read_config / _read_conf now strips trailing inline shell comments
(whitespace + # + anything) before processing the value. Without this,
a line like:
SUNRISE_CAM=east # which camera faces east
produced SUNRISE_CAM = 'east # which camera faces east',
causing sunrise2mm.py to build a path with the comment embedded in it.
The regex \s+#.*$ requires at least one whitespace before # so passwords
or URLs containing # (e.g. %23 URL-encoded) are unaffected.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Audio:
AUDIO_DIR/<cam>/YYYY-MM-DD/<cam>-HH-MM-SS.m4a
Movies — cam name now always leads the filename:
daily_sunrise_video.sh:
east-2026-04-22-daily-sunrise.mp4
east-2026-04-22-daily-sunrise-sped.mp4 (intermediate)
east-2026-04-22-daily-sunrise-test.mp4 (demo)
4-seasons.sh:
east-2026-04-21_Mvt2-Day2of31-final.mp4 (was: 2026-04-21_east_Mvt2-...)
montage-mvt.sh:
east-2026-03-20_Spring_Mvt1-Sped.mp4
east-2026-03-20_Spring_Mvt1-Montage.mp4
year-end-join.sh:
east-2026.mp4 (already had cam at front)
sunrise2mm.py updated to look for the new east-YYYY-MM-DD-daily-sunrise.mp4
filename. Retention find patterns (wildcards) already match both formats.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
New AUDIO_DIR variable (like BASE_DIR/MOVIES_DIR) is the root for all
audio recordings. Set in .env to put audio on a separate drive.
Directory layout:
AUDIO_DIR/<cam>/YYYY-MM-DD/HH-MM-SS.m4a — ambient recordings
AUDIO_DIR/sunrise/<cam>/YYYY-MM-DD/sunrise-audio.m4a — sunrise clips
sky-cam.conf:
- Add AUDIO_DIR="${AUDIO_DIR:-$BASE_DIR/audio}" in storage section
- Remove AMBIENT_DIR (replaced by AUDIO_DIR)
- Add SUNRISE_AUDIO_RETENTION_DAYS=7 (sunrise clips kept separately from ambient)
- Add per-camera ambient retention examples:
AMBIENT_RETENTION_DAYS_south=60 (keep bird recordings longer)
ambient-record.sh:
- Use AUDIO_DIR instead of AMBIENT_DIR
- Per-camera retention: AMBIENT_RETENTION_DAYS_<cam> overrides global default
sunrise-audio-capture.sh:
- Save clips to AUDIO_DIR/sunrise/<cam>/<date>/sunrise-audio.m4a
- Rolling retention of sunrise clips (SUNRISE_AUDIO_RETENTION_DAYS)
daily_sunrise_video.sh:
- Look for cam_audio in new AUDIO_DIR/sunrise path first, fall back to
old BASE_DIR path so existing recordings keep working
install.sh:
- Pre-create AUDIO_DIR/<cam> and AUDIO_DIR/sunrise/<SUNRISE_CAM> dirs
- Add AUDIO_DIR to .env.example storage section
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
daily_sunrise_video.sh:
- Test output now saves to DEMO_DIR/<cam>/ (default: MOVIES_DIR/demoio/<cam>/)
instead of the production sunrise-only directory
- After each test run, deletes test files older than DEMO_RETENTION_DAYS (8)
- Production mode: warns if the last selected frame is >3 intervals before
the window end, which indicates the capture service had a gap near sunrise:
WARNING: last frame is 20min 0s before window end — capture gap near sunrise
Check: systemctl --user status sky-cam-capture-east.service
sky-cam.conf: add DEMO_DIR and DEMO_RETENTION_DAYS settings
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
daily_sunrise_video.sh:
- Fix "Sunrise (UTC)" label — sunrise.py has always returned local time;
now labelled correctly as "Sunrise (local)"
- After image selection, log first and last frame timestamps alongside the
overlay time so the window can be verified at a glance:
Images: 481 (05:22:10 → 06:43:00 overlay: 06:32)
sunrise2mm.py:
- Cleanup now only deletes posts whose message matches "Sunrise YYYY-MM-DD"
(the format this script posts), so other posts with attachments in the
channel are never touched
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
sunrise2mm.py: after a successful upload, scan the channel and delete any
post older than MM_SUNRISE_RETENTION_DAYS that is not pinned and has a file
attachment. Pinned posts are always preserved regardless of age.
sky-cam.conf: add MM_SUNRISE_RETENTION_DAYS=8 (independent of the local
disk SUNRISE_RETENTION_DAYS so the two retentions can differ).
