and refresh the cached token.
logout	—	Invalidate the current token.
get_dev_info	—	Print device model, firmware, and channel count.
get_channels	—	List channels (id, name, online). Use this to populate zone addresses.
snapshot	address	JPEG snapshot for a channel. Returns {channel, length, contentType, base64}.
get_motion	address	One-shot motion-detection state for a channel.
get_ai_state	address	One-shot AI state (people / vehicle / dog_cat / face).
ptz	address, op, speed, duration	PTZ control. op: Up/Down/Left/Right/LeftUp/RightUp/LeftDown/RightDown/ZoomInc/ZoomDec/FocusInc/FocusDec/Auto/Stop. speed 1-64. duration ms — driver auto-issues Stop afterwards.
ptz_preset	address, preset, speed	Recall a PTZ preset (1-64).
spotlight_on / spotlight_off	address	White-light spotlight (camera must have one).
siren	address	One-shot audible alarm.
reboot	—	Reboot the device. The exact envelope on older NVR firmware has not been verified against hardware.

Status polling

For every zone with a numeric address, the driver polls:

• GetMdState → writes motion (1/0) and a derived state (motion/clear) attribute to the zone whenever the value changes.
• GetAiState → writes a comma-separated ai_detected attribute (e.g. people,vehicle) when any AI type is alarming.

Cameras without AI return a rspCode error for GetAiState, which the driver swallows. Polling is throttled by status_interval (default 5 s).

Token lifecycle

Login returns an opaque token with a 3600 s default lease. The driver refreshes 60 s before expiry and on demand whenever an API call returns one of the auth-related Reolink rspCodes. A manual logout command invalidates the token immediately.

Known limitations

• Only the JSON API is wired. Reolink's older /api/v1 and ONVIF interfaces are out of scope (use the existing onvif driver for ONVIF events).
• Some commands (reboot, siren) are accepted by every camera tested in the wild but the exact envelope on older NVR firmware has not been verified against hardware. They are exposed; let us know if a specific model rejects them.
• RTSP / RTMP streaming is not handled here — use GEM's existing camera streaming subsystem with the camera's standard rtsp://<ip>:554/h264Preview_01_main URL.
• Subscription-style event push (HTTP webhook on motion) is not implemented. The driver polls instead.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Check
login failed	Confirm the username and password in the Reolink mobile app. Repeated bad attempts lock the account for several minutes.
rspCode -6 / -7	Token expired or invalidated by another session. The driver auto-recovers; persistent failures usually mean two clients are racing on Login.
snapshot rejected (token / auth)	Older firmware returns the web UI HTML when the token is rejected. The driver detects this and reports the error; trigger a reconnect or rotate the password.
Motion never fires	Confirm motion detection is enabled on the channel and a detection zone is configured in the Reolink app.
Battery camera fails to connect	Switch protocol to https and port to 443.