[Config Support]: Can't seem to stop continuous recording

[TheDuke427]

Describe the problem you are having

I've tried a number of ways to adjust my config, but ever since upgrading to 0.17, I can't seem to get it to only do motion or object recording. It records continuously 24/7. What am I doing wrong?

Version

0.17.1

Frigate config file

mqtt:
  host: 192.168.86.32
  user: [redacted]
  password: [redacted]

detectors:
  coral:
    type: edgetpu
    device: usb

model:
  model_type: yolo-generic
  width: 320
  height: 320
  path: /config/model_cache/yolov9-s-relu6-best_320_int8_edgetpu.tflite
  labelmap_path: /config/model_cache/labels-coco17.txt

#model:
#  path: /config/efficientdet_lite0_320_ptq_edgetpu.tflite
#  width: 320
#  height: 320

birdseye:
  enabled: true
  restream: false
  mode: continuous
  quality: 1

record:
  enabled: true
  motion:
    days: 7
  alerts:
    retain:
      days: 7
      mode: all
  detections:
    retain:
      days: 7
      mode: all

go2rtc:
  streams:
    front_yard:
      - rtsp://[redacted]:[redacted]@192.168.86.33:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0&authbasic=64
      - ffmpeg:front_yard#audio=opus
    front_yard_sub:
      - rtsp://[redacted]:[redacted]@192.168.86.33:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1&authbasic=64
    doorbell:
      - rtsp://[redacted]:[redacted]@192.168.86.47:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0&authbasic=64
      - ffmpeg:doorbell#audio=opus
    doorbell_sub:
      - rtsp://[redacted]:[redacted]@192.168.86.47:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1&authbasic=64
    backyard:
      - rtsp://[redacted]:[redacted]@192.168.86.50:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0&authbasic=64
      - ffmpeg:backyard#audio=opus
    backyard_sub:
      - rtsp://[redacted]:[redacted]@192.168.86.50:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1&authbasic=64
    north:
      - rtsp://[redacted]:[redacted]@192.168.86.45:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0&authbasic=64
      - ffmpeg:north#audio=opus
    north_sub:
      - rtsp://[redacted]:[redacted]@192.168.86.45:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1&authbasic=64
    driveway:
      - rtsp://[redacted]:[redacted]@192.168.86.34:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0&authbasic=64
      - ffmpeg:driveway#audio=opus
    driveway_sub:
      - rtsp://[redacted]:[redacted]@192.168.86.34:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1&authbasic=64
    south:
      - rtsp://[redacted]:[redacted]@192.168.86.21:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0&authbasic=64
      - ffmpeg:south#audio=opus
    south_sub:
      - rtsp://[redacted]:[redacted]@192.168.86.21:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1&authbasic=64
    garage:
      - rtsp://[redacted]:[redacted]@192.168.86.49:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0&authbasic=64
      - ffmpeg:garage#audio=opus
    garage_sub:
      - rtsp://[redacted]:[redacted]@192.168.86.49:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1&authbasic=64
  webrtc:
    candidates:
      - 192.168.86.42:8555
      - stun:8555

cameras:
  front_yard:
    ffmpeg:
      hwaccel_args: preset-vaapi
      output_args:
        record: preset-record-generic-audio-copy
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/front_yard_sub
          input_args: -rtsp_transport tcp
          roles:
            - detect
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/front_yard
          input_args: -rtsp_transport tcp
          roles:
            - record
    detect:
      enabled: true
      width: 704
      height: 480
    #record:
     # enabled: true
    snapshots:
      enabled: true
    ui:
      order: 3
    objects:
      track:
        - person
        - dog
        - cat
      filters:
        person:
          mask:
            - 0,0,380,0,556,40,0,133
            - 243,0,619,0,556,40,246,58

  doorbell:
    ffmpeg:
      hwaccel_args: preset-vaapi
      output_args:
        record: preset-record-generic-audio-aac
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/doorbell_sub
          input_args: -rtsp_transport tcp
          roles:
            - detect
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/doorbell
          input_args: -rtsp_transport tcp
          roles:
            - record
    detect:
      enabled: true
      width: 720
      height: 576
  #  record:
  #    enabled: true
    snapshots:
      enabled: true
    ui:
      order: 1
    objects:
      track:
        - person
#        - dog
        - cat
      filters:
        dog:
          mask:
            - 114,443,231,449,208,331,95,335


  backyard:
    ffmpeg:
      hwaccel_args: preset-vaapi
      output_args:
        record: preset-record-generic-audio-copy
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/backyard_sub
          input_args: -rtsp_transport tcp
          roles:
            - detect
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/backyard
          input_args: -rtsp_transport tcp
          roles:
            - record
    detect:
      enabled: true
      width: 640
      height: 352
  #  record:
  #    enabled: true
    snapshots:
      enabled: true
#    motion:
#      threshold: 25
#      mask:
#        - 1920,0,1920,48,1441,48,1448,0
#        - 315,0,415,288,184,397,0,374,0,0
#        - 1830,152,1874,476,1606,496,1398,370,1377,152
    ui:
      order: 6
    objects:
      track:
        - person
        - dog
        - cat

