# raspberrypi/picamera2

New libcamera based python library

Repository: https://github.com/raspberrypi/picamera2
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/picamera2
Language: Python
License: BSD-2-Clause
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-08-24T07:30:51+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 94/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 84, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 1728, "days_push": 9, "days_rel": 26, "gap_med": 54.0, "n_releases_24m": 13}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1241, forks 256 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:06.338024+00:00)

## What it is
Picamera2 is a Python library providing an interface to Raspberry Pi cameras via the libcamera stack, replacing the legacy Picamera library. It offers an easy-to-use Python API for capturing images and video on all Raspberry Pi boards.

## Use cases
- capture photos from a Raspberry Pi camera in Python
- record video with a Raspberry Pi camera module
- build a camera-based security or monitoring system on a Pi
- stream camera previews in a Qt application
- process camera frames for computer vision on Raspberry Pi
- control camera settings like exposure and resolution programmatically

## When to choose
- you are using Raspberry Pi OS Bullseye or later with a Pi camera module
- you want a supported Python API over libcamera on Raspberry Pi
- you need to replace the legacy Picamera library in an existing project

## When to avoid
- you are on Raspberry Pi OS Buster or earlier, or legacy camera stack images
- you need camera capture on non-Raspberry-Pi hardware
- you require a stable, feature-frozen API with no further changes

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: image-processing, video-processing, sdk
- domain: computer-vision, image-processing, embedded-systems, hardware
- platform: python, embedded
- tags: raspberry-pi, camera, libcamera, hardware-interface, video, linux

## Member repositories
- raspberrypi/picamera2 (main) score 94

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:06.338024+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T05:08:30.328342+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/raspberrypi/picamera2 (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:06.338024+00:00, sha 7fd23f8385a5)
  - registry_pypi: https://pypi.org/pypi/picamera2/json (fetched 2026-08-29T12:20:37.975858+00:00, sha 70144ba25c7f)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.