everything-claude-code/skills/videodb/reference/capture-reference.md

Capture Reference

Code-level details for VideoDB capture sessions. For workflow guide, see capture.md.

---

WebSocket Events

Real-time events from capture sessions and AI pipelines. No webhooks or polling required.

Use scripts/ws_listener.py to connect and dump events to ${VIDEODB_EVENTS_DIR:-$HOME/.local/state/videodb}/videodb_events.jsonl.

Event Channels

Channel	Source	Content
capture_session	Session lifecycle	Status changes
transcript	start_transcript()	Speech-to-text
visual_index / scene_index	index_visuals()	Visual analysis
audio_index	index_audio()	Audio analysis
alert	create_alert()	Alert notifications

Session Lifecycle Events

Event	Status	Key Data
capture_session.created	created	—
capture_session.starting	starting	—
capture_session.active	active	rtstreams[]
capture_session.stopping	stopping	—
capture_session.stopped	stopped	—
capture_session.exported	exported	exported_video_id, stream_url, player_url
capture_session.failed	failed	error

Event Structures

Transcript event:

{
  "channel": "transcript",
  "rtstream_id": "rts-xxx",
  "rtstream_name": "mic:default",
  "data": {
    "text": "Let's schedule the meeting for Thursday",
    "is_final": true,
    "start": 1710000001234,
    "end": 1710000002345
  }
}

Visual index event:

{
  "channel": "visual_index",
  "rtstream_id": "rts-xxx",
  "rtstream_name": "display:1",
  "data": {
    "text": "User is viewing a Slack conversation with 3 unread messages",
    "start": 1710000012340,
    "end": 1710000018900
  }
}

Audio index event:

{
  "channel": "audio_index",
  "rtstream_id": "rts-xxx",
  "rtstream_name": "mic:default",
  "data": {
    "text": "Discussion about scheduling a team meeting",
    "start": 1710000021500,
    "end": 1710000029200
  }
}

Session active event:

{
  "event": "capture_session.active",
  "capture_session_id": "cap-xxx",
  "status": "active",
  "data": {
    "rtstreams": [
      { "rtstream_id": "rts-1", "name": "mic:default", "media_types": ["audio"] },
      { "rtstream_id": "rts-2", "name": "system_audio:default", "media_types": ["audio"] },
      { "rtstream_id": "rts-3", "name": "display:1", "media_types": ["video"] }
    ]
  }
}

Session exported event:

{
  "event": "capture_session.exported",
  "capture_session_id": "cap-xxx",
  "status": "exported",
  "data": {
    "exported_video_id": "v_xyz789",
    "stream_url": "https://stream.videodb.io/...",
    "player_url": "https://console.videodb.io/player?url=..."
  }
}

For latest details, see VideoDB Realtime Context docs.

---

Event Persistence

Use ws_listener.py to dump all WebSocket events to a JSONL file for later analysis.

Start Listener and Get WebSocket ID

# Start with --clear to clear old events (recommended for new sessions)
python scripts/ws_listener.py --clear &

# Append to existing events (for reconnects)
python scripts/ws_listener.py &

Or specify a custom output directory:

python scripts/ws_listener.py --clear /path/to/output &
# Or via environment variable:
VIDEODB_EVENTS_DIR=/path/to/output python scripts/ws_listener.py --clear &

The script outputs WS_ID=<connection_id> on the first line, then listens indefinitely.

Get the ws_id:

cat "${VIDEODB_EVENTS_DIR:-$HOME/.local/state/videodb}/videodb_ws_id"

Stop the listener:

kill "$(cat "${VIDEODB_EVENTS_DIR:-$HOME/.local/state/videodb}/videodb_ws_pid")"

Functions that accept ws_connection_id:

Function	Purpose
conn.create_capture_session()	Session lifecycle events
RTStream methods	See rtstream-reference.md

Output files (in output directory, default ${XDG_STATE_HOME:-$HOME/.local/state}/videodb):

• videodb_ws_id - WebSocket connection ID
• videodb_events.jsonl - All events
• videodb_ws_pid - Process ID for easy termination

Features:

• --clear flag to clear events file on start (use for new sessions)
• Auto-reconnect with exponential backoff on connection drops
• Graceful shutdown on SIGINT/SIGTERM
• Connection status logging

JSONL Format

Each line is a JSON object with added timestamps:

{"ts": "2026-03-02T10:15:30.123Z", "unix_ts": 1772446530.123, "channel": "visual_index", "data": {"text": "..."}}
{"ts": "2026-03-02T10:15:31.456Z", "unix_ts": 1772446531.456, "event": "capture_session.active", "capture_session_id": "cap-xxx"}

Reading Events

import json
import time
from pathlib import Path

events_path = Path.home() / ".local" / "state" / "videodb" / "videodb_events.jsonl"
transcripts = []
recent = []
visual = []

cutoff = time.time() - 600
with events_path.open(encoding="utf-8") as handle:
    for line in handle:
        event = json.loads(line)
        if event.get("channel") == "transcript":
            transcripts.append(event)
        if event.get("unix_ts", 0) > cutoff:
            recent.append(event)
        if (
            event.get("channel") == "visual_index"
            and "code" in event.get("data", {}).get("text", "").lower()
        ):
            visual.append(event)

