Node-RED flow that takes pictures when signalled using MQTT and sends them to a HTTP endpoint

Camera Flow.md

Mac Camera Flow README

This flow runs on a Mac to take small photos using a web cam when signalled via MQTT.

Prequisites

This flow relies on imagesnap being installed on your Mac to take pictures using the built in web cam.

How it works

When a message is sent to the MQTT endpoint, a new photo is taken, then resized using imagesnap called with an exec node. The file is read, then sent via HTTP by base64 encoding to a private FRED HTTP endpoint.

It can be used as part of a remote security camera solution where the cloud can be used to trigger and view remote images, and do further storage and image processing.

camera_flow.json

[
    {
        "id": "723bff0a.755dd",
        "type": "mqtt in",
        "z": "cd4c1f53.7e90c",
        "name": "",
        "topic": "users/mike/camera",
        "qos": "2",
        "broker": "ca9779be.e06278",
        "x": 250,
        "y": 100,
        "wires": [
            [
                "4256edf3.35b104"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "6db536bd.4318a8",
        "type": "debug",
        "z": "cd4c1f53.7e90c",
        "name": "",
        "active": true,
        "console": "false",
        "complete": "true",
        "x": 830,
        "y": 420,
        "wires": []
    },
    {
        "id": "4256edf3.35b104",
        "type": "exec",
        "z": "cd4c1f53.7e90c",
        "command": "imagesnap  /Users/mike/.node-red/snapshot.png",
        "addpay": false,
        "append": "",
        "useSpawn": "false",
        "timer": "",
        "oldrc": false,
        "name": "",
        "x": 610,
        "y": 100,
        "wires": [
            [],
            [
                "6db536bd.4318a8"
            ],
            [
                "f42ffe85.a9bb4"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "f0b68ebe.182f2",
        "type": "file in",
        "z": "cd4c1f53.7e90c",
        "name": "",
        "filename": "/Users/mike/.node-red/snapshot.png",
        "format": "",
        "chunk": false,
        "sendError": false,
        "x": 570,
        "y": 220,
        "wires": [
            [
                "5fbdb149.6f648"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "604d60a9.056c2",
        "type": "inject",
        "z": "cd4c1f53.7e90c",
        "name": "",
        "topic": "",
        "payload": "",
        "payloadType": "date",
        "repeat": "",
        "crontab": "",
        "once": false,
        "x": 320,
        "y": 40,
        "wires": [
            [
                "4256edf3.35b104"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "f0f5e80d.4bdea8",
        "type": "http request",
        "z": "cd4c1f53.7e90c",
        "name": "",
        "method": "POST",
        "ret": "txt",
        "url": "https://mike.fred.sensetecnic.com/api/camera",
        "tls": "",
        "x": 830,
        "y": 340,
        "wires": [
            [
                "6db536bd.4318a8"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "5fbdb149.6f648",
        "type": "change",
        "z": "cd4c1f53.7e90c",
        "name": "add headers",
        "rules": [
            {
                "t": "set",
                "p": "headers['x-auth-key']",
                "pt": "msg",
                "to": "SECRET_FRED_DEV_API_KEY",
                "tot": "str"
            },
            {
                "t": "set",
                "p": "headers['x-auth-user']",
                "pt": "msg",
                "to": "mike",
                "tot": "str"
            },
            {
                "t": "set",
                "p": "headers['Content-type']",
                "pt": "msg",
                "to": "image/png",
                "tot": "str"
            }
        ],
        "action": "",
        "property": "",
        "from": "",
        "to": "",
        "reg": false,
        "x": 830,
        "y": 220,
        "wires": [
            [
                "e2d1e8a3.3af848"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "f42ffe85.a9bb4",
        "type": "exec",
        "z": "cd4c1f53.7e90c",
        "command": "sips -Z 640 /Users/mike/.node-red/snapshot.png",
        "addpay": false,
        "append": "",
        "useSpawn": "false",
        "timer": "",
        "oldrc": false,
        "name": "",
        "x": 630,
        "y": 160,
        "wires": [
            [],
            [],
            [
                "f0b68ebe.182f2"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "e2d1e8a3.3af848",
        "type": "base64",
        "z": "cd4c1f53.7e90c",
        "name": "",
        "x": 820,
        "y": 280,
        "wires": [
            [
                "f0f5e80d.4bdea8"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "ca9779be.e06278",
        "type": "mqtt-broker",
        "z": "",
        "name": "",
        "broker": "mqtt.sensetecnic.com",
        "port": "1883",
        "clientid": "mike-e294810f",
        "usetls": false,
        "compatmode": true,
        "keepalive": "60",
        "cleansession": true,
        "willTopic": "",
        "willQos": "0",
        "willPayload": "",
        "birthTopic": "",
        "birthQos": "0",
        "birthPayload": ""
    }
]