Argus

Argus is an edge-optimized Tesla Dashcam and Sentry Mode manager implemented as a single Go binary with an embedded web UI. It is designed for unattended, in-car operation with low CPU and RAM footprint.

What Argus does

Argus turns a Raspberry Pi into a Tesla-compatible multi-LUN USB storage device while also exposing a local web UI for management:

• Presents TeslaCam/LightShow/Music storage over USB gadget mode
• Supports mode switching between:
  • Present mode (Tesla-facing USB gadget)
  • Edit mode (RW mounts + Samba/file management)
• Provides a web interface for:
  • videos/events browsing
  • chimes/lightshows/wraps/music management
  • cleanup and analytics
  • runtime settings
• Includes unattended reliability features:
  • startup boot pipeline
  • optional fsck checks
  • optional cleanup
  • optional random chime selection
  • hardware watchdog integration
  • AP fallback and Wi-Fi monitoring
  • Telegram alerting for Sentry events (when configured)

Architecture

• Backend: Go (USB gadget, mounts, loops, Samba orchestration, AP/Wi-Fi, Telegram, scheduler)
• Frontend: Next.js static export embedded in the Go binary
• Delivery model: single self-contained executable
• Configuration: single config.yaml source of truth

Requirements

Recommended hardware

• Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W (primary target)
• microSD with enough space for OS + image files
• Reliable data USB cable (not charge-only)

OS support

Argus is intended to run on Raspberry Pi OS Lite for unattended deployments.

Runtime requirements

• Linux kernel with USB OTG gadget support (dwc2, libcomposite, configfs)
• systemd
• root privileges for setup/system operations

Project structure

cmd/argus/        Go entrypoint + CLI commands
internal/         API, services, system integrations
web/              Next.js frontend source
config.yaml       Reference configuration (see ~/.argus/config.yaml on device)
scripts/          install-argus.sh (one-command install from GitHub)
Makefile          Build/test orchestration

CLI commands

argus run [--config path]
argus generate [--output path] [--force]
argus setup [--dir path] [--show-size 10G] [--music-size 32G]
argus upgrade [--yes]
argus remove [--yes] [--keep-images]
argus version

Installation

Releases ship a raw Linux binary per architecture (no archive). Names match GoReleaser, e.g. argus_1.2.3_linux_arm64.

Raspberry Pi (recommended)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ulm0/argus/main/scripts/install-argus.sh | sudo bash
argus generate
sudo argus setup

This installs the latest release binary for your CPU (arm64 / armv7 / armv6). If you prefer not to pipe from the network, clone the repo and run sudo bash scripts/install-argus.sh, or open the releases page and sudo install -m 0755 the argus_*_linux_* file that matches your Pi.

After setup, upgrades on the device are: sudo argus upgrade (same raw binary layout).

Setup options

Flag	Default	Description
--dir	~/.argus/	Data directory
--config	<dir>/config.yaml	Config file path
--show-size	10G (ARGUS_SHOW_SIZE)	LightShow image size
--music-size	32G (ARGUS_MUSIC_SIZE)	Music image size

Build and development

make deps
make all
make test

Frontend dev:

cd web
pnpm dev

Backend dev:

go run ./cmd/argus run config.yaml

Configuration

All runtime settings are in ~/.argus/config.yaml.

Main sections

Section	Purpose
installation	startup behavior, target user, mount dir
disk_images	image names, partition toggles, fsck boot option
network	web port, Samba password
offline_ap	AP fallback behavior
system	watchdog + sysctl startup behavior
telegram	alerting configuration
update	update strategy

Unattended defaults (new setups)

argus setup generates unattended-friendly defaults:

• installation.boot_present_on_start: true
• installation.boot_block_until_ready: true
• installation.boot_cleanup_on_start: true
• installation.boot_random_chime_on_start: false
• disk_images.boot_fsck_enabled: true
• system.watchdog_enabled: true
• system.watchdog_timeout_sec: 60 (Debian watchdog daemon, TeslaUSB-style)
• system.reapply_sysctl_on_start: true

Web-configurable startup and reliability

The Settings page includes a Startup & Reliability section:

• Present on startup
• Block startup until boot pipeline completes
• Boot cleanup
• Random chime on startup
• Boot fsck checks
• Watchdog via Debian watchdog.service (/etc/watchdog.conf) + timeout
• Sysctl profile re-apply on startup

Some changes take effect on next service restart or reboot.

Feature overview

Storage and USB gadget

• Multi-LUN presentation for TeslaCam + optional partitions
• RO local mounts in Present mode for safe read access
• RW mounts in Edit mode for management operations
• Safe mode transition sequencing (unmount/loop/gadget orchestration)

Media and management

• Video browsing and event handling
• Chime management and scheduling
• Lightshow and wraps management
• Music file management (optional partition)
• Cleanup policies and analytics

Networking and resiliency

• AP fallback on connectivity loss
• Wi-Fi status monitoring
• Telegram event queue and delivery
• Optional hardware watchdog (Debian watchdog daemon, like TeslaUSB)

Acknowledgements

Argus is heavily based on TeslaUSB concepts and workflow.
Huge thanks to the TeslaUSB project and contributors.

License

See repository files for license information.