obsbotctl

Open control library and D-Bus system daemon for OBSBOT cameras on Linux.

Status: scaffold. Architecture and workspace structure are in place. No functional camera control yet — this repo currently compiles, but nothing talks to hardware.

Goal

Treat OBSBOT cameras the way Linux treats any other complex device: a system daemon owns the hardware, and applications talk to it over D-Bus. No application needs to link against a vendor library or know anything camera-specific — they just call D-Bus methods on com.obsbot.Control1, the same way they'd talk to BlueZ, UPower, or fwupd.

Concrete outcomes this project is working toward:

• A /dev/videoN webcam continues to be a webcam — the kernel UVC driver already handles that.
• An obsbotd system daemon handles everything beyond standard UVC — AI tracking, auto-framing, HDR, presets, gimbal control, event notifications.
• Any Linux application (Qt, GTK, OBS plugin, CLI, Home Assistant, an MQTT bridge) can drive the camera by speaking D-Bus.
• Per-model capability profiles so new OBSBOT cameras can be added by submitting a data file rather than patching Rust source.

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│          Any app (Qt, GTK, OBS, CLI, Home Assistant…)       │
└────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────┘
                             │  D-Bus (system bus)
                             │  com.obsbot.Control1
┌────────────────────────────▼────────────────────────────────┐
│                  obsbotd — Rust system daemon               │
│  udev hotplug │ polkit-gated methods │ event signals        │
└────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────┘
                             │
┌────────────────────────────▼────────────────────────────────┐
│                 obsbotctl-core — Rust library               │
│  transport  │  protocol   │  device catalog & quirks        │
└────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────┘
                             │
┌────────────────────────────▼────────────────────────────────┐
│         Linux kernel (uvcvideo, bluez, usbfs)               │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Three binaries in one workspace:

• obsbotd — the system daemon
• obsbotctl — a CLI client (like bluetoothctl or networkctl)
• obsbotctl-core — the Rust library everything builds on

Integration options

Applications have three ways to consume this stack, in increasing coupling:

1. D-Bus (recommended). Language-agnostic, zero linking. Any language with a D-Bus binding works.
2. C FFI via cbindgen. In-process linking for C/C++ consumers that can't afford a D-Bus round trip.
3. CXX-Qt. In-process Rust QObjects for deep Qt integration.

The D-Bus path is the primary target; the other two are escape hatches.

Scope

In scope

• PTZ, focus, zoom, exposure, white balance, HDR
• AI modes: tracking, auto-framing, gestures, presets
• Event notifications (target lost, mode switch, battery, etc.)
• Per-model capability profiles for the full OBSBOT camera family

Out of scope (for now)

• Firmware upgrade
• Virtual background upload
• Video streaming — the kernel UVC driver already handles this; use GStreamer, V4L2, or OpenCV
• Tail Air networked / wireless streaming mode

See docs/devices.md for the intended device catalog.

Related projects

• obsbot-camera-control — Qt GUI that will eventually consume obsbotctl over D-Bus.
• bosectl — sibling project applying the same Linux-native system daemon pattern to Bose headphones.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.