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Camera entities and Cloud

There are two different ways to view Toposync cameras from Home Assistant:

  • Toposync UI in the sidebar: opens the Toposync app through Home Assistant ingress.
  • Native Home Assistant camera entities: exposes published Toposync live views as camera.* entities inside Home Assistant.

Use the sidebar to configure Toposync. Use native camera entities when you want Home Assistant cards, dashboards, automations, or Home Assistant Cloud remote viewing to handle the camera playback contract.

Why native entities matter for Cloud​

Home Assistant Cloud can help most when the stream is part of Home Assistant's camera model. A video player embedded inside the Toposync sidebar is still a Toposync web player running through ingress; it is not the same as a native Home Assistant camera entity.

For Cloud-friendly viewing:

  1. publish the camera source in Toposync with Transmit this source;
  2. confirm the Toposync live view works;
  3. configure the Toposync custom integration in Home Assistant;
  4. use the resulting camera.* entities in Home Assistant dashboards.

What Toposync exports​

The integration reads:

GET /api/streams/home-assistant/cameras

Each exported camera is backed by a Toposync transmission/output. It should not expose direct camera credentials or direct camera RTSP URLs.

The native entity uses:

  • stream_source() with an internal Toposync/MediaMTX RTSP URL;
  • still images from Toposync still endpoints;
  • heartbeat renewal while Home Assistant is requesting the stream;
  • optional native WebRTC offer handling only when explicitly enabled.

Default path:

Toposync publication -> Home Assistant camera entity -> Home Assistant stream component -> Home Assistant UI / Cloud

This keeps fallback behavior in Home Assistant. When native WebRTC is disabled, Home Assistant can use its normal stream handling instead of forcing every view through a WebRTC-only path.

Native WebRTC option​

Native WebRTC in the Home Assistant integration is an advanced opt-in setting. Keep it disabled unless you are intentionally validating low-latency playback in that Home Assistant installation.

Reasons to keep it off by default:

  • WebRTC depends on candidates, ports, NAT, and relay behavior;
  • Home Assistant's native WebRTC path may not use the same HLS fallback behavior;
  • HLS via Home Assistant's stream handling is usually more predictable for remote viewing.

If you enable native WebRTC, validate both local Home Assistant and Home Assistant Cloud before relying on it.

Add-on ingress versus entities​

The Toposync sidebar player still matters, but it is optimized for Toposync's own UI:

  • ingress/sidebar playback is HLS-first;
  • MSE may be used through the Toposync proxy when available;
  • JSMpeg is a last visual fallback;
  • direct browser WebRTC is not the default in ingress.

If sidebar playback works but a Home Assistant dashboard card does not, debug the native camera entity path. If the Home Assistant camera entity works but the Toposync sidebar does not, debug the Toposync player or ingress path.

Checklist​

  1. In Toposync, publish the source you want Home Assistant to see.
  2. Confirm the Toposync live view is live or has a clear actionable state.
  3. Confirm the Home Assistant manifest endpoint lists the camera.
  4. Add or reload the Toposync custom integration in Home Assistant.
  5. Confirm the camera.* entity appears.
  6. Test the entity locally in Home Assistant.
  7. Test through Home Assistant Cloud if remote viewing is required.