Cam Stream

Omarchy is the scene

Cam Stream turns the desktop itself into the streaming layout. Instead of rebuilding your windows inside a fixed OBS canvas, arrange Omarchy exactly as you want viewers to see it and capture that. The camera preview behaves like any other Omarchy window: move it, resize it, tile it, float it, or hide it while the stream is running. Its video fills the window as the layout changes.

The camera and capture activity deliberately keep separate state. Starting or stopping a recording or live send never changes the camera window, so the layout on screen stays under your control. Full screen is the default capture mode; the familiar Omarchy window and region pickers are also available, and Cam Stream remembers the last choice.

Cam Stream lives in the Omarchy bar. Left click toggles the camera. Right click opens the themed Camera, Record, and Live Stream controls, with distinct states for previewing, recording, sending, stopped, error, and no-camera conditions.

Install

Omarchy 4 / Quattro plugin

Install the native bar widget and enable it immediately:

omarchy plugin add https://github.com/tomdavenport/cam-stream.git --enable

Already have Cam Stream in your bar? Skip add and update the existing checkout instead:

omarchy plugin update io.github.tomdavenport.cam-stream

The updater deliberately shows the incoming diff and asks for confirmation before it changes anything. Confirm the prompt after reviewing it, or append --yes when you have already reviewed and trust the release.

No AUR package is needed for the widget: the plugin includes its own helper. Left click the new icon to toggle the camera, or right click it for Camera, Record, and Live Stream controls.

Arch Linux / AUR command

Install the standalone command without the Quattro widget:

yay -S cam-stream

This installs cam-stream at /usr/bin/cam-stream. It provides the camera, recording, and RTMP(S) commands on Arch and other compatible Wayland desktops, but it does not add the native Omarchy bar control.

Omarchy plugin gallery

Cam Stream is live in the project-recommended community gallery. Open the Cam Stream marketplace listing to review it or copy the install command. Its submission issue passed automated Quattro validation and maintainer review; the marketplace periodically revalidates the current main branch for later versions, description changes, and preview updates.

Plugin authors can submit another public Quattro plugin by following the marketplace's submission guide.

Requirements

The native bar widget requires Omarchy 4 (Quattro) and its Quickshell-based shell and plugin commands. It is not a Waybar module and does not support Omarchy 3.

The bundled cam-stream command also works on its own on Arch Linux and other Wayland desktops with V4L2 camera support. Standalone use does not require Omarchy, but it does not install the bar widget.

Runtime dependencies:

• Bash 5
• mpv
• v4l-utils (v4l2-ctl)
• util-linux (flock)
• the coreutils and procps tools included in the Omarchy base system

Recording and live streaming additionally use:

• gpu-screen-recorder with per-instance IPC support
• ffmpeg to finish live local copies as MP4 files
• libsecret (secret-tool) and an unlocked Secret Service keyring for stream keys

These components ship with Omarchy 4. On standalone Arch installations they are optional until Record or Live Stream is used.

hyprctl and jq are optional for best-effort Quattro window positioning; the preview still works without automatic positioning. fuser from psmisc is optional for reporting which process has a busy camera.

Install any missing packages through Omarchy's standard package workflow before enabling the plugin. Add psmisc if you want busy-camera process reporting. Omarchy already ships hyprctl as part of its desktop.

Standalone AUR details

The cam-stream AUR package builds the latest stable release and installs the command at /usr/bin/cam-stream. Using the standard manual AUR workflow:

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/cam-stream.git
cd cam-stream
makepkg -si

Then inspect the available cameras and start a preview:

cam-stream camera list
cam-stream doctor
cam-stream start
cam-stream stop

The AUR package is intentionally command-only. To add the native Quattro bar control, use the Omarchy installation below; the plugin remains self-contained and does not depend on the AUR package.