Also modernises sunrise2mm.py: uses the same ${VAR:-default} aware
read_config as sunrise.py, consistent error handling, cleaner structure.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Rule is now consistent throughout:
- *_ENABLED flags are plain true/false in sky-cam.conf — flip them there
- Private values (URLs, credentials, location) go in .env only
sky-cam.conf:
- NTFY_ENABLED, EMAIL_ENABLED, MM_NOTIFY_ENABLED are now plain false (not
using the ${VAR:-} pattern, which implied they could go in .env)
- NTFY_URL, EMAIL_TO, EMAIL_FROM, MM_NOTIFY_CHANNEL_ID use ${VAR:-} pattern
so they are set in .env
- LATITUDE/LONGITUDE comment clarified with example .env lines
install.sh .env.example: updated notification comment to match
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Adds TIMEZONE, BASE_DIR, MOVIES_DIR (commented out) so .env.example
is a complete reference — location, storage paths, RTSP URLs, Mattermost
credentials, and notification endpoints all in one place.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
sky-cam.conf:
- MUSIC_DIR now uses override pattern (MUSIC_DIR="${MUSIC_DIR:-$SCRIPT_DIR/music}")
so the real path can be set in .env without hardcoding it
- LATITUDE/LONGITUDE use override pattern; set real coords in .env to keep
location private and out of git
- NTFY_URL now uses override pattern with empty default; set in .env
- NTFY_ENABLED moved out of comments into active config with false default
sunrise.py:
- Reads .env after sky-cam.conf so .env values override (same source order
as sky-cam.conf itself)
- Handles ${VAR:-default} bash syntax when parsing sky-cam.conf values
All completion notifications now include the full output file path so you
can tell at a glance where the file landed:
- daily_sunrise_video.sh: "filename — Xs, sunrise at HH:MM | /full/path"
- 4-seasons.sh: "filename — Xs | /full/path"
- montage-mvt.sh: "filename | checks | /full/path | verify: ..."
- year-end-join.sh: "filename — Xmin | /full/path" (also adds [cam] to title)
install.sh .env.example now includes LATITUDE, LONGITUDE, MUSIC_DIR, NTFY_URL
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
- chmod +x all *.sh and *.py in install.sh so permissions survive git checkouts
- Fix daily_sunrise_video.sh and Python scripts missing executable bit
- Add [CAM_NAME] prefix to all 4-seasons.sh notify.sh calls so multi-camera
setups show which camera each daily clip came from
- Include camera name in output filename: YYYY-MM-DD_<cam>_MvtN-DayXofY-final.mp4
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Per-camera capture interval:
CAPTURE_INTERVAL_<cam> in sky-cam.conf overrides the global value for
a specific camera. capture.sh and 4-seasons.sh both respect it.
Example: south at 30s saves storage; north at 5s gives smoother motion.
4-seasons.sh one-frame bug fix:
Same root cause as the sunrise scripts — concat list had no 'duration'
entries, collapsing all JPEG frames to timestamp 0. Fixed by writing
'duration INTERVAL' per frame. Added fps=25 to the speed-adjust step
so the VFR source resamples to a standard frame rate.
ambient-record.sh (new):
Continuous AAC recorder for natural sounds (birds, rain, wind).
Saves AMBIENT_CHUNK_SECS chunks to AMBIENT_DIR/<cam>/YYYY-MM-DD/HH-MM-SS.m4a.
Reconnects automatically on stream failure. Rolling retention via
AMBIENT_RETENTION_DAYS. Enabled by setting AMBIENT_ENABLED=true and
listing cameras in AMBIENT_CAMS in sky-cam.conf, then re-running install.sh.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Notification config (NTFY_URL, MM_NOTIFY_CHANNEL_ID, etc.) lives in
.env but notify.sh was only sourcing sky-cam.conf, so notifications
were silently skipped even when configured.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
enable --now only starts a service that is not yet running — it leaves
an already-running service untouched, so changes to .env credentials
are never picked up without a manual restart.
Switching to enable + restart means every install.sh run brings capture
services in sync with the current sky-cam.conf and .env: new cameras
start, reconfigured cameras restart, and nothing needs manual follow-up.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
CAM_RTSP_<cam> is set in .env, not sky-cam.conf, but capture.sh was
only sourcing sky-cam.conf — causing the service to fail with "not set"
even after credentials were added to .env.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Root cause: the concat list had no 'duration' entries, so all JPEG
frames collapsed to timestamp 0 and only one frame survived encoding.
Fix: add 'duration CAPTURE_INTERVAL' per entry in both scripts.
Also add fps=25 to the speed-adjust step so the VFR source is resampled
to a standard frame rate — without this, players see ~6fps and may drop
frames to reach the declared rate.
daily_sunrise_video.sh --test [MINUTES]:
Skips sunrise.py lookup and capture-window wait. Uses the last MINUTES
minutes of captured frames (default 2). Overlay shows the mid-point
frame's timestamp. Audio grabbed live from RTSP immediately.
Output: <date>-daily-sunrise-test.mp4 — no notifications or upload.
Usage: ./daily_sunrise_video.sh east --test 2
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
- fontcolor: white → yellow (both scripts)
- y position: (h-th)/2 → h-th-18 (vertically centered → lower-right corner)
- test-sunrise.sh: reverted to reading last 60 frames from capture directory
(~10 minutes at 10s interval) instead of live RTSP capture
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Overlay fix (both scripts):
Switch from text='...\n...' to drawtext's textfile= option. Writing
each character on its own line eliminates the \n escape ambiguity in
ffmpeg's filter-string single-quote parser, which was causing 'n' to
appear literally instead of as a line break.
test-sunrise.sh redesign:
Now captures NUM_FRAMES fresh RTSP frames (120s at default interval)
at run time instead of reading pre-existing frames from the capture
directory. The RTSP URL must be set in .env — the script fails early
with a clear message if it is not.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
- Overlay text was showing characters run together (e.g. '1n2n') because
inside ffmpeg single-quoted filter text, \n is consumed as just 'n'.
Fix: use \\\\n in bash double-quotes which stores \\n in the variable,
which ffmpeg then parses as \n, which drawtext renders as a newline.
Applied to both test-sunrise.sh (MID_VERT) and daily_sunrise_video.sh
(SR_VERT, replacing the awk one-liner with the same bash approach).
