Using audio in a HA notification trigger

[patienttruth]

I'm trying to use a "bark" event to trigger a notification using the Frigate Notification Blueprint.

After it didn't work initially I did some reading through historical posts and it seems at some point the "bark" label was only being sent via MQTT in an update vs the new message. I haven't had the chance to test that as causing Frigate to recognize a bark event isn't something I'm naturally equipped for.

I did try changing the blueprint to trigger on update instead of new, and it works but its not passing the video/snapshot on. I think there might be event is missing or something based on my recollection of some late night reading I did in the past week.

So, I wanted to ask:

• do audio sub labels show up innew MQTT messages, or only updates?
• if the latter, is there a practical or architectural reason?
• any suggestions for accomplishing my objective.
• does anyone have similar use cases that they're willing to share their snippets for?
• I think at minimum I'll have to modify the current Blueprint. I just thought I'd research the best approach before trying to tackle that.

Thanks!

[inkeep-ai-assistant[bot]]

• Audio labels like "bark" are included in the MQTT event payloads under the attributes for tracked objects, but the documentation does not explicitly state if they appear only in update messages or also in new messages. The example MQTT event message shows attributes (including audio) present in both "new" and "update" types, but it is not explicitly stated for all cases(1).
• The documentation does not provide a practical or architectural reason for any difference in when audio labels are added to MQTT messages(1).
• For your objective (triggering Home Assistant notifications on a "bark" audio event), ensure your Frigate config enables audio detection and includes "bark" under the audio.listen list(2). You can monitor the MQTT topic frigate/events for messages containing the "bark" label in the attributes and use that as your automation trigger(1)(2).
• The documentation does not include user-contributed Home Assistant automation snippets for audio event notifications, so there are no shared examples available(1)(2).
• You may need to modify your Blueprint to listen for both "new" and "update" event types and specifically check for the presence of the "bark" label in the event's attributes. Also, ensure your automation logic properly extracts and uses the snapshot or video fields from the MQTT payload when available(1).

📚 Sources:

1. MQTT
2. Full Reference Config

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Have another question? Just tag @inkeep.

[hawkeye217]

For questions about the blueprint, you'll want to reach out on the Sgtbatten GitHub: https://github.com/SgtBatten/HA_blueprints

[patienttruth]

Thanks for checking in.

That's where I did most of the research. I found a few people trying to trigger off audio events, but were having trouble. There was a comment about possibly needing a fork of the blueprint to handle audio events separately due to something about how the mqtt messaging worked. That's where I got the question about new vs. update messages.

I figured I'd start here to confirm or disprove that since it's foundational to how the blueprint would have to be modified.

[hawkeye217]

You could always use the frigate/events MQTT topic with your own HA automation instead of the blueprint. @inkeep can probably help with that.

[patienttruth]

Thanks! I'll look into that approach and reach out to them if I run into any issues.

I hope you have a great weekend. 🤙🏼

[inkeep-ai-assistant[bot]]

You can create a custom Home Assistant automation that triggers on the frigate/events MQTT topic to handle audio events like "bark"(1).

The frigate/events topic publishes messages for each changed tracked object(1). The message includes an attributes field that contains attributes with top scores identified on the object at any point(1). Audio labels would appear in this attributes section(1).

Here's the structure you'll be working with from the MQTT events topic(1):

{
  "type": "update",
  "after": {
    "id": "1607123955.475377-mxklsc",
    "camera": "front_door",
    "label": "person",
    "attributes": {
      "face": 0.86
    },
    "has_snapshot": false,
    "has_clip": false
  }
}

(1)

To create your automation in Home Assistant, you would:

1. Set up an MQTT trigger that listens to frigate/events(1)
2. Add a condition to check if the event's attributes contain "bark"
3. Use the event's id to construct the snapshot or clip URL
4. Send your notification with the media attached

The key is that the frigate/events topic is designed to be used for real-time tracking of individual tracked objects with full details(1). This topic provides the information you need including the event ID, camera name, and whether snapshots or clips are available (has_snapshot, has_clip fields)(1).

For MQTT configuration in Frigate, ensure MQTT is enabled and connected to the same MQTT server as Home Assistant(2).

📚 Sources:

1. MQTT
2. Home Assistant Integration

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Have another question? Just tag @inkeep.

[hawkeye217]

Actually, the AI is incorrect here - the label will not appear in the attributes section.

I should note that there are sensors available in the official Frigate HA integration for any audio labels you've set up, so that may be a better (and easier) way to run automations based on audio events.