Having trouble persisting HomeKit go2rtc stream

[jeffehobbs]

Describe the problem you are having

I'm running Frigate 17.0 RC1. I have two cameras defined in my Frigate config within the go2rtc: section:

homekit:
    front_yard:
      name: Front Yard
      pin: 12345678
    back_yard:
      name: Back Yard
      pin: 12345678

This works, as in, I can go into Apple Home and set them up. However, this does not persist through a restart. I've read the portion of the docs that say I should look into /dev/shm/ -- nothing ever appears there. I've also looked into ~/config/go2rtc_homekit.yml, and nothing ever appears there either. When I go into the RTC web UI, I can see the cameras ready to "pair" but when I do, I get the error:

ERROR: hap: Client must look at the retry delay TLV item and wait that many seconds before retrying

I believe what I need to do is pair these cameras in the go2rtc web UI, then copy the client IDs (???) into the Frigate config file. But I can't seem to get it to save this pairing data to disk in the Frigate container.

Any hints? Thanks for any clues anyone can provide.

Version

17.0 RC1

Frigate config file

detectors:
  coral:
    type: edgetpu
    device: usb

semantic_search:
  enabled: true
  reindex: false
  model_size: small

mqtt:
  enabled: true
  host: 192.168.86.253
  port: 1883
  topic_prefix: frigate
  client_id: frigate
  user: frigate
  password: frigate

birdseye:
  enabled: true
  mode: continuous

#ffmpeg:
#  output_args:
#    record: preset-record-generic-audio-aac

database:
  path: /config/frigate.db

tls:
  enabled: false

go2rtc:
  streams:
    front_yard:
      - rtsp://Xv7wJtK6cSce:Jk9yGSXsT9dd@192.168.86.190/live0#timeout=30
      - ffmpeg:front_yard#audio=opus
    south_yard:
      - rtsp://Wa9OKC28tn3B:Ka7cpL1AtJ71@192.168.86.191/live0#timeout=30
      - ffmpeg:south_yard#audio=opus
    back_yard:
      - rtsp://Su2IhCrilnd7:Iv20m5dEnLru@192.168.86.192/live0#timeout=30
      - ffmpeg:back_yard#audio=opus
    north_yard:
      - rtsp://Sw1SWOmVDrRD:Dx8sef9opZIl@192.168.86.193/live0#timeout=30
      - ffmpeg:north_yard#audio=opus
  homekit:
    front_yard:
      name: Front Yard
      pin: 90349034
    back_yard:
      name: Back Yard
      pin: 90349034
  webrtc:
    candidates:
      - 192.168.86.236:8555
      - frigate:8555

record:
  enabled: true
  export:
    timelapse_args: -vf setpts=PTS/120 -r 25
  alerts:
    retain:
      days: 28
      mode: motion
  detections:
    retain:
      days: 28
      mode: motion

objects:
  track:
    - person
    - car
    - dog

audio:
  enabled: true

cameras:
  front_yard:
    detect:
      enabled: true
    snapshots:
      enabled: true
    record:
      enabled: true
    ffmpeg:
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/front_yard
          roles:
            - detect
            - record
            - audio
    objects:
      filters:
        person:
          mask: 0.206,0.198,0.247,0.176,0.26,0.332,0.219,0.354
  south_yard:
    detect:
      enabled: true
    snapshots:
      enabled: true
    record:
      enabled: true
    ffmpeg:
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/south_yard
          roles:
            - detect
            - record
            - audio
  back_yard:
    detect:
      enabled: true
    snapshots:
      enabled: true
    record:
      enabled: true
    ffmpeg:
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/back_yard
          roles:
            - detect
            - record
            - audio
  north_yard:
    detect:
      enabled: true
    snapshots:
      enabled: true
    record:
      enabled: true
    ffmpeg:
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/north_yard
          roles:
            - detect
            - record
            - audio
version: 0.17-0
notifications:
  enabled: true
  email: jeffehobbs@gmail.com
detect:
  enabled: true
face_recognition:
  enabled: true
  model_size: small
lpr:
  enabled: true
classification:
  bird:
    enabled: true

Relevant Frigate log output

everything looks ok here

Relevant go2rtc log output

github.com/AlexxIT/go2rtc/internal/homekit/api.go:52 > error="hap: Client must look at the retry delay TLV item and wait that many seconds before retrying"

