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Summary

Secluso is an open-source, end-to-end encrypted home security camera system for Raspberry Pi that allows remote access without cloud surveillance. It features a 5-minute setup and reproducible builds.

Hey everyone,<p>I previously introduced an open source private home security camera in 2024, which uses OpenMLS for end-to-end encryption: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=42284412">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=42284412</a>.<p>It was called Privastead then and it&#x27;s now renamed to Secluso.<p>John Kaczman found my project from here and has been working on it with me over the last year and half. We&#x27;ve made a lot of improvements to the software, which we would like to share with you:<p>- You can now set this up on your Raspberry Pi in less than 5 minutes with no technical expertise using our easy-to-use GUI deploy tool. We&#x27;ve put together a comprehensive build-your-own guide that walks you through the required steps (you can find a link at the top of the repository README).<p>- We use a customized, minimal OS based on the Yocto project for the camera.<p>- Every part of our stack except for the iOS app has reproducible builds. This includes our Android app, camera&#x2F;server binaries, deploy tool, and the aforementioned OS.<p>- We&#x27;ve re-designed our mobile app, which is now on the iOS App Store and Google Play store.<p>- We now support UnifiedPush for more privacy-preserving push notifications.<p>Looking forward to seeing what you all think!
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secluso/core

Source: https://github.com/secluso/core

Private home security without cloud surveillance

Secluso

Private DIY home security for Raspberry Pi, with encrypted remote access and a 5-minute software setup.

Download Secluso Deploy • Build Your Own Guide • Security Model • Website

Secluso is a private home security camera system for Raspberry Pi. Watch live video, get alerts, and open recordings from your phone without handing your footage to a cloud provider.

Secluso is developed by Secluso, Inc. and co-founded by:

  • Ardalan Amiri Sani, a UC Irvine professor with expertise in computer security and privacy,
  • John Kaczman, an open source and privacy enthusiast with experience in automation, systems, and AI.

Features

  • End-to-end encrypted remote access: Watch live video, get alerts, and open recordings from your phone.
  • 5-minute setup: Secluso Deploy handles image building, pairing, and relay setup in the normal path.
  • Open source: Inspect the code, self-host it, and contribute.
  • Fully reproducible releases: Verify the released runtime binaries, deploy tool, Android mobile app and Secluso OS against the public source code.

Requirements

  • Raspberry Pi: Raspberry Pi Zero 2W
  • Camera: Raspberry Pi Camera Module V1 and V2 (or any camera with a OV5647 or IMX219 Sony sensor)
  • Relay: your own Linux VPS login, or an email to us for free beta relay hosting while testing
  • Phone: Android or iPhone for pairing, alerts, and playback

Set up in 5 minutes (Quick Start)

  1. Download Secluso Deploy from the latest releases.
  2. Generate your personalized Secluso OS image and camera secret QR code locally
  3. Let Secluso Deploy provision your relay over SSH, or email us if you want free beta relay hosting while testing.
  4. Boot the Pi and pair it in the mobile app.

If you need help choosing hardware or a VPS, Build Your Own Guide gives you hardware suggestions and a simple starting path.

A demo picture of our Secluso Deploy tool

Mobile App

After setup, use the mobile app to check in remotely, review recent events, and open encrypted clips.

iOS Mobile App • Android Mobile App

A demo picture of our Secluso Deploy tool

Security

See WHITE_PAPER.md for the full security model, including the untrusted-relay design, forward secrecy, and post-compromise security. See SECURITY.md for how to report a vulnerability.

Reproducible Builds

We do distribute a prebuilt Raspberry Pi image called “Secluso OS”. Secluso Deploy generates unique credentials on your machine and injects them into this prebuilt image. Secluso OS, the deploy tool, our runtime binaries, and our Android app are completely reproducible.

See releases/README.md for the reproducibility checker for the binaries and deploy tool. See mobile_client/tool/repro/README.md for the reproducibility checker for the Android mobile app. See os/README.md for the reproducibility checker for Secluso OS. The image must be checked before the deploy tool modifies it (download from our releases directly).

Contributing

Questions and contributions are welcome. Contributions are made under the project license in LICENSE.

Contact

If you need help with anything else, please feel free to contact us at [email protected]

Disclaimers

This project uses cryptography. Check your local laws before use.

Use at your own risk. The project authors provide no guarantees of privacy or home security.

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