zmNg - Modern ZoneMinder Client

A modern web and mobile application for ZoneMinder, providing a clean, intuitive interface for viewing live camera feeds, reviewing events, and managing multiple server profiles. It is a ground-up rewrite of the original zmNinja application, using modern web technologies and a more intuitive user interface. The code was 99% Claude CLI generated when I first started. Since then, I've been using codex, antigravity and copilot w/Gemini3 depending on where I have tokens. claude is still head and shoulders above the rest, but codex isn't bad.

Watch a video of the demo HERE

Screenshots

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Agentic AI, you and me

Agentic AI and me: I built the very first version of zmNinja over several months and built in more features over multiple years. I built the first version of zmNg over 2.5 days with almost as many features as the last version of zmNinja. My agent of choice was Claude CLI (with Antigraviy and Copilot when tokens expired). Honestly, zmNg is better structured, more modern and easier to support than zmNinja (which uses tons of now deprecated tech and other code issues). I built it to learn how to effectively use agentic coding tools and wow, was I pleasantly surprised. zmNg has better tests, better release workflow (100% automated), easier to read code and better UX as well (imho).

Agentic AI and you: I don't plan to support zmNg at all. Please don't ping me and expect quick answers. Instead, treat this as "personal software" - i.e. download the code and fix it yourself. If you don't code, or do code, but aren't familiar with the environment of zmNg, I'd encourage you to use an agentic AI tool to help you along the way. Pick one you prefer. Remember, for mobile support, you'll need to generate your own FCM tokens. See mobile guides later for more.

Pull Requests

I am happy to accept PRs, but I don't want AI slop. Funny I am saying this, given this repo is largely AI agent(s) generated. The difference is I understand the code and know how to prompt it with directions that make the tools generate better quality code. Remember these tools are amazing but love to write a lot of code doing custom things when simpler/better means are available. They also make mistakes. So here are the rules:

• If you have not read and understood the code you generated, please don't PR it to my repo. Please continue to extend it yourself
• See my agent rules for CLAUDE here - please make sure to use it in your agent
• Before you PR, please do a code review

Limitations & Notes

• Self signed/untrusted certificates are not supported. It's not worth the effort to support them. Please use LetsEncrypt or other free certs, or just use http.
• Push notifications won't work till you build the mobile apps yourself (web notifications, when the app is in foreground will work). See Android and iOS guides.
• If you want push notifications, you'll have to use a newer Event Server that has support for direct FCM (yep, you don't need the proxy cloud function anymore)

Quick Start

Binaries

• Download binaries from zmNg Releases
• iOS is not uploaded - I don't have a dev account anymore
• I use Github workflows and runners to automatically build release binaries here. Binaries are built for specific platforms. If the binary doesn't work for your linux distro, look at those files

Build from Source

Prerequisites

• Node.js ^20.19.0 || >=22.12.0 and npm (download)
• For desktop builds: Rust toolchain (for Tauri builds)

GitHub Actions Setup (For Automated Releases)

If you're setting up automated builds via GitHub Actions, you need to enable write permissions:

1. Go to your repository on GitHub
2. Navigate to Settings → Actions → General
3. Scroll down to Workflow permissions
4. Select "Read and write permissions"
5. Check "Allow GitHub Actions to create and approve pull requests" (optional)
6. Click Save

This allows the workflows to create GitHub releases automatically when you push a tag.

Desktop Development

git clone https://github.com/pliablepixels/zmNg
cd zmNg/app
npm install

# Desktop development (Tauri - native app)
npm run tauri:dev

Desktop Production Builds

Desktop production build (Tauri): Recommended

npm run tauri:build    # Output: src-tauri/target/release/bundle/

Web production build

npm run build          # Output: dist/
npm run preview        # Preview production build

Deploy web build (dist/) to: Netlify, Vercel, GitHub Pages, AWS S3, etc.

Mobile Builds

• For Android setup and builds, see ANDROID
• For iOS setup and builds, see IOS

Testing

The project includes unit tests and end-to-end (E2E) tests to ensure code quality and reliability.

Unit Tests

Run unit tests with Vitest:

cd zmNg/app

# Run all unit tests
npm run test:unit

# Run tests in watch mode
npm run test:unit -- --watch

# Run with coverage report
npm run test:coverage

# Run specific test file
npm run test:unit -- src/lib/__tests__/url-builder.test.ts

Coverage reports are generated in coverage/ directory.

End-to-End Tests

Run E2E tests with Playwright:

# Run E2E tests
npm run test:e2e

# Run with UI mode (visual debugging)
npm run test:e2e:ui

# Run specific test file
npm run test:e2e -- tests/monitors.spec.ts

Note: E2E tests require a running ZoneMinder server. Configure test credentials in .env file (see .env.example).

Run All Tests

# Run both unit and E2E tests
npm run test:all

Making releases

• See scripts/release.sh here. This automatically tags the current state and triggers release builds

New vs Old

View Comparison with zmNinja