MultiFlow

This project explores compressing and streaming camera frames to a local Flask server using ffmpeg + DASH. It includes a small React frontend (Vite) to view live streams and per-camera recordings.

Quick manual run (what the scripts do)

Run the Python client:

cd client
python client.py

Build the frontend and start the server:

cd client/vite
npm install
npm run build

cd ../..
cd server
python server.py

Start scripts (recommended)

Two convenience scripts are provided to build what's needed and start the project:

• start.ps1 — Windows PowerShell
• start.sh — Linux / macOS (bash)

What they do:

• Build the frontend (runs npm install and npm run build in client/vite) if the build output doesn't exist or if you force a rebuild.
• Start the Python server (server/server.py) and the camera client (client/client.py).
• They do NOT open a browser for you; they leave servers running so you can inspect logs and control processes.

Examples

Windows (PowerShell):

# build if needed and start server+client
.\start.ps1

# force a frontend rebuild and start everything
.\start.ps1 -Rebuild

Linux / macOS (bash):

# build if needed and start server+client
./start.sh

# force a frontend rebuild and start everything
./start.sh -r

Notes & prerequisites

• Requires Node.js (npm) and Python available on PATH.
• The scripts start the Python server and client such that generated chunks/ and recordings/ folders are created under the server/ folder (so artifacts stay with the server files).
• If you prefer to run pieces manually, the "Quick manual run" instructions above show the equivalent commands.

CLI options

Both the server and client Python scripts accept command-line options to control host/port and server URL.

Server (server/server.py)

• --host: Host/IP to bind the Flask server to (default: 0.0.0.0)
• --port: Port to listen on (default: 5000)

Examples (PowerShell):

# run server on default 0.0.0.0:5000
python server/server.py

# run server on localhost port 8080
python server/server.py --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8080

# run server with debug enabled
python server/server.py --debug

Client (client/client.py)

• --host: Server host used to construct the upload endpoint (default: 127.0.0.1)
• --port: Server port used to construct the upload endpoint (default: 5000)
• --server-url: Full upload URL (overrides --host/--port), e.g. http://example.com:5000/upload

Examples (PowerShell):

# run client with default server URL (http://127.0.0.1:5000/upload)
python client/client.py

# point client at a server on 192.168.1.10:5000
python client/client.py --host 192.168.1.10 --port 5000

# use a full server URL
python client/client.py --server-url http://example.com:5000/upload

Notes:

• If --server-url is supplied it takes precedence over --host/--port.
• These options are designed to be backward compatible with existing behavior.