Reolink Camera Control

An open-source MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for Reolink cameras: lets Claude — or any MCP client — see and control Reolink cameras on the local network. Snapshots, device state, AI detection states, PTZ presets, and deterrence controls (spotlight, siren, IR/white LED). Local network only, no cloud.

Market gap (verified 2026-07-08): no dedicated Reolink MCP server exists on GitHub, npm, or PyPI. Closest prior art requires a middleman: dedsxc/mcp-frigate (needs Frigate NVR), homeassistant-mcp (needs Home Assistant). This is a first-mover standalone niche.

A user with a Reolink camera adds reolink-mcp to their MCP client config, asks "show me the front door camera," and gets a live snapshot — direct to camera, no NVR or home-automation daemon in between.

Quickstart

Requires a Reolink camera reachable on the local network and its admin username/password.

1. Create your camera config

Copy config.example.yaml to ~/.config/reolink-mcp/config.yaml (or point RMCP_CONFIG_FILE at a copy anywhere else on disk):

cameras:
  front_door:
    host: 192.168.1.44
    username: admin

Passwords never go in this file. Set one RMCP_CAMERAS__<name>__PASSWORD environment variable per camera instead — <name> must exactly match the camera's key in the YAML above (lowercase snake_case):

RMCP_CAMERAS__front_door__PASSWORD=<camera-password>

Concurrent-session limit: Reolink cameras allow only a limited number of simultaneous sessions. reolink-mcp holds one reolink-aio session per configured camera for as long as the server runs — running it alongside another system that also holds sessions on the same cameras (an NVR, another MCP server, etc.) can exhaust that limit. See Camera compatibility & session limits below.

2. Add it to your MCP client

Claude Code:

claude mcp add reolink -- uvx reolink-mcp

Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json — macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json, Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "reolink": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["reolink-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "RMCP_CAMERAS__front_door__PASSWORD": "<camera-password>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Any other MCP client (generic stdio):

{
  "command": "uvx",
  "args": ["reolink-mcp"]
}

That's it — ask your MCP client to "show me the front door camera."

Tools

Built on reolink-aio and the official MCP Python SDK. Every tool carries readOnlyHint/destructiveHint annotations so MCP clients can gate approvals — Observe tools are read-only, Control tools mutate camera state, and set_siren is the only tool marked destructive.

Tool	Type	Purpose	Destructive
list_cameras	Observe	Enumerate every configured camera with live connection status, model, and host	No
get_device_info	Observe	Model, firmware, hardware details for a camera	No
get_capabilities	Observe	What a camera supports — PTZ, siren, spotlight, IR/white LED, zoom, AI detection types — in neutral feature vocabulary	No
get_states	Observe	Current device state: day/night mode, white LED/spotlight, IR lights, siren capability, and motion	No
get_recent_events	Observe	Current AI detection state (person/vehicle/pet plus any camera-reported extras) from an on-demand poll, plus the plain motion flag	No
get_snapshot	Observe	Live still image from a camera, returned as an MCP image content block	No
set_siren	Control	Sound or stop a camera's siren — ~5s safe default, 60s hard cap, over-cap requests refused not clamped	Yes
set_audio_alarm	Control	Enable or disable a camera's siren/audio-alarm feature — needed when set_siren is accepted by the firmware but produces no sound	No
set_spotlight	Control	Turn a camera's spotlight on or off	No
set_ir_lights	Control	Set a camera's IR lights to auto, on, or off	No
set_white_led	Control	Turn a camera's white LED on or off, with optional brightness	No
set_zoom	Control	Zoom a camera to an absolute position (0-100) or a relative in/out step	No
list_presets	Control	List a camera's named PTZ presets	No
ptz_move_to_preset	Control	Move a camera to a named (or numeric) PTZ preset	No
ptz_position	Control	Read a camera's current pan/tilt/zoom position, naming the nearest saved preset when close	No
ptz_guard	Control	Configure a camera's PTZ guard point and auto-return (set/goto/enable/disable)	No

Safety

• RMCP_READ_ONLY=true starts the server with all 10 control tools stripped at startup — they are simply never registered, not hidden. A one-line notice is printed to stderr; the client sees a clean, observe-only server with no control tools in its registry at all.
• set_siren defaults to a ~5s burst when no duration is given, and refuses (never silently clamps) any request over its 60-second hard cap — a clear error asks for a shorter duration instead.
• Capability gating: every control tool checks the target camera's actual capabilities before sending any command, and refuses cleanly (e.g. "camera 'front_door' has no siren") instead of letting a raw API error from an unsupported feature reach the client.

Camera compatibility & session limits

Validated live during development on:

Camera	Validated capabilities
P437	Siren, spotlight, zoom
P320	IR lights

PTZ tools (list_presets, ptz_move_to_preset, ptz_position, ptz_guard) are mock-validated only — real PTZ hardware validation is pending.

Concurrent-session limit: reolink-aio maintains one long-lived session per camera for the lifetime of the server process. Reolink cameras cap the number of simultaneous sessions a camera will accept; running reolink-mcp alongside another system that independently holds sessions on the same cameras (an NVR, Reolink's own app, a second automation stack) can hit that cap. This project's own development setup runs against cameras shared with a second, independent system and has been exercised under that exact coexistence condition — if you see login/session errors, check what else currently holds a session on the camera first.

License

MIT