Review-first Omarchy installation

Omarchy plugins are unsandboxed code. The review-first path is to add Cam Stream, inspect the checkout, and then enable it:

omarchy plugin add https://github.com/tomdavenport/cam-stream.git
cd "$HOME/.config/omarchy/plugins/io.github.tomdavenport.cam-stream"
less manifest.json
less BarWidget.qml
less bin/cam-stream
omarchy plugin enable io.github.tomdavenport.cam-stream --section right

To add and enable it in one command after reviewing the repository online:

omarchy plugin add https://github.com/tomdavenport/cam-stream.git --enable

The manifest requests the right side of the bar by default. Omarchy's bar settings can move it later.

Use

• Left click the bar icon to start or stop the camera preview, including while recording or sending live.
• Right click to open the Camera, Record, and Live Stream panel.
• Middle click to refresh camera and runtime state.
• Press R while the panel has focus to refresh it.

Camera

The selected camera, mirror preference, and latency preference persist in Cam Stream's own XDG configuration directory. Changing the camera or playback mode while the preview is live restarts that preview so the change takes effect.

Realtime (no buffer) is the default and follows mpv's low-latency V4L2 path. Smoother (adds latency) is an explicit opt-in for steadier frame pacing. Automatic camera discovery pauses while the preview is live so the bar never repeatedly probes the active capture device; status checks continue.

Record

Choose Full screen, Window, or Region, select an audio source, and press Start recording. Full screen records the focused monitor. Window and Region open the Omarchy picker for that run. The capture mode is remembered; specific windows and rectangles are deliberately not.

Recordings are written beneath the user's Videos directory. Recording does not start or stop the camera, so the floating camera window appears only when the user has chosen to show it. Pause, resume, and stop affect only Cam Stream's owned recording process. The shared quality preset caps output resolution and frame rate; recordings use GPU Screen Recorder's very-high quality mode.

Live Stream

Cam Stream supports an X profile and a Custom RTMP(S) profile. X always uses encrypted RTMPS; custom destinations may use RTMP, though RTMPS is strongly recommended. Cam Stream does not sign in to X or publish on your behalf. It sends to the RTMPS ingest that X Live Studio gives you; previewing, going public, and ending the broadcast stay in X. To use it:

1. Open X Live Studio and create or select a source.
2. Paste its rtmps:// server URL and stream key into Cam Stream, then save.
3. Choose capture, audio, and quality settings and press Start sending.
4. Preview and publish the broadcast in X Live Studio.

Cam Stream says Sending to X rather than claiming the broadcast is already public. Publishing and ending the X broadcast remain explicit actions in X. Local recording is enabled by default and uses the same encode; after stopping, Cam Stream remuxes that local copy to MP4 without re-encoding it.

Live presets use constant bitrates of 6 Mbps for 720p30, 8 Mbps for 1080p30, and 12 Mbps for 1080p60.

Stream keys are stored in the desktop keyring, never in Cam Stream's config or logs. Cam Stream fails closed when no usable Secret Service is available.

The bundled command also works directly:

cam_stream="$HOME/.config/omarchy/plugins/io.github.tomdavenport.cam-stream/bin/cam-stream"
"$cam_stream" status
"$cam_stream" camera list
"$cam_stream" start
"$cam_stream" stop
"$cam_stream" activity settings
"$cam_stream" record start
"$cam_stream" record stop
printf '%s' "$stream_key" | "$cam_stream" live configure x \
  --server 'rtmps://example.invalid/app' --key-stdin
"$cam_stream" live start x
"$cam_stream" live stop

Run "$cam_stream" --help for the complete command reference.

Update

omarchy plugin update io.github.tomdavenport.cam-stream

Omarchy fetches the repository, shows the incoming diff for review, and only accepts a fast-forward update that still passes plugin validation. The shell rescans updated plugins automatically. If you have already reviewed the release and do not need the interactive diff prompt, run:

omarchy plugin update io.github.tomdavenport.cam-stream --yes

Disable or remove

Disable the widget without deleting its checkout:

omarchy plugin disable io.github.tomdavenport.cam-stream

Stop any recording or live send, then stop the camera preview before removing the plugin, because those processes are separate from the shell:

cam_stream="$HOME/.config/omarchy/plugins/io.github.tomdavenport.cam-stream/bin/cam-stream"
"$cam_stream" live stop
"$cam_stream" record stop
"$cam_stream" stop
omarchy plugin remove io.github.tomdavenport.cam-stream

Removal deletes the git-managed plugin checkout. It intentionally leaves Cam Stream's user preferences and diagnostic history in place.

