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wtf is crumbvms?

badbread/crumbvms — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

14RustAudience · ops devopsComplexity · 4/5LicenseSetup · hard

TL;DR

A self hosted, Rust powered video recorder for home security cameras with motion detection, license plate reading, and Home Assistant integration.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((CrumbVMS))
    What it does
      Records security cameras
      Frame accurate scrubbing
      Live multi camera wall
    Tech stack
      Rust backend
      Postgres index
      Windows Android macOS clients
    Use cases
      Home security recording
      License plate watchlists
      Home Assistant live overlays
    Audience
      Home camera owners
      Self hosting enthusiasts
    Status
      Alpha software
      Single maintainer
      AGPL license

Code map

Detail Auto

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filefunction / class

Why would anyone build with this?

REASON 1

Record footage from home security cameras without relying on a cloud service.

REASON 2

Watch multiple cameras at once on a custom live wall layout.

REASON 3

Get alerted when a license plate on a watchlist is spotted by a camera.

REASON 4

Show live Home Assistant sensor and light status directly on camera video.

What's in the stack?

RustPostgresFlutterSwiftUIAndroid ComposeMQTTONVIFH.265

How it stacks up

badbread/crumbvmsaloxaf/leetcode_preludecthpaiden/clawdometer
Stars141414
LanguageRustRustRust
Last pushed2023-11-11
MaintenanceDormant
Setup difficultyhardeasyeasy
Complexity4/52/52/5
Audienceops devopsdeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you spin it up?

Difficulty · hard Time to first run · 1h+

Alpha software, recorder plus native clients and camera integration take real setup time.

AGPL 3.0 or later: you can use and modify it freely, but if you run a modified version as a network service, you must share your source changes.

Wtf does this do

CrumbVMS is a self hosted video recorder for your own security cameras. It runs on your own hardware, with no cloud service and no telemetry, and it is built by a single maintainer who runs it at home with eleven cameras. The project is still in alpha, meaning it is unfinished and could fail to record or have bugs, so the author is clear that it should not be your only security system. The core of CrumbVMS is a Rust backed recorder that saves camera footage as plain video files, and a searchable timeline that lets you scrub through recordings frame by frame. It can jump straight to the next or previous moment of motion, and it shows both its own motion markers and detections from Frigate, a separate open source camera detection tool it can connect to. It also includes license plate reading, either through Frigate or its own built in engine, and can alert you when a plate on a watchlist is seen, even accounting for common misreadings. Beyond recording, CrumbVMS offers a live view wall where you can watch several cameras at once in a layout you design yourself, including camera tiles, clocks, and browser panes. Cameras can be linked to Home Assistant, a home automation platform, so sensor and light status badges appear directly on the video feed and update live. Camera controls like pan, tilt, and zoom can also be arranged into a custom on screen panel per camera. For storage, CrumbVMS only saves footage when motion is detected by default, keeping idle time off disk, and lets you set separate retention rules per camera with size limits. It avoids converting video formats unnecessarily, sending high resolution footage straight to the viewer and only converting it to a smaller stream when something actually needs a lighter version, such as a phone on mobile data. CrumbVMS has clients for Windows desktop, Android, and a web admin console, with macOS and iOS versions also available though less tested. It is released under the AGPL 3.0 license. This project fits people who already run their own security cameras and want a private, self hosted recording and viewing system instead of a cloud subscription.

Yoink these prompts

Prompt 1
Explain how CrumbVMS decides when to start and stop recording based on motion.
Prompt 2
Walk me through connecting CrumbVMS to Frigate and Home Assistant over MQTT.
Prompt 3
Show me how to set up a license plate watchlist and alerts in CrumbVMS.
Prompt 4
Help me design a custom live wall layout with carousels and detection tiles in CrumbVMS.

Frequently asked questions

wtf is crumbvms?

A self hosted, Rust powered video recorder for home security cameras with motion detection, license plate reading, and Home Assistant integration.

What language is crumbvms written in?

Mainly Rust. The stack also includes Rust, Postgres, Flutter.

What license does crumbvms use?

AGPL 3.0 or later: you can use and modify it freely, but if you run a modified version as a network service, you must share your source changes.

How hard is crumbvms to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated hard, with roughly 1h+ to a first successful run.

Who is crumbvms for?

Mainly ops devops.

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