Multiple SceneScape Deployment#

Smart NVR with SceneScape running on separate machines: Smart Intersection (SI) on System 1, NVR stack on System 2. For single-node deployment, see Integrate SceneScape with Smart NVR.

Overview#

Smart NVR maintains a persistent, independent MQTT connection to each SI node. Events are tagged with the broker id to route them to the correct Frigate camera.

RTSP and MQTT are decoupled. brokers.yaml holds only MQTT broker IPs. RTSP streams are configured separately via prompts or env vars at startup.
Camera naming. Frigate cameras must be named {broker_id}-camera{n} (e.g. si1-camera1). The broker id must match this prefix exactly.
Brokers persist. On startup, the broker manager reads brokers.yaml, seeds Redis, and starts one connection per enabled broker. The API persists changes back to this file.

Prerequisites#

VSS must be running and reachable from System 2.
See system requirements for hardware prerequisites.

Configuration#

brokers.yaml#

Edit resources/broker-config/brokers.yaml before starting, or manage brokers at runtime via the API.

# resources/broker-config/brokers.yaml
brokers:
  - id: si1                          # Must match Frigate camera prefix: si1-camera*
    name: Smart Intersection 1
    host: <si1_ip>                    # MQTT broker IP — NOT the RTSP source
    port: 1883
    topic: scenescape/data/camera/#
    type: scenescape
    throttle_interval: 2.0
    enabled: true

  - id: si2
    name: Smart Intersection 2
    host: <si2_ip>
    port: 1883
    topic: scenescape/data/camera/#
    type: scenescape
    throttle_interval: 2.0
    enabled: true

TLS is enabled by default. Broker connections do not use username or password authentication.

Broker fields#

Field	Required	Default	Description
`id`	✅	—	Unique identifier. Must match the Frigate camera name prefix (e.g. `si1` → `si1-camera*`).
`name`	✅	—	Human-readable label.
`host`	✅	—	MQTT broker IP address.
`topic`	✅	—	MQTT topic to subscribe to.
`port`	—	`1883`	MQTT broker port.
`type`	—	`scenescape`	Event type. Always `scenescape` for SI nodes.
`use_tls`	—	`true`	Enable TLS. Set to `false` for plain MQTT brokers.
`throttle_interval`	—	`2.0`	Minimum seconds between processed events.
`enabled`	—	`true`	Set to `false` to disable on startup without removing.

Environment variables#

Variable	Required	Default	Description
`NVR_SCENESCAPE`	✅	—	Must be `true` to enable SceneScape mode.
`VSS_IP`	✅	—	VSS service IP. The single nginx proxy serves both summary and search.
`VSS_PORT`	—	`12345`	VSS service port.
`MQTT_USER`	—	auto-generated	Local Mosquitto username (Frigate ↔ NVR).
`MQTT_PASSWORD`	—	auto-generated	Local Mosquitto password.
`SI_RTSP_HOST`	—	prompt	RTSP IP for si1. Prompts interactively (`start-nvr`) or auto-detected (`start`) if unset.
`SI{N}_RTSP_HOST`	—	prompt	RTSP IP for siN (N ≥ 2). Prompts interactively if unset.
`RTSP_STREAM_PORT`	—	`8554`	RTSP port for all SI streams.
`SCENESCAPE_MQTT_BROKER`	—	—	Legacy: seeds si1 MQTT broker into Redis on startup. Prefer `brokers.yaml` or the API.
`BROKERS_CONFIG_PATH`	—	`resources/broker-config/brokers.yaml`	Path to broker config file.
`MAX_CONCURRENT_EVENTS`	—	`50`	Maximum simultaneous in-flight event tasks.
`BROKER_RECONNECT_DELAY`	—	`5.0`	Seconds before reconnecting after a broker disconnect.

Deployment#

System 1 — SI node(s)#

export NVR_SCENESCAPE=true
# export SI_RTSP_HOST=<external_rtsp_ip>  # optional: use an external RTSP source
# export RTSP_STREAM_PORT=<port>              # optional, default 8554
source setup.sh start-si

Downloads demo videos and starts a local MediaMTX RTSP streamer by default. Setting SI_RTSP_HOST to a remote IP skips the local streamer.