  north:
    ffmpeg:
      hwaccel_args: preset-vaapi
      output_args:
        record: preset-record-generic-audio-copy
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/north_sub
          input_args: -rtsp_transport tcp
          roles:
            - detect
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/north
          input_args: -rtsp_transport tcp
          roles:
            - record
    detect:
      enabled: true
      width: 704
      height: 480
  #  record:
  #    enabled: true
    snapshots:
      enabled: true
    ui:
      order: 5
    objects:
      track:
        - person
        - dog
        - cat
      filters:
        person:
          mask:
            - 200,0,426,0,433,70,210,83

  driveway:
    ffmpeg:
      hwaccel_args: preset-vaapi
      output_args:
        record: preset-record-generic-audio-copy
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/driveway_sub
          input_args: -rtsp_transport tcp
          roles:
            - detect
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/driveway
          input_args: -rtsp_transport tcp
          roles:
            - record
    detect:
      enabled: true
      width: 704
      height: 480
  #  record:
  #    enabled: true
    motion:
      improve_contrast: true
    snapshots:
      enabled: true
    ui:
      order: 2
    objects:
      track:
        - person
        - dog
        - cat
        #- car  
      filters:
        person:
          mask:
            - 0,0,0,149,383,132,413,0
            - 704,0,258,0,258,131,704,158
#        car:
#          mask:
#            - 0,0,0,149,383,132,413,0
#            - 704,0,258,0,258,131,704,158

  south:
    ffmpeg:
      hwaccel_args: preset-vaapi
      output_args:
        record: preset-record-generic-audio-copy
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/south_sub
          input_args: -rtsp_transport tcp
          roles:
            - detect
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/south
          input_args: -rtsp_transport tcp
          roles:
            - record
    detect:
      enabled: true
      width: 704
      height: 480
  #  record:
  #    enabled: true
    snapshots:
      enabled: true
    ui:
      order: 4
    objects:
      track:
        - person
        - dog
        - cat
  garage:
    ffmpeg:
      hwaccel_args: preset-vaapi
      output_args:
        record: preset-record-generic-audio-copy
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/garage_sub
          input_args: -rtsp_transport tcp
          roles:
            - detect
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/garage
          input_args: -rtsp_transport tcp
          roles:
            - record
    detect:
      enabled: true
      width: 704
      height: 480
  #  record:
  #    enabled: true
    snapshots:
      enabled: true
    ui:
      order: 7
    objects:
      track:
        - person

detect:
  enabled: true

Relevant Frigate log output

N/A

Relevant go2rtc log output

N/A

Frigate stats

No response

Operating system

Home Assistant OS

Install method

Home Assistant Add-on

docker-compose file or Docker CLI command

N/A

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]]

The issue is that your global record configuration is missing the continuous section with days: 0. By default, when continuous is not explicitly set, Frigate may still record continuously.
(1), (2)

To only record when there's motion or tracked objects, you need to explicitly disable continuous recording by setting days: 0:
(1)

record:
  enabled: true
  continuous:
    days: 0
  motion:
    days: 7
  alerts:
    retain:
      days: 7
      mode: all
  detections:
    retain:
      days: 7
      mode: all

(1), (2)

The continuous section controls recordings that are kept regardless of tracked objects or motion. Setting days: 0 ensures no continuous recordings are retained, and only segments with motion or detections will be saved based on your motion, alerts, and detections retention settings.
(1), (2)

Additionally, note that new recording segments are written from the camera stream to cache first, and they are only moved to disk if they match the configured recording retention policy.
(1)

📚 Sources:

1. Recording
2. Full Reference Config

---

Have another question? Just tag @inkeep.

[TheDuke427]

I adjusted and added a continuous section with days: 0, and still the same result. It's still recording 24/7 and saving the recordings. This is what it looks like now:

> record:
>   enabled: true
>   continuous:
>     days: 0
>   motion:
>     days: 7
>   alerts:
>     retain:
>       days: 7
>       mode: all
>   detections:
>     retain:
>       days: 7
>       mode: all

[inkeep-ai-assistant[bot]]

Your configuration looks correct for motion-only recording. However, it's important to understand that Frigate always writes new recording segments from the camera stream to cache first—they are only moved to disk if they match the configured recording retention policy. (1)

With continuous.days: 0, those continuous segments should be discarded during cleanup rather than retained. The expire_interval setting controls how frequently Frigate runs cleanup (default is 60 minutes). (2)

A few things to verify:

1. Check the recordings directory structure - Recordings are stored at /media/frigate/recordings with the folder structure YYYY-MM-DD/HH/<camera_name>/MM.SS.mp4 in UTC time. (1)

2. Verify cleanup is running - If there is less than an hour left of storage, the oldest 2 hours of recordings will be deleted. (1) Otherwise, cleanup runs based on expire_interval.

3. Consider reducing expire_interval - You can add this to see cleanup happen more frequently:

record:
  enabled: true
  expire_interval: 10
  continuous:
    days: 0
  motion:
    days: 7
  alerts:
    retain:
      days: 7
      mode: all
  detections:
    retain:
      days: 7
      mode: all

(2)

4. Enable sync_recordings - This tells Frigate to check the file system and sync the recordings database:

record:
  enabled: true
  sync_recordings: true

(1), (2)

If recordings are still being retained after waiting for a cleanup cycle, this may be a version-specific behavior change in 0.17 that isn't documented in the available sources. You may want to check the GitHub repository for any related discussions or release notes.

📚 Sources:

1. Recording
2. Full Reference Config

---

Have another question? Just tag @inkeep.