How it Works — Real Use Cases
No account. No separate install. No Big Tech dependency. Every General Bots app ships pre-installed in the suite and runs on infrastructure you own — this is how it works and what teams actually use it for.
Deploy the whole suite on your VPS
One container, every app pre-installed and pre-integrated. Your data stays on your hardware — no accounts, no SaaS gatekeeper.
Open it from the desktop launcher
The app is one click away inside the General Bots desktop. No separate signup, no setup wizard, no credit card.
Drive it with plain language or the API
Ask the AI assistant to do the work — or call the REST API directly from your own tools. The endpoints below are real, from the source code.
Try these real endpoints
/api/video/alerts/api/video/analytics/api/video/analytics/view/api/video/audio/:id/api/video/camerasvideo.teach.case1_t
video.teach.case1_d
video.teach.case2_t
video.teach.case2_d
video.teach.case3_t
video.teach.case3_d
Built on the Open-Source Code
Real technical data extracted from the Rust source repository — API endpoints, database tables, and code size. Every number on this page is auditable in the code.
Real API surface (from the source)
/api/video/alerts/api/video/analytics/api/video/analytics/view/api/video/audio/:id/api/video/cameras/api/video/clips/:id/api/video/clips/:id/split/api/video/clips/:id/transition/:id+27 moreDatabase schema (from migrations)
monitoring_alert_rulesmonitoring_camerasmonitoring_eventsmonitoring_snapshotsvideo_analyticsvideo_audio_tracksvideo_clipsvideo_command_history+3 moreEverything a Modern Video Needs
Powerful capabilities with AI orchestration — all self-hosted on your infrastructure.
Camera Management
Add RTSP, ONVIF, or IP cameras, configure resolution and frame rate, group them by location, and run health checks from one grid.
Real-Time Detection
People, vehicles, faces, custom objects, and motion detected live with bounding boxes — no specialized hardware required.
Smart Alerts
Email, SMS, push, and webhook notifications with custom rules, active-hour schedules, cooldowns to prevent flooding, and escalation.
Video Analytics
People and vehicle counts, trends, activity heatmaps, dwell time, and real-time occupancy tracking beyond raw footage.
Recording & Playback
Continuous or event-based recording with timeline playback, MP4 clip export, and configurable storage retention policies.
Live Dashboard
Detections today, uptime, storage used, and active cameras shown as at-a-glance stat cards alongside recent alerts.
One Flat Server — Zero Per-User Fees
Unlike commercial SaaS suites that charge per seat, General Bots runs on your own infrastructure with unlimited users.
- Unlimited users and operations
- No per-user licensing fees
- Full source code access (AGPLv3)
- Self-contained Docker deployment
- Bring your own LLM / AI backend
Plus overage fees
On your infrastructure
Self-Hosted vs SaaS
See how the open-source General Bots Video compares to proprietary alternatives.
| Feature | Self-Hosted | SaaS |
|---|---|---|
| Per-user pricing | Free | Vendor lock-in |
| Data ownership | Yours | Theirs |
| Source access | Full (AGPLv3) | Closed |
| AI model choice | Any LLM | Vendor lock-in |
| Scalability | Unlimited | Tiered |
| Audit & compliance | Full control | Limited |
Built for Sovereignty, Scale, and AI
Thousands of teams choose General Bots for their video infrastructure.
Zero Vendor Lock-In
Your data, your infrastructure, your control. General Bots is fully open source under AGPLv3 — no proprietary APIs, no data leaving your network, no forced upgrades.
- 100% Open Source
Audit, modify, and extend the code. Community contributions welcome.
- AI-Native by Default
LLM orchestration built in — bring any model, run it on your own hardware.
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Read Moreescape-from-bigtech
Why pay 10x more for locked-in solutions when General Bots + Open Source delivers superior functionality with complete control?
Read MoreReady to Deploy?
Get your own self-hosted video platform running in minutes. No per-user fees, no vendor lock-in.