- test-sunrise.sh concat list was missing per-frame duration entries,
causing 12 frames to encode as 0.48s (25fps default) and then slow
down instead of compress. Fixed by writing 'duration INTERVAL' per
frame so 12 frames × 10s = 120s raw → 12× compression to 10s.
- Removed 2>/dev/null from audio ffmpeg call in test-sunrise.sh so
capture failures are visible for diagnosis.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Runs the same 4-step pipeline as daily_sunrise_video.sh but uses the
most recent ~2 minutes of captured frames instead of the sunrise window,
grabs live RTSP audio for the audio mix step, and accepts an arbitrary
output path — so it can be run at any time of day to verify the full
pipeline (speed-adjust, audio mix, vertical time overlay) without
waiting for tomorrow's sunrise.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
capture.sh creates the per-day subdirectory at runtime, but BASE_DIR/<cam>
and MOVIES_DIR/<cam> need to exist first. Create them during install so the
capture service works immediately on first start without needing a separate
manual mkdir step.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
The shell version had to pass the password through a shell variable into
a Python subprocess, which is fragile for special characters.
The Python version uses getpass.getpass() which reads directly from the
terminal at the Python level — no shell variable, no quoting issues, no
risk of special characters being mishandled.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Prompts for a password without echoing, URL-encodes it via Python's
urllib.parse.quote, and prints the result with a ready-to-paste .env
snippet. Password is passed via environment variable to avoid any
shell quoting or injection issues — never written to disk or network.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
- Set XDG_RUNTIME_DIR before systemctl --user calls so daemon-reload
and enable --now work when run outside a login session (e.g. via SSH
or sudo)
- Run loginctl enable-linger so user services start at boot without a
login session
- Update .env.example to use single quotes around RTSP URLs and
document URL-encoding for special characters in passwords
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Older sky-cam.conf versions may not define these. Fall back to the
canonical defaults so make-finals.sh works without requiring the user
to update their local conf.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Allows processing a single movement without waiting for the full backup
scan, e.g.:
./make-finals.sh ~/drives/data2-main --cam north --season Autumn --mvt 1
Filters are applied as soon as the relevant variable is known (cam before
calling season_info.py, season/mvt after) so skipped files cost almost
nothing.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
The previous check used || true which masked ffprobe's non-zero exit
code. For files with a missing/partial moov atom ffprobe can print a
duration estimate then exit non-zero — the || true let that through.
Now use || raw_dur="" to honour the exit code, and add a second probe
for an actual video stream codec so files that report a duration but
have no decodable stream are also caught.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Short adagio movements (Summer Mvt 2 at 107s, Winter Mvt 2 at 132s, etc.)
compress each day to only 3-5 seconds of screen time at 1×. Looping the
music N times multiplies the per-day target duration proportionally so the
footage is less aggressively sped up and more watchable.
- sky-cam.conf: add MONTAGE_MUSIC_LOOPS and per-movement overrides
(Summer Mvt2=3×, Winter Mvt2=3×, Autumn Mvt2=2×, Summer Mvt3=2×, Spring Mvt2=2×)
- 4-seasons.sh: multiply target_per_clip by loops
- montage-mvt.sh: compute effective_duration, use -stream_loop for audio,
fix fade_out_start, -t, and post-build duration check
- make-finals.sh: multiply target by loops
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Check ffprobe output before encoding — empty/N/A duration means the
file is corrupt or truncated; skip with a clear message rather than
passing a bad input to ffmpeg.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Scans all *-temp.mp4 files under a backup root regardless of directory
structure, infers camera name from path, uses season_info.py for correct
movement sizing, writes finals to MOVIES_DIR. Handles messy nested paths
(south/south/, movies/south/, etc.) and deduplicates via EXISTS check.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Restructure find loop to iterate known CAMERAS+sunrise in the main shell
so cam_name is visible in the while body. Previously the for loop ran in
a process substitution subshell, making cam_name unavailable and causing
top-level year dirs (e.g. 2026/) to be treated as camera names.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Moves Season/MvtN mp4 files from flat camera dirs into
astro-YEAR/<cam>/Season/MvtN/ using season_info.py for correct
year assignment. Handles cross-year mixing in old backup structure.
Dry-run support; never deletes files.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Re-processes *-temp.mp4 files from a backup location using season_info.py
to compute the correct target duration per clip (music_duration / DAYS_IN_MVT),
producing properly-sized *-final.mp4 files without touching the backup source.
Skips finals that already exist. Fixes drift caused by old pipeline sizing clips
to the wrong movement structure.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
- sky-cam.conf: add ENCODE_PRESET=slow (applied to all encodes);
split CRF_MONTAGE (intermediates, H.264) from CRF_MONTAGE_FINAL=22
(archive montage, H.265); add SUNRISE_RETENTION_DAYS=10; improve
CAPTURE_INTERVAL comment with storage/density table
- montage-mvt.sh: steps 1+2 use preset; step 3 final switches to
libx265 + CRF_MONTAGE_FINAL + -tag:v hvc1 for broad compatibility
- 4-seasons.sh: both encode steps use ENCODE_PRESET
- daily_sunrise_video.sh: all encode steps use ENCODE_PRESET; rolling
retention deletes sunrise videos older than SUNRISE_RETENTION_DAYS
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
- verify-mvt.sh: remove dead first _info= line (used MVT_START before
defined); fix JPEG size loop to accumulate bytes correctly and display
human-readable total; show size in delete confirmation
- montage-mvt.sh: grep -c uses || echo 0 instead of || true to be
unambiguous about the no-match value under set -e
- capture.sh, capture-watchdog.sh: require camera name arg, remove
silent SUNRISE_CAM fallback
- migrate-seasons.sh: require --cam arg, error if missing
- README.md, sky-cam.conf: remove stale fullday-video.sh references;
README pipeline diagram updated to show verify-mvt.sh
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
No script defaults to SUNRISE_CAM (east) for the seasons pipeline.
