Is-it-dark: Detect if a Room is Dark or Infrared via Image Analysis

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Hi everyone!

I wanted to share a small project I built that might be useful for your automations:

is-it-dark
a simple API service that analyzes images from your cameras to determine:

  1. Whether the image is dark, medium, or bright

  2. Whether the camera is in infrared (night vision) mode

  3. It also returns the calculated brightness value (0–255)

This can be really helpful for automations that react to actual conditions in a room, not just time of day or motion sensors.

How it works

You send a POST request with an image (e.g. from a camera snapshot) to the /analyze endpoint. It responds with JSON like this:

{
  "category": "dark",
  "infrared": false,
  "brightness": 72.4
}

category: One of dark, medium, or bright depending on the configured thresholds.

infrared: true if the camera appears to be in infrared/night vision mode.

brightness: A float value (0–255) indicating the image’s overall brightness.

Example Use Cases

Lighting Automation:

  • Turn on lights only if the room is truly dark (not just based on sunset time).

  • Adjust smart bulb brightness based on real light levels in a room.

  • Avoid turning lights on during the day if the room is already bright.

Security & Cameras:

  • If a camera switches to infrared, turn on nearby lights to bring it back to color mode.

  • Alert if a camera is stuck in infrared (e.g., lens covered).

  • Trigger recordings or notifications based on light level shifts.

Smart Nursery Example:

  • If a baby monitor camera shows:
    Infrared mode (it’s dark),
    No motion is detected (baby is sleeping),
    then:
    Mute doorbell notifications,
    Dim lights near the room,
    Optionally set “quiet mode” for the household.

Energy Saving:

  • Turn off hallway lights if the room already has enough ambient light.

  • Optimize blind or curtain position based on brightness in the room, not just weather.

Deployment

  • Docker container

  • Kubernetes

  • Easy to run alongside Home Assistant or as a standalone microservice

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