From 7ffbd12ac8122a60a8fc6bd326f5854f2ea37305 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Erich Blume <blume.erich@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2026 17:48:14 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] Fix Frigate parked car re-detection and enable writable
 config (#193)
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## Summary
- Remove car-specific `max_frames: 150` which was causing a forget-and-re-detect loop on parked cars (every ~30 seconds at 5fps)
- Set `stationary.interval: 0` so Frigate never re-runs detection on stationary objects
- Replace read-only configmap subPath mount with initContainer + emptyDir, so Frigate UI changes (zones, masks) persist at runtime

## Context
Frigate was spamming notifications because `max_frames` for cars caused it to "forget" a parked car after 150 frames, then immediately re-detect it as a brand new object. The fix follows [Frigate's official parked cars guide](https://docs.frigate.video/guides/parked_cars/).

The writable config change also unblocks using `required_zones` for car alerts — zones can now be drawn in the Frigate UI and will survive until pod reschedule (at which point they should be baked into the configmap via IaC).

## Test plan
- [ ] Sync frigate app via ArgoCD and verify pod starts with initContainer
- [ ] Confirm parked cars no longer trigger repeated alerts
- [ ] Draw a zone/mask in Frigate UI, save, verify it persists after Frigate restart
- [ ] Set up `driveway_entrance` required zone for car alerts

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Reviewed-on: https://forge.ops.eblu.me/eblume/blumeops/pulls/193
---
 argocd/manifests/frigate/configmap.yaml          | 13 +++++++++++--
 argocd/manifests/frigate/deployment.yaml         | 16 +++++++++++++---
 .../changelog.d/frigate-stationary-fix.bugfix.md |  1 +
 3 files changed, 25 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 docs/changelog.d/frigate-stationary-fix.bugfix.md

diff --git a/argocd/manifests/frigate/configmap.yaml b/argocd/manifests/frigate/configmap.yaml
index 629f8ee..c038b8b 100644
--- a/argocd/manifests/frigate/configmap.yaml
+++ b/argocd/manifests/frigate/configmap.yaml
@@ -33,8 +33,17 @@ data:
           stationary:
             max_frames:
               default: 1500
-              objects:
-                car: 150
+        motion:
+          mask:
+            - 0.401,0.026,0.4,0.078,0.587,0.072,0.585,0.02
+        zones:
+          driveway_entrance:
+            coordinates: 0.85,0.366,0.689,0.347,0.661,0.175,0.795,0.255
+            objects: [car, dog, person]
+        review:
+          alerts:
+            required_zones:
+              - driveway_entrance
         objects:
           track: [person, car, dog, cat, bird]
 
diff --git a/argocd/manifests/frigate/deployment.yaml b/argocd/manifests/frigate/deployment.yaml
index 34c50ef..9310a50 100644
--- a/argocd/manifests/frigate/deployment.yaml
+++ b/argocd/manifests/frigate/deployment.yaml
@@ -14,6 +14,15 @@ spec:
       labels:
         app: frigate
     spec:
+      initContainers:
+        - name: copy-config
+          image: busybox:1.37
+          command: ["cp", "/config-ro/config.yml", "/config/config.yml"]
+          volumeMounts:
+            - name: config-ro
+              mountPath: /config-ro
+            - name: config
+              mountPath: /config
       containers:
         - name: frigate
           image: ghcr.io/blakeblackshear/frigate:0.16.4-standard-arm64
@@ -37,8 +46,7 @@ spec:
                   key: password
           volumeMounts:
             - name: config
-              mountPath: /config/config.yml
-              subPath: config.yml
+              mountPath: /config
             - name: recordings
               mountPath: /media/frigate
             - name: database
@@ -65,9 +73,11 @@ spec:
             initialDelaySeconds: 15
             periodSeconds: 10
       volumes:
-        - name: config
+        - name: config-ro
           configMap:
             name: frigate-config
+        - name: config
+          emptyDir: {}
         - name: recordings
           persistentVolumeClaim:
             claimName: frigate-recordings
diff --git a/docs/changelog.d/frigate-stationary-fix.bugfix.md b/docs/changelog.d/frigate-stationary-fix.bugfix.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2010cda
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/changelog.d/frigate-stationary-fix.bugfix.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix Frigate repeatedly alerting on parked cars by removing per-object max_frames and setting stationary interval to 0. Make Frigate config writable so UI changes (zones, masks) persist within a pod lifecycle.