loweack/bairelay repository overview

⁠Bairelay

A pure-Rust bridge between Reolink battery cameras (proprietary "Baichuan" protocol) and standard RTSP/MQTT, with a local replacement for Reolink's wake-up cloud and motion-push channel.

This image is a personal build of mgc8/bairelay (github.com/mgc8/bairelay), compiled from source for use as a standalone container, e.g. on TrueNAS SCALE Custom Apps.

⁠What is Bairelay?

Bairelay lets you use standard NVR software (Frigate, Shinobi, Blue Iris, Synology Surveillance Station) and Home Assistant to consume video from Reolink battery cameras directly — no Reolink NVR or cloud account required.

These cameras speak a proprietary Baichuan protocol over TCP/9000 instead of standard RTSP, sleep aggressively to save battery, and normally push motion alerts via Reolink's cloud. Bairelay handles all of this locally: it wakes sleeping cameras on demand, re-packages H.264/H.265 video and AAC/G.711 audio as standard RTSP/RTSPS, and publishes MQTT discovery for Home Assistant entities like camera, motion, battery, floodlight, PTZ, and siren.

⁠Supported Cameras

Reolink battery models only — Argus 3, Argus Eco, Argus 4, Argus PT, Argus Track, Argus Altas, and similar. Wired Reolink cameras (RLC line, doorbells) already support native RTSP and don't need this bridge.

⁠Quick Start

Create a config directory and file on your host:

mkdir -p ~/bairelay/config

nano ~/bairelay/config/config.toml

Minimal config.toml contents:

bind = "0.0.0.0"

[mqtt]
broker_addr = "192.168.1.10"
port = 1883
credentials = ["mqtt-user", "mqtt-password"]
topic_prefix = "bairelay"

[mqtt.discovery]
topic = "homeassistant"
features = ["floodlight", "camera", "motion", "led", "ir", "reboot", "pt", "battery", "siren"]

[[cameras]]
name = "driveway"
username = "admin"
password = "camera-password"
uid = "ABCDEF0123456789"
idle_disconnect = true
idle_disconnect_timeout_secs = 45

⁠Run With Docker

docker run -d --name bairelay --network host --cap-add NET_BIND_SERVICE -v ~/bairelay/config:/config -e RUST_LOG=bairelay=info --restart unless-stopped yourusername/bairelay:latest

⁠Run With Docker Compose

services:
  bairelay:
    image: yourusername/bairelay:latest
    container_name: bairelay
    restart: unless-stopped
    network_mode: host
    volumes:
      - ~/bairelay/config:/config
    environment:
      - RUST_LOG=bairelay=info
    cap_add:
      - NET_BIND_SERVICE

⁠Why network_mode: host?

Bairelay's optional wake server (UDP 9999/58200) and motion-push listener (TCP/443) need direct LAN visibility to interact with cameras and DNS-redirected traffic. Host networking avoids NAT complications. If you don't need those features, a bridge network with an explicit port mapping for RTSP (8554/tcp) also works fine.

⁠Exposed Ports

Port 8554/TCP — RTSP (plain)

Port 8555/TCP — RTSPS (TLS, optional)

Ports 9999 and 58200/UDP — local wake server (optional)

Port 443/TCP — local motion-push listener (optional, can be rebound)

⁠Validating Your Config

docker exec bairelay bairelay -c /config/config.toml check-config

⁠Useful Commands

docker exec bairelay bairelay battery driveway --json docker exec bairelay bairelay snapshot driveway -f /tmp/driveway.jpg docker exec bairelay bairelay reboot driveway

⁠Full Documentation

See the upstream project for full configuration reference, cloud-account handling, TLS setup, and troubleshooting: github.com/mgc8/bairelay

⁠License

Bairelay is licensed under AGPL-3.0. This image packages the upstream source build; no modifications were made to the application itself.

⁠Disclaimer

This is an unofficial, community-built Docker image. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Reolink Innovation Inc. Use at your own risk and ensure compliance with your camera's terms of service.