node-red-contrib-tapo-local

Node-RED node for local control of Tapo C225 cameras — no cloud required

Tested with: Tapo C225 (firmware 1.2.x). May work with other Tapo cameras that use the same local HTTPS API.

Nodes

tapo-device (config node)

Registers a camera. Select it from any tapo-c225 node.

| Field | Description | |----------|-------------| | Name | Optional display label | | IP | Camera's local IP address, e.g. 192.168.1.100 | | Username | admin | | Password | Camera account password — find it in Tapo app → Settings → Advanced → Camera Account (may differ from your TP-Link cloud password) |

tapo-c225

Sends a command to the camera when triggered by any input message.

Node settings:

| Field | Description | |---------|-------------| | Device | Select a tapo-device config node | | Command | Default command to run (see table below) |

Override at runtime — set msg.command before triggering:

{ "command": "privacy-off" }

Available commands:

| msg.command | Description | |---|---| | Privacy | | | get-lens-mask | Read current lens mask state — msg.payload.result.lens_mask.lens_mask_info.enabled is "on" or "off" | | privacy-on | Cover the lens (privacy mode on) | | privacy-off | Uncover the lens | | Alarm | | | alarm-on | Enable alarm on detected events (sound + light) | | alarm-off | Disable alarm on detected events | | alarm-trigger | Immediately sound siren + light (manual trigger) | | alarm-stop | Stop a manually triggered alarm | | Motion & AI detection | | | motion-on | Enable motion detection | | motion-off | Disable motion detection | | person-on | Enable AI person detection | | person-off | Disable AI person detection | | pet-on | Enable pet detection | | pet-off | Disable pet detection | | vehicle-on | Enable vehicle detection | | vehicle-off | Disable vehicle detection | | linecross-on | Enable line crossing detection | | linecross-off | Disable line crossing detection | | tamper-on | Enable camera tamper detection | | tamper-off | Disable camera tamper detection | | tracking-on | Enable auto-tracking (pan/tilt follows subject) | | tracking-off | Disable auto-tracking | | Sound detection | | | baby-cry-on | Enable baby cry detection | | baby-cry-off | Disable baby cry detection | | glass-break-on | Enable glass break detection | | glass-break-off | Disable glass break detection | | bark-on | Enable dog bark detection | | bark-off | Disable dog bark detection | | meow-on | Enable cat meow detection | | meow-off | Disable cat meow detection | | Camera | | | led-on | Turn the status LED on | | led-off | Turn the status LED off | | night-vision-on | Night vision always-on (IR active) | | night-vision-off | Night vision off (always day mode) | | night-vision-auto | Night vision auto-switch | | System | | | reboot | Reboot the camera | | Monitor | | | get-detections | Poll recent detection events — see below |

Output msg.payload:

{ "command": "privacy-on", "result": {} }

Polling detection events (get-detections)

Set msg.command = 'get-detections' and optionally msg.minutes = 10 (default 5) before triggering the node. msg.payload.events will be an array of detection objects from the camera's local event log:

{ "command": "get-detections", "events": [
  { "start_time": 1747300000, "end_time": 1747300010, "cls_type": "person", ... },
  { "start_time": 1747299900, "end_time": 1747299905, "cls_type": "baby_cry", ... }
]}

Detection types reported by C225: motion, person, vehicle, pet, baby_cry, glass_break, and others depending on firmware.

Requires: SD card inserted + local recording enabled in the Tapo app. If not present the node returns an empty events array.

Adding commands

Open lib/tapo-client.js and append an entry to COMMANDS. No other file changes needed unless you want the command in the editor dropdown (nodes/tapo-local.html).

const COMMANDS = {
    // _direct: false (default) → wrapped in multipleRequest (pytapo executeFunction path)
    // _direct: true            → sent as-is (pytapo performRequest path, for method:'set'/'do')

    'my-command': { method: 'someMethod', params: { ... } },
};

tapo-onvif-events — live event subscription

Subscribes to ONVIF WS-PullPoint events from the camera — no onvif npm library, implemented directly via raw HTTP SOAP calls.

Node settings

| Field | Description | |---|---| | Device | Select a tapo-device config node | | ONVIF port | Camera's ONVIF port (default 2020 for Tapo cameras) | | Action | Fixed action, or leave blank to use msg.action at runtime | | Poll hold | How long the camera holds each PullMessages request before returning empty (default 5 s) | | Motion timeout | Silence duration before emitting detected:false — must be longer than the camera's batch interval (~14 s on C225). Default 30 s |

Input

| msg.action | Description | |---|---| | "start" | Subscribe and begin delivering events | | "stop" | Send ONVIF Unsubscribe to camera and halt all requests |

Output msg.payload

{
  "topic":    "RuleEngine/PeopleDetector/People",
  "payload": {
    "detected": true,
    "time":     "2026-05-18T12:03:01Z",
    "property": "Initialized",
    "source":   { "Rule": "MyPeopleDetectorRule" },
    "data":     { "IsMotion": "true" }
  }
}

detected: false is emitted after motionTimeout seconds of camera silence (watchdog).

Adding commands

Open lib/tapo-client.js and append an entry to COMMANDS. No other file changes needed unless you want the command in the editor dropdown (nodes/tapo-local.html).

const COMMANDS = {
    // _direct: false (default) → wrapped in multipleRequest (pytapo executeFunction path)
    // _direct: true            → sent as-is (pytapo performRequest path, for method:'set'/'do')

    'my-command': { method: 'someMethod', params: { ... } },
};

CLI utility

scripts/tapo_privacy.js is a standalone Node.js script for testing from the command line (no deps):

node scripts/tapo_privacy.js <ip> <username> <password> <command>

# Examples:
node scripts/tapo_privacy.js 192.168.1.100 admin mypassword privacy-off
node scripts/tapo_privacy.js 192.168.1.100 admin mypassword reboot

License

MIT