zmNinjaNG - 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.

Demo

Watch the demo

Important Notes:

zmNinjaNG supports self-signed certificates on mobile (iOS/Android). Enable it in Settings > Connection. On desktop, add your CA to the system trust store. Using proper certificates (e.g. LetsEncrypt) is still recommended.
zmNinjaNG has been tested with ES7+ - I'd recommend you switch to this new ecosystem

Screenshots _{^{frames courtesy appleframer}}

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 zmNinjaNG over 2.5 days with almost as many features as the last version of zmNinja. Thanks to Claude.

Agentic AI and you: I don't plan to support zmNinjaNG with any urgency. 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 zmNinjaNG, I'd encourage you to use an agentic AI tool to help you along the way. Pick one you prefer. Personally, I'd recommend Claude Code. In my experience, as of Mar 2026, its significantly ahead of others.

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 certificates are supported on mobile (iOS/Android) via Settings > Connection. On desktop, add your CA to the system trust store. Using proper certificates (e.g. LetsEncrypt) is still recommended.
If you want push notifications, you'll have to use a newer Event Server

Quick Start

Binaries

Download binaries from zmNinjaNG Releases
iOS will be in the app store soon. Isaac is on it.
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:

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

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

Desktop Development

git clone https://github.com/pliablepixels/zmNinjaNG
cd zmNinjaNG/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 cross-platform E2E tests. All commands run from app/.

Unit Tests

npm run test:unit              # Run all unit tests
npm run test:unit -- --watch   # Watch mode
npm run test:coverage          # With coverage report

Web E2E Tests

Uses Playwright with Gherkin .feature files against a real ZoneMinder server. Configure credentials in app/.env.

npm run test:e2e                                    # All web E2E tests
npm run test:e2e -- tests/features/dashboard.feature  # Single feature
npm run test:e2e -- --headed                          # See the browser
npm run test:e2e:visual-update                        # Regenerate visual baselines
npm run test:all                                      # Unit + web E2E

Device E2E Tests

Tests run on real devices — Android emulator, iOS simulator (phone + tablet), and Tauri desktop. Each platform uses shell scripts that handle building, booting, and running tests.

bash scripts/test-android.sh          # Android emulator (Playwright via CDP)
bash scripts/test-ios.sh phone        # iPhone simulator (WebDriverIO + Appium)
bash scripts/test-ios.sh tablet       # iPad simulator (WebDriverIO + Appium)
bash scripts/test-tauri.sh            # Tauri desktop (WebDriverIO + tauri-driver)
bash scripts/test-all-platforms.sh    # All 5 platforms sequentially

Device tests require one-time setup (Xcode, Android Studio, Appium, etc.). Run npm run test:platform:setup to verify your machine is ready. See app/tests/README.md for setup instructions and docs/developer-guide/06-testing-strategy.rst for the full testing guide.

Documentation

pip install -r docs/requirements.txt sphinx-autobuild && cd docs && make clean && make html && sphinx-autobuild . _build/html

Making releases

See scripts/make_release.sh here. This automatically tags the current state and triggers release builds
app/package.json is the source of truth for the version number. scripts/sync-version.js propagates it to app/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json and app/src-tauri/Cargo.toml during builds and releases