Every direction is treated equally — camera name is a required arg,
not an optional override.
- 4-seasons.sh: $1 required, exits with usage if missing
- montage-mvt.sh: arg order changed to <cam> [date]; $1 required
- year-end-join.sh: $2 (cam) required
- verify-mvt.sh: $4 (cam) required
- migrate-seasons.sh: example commands updated to new arg order
- README.md: montage-mvt.sh examples updated
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
- sky-cam.conf: CAMERAS now includes east, north, south with staggered
SCHEDULE_SEASONS times (01:00, 01:30, 02:00); fullday schedules and
tuning removed
- install.sh: fullday service/timer generation removed entirely
- fullday-video.sh + systemd units: deleted
- montage-mvt.sh: post-build technical checks (duration drift, video/audio
stream presence) added; notification now includes check results and the
exact verify-mvt.sh command to run
- verify-mvt.sh: new interactive CLI for montage review — shows checks,
plays video, deletes source JPEG folders on approval, or re-runs montage
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
--cam NAME overrides SUNRISE_CAM so the script can be used for any
camera (e.g. north). Summer is now included in the find targets so
any ASTRO_YEAR=2025 Summer clips (Summer 2026) are also migrated.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
The old pattern *Mvt*3* matched .mp3 in every MP3 filename, so sort|head-1
always picked track 01 (Mvt1). Fix by finding all files for the season
then filtering with grep -iE "Mvt[^0-9]*N[^0-9]", which requires the
movement number to be surrounded by non-digit characters (space, dot,
underscore) and cannot match digits embedded in .mp3 or track prefixes.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
All *-final.mp4 clips are valid footage regardless of what speed factor
the old script used — montage-mvt.sh re-adjusts the full concatenated
video to match music duration anyway, so per-clip speed is irrelevant.
Move every ASTRO_YEAR=2025 clip to the correct new movement directory
based on its date. Spring Mvt1 now gets all 30 clips (Mar 21–Apr 19).
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
- Filter to ASTRO_YEAR=2025 (Winter 2025-26 onward); skip Autumn 2025 and earlier
- Move files instead of creating symlinks
- Quarantine clips matching Day<N>of92 (Spring clips from broken script with
wrong 92-day movement total) to quarantine-old-scripts/ for review + deletion
- Preserve clips with Dayof92 (no day number, old legacy format) — these are
migrated normally since montage-mvt.sh re-adjusts speed regardless
- Summary shows delete commands for temp files and quarantine folder
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
migrate-seasons.sh uses season_info.py to re-classify every old
*-final.mp4 clip by its YYYY-MM-DD filename prefix, placing a symlink
in the correct new-system directory regardless of how the old system
labelled movements. Handles the boundary mismatches between old and
new movement splits automatically.
Coverage after migration (based on available clips):
Spring 2026 Mvt1 30/31 days (missing Day 1 only — excellent)
Winter Mvt1 ~18/29 days
Winter Mvt2 ~24/29 days
Winter Mvt3 ~20/31 days
Autumn Mvt1 ~24/30 days
Autumn Mvt3 ~18/30 days
Autumn Mvt2 absent — year-end join will not fire for 2024 cycle
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
capture-watchdog.sh: long-running script that checks the newest JPEG mtime
in each camera's output directory every CAPTURE_STALE_SECS/3 seconds (min 5s).
Sends a stall notification via notify.sh if no new frame has arrived within
CAPTURE_STALE_SECS. Sends a recovery notification once new frames resume.
Only alerts if the camera was previously working (avoids false positives on
first start or overnight before the first frame of the day).
sky-cam.conf: CAPTURE_STALE_SECS=30 added next to CAPTURE_INTERVAL with a
note that it should be at least 2x the interval.
install.sh: generates sky-cam-watchdog-<cam>.service for every camera that
has a RTSP URL configured. The watchdog service starts after and alongside
the capture service, restarts on failure, and is enabled/started with the
same loop as the capture service.
README.md: note about watchdog and journalctl command for its logs.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
montage-mvt.sh, year-end-join.sh: CAM_NAME fallback referenced undefined
\$CAM_NAME — crashes under set -euo pipefail on manual runs without args.
Fixed to fall back to \$SUNRISE_CAM (same fix applied earlier to other scripts).
notify.sh: Mattermost notification guard only checked MM_NOTIFY_CHANNEL_ID,
not mattermost_url or access_token. If those are unset, curl would send a
malformed request silently. Added guards for all three required values.
install.sh: seasons/fullday service units had literal \n in After=/Wants=
lines because bash does not interpret \n in heredoc variable expansions.
Changed to \$'...' syntax so actual newlines are written, making valid
systemd unit files. Also: audio capture timer now uses \$SCHEDULE_SUNRISE
instead of hardcoded 03:00, keeping it in sync if the user changes the
schedule.
sunrise-audio-capture.sh: record_start_sec could theoretically go negative
(sunrise very early + large SUNRISE_TARGET_SECS). Added floor-at-zero guard.
daily_sunrise_video.sh: added comment explaining why audio_offset is always 0.
