Enhancement: Add Native Scheduled Export to Frigate for Cloud Sync

[vinphan]

Frigate's event-based recording is excellent for real-time review, but the short, segmented clips (typically 10-second segments) are difficult to manage for long-term storage and viewing on a third-party cloud service. The current export API allows for manual or scripted exports, but this process is cumbersome for users who want to automatically save longer, complete video files.

My proposal is to add a native, configurable feature for scheduled export. This would allow users to define a destination folder (e.g., /media/frigate/scheduled_exports) and a schedule (e.g., every 30 minutes, daily at midnight) directly within the config.yml. Frigate would then automatically export a continuous video file for a specified time duration (e.g., 30 minutes) containing only events of tracked objects and send them to that folder.

This would simplify the process of backing up long-form video to cloud services like Google Drive or Dropbox without the need for external scripts or manual intervention. It would bridge the gap between Frigate's efficient, short-clip event management and the need for a simple, reliable way to store longer videos off-site.

[bracklanna]

Strongly support this idea.

For example, if there is a burglary or arson incident in which the local Frigate storage media are stolen or destroyed, unless you have near-realtime sync'ing of all the Frigate data (e.g. perhaps to a separately-powered, separately-housed WiFi-connected NAS, maybe hidden in a shed behind the house,) -- all the video evidence disappears due to the event.

If it was possible to auto-trigger an export of Events, one could then just sync the ready-to-view exported full-length Events video files to the secondary/redundant/off-site storage location.

[AML225]

I had this same concern and addressed it by using bind mounts for Frigate and running a OneDrive container that automatically synchronizes my recordings folder with the cloud.

It seems like this could also easily be achieved with tools like rsync, etc.

[bracklanna]

Sure, I mean it's not a problem to just sync the raw Frigate recordings files, which can work fine if one has enough $$ and space to set up a separate, physically-safe on-site backup NAS, but it's not really viable for cloud storage due to the high bandwidth requirements of constantly sync'ing raw camera footage.

For cloud-based backups it'd be a huge savings in bandwidth and space to be able to selectively sync Events only, ideally with an option to auto-export Events to normally-viewable continuous .mp4 files. That way, the emergency cloud backup location has immediately-viewable Event video files that don't need to be re-constituted or stitched together by Frigate.

If my house burned down or was burglarized & my local Frigate setup lost, the last thing I want to be doing in the hours/days after the disaster is spending time trying to get a temporary Frigate instance up & restoring tons of 10-second Frigate clip files + database etc., just to be able to get usable video to send to insurance adjusters & police investigators.)

[hawkeye217]

Tracked object ("event") footage is pulled dynamically from full length recordings. Frigate doesn't record them or store them separately.

Currently, you can grab whatever footage you'd like using the HTTP API (see the media endpoints here), and write a script to upload it to wherever you would like.

With that said, I'm going to close this as a duplicate of #12643.

[tboyko]

Short of this being added natively to Frigate, this docker image might do the trick. It provides a mechanism for shipping alert videos to the cloud. tboyko/frigate-echo