On exit, the script prints System 1’s IP and MQTT port — use these when adding the broker on System 2.

System 2 — NVR node#

export NVR_SCENESCAPE=true
export VSS_IP=<ip>
export VSS_PORT=<port>              # optional, default 12345

# Optional: pre-set RTSP IP to skip interactive prompts
# export SI_RTSP_HOST=<si1_ip>

source setup.sh start-nvr

start-nvr prompts for the number of SI nodes and their RTSP IPs. Add MQTT brokers after startup via POST /brokers/, or pre-populate brokers.yaml before running start-nvr to load them automatically.

Note: If brokers.yaml is absent and SCENESCAPE_MQTT_BROKER is not set, no MQTT connections are established on startup. Add brokers via POST /brokers/ after the stack is running.

Stop#

source setup.sh stop-nvr   # System 2
source setup.sh stop-si    # System 1

If a local RTSP streamer is running on System 1, stop-si prompts:

Local RTSP streamer is running. Stop it too? [y/N]

Respond y to stop it, or n to leave it running (source setup.sh stop-streamer stops it independently).

RTSP Streamer#

To manage the MediaMTX RTSP streamer on System 1 independently of SI services. start-streamer downloads demo videos if not already present, then starts the streamer.

source setup.sh start-streamer
source setup.sh stop-streamer

Managing brokers at runtime#

The /brokers/ API modifies live broker connections without restarting the stack. Changes persist to brokers.yaml automatically.

BASE=http://localhost:8000

# List brokers
curl $BASE/brokers/

# Add a broker (starts MQTT connection immediately)
curl -X POST $BASE/brokers/ \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "id": "si3",
    "name": "Smart Intersection 3",
    "host": "<si3_ip>",
    "topic": "scenescape/data/camera/#"
  }'

# Update a broker (restarts its MQTT connection)
curl -X PUT $BASE/brokers/si3 \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "id": "si3",
    "name": "SI 3 updated",
    "host": "<si3_ip_updated>",
    "topic": "scenescape/data/camera/#",
    "enabled": true
  }'

# Remove a broker (stops its MQTT connection)
curl -X DELETE $BASE/brokers/si3

Adding a broker via the API updates MQTT routing only. To record video from a new SI node, re-run setup.sh start-nvr to regenerate Frigate camera blocks.

Frigate camera configuration#

setup.sh generates resources/frigate-config/config.yml at startup. It prompts for the number of SI nodes, then appends 4 camera blocks per node ({broker_id}-camera1 through camera4):

SI node	RTSP IP source
si1	`SI_RTSP_HOST` if set; else interactive prompt (`start-nvr`) or auto-detected (`start`)
si2..siN	`SI{N}_RTSP_HOST` → interactive prompt

All cameras use RTSP_STREAM_PORT (default 8554).

Verify integration#

# Confirm all broker tasks started
docker logs nvr-event-router | grep "subscribed to"
# Expected:
#   [si1] subscribed to scenescape/data/camera/# at <si1_ip>:1883
#   [si2] subscribed to scenescape/data/camera/# at <si2_ip>:1883

# Monitor live events
docker logs nvr-event-router -f | grep "Scenescape event"

# Check reconnection attempts
docker logs nvr-event-router | grep "reconnecting"

Troubleshooting#

Broker connects but no events appear

Verify the broker id matches the Frigate camera prefix (e.g. id: si2 → si2-camera1..4).
Confirm SI is publishing to scenescape/data/camera/#.

[siN] connection error: [Errno 111] Connect call failed

MQTT port unreachable. The broker manager retries automatically. Check connectivity:

nc -zv <siN_host> 1883

Frigate cameras show no recordings

RTSP IPs are written into config.yml at startup. If they changed, re-run setup.sh start-nvr to regenerate the config.

UI shows no SceneScape source

docker exec nvr-event-router-ui env | grep NVR_SCENESCAPE

Confirm NVR_SCENESCAPE=true is exported in the shell running setup.sh start-nvr.

For general issues, see the Troubleshooting Guide.