README.md: fix CAM_RTSP_sunrise example to CAM_RTSP_east.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Cameras are now named by direction (east, north, south, west) throughout
config defaults, examples, and documentation. The config key SUNRISE_CAM
is unchanged — it still means 'which camera faces east and gets the sunrise
job'. Only the camera instance name value changes from 'sunrise' to 'east'.
sky-cam.conf: CAMERAS=(east), SUNRISE_CAM=east, SCHEDULE_*_east,
example comments updated to show all four compass points.
README.md: all command examples updated (4-seasons.sh east, journalctl
sky-cam-capture-east, etc.) — phenomenon references ('sunrise window',
'sunrise time') left unchanged.
bootstrap.sh: example updated to show compass directions.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
- Step 1 is now dependency installation (apt + pip3) before anything else
- SCRIPT_DIR removed from config table (auto-detected)
- RTSP/Mattermost credentials moved to .env section (step 4)
- install.sh now shown as generating .env.example before credentials are filled in
- Schedule settings explained: SEASONS/FULLDAY process yesterday; SUNRISE waits internally
- How it works: audio capture described as SUNRISE_TARGET_SECS centred on sunrise
- daily_sunrise_video.sh pipeline updated: steps 3a/3b shown separately
- Resilience section replaced with four-tier audio/overlay matrix table
- Camera audio section updated: exact duration, centred split, odd-second rule
- Manual operations: examples use explicit camera name argument
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
4-seasons.sh, fullday-video.sh: CAM_NAME fallback referenced undefined
\$CAM_NAME — under set -euo pipefail this crashes if called manually without
an argument. Changed to fall back to \$SUNRISE_CAM (matches capture.sh).
daily_sunrise_video.sh: add log message when the capture window has already
closed (manual re-run after the fact). Behaviour is unchanged — processing
proceeds immediately — but the operator now gets a clear confirmation rather
than silence.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Previously sunrise-audio-capture.sh recorded the entire capture window
(70+ minutes) and daily_sunrise_video.sh sought to the right position with
a complex offset calculation.
Now: record floor(TARGET/2) seconds before sunrise and ceil(TARGET/2) after —
odd second goes to post-sunrise. The file is exactly SUNRISE_TARGET_SECS long
and already centred, so no offset is needed when mixing.
AUDIO_PRE_BUFFER_MIN removed — it was part of the old whole-window scheme
and is no longer meaningful.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
sky-cam.conf:
- SCRIPT_DIR auto-detects from its own location via BASH_SOURCE — no manual
path entry needed after bootstrap; override still works via environment.
- BASE_DIR defaults to \$SCRIPT_DIR/data; MOVIES_DIR defaults to \$BASE_DIR/movies.
Override either to point at a drive/mount as before.
- SCHEDULE_SUNRISE changed to 03:00 — the script now waits internally until
the capture window closes before touching images, so the schedule just needs
to be early enough, not timed exactly to sunrise.
- Schedule section rewritten to explain what each job does and what day's data
it processes (SEASONS/FULLDAY always process yesterday).
- SUNRISE_PRE_MIN/POST_MIN comments explain the window and its relationship to
SUNRISE_TARGET_SECS.
- SUNRISE_OVERLAY_ENABLED=true added; set false to skip the timestamp entirely.
daily_sunrise_video.sh:
- After calculating the capture window, sleep until end_sec+30s if we fired
before the window finished — guarantees all images are present.
- DT (drawtext filter) is only built when SUNRISE_OVERLAY_ENABLED=true.
- Step 3b skips ffmpeg entirely when overlay is disabled, moving work_video
directly to final_video (faster, no re-encode).
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
daily_sunrise_video.sh: use \$MOVIES_DIR instead of \$BASE_DIR/movies so the
override in sky-cam.conf is respected when videos live on a separate drive.
capture.sh: default camera name falls back to \$SUNRISE_CAM (not the
undefined \$CAM_NAME) when no argument is passed.
sunrise2mm.py: also loads .env after sky-cam.conf so Mattermost credentials
moved to .env are actually visible to the upload script.
sunrise.py: raise a clear error message when LATITUDE/LONGITUDE/TIMEZONE
are missing from sky-cam.conf instead of an opaque KeyError.
4-seasons.sh, montage-mvt.sh: capture season_info.py output before eval so
a Python failure exits cleanly with a diagnostic message rather than
silently continuing with undefined variables.
bootstrap.sh: add system package install step (ffmpeg bc fonts-dejavu) and
show the .env setup step after install.sh generates .env.example.
README.md: correct Python package names and add fonts-dejavu dependency.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
sky-cam.conf now sources .env from the same directory at the bottom of the
file, so RTSP URLs, Mattermost tokens, and notification credentials can live
outside version control. Plaintext credential placeholders removed from conf.
install.sh generates .env.example on every run with the correct CAM_RTSP_*
variable names derived from the CAMERAS list, so users always know exactly
what to put in .env for their specific camera setup.
.gitignore: add .env and sunrise-sounds/ (downloaded audio library).
