WatcherEye

RESTful API with Flask that serves images from Raspberry Pi powered by picamera.

Setup

This software is tested in the following environment:

1. Raspberry Pi 3 Model B v1.2
2. Picamera vX.Y

Installation

All dependencies are specified in requirements.txt. Install all python packages:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Running

1. If using virtualenvwrapper: workon WatcherEye
2. Set Flask app environment variable: export FLASK_APP=watchereye
3. Set Flask app development variable:export FLASK_ENV=info
4. Start the Flask server: flask run
5. Point your favorite browser to localhost:5000

The API can be accessed via HTTP/S requests, see watchereye/api.pyfor up-to-date API endpoint documentation. Briefly:

Method	Endpoint	Description	Return Format
GET	/api/v1/ping	Ping API server	JSON array
GET	/api/v1/stats	Usage statistics	JSON array
GET	/api/v1/image	Capture and return image	image/jpeg
GET	/api/v1/stream	View video stream	multipart/x-mixed-replace; image/jpeg

Logging

Logging at the debug level (recording all incoming requests and IPs) using the default python logging facility. Logs are stored in logs/log.log and streamed to STDOUT

Test

Using PyTest:

1. workon WatcherEye
2. python -m pytest -s -v --disable-pytest-warnings tests/

References

1. Installing Raspbian on Raspberry Pi on Mac OS X
2. Video Streaming with Flask
3. Flask Video Streaming Revisited

Development Notes

Update requirements.txt after installing any new pip modules using: pip freeze > requirements.txt