Remove residual data

After stopping the preview and removing the plugin, its residual data is limited to its own XDG locations:

• ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/cam-stream/config — camera, capture, audio, quality, destination, and non-secret endpoint preferences, stored as plain data and never sourced as shell code
• ${XDG_STATE_HOME:-$HOME/.local/state}/cam-stream/ — the runtime log, PID, active-launch records, and last activity result
• ${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/cam-stream/ — transient locks and local mpv/GSR IPC files when XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is secure; otherwise Cam Stream uses an owner-only directory below ${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/cam-stream-runtime-$(id -u)/

If you do not want to keep preferences or logs, those exact locations can be deleted manually. This is optional and irreversible; do it only after the preview is stopped.

Security and trust

Omarchy loads plugins as unsandboxed code inside its long-lived shell. Review this repository and every update before enabling it. A marketplace listing is discovery metadata, not a security review or endorsement.

Cam Stream's preview and recording behavior is local. Live Stream deliberately connects to the RTMP(S) destination the user configured:

• The QML widget launches only the bin/cam-stream file bundled in the plugin checkout.
• The helper reads local V4L2 camera devices, starts a local mpv preview, and can run one explicitly requested screen recording or RTMP(S) send.
• It requires no elevated privileges or system service.
• It writes runtime metadata only to its own XDG config, state, and runtime paths; recordings go to the user's Videos directory.
• Stream keys are passed to the helper over stdin and stored through Secret Service. They are excluded from config, logs, status, and normal output.

gpu-screen-recorder receives the destination while a stream is active, so the current user's process-inspection tools may be able to see it at runtime. The keyring protects credentials at rest; it cannot hide data from other processes already running as the same user.

Installing and updating through omarchy plugin does use git and the network to retrieve this public repository.

Troubleshooting

Define the helper path once before running the checks below:

cam_stream="$HOME/.config/omarchy/plugins/io.github.tomdavenport.cam-stream/bin/cam-stream"

The widget is missing

Confirm that Omarchy discovered and enabled it, then rescan if needed:

omarchy plugin list
omarchy-shell shell rescanPlugins
omarchy plugin enable io.github.tomdavenport.cam-stream --section right

Cam Stream requires the Quattro shell. A Waybar session cannot load BarWidget.qml.

No camera appears

"$cam_stream" camera list
"$cam_stream" camera diagnose
"$cam_stream" doctor

The panel offers video-capable or otherwise unclassified V4L2 nodes and ignores nodes identified as metadata-only. Reconnect the camera, press R in the panel, and check that your login session has read and write access to the relevant /dev/video* device. Fix device access through the system's udev/logind policy rather than making the device world-writable.

The preview feels delayed

Switch back to the realtime path and inspect the mode Cam Stream actually opened:

"$cam_stream" restart --untimed
"$cam_stream" status

status reports the active camera plus its capture format, size, and frame rate. A camera opened at a low frame rate can feel delayed even when the player is not buffering. If delay remains, send the status output and the final start camera=... line from "$cam_stream" logs 20; those contain no image or video data and make device-specific problems reproducible.

The camera is busy

Only one application can open many camera devices at a time. Close video-call, recording, or browser software using that input, then retry. When optional fuser is installed, camera list and camera diagnose report detected users of each device.

The preview fails or immediately closes

"$cam_stream" status
"$cam_stream" logs 100
"$cam_stream" doctor

Check that mpv and v4l2-ctl are installed, then use the reported device and format errors to choose a different camera in the panel. Cam Stream rotates its own log when it grows; it does not collect Omarchy or application logs.

A saved camera was unplugged

Cam Stream falls back to automatic camera selection when possible. Choose another input in the panel to replace the saved preference.

License

MIT © 2026 Tom Davenport.