---

WebSocket Connection

Connect to receive real-time AI results from transcription and indexing pipelines.

ws_wrapper = conn.connect_websocket()
ws = await ws_wrapper.connect()
ws_id = ws.connection_id

Property / Method	Type	Description
ws.connection_id	str	Unique connection ID (pass to AI pipeline methods)
ws.receive()	AsyncIterator[dict]	Async iterator yielding real-time messages

---

CaptureSession

Connection Methods

Method	Returns	Description
conn.create_capture_session(end_user_id, collection_id, ws_connection_id, metadata)	CaptureSession	Create a new capture session
conn.get_capture_session(capture_session_id)	CaptureSession	Retrieve an existing capture session
conn.generate_client_token()	str	Generate a client-side authentication token

Create a Capture Session

from pathlib import Path

ws_id = (Path.home() / ".local" / "state" / "videodb" / "videodb_ws_id").read_text().strip()

session = conn.create_capture_session(
    end_user_id="user-123",  # required
    collection_id="default",
    ws_connection_id=ws_id,
    metadata={"app": "my-app"},
)
print(f"Session ID: {session.id}")

Note: end_user_id is required and identifies the user initiating the capture. For testing or demo purposes, any unique string identifier works (e.g., "demo-user", "test-123").

CaptureSession Properties

Property	Type	Description
session.id	str	Unique capture session ID

CaptureSession Methods

Method	Returns	Description
session.get_rtstream(type)	list[RTStream]	Get RTStreams by type: "mic", "screen", or "system_audio"

Generate a Client Token

token = conn.generate_client_token()

---

CaptureClient

The client runs on the user's machine and handles permissions, channel discovery, and streaming.

from videodb.capture import CaptureClient

client = CaptureClient(client_token=token)

CaptureClient Methods

Method	Returns	Description
await client.request_permission(type)	None	Request device permission ("microphone", "screen_capture")
await client.list_channels()	Channels	Discover available audio/video channels
await client.start_capture_session(capture_session_id, channels, primary_video_channel_id)	None	Start streaming selected channels
await client.stop_capture()	None	Gracefully stop the capture session
await client.shutdown()	None	Clean up client resources

Request Permissions

await client.request_permission("microphone")
await client.request_permission("screen_capture")

Start a Session

selected_channels = [c for c in [mic, display, system_audio] if c]
await client.start_capture_session(
    capture_session_id=session.id,
    channels=selected_channels,
    primary_video_channel_id=display.id if display else None,
)

Stop a Session

await client.stop_capture()
await client.shutdown()

---

Channels

Returned by client.list_channels(). Groups available devices by type.

channels = await client.list_channels()
for ch in channels.all():
    print(f"  {ch.id} ({ch.type}): {ch.name}")

mic = channels.mics.default
display = channels.displays.default
system_audio = channels.system_audio.default

Channel Groups

Property	Type	Description
channels.mics	ChannelGroup	Available microphones
channels.displays	ChannelGroup	Available screen displays
channels.system_audio	ChannelGroup	Available system audio sources

ChannelGroup Methods & Properties

Member	Type	Description
group.default	Channel	Default channel in the group (or None)
group.all()	list[Channel]	All channels in the group

Channel Properties

Property	Type	Description
ch.id	str	Unique channel ID
ch.type	str	Channel type ("mic", "display", "system_audio")
ch.name	str	Human-readable channel name
ch.store	bool	Whether to persist the recording (set to True to save)

Without store = True, streams are processed in real-time but not saved.

---

RTStreams and AI Pipelines

After session is active, retrieve RTStream objects with session.get_rtstream().

For RTStream methods (indexing, transcription, alerts, batch config), see rtstream-reference.md.

---

Session Lifecycle

  create_capture_session()
          │
          v
  ┌───────────────┐
  │    created     │
  └───────┬───────┘
          │  client.start_capture_session()
          v
  ┌───────────────┐     WebSocket: capture_session.starting
  │   starting     │ ──> Capture channels connect
  └───────┬───────┘
          │
          v
  ┌───────────────┐     WebSocket: capture_session.active
  │    active      │ ──> Start AI pipelines
  └───────┬──────────────┐
          │              │
          │              v
          │      ┌───────────────┐     WebSocket: capture_session.failed
          │      │    failed      │ ──> Inspect error payload and retry setup
          │      └───────────────┘
          │      unrecoverable capture error
          │
          │  client.stop_capture()
          v
  ┌───────────────┐     WebSocket: capture_session.stopping
  │   stopping     │ ──> Finalize streams
  └───────┬───────┘
          │
          v
  ┌───────────────┐     WebSocket: capture_session.stopped
  │   stopped      │ ──> All streams finalized
  └───────┬───────┘
          │  (if store=True)
          v
  ┌───────────────┐     WebSocket: capture_session.exported
  │   exported     │ ──> Access video_id, stream_url, player_url
  └───────────────┘