Talk to any ONVIF camera from Go.

Find cameras on the network, read their streams, move them, and test against virtual ones when no hardware is around.

$ go get github.com/0x524a/onvif-go

Read the quick start Browse the API reference Official Go docs on pkg.go.dev Download the CLI tools

go run ./examples/discovery

// WS-Discovery on the local network
→ Probe          NetworkVideoTransmitter
← ProbeMatches   lobby-camera
                 192.168.1.21:8080
← ProbeMatches   dock-ptz
                 192.168.1.34
2 devices found in 412ms

One client for every vendor.

Context on every call, safe to share across goroutines, and an endpoint can be a full URL, host:port or just an IP. Call Initialize once and the client finds the media, PTZ and imaging services itself.

client, err := onvif.NewClient(
    "192.168.1.100",
    onvif.WithCredentials("admin", "password"),
    onvif.WithTimeout(30*time.Second),
)
if err := client.Initialize(ctx); err != nil { /* ... */ }

profiles, _ := client.GetProfiles(ctx)
uri, _ := client.GetStreamURI(ctx, profiles[0].Token)
fmt.Println(uri.URI) // rtsp://192.168.1.100:554/...

// pan right for two seconds, then stop
velocity := &onvif.PTZSpeed{
    PanTilt: &onvif.Vector2D{X: 0.5, Y: 0},
}
timeout := "PT2S"
err := client.ContinuousMove(ctx, token, velocity, &timeout)
err = client.Stop(ctx, token, true, true)

// recall a saved position
presets, _ := client.GetPresets(ctx, token)
err = client.GotoPreset(ctx, token, presets[0].Token, nil)

settings, _ := client.GetImagingSettings(ctx, videoSource)

brightness, contrast := 60.0, 55.0
settings.Brightness = &brightness
settings.Contrast = &contrast

err := client.SetImagingSettings(ctx, videoSource, settings, true)

No camera on your desk? Run one.

The server package is a virtual multi-lens camera with Device, Media, PTZ and Imaging services. Add the WS-Discovery responder and your own client, VMS or CI job finds it like real hardware.

Give it a stable name and it keeps the same endpoint ID after every restart.

main.go

cfg := server.DefaultConfig()
cfg.EndpointSeed = "lobby-camera" // same ID on every start
ready := make(chan struct{})
cfg.Ready = ready

srv, _ := server.New(cfg)
go srv.Start(ctx)
<-ready

resp := discovery.NewResponder(&discovery.ResponderConfig{})
resp.Register(srv.DiscoveryDevice())
go resp.Start(ctx) // answers Probes, sends Hello and Bye

What it covers.

Typed requests and responses for the ONVIF services cameras actually ship, with WS-Security digest authentication on every call.

Device	98 APIs	Information, capabilities, network, users, certificates, Wi-Fi, storage, logs, firmware
Media	14+ APIs	Profiles, RTSP and HTTP stream URIs, snapshots, encoder settings
PTZ	13 APIs	Continuous, absolute and relative moves, presets, home position, status
Imaging	7 APIs	Brightness, contrast, exposure, focus, white balance, wide dynamic range
Discovery	client + responder	Find devices on a chosen network interface, or announce your own
Events, Device I/O	included	Pull-point subscriptions, relays, digital inputs

Command-line tools included.

Prebuilt binaries are attached to every release.

onvif-cliInteractive menu or one-shot flags for scripts and CI: -op info, -op stream, -op discover.

onvif-serverStart virtual cameras from the shell, with any number of profiles.

onvif-diagnosticsTest a real camera and capture its raw SOAP, then turn the capture into a regression test.

onvif-quickDiscover, connect and try PTZ in a few keystrokes.

Tested against real cameras.

AxisHikvisionDahuaBoschHanwha

Responses captured from these vendors' devices are replayed in the test suite, so a fix for one camera does not break another. Supports ONVIF Profile S, T and G. Needs Go 1.25 or newer.