ACAP version 12
Welcome to the AXIS Camera Application Platform (ACAP) documentation. The ACAP SDK is an open development framework designed to empower developers to create custom applications that run directly on Axis network devices, such as our cameras and intercoms. By leveraging the processing capabilities of these devices, ACAP applications enable edge-based computing with on-device, local processing of data, reducing latency, and minimizing bandwidth usage.
To start out with ACAP development, see the Get started section.
Guides for specific topics can be found in Develop ACAP applications.
For detailed information about the APIs, see the Native SDK API section.
Use cases
ACAP makes it possible to develop applications for a wide range of use cases:
- Security and safety applications that improve surveillance systems and facilitate investigation.
- Business intelligence applications that improve business efficiency.
- Product feature plug-ins that add value beyond the Axis product's core functionality.
- Address customer specific use cases that can't be solved with off-the-shelf products.
Key features
- Access to most common product features, including video, the event and parameter systems, I/O ports, and more.
- Enables hardware acceleration on specific functions such as image analysis computations and overlay graphics.
- Toolchain with support for multiple architectures to build applications for all ACAP-enabled Axis products.
- Documentation, tutorials and example applications for all APIs to kick-start your development.
Containerized SDK
ACAP development relies on the Docker toolchain, something we see many developers use to manage their software. An important advantage of distributing a containerized SDK is that the ACAP development environment can be decoupled from the underlying host operating system. This enables us to support development across all Docker capable platforms, including not only Linux, but also Windows and macOS. Docker also offers a rich set of tools to build and ship software.
ACAP versioning
When developing ACAP applications, it is important to use a supported ACAP version. What ACAP version is supported depends on which AXIS OS LTS is targeted. From AXIS OS 12.0 (but not before) the ACAP version aligns with the AXIS OS version. See the figure below to find what ACAP version is right for you. Note that the ACAP versions are clickable and take you to the corresponding ACAP documentation version. See Version history for more information.