Configuration

Fregata’s configuration is upstream Frigate’s config.yml, with a small set of macOS-specific defaults and one new detector type. This page is the index of the schema, calling out what’s different on macOS. The full key-by-key reference lives in the Frigate documentation, which we mirror almost entirely.

File location

~/Fregata/config/config.yml

The location is overridable in Settings → Folders → Change Config Location…. The launcher writes the chosen path into UserDefaults and exposes it as FRIGATE_CONFIG_DIR to the Python core.

Top-level keys

Key	What it does	macOS-specific?
`mqtt`	MQTT broker connection.	Same as upstream.
`database`	SQLite path.	Default sits inside `~/Fregata/config/`.
`auth`	HTTP basic auth for the web UI.	Same as upstream.
`tls`	TLS toggle for the web UI.	Auto-enabled if `~/Fregata/config/ssl/cert.pem` exists.
`proxy`	Trusted reverse-proxy headers.	Same as upstream.
`ui`	UI tweaks (date format, locale).	Same as upstream.
`logger`	Per-module log levels.	Same as upstream.
`telemetry`	Frigate’s own metrics & version-check.	Distinct from Fregata’s license telemetry.
`detectors`	Detector hardware config.	Only `coreml` is supported — see below.
`model`	Detection model defaults.	Defaults pre-configured for the bundled YOLOv9-tiny.
`genai`	GenAI integrations (description, semantic search).	Same as upstream; Bring Your Own Key.
`cameras`	Per-camera config.	Same as upstream.
`audio`	Global audio events.	Same as upstream.
`birdseye`	Picture-in-picture composite view.	Same as upstream; CPU-encoded by default.
`detect`	Global detect tracker.	Same as upstream.
`ffmpeg`	Global ffmpeg presets.	Defaults to VideoToolbox decode/encode — see below.
`live`	Live playback settings.	Same as upstream.
`motion`	Global motion config.	Same as upstream.
`objects`	Global object filters.	Same as upstream.
`record`	Continuous recording.	Same as upstream.
`review`	Event review thresholds.	Same as upstream.
`snapshots`	Event JPEG snapshots.	Same as upstream.
`notifications`	Web Push notifications.	Same as upstream.
`networking`	Network advertising.	Same as upstream.
`face_recognition`	On-device face matching.	Same as upstream.
`lpr`	License-plate recognition.	Same as upstream.
`audio_transcription`	Audio-to-text events.	Same as upstream.
`classification`	Auxiliary classification head.	Same as upstream.
`semantic_search`	Embeddings for review search.	Same as upstream.
`camera_groups`	Group cameras into views.	Same as upstream.

For each key, the upstream Frigate docs are the canonical reference. Fregata follows that schema strictly; if a property works in Frigate, it works in Fregata.

Detectors — `coreml` only

Fregata ships a single detector type. The fields below are the ones specific to it; the model sub-block follows the standard Frigate shape.

detectors:
  coreml:
    type: coreml
    inference_backend: ane     # "ane" (default) | "gpu"
    coreml_flags: 0            # 0 = ANE preferred; 1 = exclude ANE
    model_path: <optional>     # path or plus://<id>; default = bundled
    model:
      model_type: yolo-generic # yolo-generic | yolox | yolonas | dfine | rfdetr | ssd
      width: 320
      height: 320
      input_tensor: nchw
      input_pixel_format: rgb
      input_dtype: float
      labelmap_path: <optional> # default = COCO labels

See Detection tuning for the practical guide to swapping models, choosing a backend, and tuning thresholds.

FFmpeg defaults

Fregata’s macOS ffmpeg presets use VideoToolbox out of the box:

Pipeline	Default	Notes
Input decode	`-hwaccel videotoolbox`	Applied to every stream input.
Recording encode	`h264_videotoolbox -allow_sw 1 -realtime 1 -g 50 -profile:v high`	`-allow_sw 1` is a software fallback safety net.
RTSP re-stream	`h264_videotoolbox -allow_sw 1 -profile:v high`	Used by the go2rtc fan-out.
Preview snapshot	`h264_videotoolbox -allow_sw 1`	Used for hourly thumbnails.

You can override any preset via ffmpeg.output_args in your config.yml exactly as on Linux Frigate. The presets are macros; the underlying Frigate ffmpeg command-line is unchanged.

A worked-example camera

mqtt:
  enabled: false

cameras:
  front_porch:
    ffmpeg:
      inputs:
        # One stream, both roles — Fregata's ANE happily detects
        # at full resolution, no sub-stream needed. See
        # /reference/cameras/#sub-streams-optional-power-saver.
        - path: rtsp://user:[email protected]:554/h264Preview_01_main
          roles: [record, detect]
    detect:
      fps: 5
    record:
      enabled: true
      retain:
        days: 14
        mode: motion
      events:
        retain:
          default: 30
          mode: active_objects
    snapshots:
      enabled: true
      bounding_box: true
    objects:
      track:
        - person
        - car
        - dog
      filters:
        person:
          threshold: 0.7
          min_area: 1500
    motion:
      mask:
        - 0,0,0,400,300,400,300,0
    zones:
      porch:
        coordinates: 200,200,800,200,800,600,200,600
        objects:
          - person

Drop that into ~/Fregata/config/config.yml (with your camera’s real URL and credentials), restart Frigate from the tray, and you’re up.

Reloading config

Frigate watches config.yml and applies most changes live without a restart. The exceptions:

Adding or removing a camera.
Changing the detector model.
Changing TLS, MQTT, or auth settings.

For those, click Restart Frigate in the tray. The web UI becomes briefly unavailable, then comes back with the new config.