Download NeuroWatch

The free version runs up to 16 cameras, with no account needed for local use. NeuroWatch Unlimited is now USD 0 (normally USD 50), with sign-up required before downloading and no software camera limit; capacity depends on your hardware. Install either on Windows or Linux; switching later keeps your cameras and recordings.

Each release publishes its checksums and release notes on GitHub.

Windows 10 and 11

64-bit Windows 10 or 11. The installer is the easiest way; the portable version runs from a folder without installing.

  • Installer (.exe)
  • Portable (.zip)

Run the installer

Open the downloaded .exe. If Windows says the installer is unrecognised, choose More info, then Run anyway. It installs for your account and adds NeuroWatch to the Start menu.

Open NeuroWatch

Open NeuroWatch from Start. The first time, it sets up its background service and tray icon, so recording carries on after you close the window. Windows starts NeuroWatch when you sign in.

Or use the portable version

Extract the .zip, then run neurowatch.cmd in the extracted folder.

Removing it later

Uninstalling stops the background service and removes its startup entry. Your configuration and recordings are kept.

Ubuntu, Debian and Linux Mint

64-bit PC: Ubuntu 22.04 or newer, Debian 12 or newer. ARM64: Ubuntu 24.04 or newer, Debian 13 or newer.

  • .deb for 64-bit PC
  • .deb for ARM64

Install the package

Double-click the downloaded file and choose Install. Your software centre asks for your password and installs the system libraries NeuroWatch needs as well. If double-clicking opens another program, run the command for your computer in the folder you downloaded it to (usually ~/Downloads). Keep the ./ so those libraries are installed too.

64-bit PC: sudo apt install ./neurowatch*_amd64.deb

ARM64: sudo apt install ./neurowatch*_arm64.deb

Sign out and in again

The package adds your account to the render and video groups, so recording can use the graphics card, its video decoder and USB cameras. Sign out and in, or restart, for that to take effect.

Open NeuroWatch

Open NeuroWatch from your applications, or run it from a terminal. The first time, it sets up its background service and tray icon, so recording carries on after you close the window and resumes after a restart.

neurowatch

Checking a download (optional)

Each release includes a SHA256SUMS file, linked from the release notes. Put it next to your download and run:

sha256sum --ignore-missing -c SHA256SUMS

Removing it later

Before removing the package, stop the background service from your own account. Your configuration and recordings are kept.

neurowatch service stop

neurowatch service uninstall

Fedora

Fedora on a 64-bit PC or ARM64. RHEL is not supported.

  • .rpm for 64-bit PC
  • .rpm for ARM64

Install the package

Double-click the downloaded file and choose Install. Your software centre asks for your password and installs the system libraries NeuroWatch needs as well. If double-clicking opens another program, run the command for your computer in the folder you downloaded it to (usually ~/Downloads). Keep the ./ so those libraries are installed too.

64-bit PC: sudo dnf install ./neurowatch*.x86_64.rpm

ARM64: sudo dnf install ./neurowatch*.aarch64.rpm

Sign out and in again

The package adds your account to the render and video groups, so recording can use the graphics card, its video decoder and USB cameras. Sign out and in, or restart, for that to take effect.

Open NeuroWatch

Open NeuroWatch from your applications, or run it from a terminal. The first time, it sets up its background service and tray icon, so recording carries on after you close the window and resumes after a restart.

neurowatch

Checking a download (optional)

Each release includes a SHA256SUMS file, linked from the release notes. Put it next to your download and run:

sha256sum --ignore-missing -c SHA256SUMS

Removing it later

Before removing the package, stop the background service from your own account. Your configuration and recordings are kept.

neurowatch service stop

neurowatch service uninstall

Arch Linux

Arch Linux on a 64-bit PC. Arch Linux ARM is not supported.

  • Package (.pkg.tar.zst)

Install the package

Run this in the folder you downloaded it to (usually ~/Downloads):

sudo pacman -U ./neurowatch*-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst

Sign out and in again

The package adds your account to the render and video groups, so recording can use the graphics card, its video decoder and USB cameras. Sign out and in, or restart, for that to take effect.

Open NeuroWatch

Open NeuroWatch from your applications, or run it from a terminal. The first time, it sets up its background service and tray icon, so recording carries on after you close the window and resumes after a restart.

neurowatch

Checking a download (optional)

Each release includes a SHA256SUMS file, linked from the release notes. Put it next to your download and run:

sha256sum --ignore-missing -c SHA256SUMS

Removing it later

Before removing the package, stop the background service from your own account. Your configuration and recordings are kept.

neurowatch service stop

neurowatch service uninstall

Raspberry Pi

64-bit Raspberry Pi OS based on Debian 13 (Trixie). Bookworm is too old and 32-bit systems are not supported. The ARM64 package has not been tested on Raspberry Pi hardware yet; video decoding and performance depend on the model.

  • .deb for ARM64

Install the package

Run this in the folder you downloaded it to (usually ~/Downloads). Keep the ./ so the system libraries NeuroWatch needs are installed too.

sudo apt install ./neurowatch*_arm64.deb

Sign out and in again

The package adds your account to the render and video groups, so recording can use the graphics card, its video decoder and USB cameras. Sign out and in, or restart, for that to take effect.

