Take camera snapshot

Use this action to take a still image from a camera and save it to a file, for example to capture who is at the front door when motion is detected.

Using this action from the user interface

If you prefer building automations and scripts visually, Home Assistant walks you through this action step by step. You pick what to target, tweak a few options, and save. No YAML knowledge required.

To take a snapshot from an automation or a script:

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
2. Open an existing automation or script, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
3. If you’re setting up a new automation, add a trigger in the When section. Scripts don’t need a trigger. They run when something else calls them.
4. In the Then do section, select Add action.
5. Select what you want to control. Under By target (see Targets), select the camera you want to capture.
6. From the actions shown for that target, select Take camera snapshot.
7. Set the Filename where the snapshot is saved.
8. Select Save.

Options in the UI

Using this action in YAML

If you work directly in YAML, or you want to know exactly what Home Assistant does under the hood, this section has the technical reference. It lists the field names you use in YAML, their types, and which ones are required.

In YAML, refer to this action as camera.snapshot. A basic example looks like this:

action: camera.snapshot
target:
  entity_id: camera.living_room_camera
data:
  filename: "/config/www/snapshot.jpg"

This saves a snapshot from camera.living_room_camera to /config/www/snapshot.jpg.

Options in YAML

Targets of the action

This action requires a target. The target is the object of the action. You can point the action at a single entityAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more], a device, an area, a floor, or a label, and Home Assistant will run the action on every matching camera entity behind that target.

• Entity: one specific camera entity, such as camera.living_room.
• Device: every camera entity that belongs to a device.
• Area: every camera entity in a room or area.
• Floor: every camera entity on a floor.
• Label: every camera entity that shares a label.

You can also select different target types in one action. For example, you can add a specific entity and an area as targets in the same action to run the action on both of them at once.

Good to know

• This action only works with camera entities.
• The path in filename must be inside a directory that Home Assistant is allowed to write to. By default, the www folder in your configuration directory and each configured media directory are allowed, so a path like /config/www/snapshot.jpg or /media/snapshot.jpg works without extra setup. To save somewhere else, such as /tmp, add that directory to allowlist_external_dirs in the homeassistant: section of your configuration.yamlThe configuration.yaml file is the main configuration file for Home Assistant. It lists the integrations to be loaded and their specific configurations. In some cases, the configuration needs to be edited manually directly in the configuration.yaml file. Most integrations can be configured in the UI. [Learn more] file.

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Open Developer tools > Actions, search for this action, fill in the fields, and select Perform action. You see what happens on your actual entitiesAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more] without writing a line of YAML.

More examples

Real scenarios where this action shows up in automations and scripts. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup.

Automation: save a snapshot with a timestamped filename

Take a snapshot when motion is detected and save it with the date and time in the filename, so each capture is kept as a separate file.

• Trigger: Motion is detected
• Action: Take camera snapshot
  • Target: Front door camera
  • Filename: a path that includes the current date and time

- alias: "Save a snapshot when motion is detected"
  triggers:
    - trigger: state
      entity_id: binary_sensor.front_door_motion
      to: "on"
  actions:
    - action: camera.snapshot
      target:
        entity_id: camera.front_door
      data:
        filename: "/config/www/front_door_{{ now().strftime('%Y%m%d-%H%M%S') }}.jpg"

Still stuck?

The Home Assistant community is quick to help: join Discord for real-time chat, post on the community forum with the action you’re calling and what you expected to happen, or share on our subreddit /r/homeassistant.

Related actions

These actions work well alongside this one:

• Record camera feed: Creates a recording of a live camera feed.

• Play camera stream: Plays a camera stream on a supported media player.

• Turn on camera: Turns on a camera.

• Turn off camera: Turns off a camera.

• Enable camera motion detection: Enables the motion detection of a camera.

• Disable camera motion detection: Disables the motion detection of a camera.