Blink Camera Skill

Control and monitor Blink cameras via blinkpy (>= 0.25.3): status, snapshots, cloud motion clips, arm/disarm, and live view. Every command prints a single JSON document to stdout.

Setup

1. Install dependencies

pip3 install -r ~/.claude/skills/blink-skill/requirements.txt

2. Authenticate (interactive — handles 2FA in one process)

python3 ~/.claude/skills/blink-skill/blink_skill.py setup YOUR_EMAIL YOUR_PASSWORD

If 2FA is enabled, the tool prints PIN sent -- enter it: to stderr and waits for you to type the PIN on stdin in the same process, then finishes login and saves the refresh token. It must be one process: the OAuth CSRF token and PKCE verifier are held in memory on the login instance, so a separate step cannot resume the flow.

Run it in a real terminal (so input() can read the PIN). After success, credentials.json holds the hardwareid + refreshtoken; all later runs reuse the refresh token and never prompt.

verify (fallback only — flaky)

python3 ~/.claude/skills/blink-skill/blink_skill.py verify [PIN]

Prefer setup. verify re-drives login using the username/password saved in credentials.json; because it triggers a fresh login it also triggers a new PIN, so a PIN passed on the command line is usually stale. Let it prompt interactively, or just use setup.

Commands

Inventory & status

blink_skill.py cameras            # every camera, full status
blink_skill.py networks           # sync modules + arm state
blink_skill.py status "Front"     # one camera (partial match)
blink_skill.py status             # all cameras, summary

Status fields (honest — no fabricated percentages):

• battery — string "ok" / "low" (Blink does not expose a %).
• battery_voltage — volts (raw 100ths-of-a-volt converted).
• temperaturef, temperaturec, wifistrength, syncsignal_strength.
• producttype, cameratype, wired (bool), serial, version,

motionenabled, lastrecord.

• armed — read from the sync module (network), not the camera.

Snapshot

blink_skill.py snapshot "Front"              # CHEAP: cached image, no capture
blink_skill.py snapshot "Front" --refresh    # FRESH capture (battery cost)

• Default = cached: refresh(force=True) then writes the already-cached

thumbnail. No new capture, no battery hit.

• --refresh = fresh capture: snap_picture() -> wait 5s -> refresh(force=True)

-> save. On battery cams the result JSON includes "warn": "fresh capture uses battery".

• Saved to ~/.claude/skills/blink-skill/snapshots/.

Cloud motion clips & video

blink_skill.py clips                                   # cloud motion clips
blink_skill.py clips --camera "Front" --limit 10
blink_skill.py clips --since "2026/07/01 00:00:00"
blink_skill.py events                                  # clips + live motion flags
blink_skill.py video "Front"                           # download last cached clip

• clips / events use getvideosmetadata(since, camera="all", stop=pages)

for a real server-side clip list (stop is a page cap ~25 items/page; --limit is derived into pages and then slices the newest N).

• --since accepts "YYYY/MM/DD HH:MM:SS"; default is the last refresh time.
• video writes the last cached clip via camera.videotofile; if none is

cached it returns {"status": "no_clip"} (use clips for cloud clips).

Arm / disarm (per network / sync module)

blink_skill.py arm                     # arm all networks
blink_skill.py arm --network "Home"    # arm one network
blink_skill.py disarm
blink_skill.py disarm --network "Home"

Arming is a sync-module operation (sync.async_arm), not per-camera.

Live view

blink_skill.py liveview "Front Door"                 # wired cam, ~30s
blink_skill.py liveview "Front Door" --seconds 60
blink_skill.py liveview "Backyard" --force           # battery cam override

• --seconds default 30, hard-capped at 300.
• rtsps:// result: returns the URL + an ffplay_hint. Playable directly for a

short server-side window; this command does not proxy it.

• immis:// result (proprietary): spins a local TCP relay

(initlivestream -> start -> hold --seconds -> stop) and returns a localrelay tcp://127.0.0.1:PORT. Marked "fragile": true — it only serves while the process is alive; connect a player during the window.

• Battery cams are refused without --force. Live view drains the battery

fast and battery cams share a rough ~98-minute lifetime live-view budget. With --force the output still carries a loud warn.

Battery safety, in one line

Default snapshots are cached (free). Only snapshot --refresh and liveview touch the radio/capture path; on battery cams both warn, and liveview refuses without --force.

Output & files

• All stdout is a single JSON object. Interactive setup prompts and live-view

relay notices go to stderr.

• Snapshots/videos: ~/.claude/skills/blink-skill/snapshots/.
• Credentials: ~/.claude/skills/blink-skill/credentials.json (chmod 600).

It contains the OAuth refreshtoken + hardwareid and the account username/password saved by blinkpy's login_attributes round-trip — treat the file as a secret.

Troubleshooting

• "Not authenticated" — run setup.
• "refresh token expired and 2FA is required again" — re-run setup.
• 2FA didn't work — you must complete setup in an interactive terminal so

the PIN is entered in the same process. verify with a stale PIN will fail.

• Camera not found — names are partial, case-insensitive; run cameras.
• immis live view failed — expected; that path is experimental/fragile.

#blink #cameras #security #smart-home