Take camera snapshot from past

Use this action to take a still image out of the recordings of a Reolink camera and save it to a file, for example to capture what happened a few seconds before motion was detected. A regular snapshot always shows the current moment.

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 the past 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 Reolink camera entity you want to capture, for example Fluent.
6. From the actions shown for that target, select Take camera snapshot from past.
7. Set the Timestamp you want the snapshot from and 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. For how an automation or a script is built in YAML, refer to Automations in YAML and Scripts.

In YAML, refer to this action as reolink.snapshot_past. A basic example looks like this:

action: reolink.snapshot_past
target:
  entity_id: camera.front_door_fluent
data:
  timestamp: "2025-09-29 14:30:00"
  filename: "/config/www/front_door.jpg"

This saves the image recorded by camera.front_door_fluent at 14:30:00 on 29 September 2025 to /config/www/front_door.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.

To learn which entities Home Assistant includes for a device, area, floor, or label, and how it handles several entities, refer to Automation targets.

To leave out some of these entities, refer to Excluding targets. For example, you can leave out one camera entity in an area.

Good to know

• The camera needs to record to an SD card or to an NVR/Home Hub, and a recording has to exist for the moment you ask for. If the camera was not recording at that moment, the action fails.
• The snapshot is taken from the first video frame in the 10 seconds following the Timestamp, so the image can be slightly later than the moment you ask for.
• The resolution follows the camera entity you target: the Fluent camera entity gives a low-resolution image, the Clear camera entity a high-resolution one.
• 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/front_door.jpg or /media/front_door.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.
• Folders in the path that do not exist yet are created for you.
• The Timestamp is entered in the local time of Home Assistant and converted to the time zone of the camera automatically.

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Open Settings > 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. In the visual editor, select the UI options listed in the example or paste the YAML code.

Automation: save the moment just before a person was detected

Take a snapshot of the situation five seconds before a person was detected, so the image shows the person approaching instead of the situation after the event was reported.

• Trigger: A person is detected
• Action: Take camera snapshot from past
  • Target: Front door camera, Fluent stream
  • Timestamp: five seconds ago
  • Filename: a path that includes the current date and time

- alias: "Save a snapshot of the moment just before a person was detected"
  triggers:
    - trigger: state
      entity_id: binary_sensor.front_door_person
      to: "on"
  actions:
    - action: reolink.snapshot_past
      target:
        entity_id: camera.front_door_fluent
      data:
        timestamp: "{{ (now() - timedelta(seconds=5)).isoformat() }}"
        filename: "/config/www/front_door_{{ now().strftime('%Y%m%d-%H%M%S') }}.jpg"

Still stuck?

To test the action on its own, run it in the automation editor with Run action, and check the message that it shows. To see what the action did when the automation ran, open the trace of that run. For details, refer to Testing automations. For common problems and their solutions, refer to Troubleshooting automations.

If that doesn’t help, 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

Explore related actions:

• PTZ move: Moves a Reolink camera at a specific speed.

• Play chime: Plays a ringtone on a Reolink Chime.

• Take camera snapshot: Takes a snapshot from a camera.