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
daily_sunrise_video.sh: derive CAM_NAME from $1 (defaulting to SUNRISE_CAM)
instead of an undefined variable; this was causing empty image/output paths.
install.sh: pass $SUNRISE_CAM as argument to daily_sunrise_video.sh so it
matches the pattern used by every other per-camera script.
sunrise2mm.py: use SUNRISE_CAM config key (not the undefined CAM_NAME) to
locate the output directory; fixes silent path mismatch on non-default names.
4-seasons.sh: remove stray `set -x` that was flooding systemd logs with
shell trace output.
README.md: correct Python dependencies from `ephem` to `suntime pytz` to
match what sunrise.py actually imports.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Each stage can now fail independently, giving four upload paths:
audio+overlay, audio-only, overlay-only, or speed-only video.
Step 3a copies the video stream (no re-encode) when mixing audio,
so step 3b failure still leaves a clean audio-mixed file to promote.
Overlay failure notification now reports which quality was uploaded.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
daily_sunrise_video.sh: priority chain is camera mic → library random MP3 →
overlay-only → sped video promotion. If audio mixing fails a warning
notification fires and the script retries with overlay-only so a video is
always produced and uploaded.
download-sunrise-sounds.py: downloads CC-licensed ambient sounds from
freesound.org into 11 weather/season category folders (~275 files total at
25 per category), writing a manifest.json with attribution data.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Removes dependency on MotionEye or any NVR software. Everything is now
CLI/ffmpeg configured entirely from sky-cam.conf.
capture.sh
Long-running systemd service (one per camera) that pulls frames from the
camera's RTSP stream at CAPTURE_INTERVAL seconds, writing HH-MM-SS.jpg
into BASE_DIR/<cam>/YYYY-MM-DD/. Restarts at midnight for the new date
directory; auto-reconnects on camera disconnect.
sunrise-audio-capture.sh
One-shot service triggered at 03:00. Waits until (sunrise minus
SUNRISE_PRE_MIN minus AUDIO_PRE_BUFFER_MIN), then records the RTSP audio
stream for the full sunrise window. Output deleted after mixing.
daily_sunrise_video.sh
Step 3 now mixes in sunrise-audio.m4a when AUDIO_ENABLED=true and the
file exists. Audio is centred on actual sunrise time at natural speed
while the video plays as the sped-up timelapse. Uses filter_complex
when audio is present (can't combine -vf with -filter_complex).
install.sh
Generates sky-cam-capture-<cam>.service for each camera with CAM_RTSP_<cam>
set, and sky-cam-audio-capture.{service,timer} when AUDIO_ENABLED=true.
sky-cam.conf
New settings: CAM_RTSP_<cam>, CAPTURE_INTERVAL, AUDIO_ENABLED,
AUDIO_PRE_BUFFER_MIN, CAPTURE_AUDIO_BITRATE.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Sunrise:
- Overlay failure no longer exits 1; the speed-only video is renamed to the
expected final path so OnSuccess still fires and the upload still happens
- sunrise2mm.py now notifies on every upload outcome (success, post failure,
file-not-found) via notify.sh so the user always knows whether the video
reached Mattermost
Montage:
- Music+overlay failure no longer exits 1; the sped video is promoted to the
*-Montage.mp4 path so year-end-join can still include this movement (as a
silent, no-overlay clip) and the user is notified of the degraded output
- Year-end join trigger is now outside the success/failure branch so it fires
in both cases
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Each pipeline now saves intermediate files permanently before the step most
likely to fail, so a partial failure leaves a recoverable artifact:
- daily_sunrise_video.sh: speed-adjusted video (*-sped.mp4) survives if the
drawtext overlay step fails; deleted automatically on success
- montage-mvt.sh: speed-adjusted video (*-Sped.mp4) survives if the
music-mux + attribution overlay step fails; deleted on success
- 4-seasons.sh / montage-mvt.sh / year-end-join.sh: explicit ffmpeg error
handling with targeted notify.sh calls naming the failed step and the
surviving artifact path
- montage-mvt.sh / 4-seasons.sh / year-end-join.sh: clip-duration-sum vs
music-duration drift check warns when cumulative float error exceeds 2 s
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
daily_sunrise_video.sh:
- Fixed: was using undefined \$MOVIES_DIR (now \$BASE_DIR/movies)
- Fixed: sunrise_overlay.py was called but never existed — would fail daily
- Fixed: speed-adjust step had no explicit codec (-c:v libx264 missing)
- New: sunrise time overlaid as stacked vertical characters on the right
side using ffmpeg drawtext — no Python/Pillow dependency
- New: upload removed from script; now triggered by systemd OnSuccess=
- Combines speed-adjust and overlay into one ffmpeg pass (was two)
- SUNRISE_OVERLAY_OPACITY from conf controls transparency
install.sh:
- sky-cam-sunrise.service gains OnSuccess=sky-cam-sunrise-upload.service
so upload only runs when video creation succeeds, with separate log
- New sky-cam-sunrise-upload.service runs sunrise2mm.py
sunrise2mm.py: add shebang + chmod +x so systemd ExecStart= calls it directly
sky-cam.conf: add SUNRISE_OVERLAY_OPACITY=0.45
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Adds six CRF vars, AUDIO_BITRATE, and three MONTAGE_* overlay durations.
Values match previous hardcoded defaults so behavior is unchanged.
The same CRF appeared in several scripts but with intentionally different
values per purpose (28 for draft intermediates, 26 for polished output).
