tapitoCAM

TP-Link Tapo Camera RTSP Client for Linux — multi-camera control center.

Features

• Multi-camera support — any number of Tapo cameras
• Standalone mpv streaming — one window per camera (Wayland-friendly)
• Full PTZ — pan, tilt, zoom, presets via ONVIF
• HD / SD quality per camera
• OS keyring password storage
• CLI viewer with quality selection

Install

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dressedinblack5/tapitoCAM/main/install.sh | bash

Or clone and install manually:

git clone https://github.com/dressedinblack5/tapitoCAM.git
cd tapitoCAM
./install.sh

Requires: mpv, ffmpeg, python3, pyside6, onvif-zeep, requests, lxml. Optional: keyring.

Or run without installing: ./tapitocam_gui.py (GUI) / ./tapitocam.sh (CLI).

Camera Setup

Create a Camera Account in the Tapo app: gear → Advanced Settings → Camera Account.

Authentication

Newer Tapo firmware rejects camera account credentials for the management API (port 443). Enable Third Party Compatibility in the Tapo app: Tapo App → Me → Third‑Party Compatibility → On.

Usage

PTZ Controls

         ▲              Pan / Tilt — hold to move
      ◀  ■  ▶           Stop       — click ■
         ▼              Zoom       — hold 🔍+ or 🔍-
       🔍-  🔍+

  [Preset ▼]  ▶  💾  🗑            Recall / Save / Delete

Controls lock until streaming. PTZ connects async (1–3s), UI stays responsive.

Presets are stored on the camera and cached locally. Each camera's presets are isolated. Saving a preset prompts for a name.

Camera Controls (pytapo)

Night mode and LED indicator are controlled via the pytapo library.

Night: [Auto] [IR] [Light]  │  LED: [● On]

• Night: Auto (on‑demand), IR (always infrared), Light (white LED flood)
• LED: Toggle the camera's blue status LED on/off

Each tap runs in a background thread — the UI stays responsive, and if a command fails the button reverts to its previous state.

Compatible Devices

Users have reported pytapo working with these TP-Link Tapo cameras:

Series	Models
C Series	C100, C110, C120, C200, C201, C210, C211, C216, C220, C225, C236, C310, C320WS, C402, C403, C410, C420, C420S2, C425, C500, C510W, C520WS, C530WS, C710, C720
TC Series	TC55, TC60, TC70, TC72NL/EU, TC82, TC85
D Series (Doorbell)	D100C, D130, D205, D230, D235

The library should work with any other Tapo camera exposing the HTTPS management API. If you have success with an unlisted model, please open an issue.

Note: Battery/solar‑powered devices may not expose ONVIF or RTSP, but pytapo management API (night mode, LED) should still work.

CLI

tapitocam -i 192.168.1.100
tapitocam -c 1 -q sd
tapitocam --list

Security

Credentials are stored in the OS keyring (fallback: base64 0o600 JSON). The RTSP URL is never exposed on the command line — passed to mpv via --playlist. Error messages are sanitized before display.

Known: ONVIF uses HTTP (no TLS). CLI writes RTSP URL to temp file briefly.

Uninstall

rm -f ~/.local/bin/tapitocam ~/.local/bin/tapitocam-gui \
      ~/.local/bin/tapitocam-cli-helper \
      ~/.local/bin/cameraconfig.py ~/.local/bin/cameradialog.py \
      ~/.local/bin/cameratile.py ~/.local/bin/styles.py ~/.local/bin/utils.py \
      ~/.local/share/applications/tapitoCAM.desktop
rm -rf ~/.config/tapitocam