Configuration

Dashcam is configured through a single JSON file at ~/.dashcam/config.json. The file is created with sensible defaults during dashcam init — most users never need to touch it.

Full Configuration Reference

{
  "port": 57580,
  "host": "127.0.0.1",
  "database": "~/.dashcam/dashcam.db",
  "capturesDir": "~/.dashcam/captures",

  "capture": {
    "enabled": true,
    "minInterval": 30,
    "triggerTools": ["Write", "Edit"],
    "devServerPorts": [3000, 3001, 4000, 5173, 5174, 8080, 8081],
    "customUrl": null,
    "dedup": true,
    "thumbnailSize": [320, 240]
  },

  "video": {
    "enabled": true,
    "triggerCommands": ["playwright test", "vitest", "jest", "pytest", "cypress run"],
    "quality": "medium",
    "maxDuration": 600
  },

  "window": {
    "duration": 18000,
    "warnings": [14400, 16200, 17100],
    "windDownAt": 17700,
    "cooldownDuration": 300,
    "autoManage": false
  },

  "retention": {
    "events": -1,
    "screenshots": 30,
    "videos": 14
  },

  "bridges": {
    "loki": false,
    "ecc": false,
    "squad": false
  },

  "theme": "system"
}

Server Settings

Capture Settings

Control when and how Dashcam captures screenshots of your running application.

When Claude Code invokes a Write or Edit tool, Dashcam checks whether at least minInterval seconds have passed since the last capture. If so, it scans devServerPorts for an HTTP 200 response, launches a headless Chromium instance via Playwright, and captures a screenshot. A perceptual hash is computed — if it matches the previous capture (meaning the page looks the same), the duplicate is discarded.

{
  "capture": {
    "minInterval": 10,
    "triggerTools": ["Write", "Edit", "Bash"],
    "devServerPorts": [4321],
    "dedup": true
  }
}

Video Settings

Dashcam can record video when it detects test commands running through Claude Code.

When a PostToolUse event contains a matching command (e.g., npx playwright test), Dashcam starts a Playwright browser recording. The recording stops when the test command completes or the maxDuration limit is reached. Videos are stored as WebM files in the captures directory.

Window Management

Dashcam tracks 5-hour subscription windows and provides configurable warnings as the window approaches its limit.

The status bar displays a color-coded countdown timer:

• Green: more than 1 hour remaining
• Yellow: 30-60 minutes remaining
• Orange: 10-30 minutes remaining
• Red (pulsing): less than 10 minutes remaining

Retention Policies

Control how long Dashcam keeps different types of data.

Events are tiny (roughly 1 KB each) and kept indefinitely by default. Screenshots dominate storage — expect roughly 500 MB per month of active use. Run npx dashcam prune to manually clean data older than the configured retention period.

npx dashcam prune --older-than 30d

Bridge Toggles

Enable integration bridges for multi-agent frameworks that work alongside Claude Code.

Bridges can also be enabled at startup with CLI flags:

npx dashcam start --loki --ecc --squad

Theme

The dashboard defaults to your operating system's preference. The theme can also be toggled from the top navigation bar in the dashboard itself.

Environment Variables

Configuration can be overridden with environment variables, useful for CI or Docker deployments:

DASHCAM_PORT=8080 DASHCAM_HOST=0.0.0.0 npx dashcam start