Each script's CRF is now its own variable in conf, so changing one never
silently changes another.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
sky-cam.conf:
- CAMERAS array replaces single CAM_NAME; add a name, add its schedules,
re-run install.sh — no script editing needed
- SCHEDULE_SUNRISE, SCHEDULE_SEASONS_<cam>, SCHEDULE_FULLDAY_<cam> replace
hardcoded times in install.sh
- Notification options commented out (uncomment to enable)
- Lat/lon set to mid-Atlantic (25.0, -38.0) as neutral placeholder
install.sh:
- Loops over CAMERAS to generate per-camera sky-cam-seasons-<cam> and
sky-cam-fullday-<cam> timers with schedules from conf
- Sunrise timer remains a single sky-cam-sunrise unit (SUNRISE_CAM only)
fullday-video.sh, 4-seasons.sh, montage-mvt.sh, year-end-join.sh:
- Each accepts camera name as an argument (systemd passes it via ExecStart)
and falls back to conf default when run manually without an arg
- Camera name propagates through the full call chain:
4-seasons → montage-mvt → year-end-join
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Video duration is still controlled by SUNRISE_TARGET_SECS in conf,
but the filename no longer encodes it — so changing the duration
doesn't break anything and the name stays stable day to day.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
The output video was always named -sunrise-10s.mp4 regardless of the
configured duration. Both sunrise_video.10s.sh and sunrise2mm.py now
derive the filename from SUNRISE_TARGET_SECS so changing it in conf
produces correctly named files that the uploader still finds.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
- sunrise_video.10s.sh: use $TIMEZONE (was hardcoded America/New_York),
$SUNRISE_PRE_MIN/$SUNRISE_POST_MIN for capture window, $SUNRISE_TARGET_SECS
for output duration (was wrong value 8 in a script named 10s)
- fullday-video.sh: remove hardcoded FULLDAY_FPS/RETENTION_DAYS; both now
come from sky-cam.conf
- 4-seasons.sh, montage-mvt.sh: export TIMEZONE after sourcing conf so
season_info.py subprocess picks it up via env rather than falling back
to its hardcoded America/New_York default
- sky-cam.conf: add SUNRISE_PRE_MIN, SUNRISE_POST_MIN, SUNRISE_TARGET_SECS,
FULLDAY_FPS, RETENTION_DAYS
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
sunrise.py now reads LATITUDE, LONGITUDE, and TIMEZONE from sky-cam.conf
instead of hardcoded values, using the same pathlib-based pattern as
sunrise2mm.py. sky-cam.conf gains a comprehensive header with manual
systemd setup instructions and a full script map for future reference.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
sky-cam.conf
- Add SCRIPT_DIR (install location) and CAM_NAME (camera/folder name)
- These are the only values that change when deploying to a new machine
install.sh (new)
- Sources sky-cam.conf, generates all systemd .service and .timer units
with correct ExecStart paths, then enables and starts the timers
- Run once after editing sky-cam.conf; run again if paths change
- Supports --system flag for system-wide install
All .sh scripts + sunrise2mm.py
- No hardcoded paths remain
- script_name=$(basename ...) derivation replaced by $CAM_NAME from conf
- sunrise_video.10s.sh now sources sky-cam.conf for BASE_DIR, CAM_NAME,
and SCRIPT_DIR (replaces all /home/motion/... references)
- sunrise2mm.py builds video path from BASE_DIR + CAM_NAME in conf
systemd/ template files kept as reference but no longer need editing
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
sky-cam.conf (new)
- Single file replaces mattermost_config.txt reference, notify_config.txt,
and the hardcoded BASE_DIR/MUSIC_DIR/TIMEZONE scattered across scripts
- Bash-sourceable and Python key=value readable (same format)
All .sh scripts
- source sky-cam.conf at startup; BASE_DIR / MUSIC_DIR from config
sunrise2mm.py
- Reads sky-cam.conf relative to script location; no hardcoded path
notify.sh
- Sources sky-cam.conf; Mattermost credentials come from there directly,
no separate mattermost_config.txt lookup needed
systemd/sky-cam-notify-failure@.service (new)
- Template unit called by OnFailure= in each service
- Sends notification via notify.sh when any sky-cam job fails
- All three .service units now have OnFailure=sky-cam-notify-failure@%n.service
Removed: notify_config.txt, sky-cam.crontab (superseded)
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
season_info.py
- Add ASTRO_YEAR: year of the Winter solstice that started the current cycle
(Spring/Summer/Autumn 2026 → 2025; Winter Dec-2026 → 2026)
4-seasons.sh
- Daily clip output path now includes ASTRO_YEAR:
movies/$name/$ASTRO_YEAR/$SEASON/Mvt$N/
montage-mvt.sh (full rewrite)
- Attribution is now a drawtext overlay (top 6 s of the video, fade in/out)
instead of an appended black card — no frame-size matching needed, and
year-end join requires no special handling
- Output path mirrors the new year-based folder structure
- Sends notification via notify.sh when done
- Automatically triggers year-end-join.sh after Autumn Mvt 3
year-end-join.sh (new)
- Concatenates all 12 movement montages for a given ASTRO_YEAR
- Output: movies/$name/$ASTRO_YEAR/$name-$ASTRO_YEAR.mp4
- Sends notification when done
notify.sh + notify_config.txt (new)
- Generic best-effort notification helper: ntfy, email, Mattermost text post
- All methods disabled by default; user fills in notify_config.txt
sky-cam.crontab + systemd/ (new)
- Crontab file: sunrise at 09:00, 4-seasons at 01:00, fullday at 02:00
- systemd .service + .timer units for all three daily jobs
- montage/year-end triggered internally, not by cron
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
- Warp only north cylindrically (sunrise completely unmodified)
- Focal-length grid search picks the best phase-correlation alignment
- Soft validity mask (31x31 erosion) fades out black corners of the warp
- Per-channel colour/exposure match: north's treeline strip mean is scaled
to match sunrise's, removing the visible sky-colour seam between cameras
- Corrected overlap blend: invalid north pixels fall back to sunrise
(s_weight = max(alpha, 1-validity)) instead of showing black
- Auto-crops left black-corner columns from the final canvas
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
North is projected onto a cylinder so its right edge curves naturally into
sunrise's left edge, giving a continuous panoramic sweep from North to East.
