Webcam Motion Monitor

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name: webcam-monitor description: Webcam motion detection and monitoring system for WSL2 with USB/IP passthrough. Use when setting up motion detection on a USB webcam, monitoring camera snapshots, auto-analyzing images with AI, or managing webcam-based security/activity monitoring. Supports Insta360 Link and other UVC cameras via usbipd on Windows.

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Webcam Monitor

Complete webcam motion detection and monitoring system for WSL2 environments.

Overview

This skill provides:

Motion detection with automatic snapshot capture

Real-time folder monitoring with auto-analysis queue

Web-based live preview (port 8081)

Auto-cleanup of old snapshots (1 hour default)

Person identification via AI image analysis

Prerequisites

Windows Side (PowerShell as Admin):

winget install usbipd
usbipd list
usbipd bind --busid=1-4
usbipd attach --wsl --busid=1-4

WSL2 Side:

ls /dev/video*  # Should show /dev/video0

Note: If /dev/video* does not appear, you may need to restart WSL2:

# In Windows PowerShell:
wsl --shutdown
Then re-attach the camera:
usbipd attach --wsl --busid=1-4

Quick Start

1. Start Motion Detection

python3 scripts/motion_detector_headless.py

Runs in background (no GUI)

Saves snapshots to ~/.openclaw/workspace/camera/snapshots/

Logs to ~/.openclaw/workspace/camera/motion.log

2. Start Folder Monitor with Auto-Cleanup

python3 scripts/watcher_with_cleanup.py

Monitors for new snapshots every 2 seconds

Auto-deletes snapshots older than 1 hour (every 5 minutes)

Queues new images for analysis

Logs to ~/.openclaw/workspace/camera/watcher.log

3. Start Web Preview (Optional)

python3 scripts/web_preview.py

Opens web server on port 8081

View at http://localhost:8081

Note: Stop motion detection first — camera can only be used by one program

Configuration

Edit scripts/motion_detector_headless.py:

MOTION_THRESHOLD — Sensitivity (lower = more sensitive, default: 25)

MIN_CONTOUR_AREA — Minimum motion area (default: 500)

SNAPSHOT_COOLDOWN — Seconds between snapshots (default: 5)

MAX_AGE_HOURS — Auto-cleanup threshold (default: 1)

Scripts

| Script | Purpose | |--------|---------| | motion_detector_headless.py | Background motion detection daemon | | watcher_with_cleanup.py | Folder monitor + auto-cleanup + analysis queue | | web_preview.py | Web-based live preview (port 8081) | | snapshot.sh | Quick manual snapshot | | cleanup.py | Manual cleanup of old snapshots |

File Locations

Snapshots: ~/.openclaw/workspace/camera/snapshots/

Logs: ~/.openclaw/workspace/camera/motion.log

Watcher Log: ~/.openclaw/workspace/camera/watcher.log

Analysis Queue: ~/.openclaw/workspace/camera/analysis_queue/

Troubleshooting

"Could not open camera"

# Check USB passthrough
ls /dev/video*

If no video devices appear, restart WSL2:

# In Windows PowerShell:
wsl --shutdown
Then re-attach the camera:
usbipd attach --wsl --busid=1-4

Then verify in WSL2:

ls /dev/video*  # Should now show /dev/video0

Permission denied

sudo chmod 666 /dev/video0

Camera in use

Only one program can use the camera at a time:

# Stop motion detection
pkill -f motion_detector
Stop web preview
pkill -f web_preview
Stop watcher
pkill -f watcher

Person Identification

The watcher can queue snapshots for AI analysis. To identify people:

1. Update MEMORY.md with person details:

### Webcam Identification
Person: [Name]
Appearance: [Description - include hair, jewelry, clothing, wigs if applicable]
Setting: [Location details]

Example:

### Webcam Identification
Person: Jade
Appearance: Middle-aged, light-colored/graying hair (short, receding), often wears star-shaped pendant necklace, sometimes in bathrobe/robe when at desk, sometimes wears shoulder-length hair wig
Setting: Home office with black mesh chair, cat tree, bookshelves

2. Analyze queued images using the image tool with qwen model

Auto-Cleanup

By default, snapshots older than 1 hour are automatically deleted every 5 minutes.

To change:

Edit CLEANUP_INTERVAL in watcher_with_cleanup.py (seconds)

Edit MAX_AGE_HOURS in watcher_with_cleanup.py (hours)

Integration with OpenClaw

The watcher creates queue files in analysis_queue/ that can trigger automatic image analysis by the main agent. Check for new queue files and analyze with:

# Example: Check queue and analyze
queue_dir = Path.home() / ".openclaw/workspace/camera/analysis_queue"
for queue_file in queue_dir.glob("analyze_*.txt"):
    image_path = queue_file.read_text().strip()
    # Analyze image with image tool

1. Start Motion Detection

python3 scripts/motion_detector_headless.py

Runs in background (no GUI)

Saves snapshots to ~/.openclaw/workspace/camera/snapshots/

Logs to ~/.openclaw/workspace/camera/motion.log

2. Start Folder Monitor with Auto-Cleanup

python3 scripts/watcher_with_cleanup.py

Monitors for new snapshots every 2 seconds

Auto-deletes snapshots older than 1 hour (every 5 minutes)

Queues new images for analysis

Logs to ~/.openclaw/workspace/camera/watcher.log

3. Start Web Preview (Optional)

python3 scripts/web_preview.py

Opens web server on port 8081

View at http://localhost:8081

Note: Stop motion detection first — camera can only be used by one program

Edit scripts/motion_detector_headless.py:

MOTION_THRESHOLD — Sensitivity (lower = more sensitive, default: 25)

MIN_CONTOUR_AREA — Minimum motion area (default: 500)

SNAPSHOT_COOLDOWN — Seconds between snapshots (default: 5)

MAX_AGE_HOURS — Auto-cleanup threshold (default: 1)

"Could not open camera"

# Check USB passthrough
ls /dev/video*

If no video devices appear, restart WSL2:

# In Windows PowerShell:
wsl --shutdown
Then re-attach the camera:
usbipd attach --wsl --busid=1-4

Then verify in WSL2:

ls /dev/video*  # Should now show /dev/video0

Permission denied

sudo chmod 666 /dev/video0

Camera in use

Only one program can use the camera at a time:

# Stop motion detection
pkill -f motion_detector
Stop web preview
pkill -f web_preview
Stop watcher
pkill -f watcher