🚀 pydahua – Python Library for Dahua Biometric & Access Control Devices

Stop struggling with Dahua HTTP APIs and messy responses.

pydahua is a clean, production-ready Python library that helps you interact with Dahua biometric and access control devices effortlessly.

✔ No manual API construction ✔ Clean Python methods ✔ Structured responses (no raw parsing headaches) ✔ Built for real-world systems

Perfect for HRMS, attendance systems, access control, and automation tools.

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⚡ Quick Start (2 Minutes)

from pydahua import DahuaAPI

dahua = DahuaAPI(
    ip="http://192.168.1.100",
    username="admin",
    password="password"
)

# Fetch system info
print(dahua.get_system_info())

# Fetch attendance logs
print(dahua.fetch_attendance_logs())

That’s it. You're connected.

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📦 Installation

Install from PyPI:

pip install pydahua

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❓ Why pydahua?

Working directly with Dahua APIs is frustrating:

• Responses come in raw key-value format
• Authentication requires HTTP Digest handling
• Logs are hard to structure
• API endpoints are not intuitive

pydahua solves this by:

• 🔐 Handling HTTP Digest authentication internally
• 🔄 Converting raw responses into structured dictionaries
• 📊 Converting logs into clean Python lists
• ⚙️ Providing simple, readable methods
• ✅ Validating inputs before sending requests

So you can focus on your application—not reverse-engineering APIs.

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✨ Features

• 📊 Attendance Logs (fetch + structured parsing)
• 👤 User Management (add / delete / fetch users)
• 🪪 Access Card Enrollment & tracking
• ⚙️ Device Configuration (network, system, language)
• 🕒 Time & Localization control
• 🔁 Device Operations (reboot, shutdown)
• 📄 Structured API responses (no raw parsing)
• 🔐 HTTP Digest authentication support

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🛠 Real-World Usage

This library is used in real systems to:

• Sync biometric attendance with backend systems
• Manage access control users and cards
• Process large volumes of attendance logs
• Automate device configuration

Tested with real Dahua biometric devices.

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🔌 Common Use Cases

• HRMS / Employee Management Systems
• Attendance Tracking Systems
• Access Control Systems
• Security & Surveillance Integrations

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📄 Example Usage

Get system information

system_info = dahua.get_system_info()
print(system_info)

---

Add a new user

dahua.add_user(
    username="john",
    password="1234",
    group="admin",
    sharable=True,
    reserved=False
)

---

Enroll access card

dahua.enroll_new_user(
    card_name="John Doe",
    card_no="123456",
    user_id="JD1001",
    password="Pass@123"
)

---

Fetch attendance logs

from datetime import datetime

logs = dahua.get_control_card_rec(
    card_no="123456",
    start_time=datetime(2025, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0),
    end_time=datetime(2025, 1, 18, 23, 59, 59)
)

print(logs)

---

Set system time

dahua.set_system_time(
    date="2025-10-18",
    time="23:00:00"
)

---

📄 Example Log Output

{
  "records": [
    {
      "card_no": "123456",
      "card_name": "John Doe",
      "attendance_state": "CheckIn",
      "door": "1",
      "create_time": "2025-01-18T09:12:33"
    }
  ],
  "found": 1,
  "status_code": 200
}

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🔌 Supported Devices

Works with Dahua devices that support:

• magicBox.cgi
• configManager.cgi
• userManager.cgi
• recordFinder.cgi

👉 Check your device API documentation to confirm compatibility.

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📚 API Coverage

System Info

• get_system_info()
• get_serial_number()
• get_hardware_version()
• get_device_type()

User Management

• add_user()
• delete_user()
• get_user_info()
• get_user_info_all()

Access Control

• enroll_new_user()
• get_control_card_rec()

Logs

• fetch_attendance_logs()
• get_logs()

Configuration

• get_general_config()
• set_general_config()
• get_basic_config()
• set_basic_config()
• get_record_config()
• set_record_config()

Time & Language

• get_system_time()
• set_system_time()
• get_language_config()
• set_language_config()

Device Operations

• reboot_device()
• shutdown_device()

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🚧 Roadmap

• Async support
• More endpoint wrappers
• Better error handling
• Webhook/event-based integrations

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🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome!

You can help with:

• Adding new API endpoints
• Improving documentation
• Writing usage examples

Steps:

1. Fork the repo
2. Create a branch: git checkout -b feature-name
3. Commit: git commit -m "Add feature"
4. Push: git push origin feature-name
5. Open a Pull Request

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📄 License

This project is licensed under the LGPL-3.0 License 👉 https://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-3.0.html

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🔗 Links

• GitHub: https://github.com/KSreethul/pydahua
• Issues: https://github.com/KSreethul/pydahua/issues

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⭐ Support

If this project helped you:

• ⭐ Star the repo
• 🐛 Report issues
• 🔁 Share with others

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🎯 Final Note

This library was built to simplify real-world Dahua device integrations.

If you're working with biometric or access control systems, pydahua will save you hours of effort.