cyl-f1920-preview.jpg — f=1920 px (~90° HFOV): most natural perspective
cyl-f1550-preview.jpg — f=1550 px (~105° HFOV): more pronounced curve
stitch-cameras.py updated to use cylindrical projection. Focal length is
a tunable argv[4]; refine once the user confirms which curve looks right.
The 36-second inter-shot gap causes cloud drift at the seam — live video
frames captured simultaneously will not have this artefact.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Phase-correlation on the treeline/horizon band (rows 70-90%) found:
tx = -3324 px (north is 3324 px to the left of sunrise)
ty = -85 px (north camera is 85 px higher — slight tilt difference)
overlap = 516 px wide, feather-blended with a horizontal gradient
Result in images/stitch-preview/north-sunrise-aligned-preview.jpg:
7164x2075 px panorama with continuous horizon and treeline.
Cloud "V" at seam is a 36-second inter-shot artefact only; live video
frames captured simultaneously will have no such discontinuity.
stitch-cameras.py: accepts tx/ty overrides as argv[4]/argv[5] so the
offsets can be tuned without code changes.
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
- images/stitch-preview/north-sunrise-hstack.jpg:
naive side-by-side preview of the two skycams at 14:29 on 2026-04-17
- images/stitch-preview/feature-matches-debug.jpg:
close-up of overlap region (right 40% of north × left 40% of sunrise)
with ORB Lowe-ratio matches drawn — 39 candidates, RANSAC survives only
4 inliers because the 90° perspective offset invalidates a similarity
transform. Overlap IS present (trees, houses, power poles visible in
both) but full homography needs more/better tie points.
- stitch-cameras.py: reusable script that generates both previews plus a
similarity-transform .txt for reuse in ffmpeg filter chains once we
have enough matches (or manual tie-points).
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
season_info.py (new):
- Computes actual equinox/solstice dates via Jean Meeus approximation
- Converts to LOCAL timezone (pytz / zoneinfo) so the calendar date reflects
what the camera sees on the ground, including DST transitions
- Timezone defaults to America/New_York; override via $TIMEZONE env or 2nd arg
- Divides each season into 3 equal movements; handles Winter's year boundary
- Outputs IS_LAST_DAY=true on the final day of each movement
4-seasons.sh:
- Uses season_info.py for all date/season logic (no hardcoded day-of-year)
- Passes $yesterday to season_info.py so astronomical dates are correct
- Removed forced 1280x720 scale; clips stay at native camera resolution
- Auto-triggers montage-mvt.sh "$yesterday" on last day of movement so the
correct movement (not the next day's) is compiled
montage-mvt.sh:
- Accepts optional YYYY-MM-DD argument (passed by 4-seasons.sh) so it
resolves the correct season/movement when run the morning after last day
- Detects source resolution from first daily clip via ffprobe; attribution
card is generated at that exact resolution — no resizing of main video
- Font sizes proportional to frame height so text looks right at any res
- License corrected to CC BY-SA 3.0 (was CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
fullday-video.sh:
- Removed 30-minute target; video length is natural (num_images / FPS)
- Default FULLDAY_FPS=5 (configurable at top of script)
- Retains RETENTION_DAYS=10 auto-delete for full-day videos only
- Sunrise 10s uploads and montage videos are never auto-deleted
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
4-seasons.sh:
- Fix per-video target duration: divide by days_in_movement (~30) not
days_in_season (~90), so concatenated clips sum to the movement's
music duration
- Force consistent 1280x720 output (scale+pad) to prevent resolution
mismatches when montage-mvt.sh concatenates across days
- Use ffprobe (not ffmpeg stderr parsing) for reliable duration reading
- Add music-dir fallback to repo-local music/ folder
- Remove the 2× music-doubling workaround (root cause fixed above)
montage-mvt.sh — complete rewrite:
- Proper season/movement detection matching 4-seasons.sh logic
- Step 1: concat all *-final.mp4 clips, normalise to 1280x720
- Step 2: speed-adjust concatenated video to exactly match music duration
- Step 3: merge with Vivaldi movement audio + 2 s video/audio fade in/out
- Step 4: generate 7-second black attribution card (drawtext) crediting
John Harrison / Wichita State University Chamber Players / FMA /
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- Step 5: concat montage + attribution into final file
- Temp files cleaned up via EXIT trap
fullday-video.sh — new script:
- Full-day timelapse from yesterday's images targeting ~30 minutes
- Per-frame duration = 1800 / num_images (clamped 0.017–10 s/frame)
- 1280x720 output, video-only (no audio)
- Auto-deletes fullday videos older than 10 days
https://claude.ai/code/session_01C4jbd3waXG3eKZYbGUjLUQ
Claude