Frigate stats

No response

Operating system

Debian

Install method

Docker Compose

docker-compose file or Docker CLI command

#version: "3.9"
services:
  frigate:
    container_name: frigate
    restart: unless-stopped
    image: ghcr.io/blakeblackshear/frigate:0.17.0-rc1
    shm_size: "384mb"
    network_mode: host
    devices:
      - /dev/bus/usb:/dev/bus/usb
    volumes:
      - ./config:/config
      - ./storage:/media/frigate
      - /etc/letsencrypt/live/frigate.zapto.org:/etc/letsencrypt/live/frigate.zapto.org:ro
      - /etc/letsencrypt/archive/frigate.zapto.org:/etc/letsencrypt/archive/frigate.zapto.org:ro
      - type: tmpfs
        target: /tmp/cache
        tmpfs:
          size: 1000000000
    ports:
      - "1984:1984" # go2RTC admin
      - "5000:5000"
      - "8971:8971"
      - "8554:8554" # RTSP feeds
      - "8555:8555/tcp" # WebRTC over tcp
      - "8555:8555/udp" # WebRTC over udp
    secrets:
       - PLUS_API_KEY

secrets:
  PLUS_API_KEY:
    file: /home/jeff/secrets.txt

Object Detector

Coral

Screenshots of the Frigate UI's System metrics pages

No response

Any other information that may be helpful

No response

[inkeep-ai-assistant[bot]]

I don't see specific information about the ~/config/go2rtc_homekit.yml file or automatic HomeKit pairing persistence in Frigate 0.17 RC1 in the available documentation.

Based on the GitHub discussions, the traditional workaround for persisting HomeKit pairings involves manually copying the pairing data from /dev/shm/go2rtc.yaml to your Frigate config file(1)(2). The pairing information needs to be added under each camera's HomeKit section in this format(2):

go2rtc:
  homekit:
    front_yard:
      name: Front Yard
      pin: 90349034
      pairings:
        - client_id=XXXXX&client_public=XXXXX&permissions=1

(2)

After pairing the camera in the Apple Home app, you would retrieve the pairing block by running(2):

docker exec -it <container_id> /bin/sh
cat /dev/shm/go2rtc.yaml

(2)

Then copy the pairing lines that appear under each camera into your Frigate config.yml(1)(2).

The "retry delay" error you're seeing when trying to pair through the go2rtc web UI suggests the pairing process is being rate-limited. Try pairing directly through the Apple Home app instead of the go2rtc web interface.

Note that HomeKit only supports Opus audio, so if Opus isn't enabled during initial pairing, you may need to remove the pairing block and restart the setup to get audio working(2).

📚 Sources:

1. [Support]: go2rtc HomeKit module pairing list writeback to config.yml
2. [Support]: Go2RTC camera not available in HomeKit after Frigate restart

---

Have another question? Just tag @inkeep.

[NickM-27]

The homekit config file shoudl be in /config. If it is not then there should be errors in the go2rtc logs, or you can try to create it manually if it did not for some reason.

[NickM-27]

What happens if you write to it from within the go2rtc webUI? Are you sure there are no errors after trying to save the go2rtc homekit?

[jeffehobbs]

After a clear start of Frigate 0.17, I get some JSON in the go2rtc_homekit.yaml file:

  "homekit": {
    "front_yard": {
      "pin": 12345678,
      "name": "Front Yard"
    }
  }
}

And this seems to be enough to make go2rtc initiate the pairing process. And then a stream: section is added to that file. But I don't know what to do after that.

[NickM-27]

what is not working about it?

[jeffehobbs]

It does not survive a restart of Frigate. HomeKit returns "no response" after Frigate restarts.

Are there any sample config files that could be shared that show what the both the Frigate config and the go2rtc config files should look like in a functioning, persistent HomeKit setup?

[NickM-27]

The file will has the same contents right? We'd need to see logs to know the issue

[jeffehobbs]

If I try to write to it via the go2rtc webUI, it says the IP:1984 of my frigate host is unreachable, and then it gives an error about hap timeout which I think I pasted above.

…

On Wed, Feb 11, 2026 at 7:37 PM Nicolas Mowen ***@***.***> wrote: What happens if you write to it from within the go2rtc webUI? Are you sure there are no errors after trying to save the go2rtc homekit? — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#21976 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AADR5QKCEWTDA7NXVRNEQT34LPDMVAVCNFSM6AAAAACU2E2TKSVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTKNZXGU3DSNY> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.*** com>

[jeffehobbs]

However, I can write to it via the "config" aspect of the go2rtc webUI, if that helps. I have added some YAML comments to that file, and saved, and it works.

…

On Wed, Feb 11, 2026 at 7:43 PM Jeff Hobbs ***@***.***> wrote: If I try to write to it via the go2rtc webUI, it says the IP:1984 of my frigate host is unreachable, and then it gives an error about hap timeout which I think I pasted above. On Wed, Feb 11, 2026 at 7:37 PM Nicolas Mowen ***@***.***> wrote: > What happens if you write to it from within the go2rtc webUI? Are you > sure there are no errors after trying to save the go2rtc homekit? > > — > Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub > <#21976 (reply in thread)>, > or unsubscribe > <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AADR5QKCEWTDA7NXVRNEQT34LPDMVAVCNFSM6AAAAACU2E2TKSVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTKNZXGU3DSNY> > . > You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: > ***@***.*** > com> >

[NickM-27]

Gotcha, then it will be difficult to know why go2rtc is not writing to the file when updating homekit

[NickM-27]

you might try updating go2rtc

[jeffehobbs]

Could it be that I'm trying to add two cameras at once? I've tried almost every permutation of this.