Open NeuroWatch

Open NeuroWatch from your applications, or run it from a terminal. The first time, it sets up its background service and tray icon, so recording carries on after you close the window and resumes after a restart.

neurowatch

No screen attached?

Run it headless and watch it through NeuroWatch Cloud. See Headless.

Checking a download (optional)

Each release includes a SHA256SUMS file, linked from the release notes. Put it next to your download and run:

sha256sum --ignore-missing -c SHA256SUMS

Removing it later

Before removing the package, stop the background service from your own account. Your configuration and recordings are kept.

neurowatch service stop

neurowatch service uninstall

Other Linux (portable)

Other recent 64-bit Linux distributions, on a PC or ARM64. The portable download runs from a folder and needs the system's desktop and audio libraries.

  • Portable for 64-bit PC
  • Portable for ARM64

Extract and run it

Run this in the folder you downloaded it to:

tar xzf neurowatch*-linux-*.tar.gz && ./neurowatch/neurowatch

Allow access to the graphics card and USB cameras

Add your account to the device groups your distribution uses, then sign out and in again. If both groups exist:

sudo usermod -aG render,video "$USER"

“Could not load the Qt platform plugin xcb”

Install the missing library. The .deb, .rpm and Arch packages install it for you.

sudo apt install libxcb-cursor0

Checking a download (optional)

Each release includes a SHA256SUMS file, linked from the release notes. Put it next to your download and run:

sha256sum --ignore-missing -c SHA256SUMS

Headless (no screen)

A Linux server or small computer with no display. Install the package for your distribution first, then run NeuroWatch without its window and manage it from NeuroWatch Cloud.

Start it headless

NeuroWatch starts as a background service and, on Linux with systemd, starts again at boot. The terminal shows cameras coming online, recording and events. Press Ctrl+C to stop watching; NeuroWatch keeps recording.

neurowatch --headless

Link it to NeuroWatch Cloud

Create a one-time enrollment code on the Recorders page of NeuroWatch Cloud. It is valid for five minutes. Then start it with the code and a name for this recorder:

neurowatch --headless --link CODE --name "Head Office"

Add cameras from the portal

Once linked, open the recorder in NeuroWatch Cloud, then Settings, to add cameras, turn on recording and choose the drive.

Checking on it

From another terminal:

Cloud link: neurowatch cloud status

What happened while you weren't watching: neurowatch events

Background service: neurowatch service status

It doesn't start at boot

Some systems don't let an account start its services at boot. Allow it once:

sudo loginctl enable-linger $USER

Desktop mode

Opening the desktop app on the same computer switches NeuroWatch back to desktop mode.

Docker

Linux, on a 64-bit PC or ARM64. ghcr.io/ttheekw/neurowatch:latest is the headless recorder for servers, watched through NeuroWatch Cloud. ghcr.io/ttheekw/neurowatch:gui is the full app with its window on your screen. The images are the free edition.

Create its folders

Settings and recordings live in two folders on this computer, so they stay when the container is replaced.

mkdir -p ~/neurowatch/data ~/neurowatch/recordings

Run the headless recorder

It starts again with Docker until you stop it.

docker run -d --name neurowatch --restart unless-stopped --network host \ --user "$(id -u):$(id -g)" --stop-timeout 30 \ -v ~/neurowatch/data:/data -v ~/neurowatch/recordings:/recordings \ ghcr.io/ttheekw/neurowatch:latest

Link it to NeuroWatch Cloud

Create a one-time enrollment code on the Recorders page of NeuroWatch Cloud. It is valid for five minutes. Then:

docker exec --user "$(id -u):$(id -g)" neurowatch neurowatch-docker cloud link CODE --name "Head Office"

Or run it with its window

Run this from your desktop session (on Wayland desktops it uses XWayland). Closing the window stops the container and recording, so use the headless image to record around the clock. Run only one of the two at a time: they share the data folder.

xhost +SI:localuser:$(id -un) docker run -d --name neurowatch-gui --network host \ --user "$(id -u):$(id -g)" --stop-timeout 30 --shm-size 1g \ -e DISPLAY -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix:ro \ -v ~/neurowatch/data:/data -v ~/neurowatch/recordings:/recordings \ ghcr.io/ttheekw/neurowatch:gui

Graphics card and sound

Add these options to either command, before the image name. Without a graphics card option, video is decoded on the processor. After changing options, remove the container and run it again; your settings and recordings stay.

Intel or AMD graphics (VA-API): --device /dev/dri --group-add "$(stat -c %g /dev/dri/renderD128)"

NVIDIA graphics (needs the NVIDIA Container Toolkit): --gpus all

Camera sound through your speakers (window only): -v "$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/pulse/native:/run/host/pulse" -e PULSE_SERVER=unix:/run/host/pulse

Day to day

See what it's doing: docker logs -f neurowatch

Stop it (it finishes its recordings first): docker stop neurowatch

Start it again: docker start neurowatch

Updating

Pull the new image, remove the container and run the same command again. Your cameras and recordings stay in the folders.

docker pull ghcr.io/ttheekw/neurowatch:latest

docker stop neurowatch && docker rm neurowatch

NeuroWatch Unlimited

Build your own image from the Unlimited .deb with scripts/docker.sh build --deb FILE from the NeuroWatch source code.