Start data capture

Configure your machine to automatically record sensor readings, camera images, and other component data, then sync it to the cloud. For an overview of how data capture and sync work, see the Manage data overview.

1. Open your machine in the Viam app

Go to app.viam.com and navigate to your machine. Confirm it shows as Live in the upper left.

2. Enable data capture on a component

1. Find your component (for example, my-camera) in the machine configuration.
2. Scroll to the Data capture section in the component’s configuration panel.
3. Click + Add method.
4. If this is your first time configuring data capture, Viam will prompt you to enable the data management service. Click to enable it. This adds the service to your machine configuration and enables both capture and cloud sync.
5. Select the method to capture:
   • For a camera, select GetImages. This captures a frame from the camera each time it fires.
   • For a sensor, select Readings. This records the sensor’s current values.
6. Set the capture frequency. This is specified in hertz (captures per second):
   • 0.5 = one capture every 2 seconds
   • 0.2 = one capture every 5 seconds
   • 1 = one capture per second
   • Start low. For cameras, 0.5 Hz is a reasonable starting point. You can always increase it later.
7. Click Save in the upper right.

After saving, viam-server begins capturing immediately. You do not need to restart anything.

3. Capture from additional components (optional)

Repeat step 2 for any other components you want to capture from. Each component’s data capture is independent – you can have a camera capturing images every 2 seconds and a sensor capturing readings every 10 seconds at the same time.

4. Sync data from another directory (optional)

You can also sync files from directories outside of the default capture path. This is useful for uploading a batch of existing data or syncing files that another process writes to a folder on your machine.

In the data management service configuration, add the directory path to Additional paths (or "additional_sync_paths" in JSON mode).

5. Verify data is syncing

Wait 30 seconds to a minute for data to accumulate and sync, then:

1. In the Viam app, click the DATA tab in the top navigation. The tab opens on the Images view by default.
2. For camera captures, you should see image thumbnails appearing. For sensor data, click the Sensors tab to see the latest readings from each machine and resource. To see historical rows of tabular data, click the small search icon next to a resource on the Sensors tab to open the query editor.
3. Use the filters on the left to narrow by:
   • Machine – select your specific machine
   • Component – select the component you configured
   • Time range – pick a recent window

If you see data flowing in, capture and sync are working correctly.

Troubleshooting

What’s next

• Query data: write queries, set up data pipelines, and export data
• Add computer vision: run ML models on your camera feed and capture detection results
• Create a dataset: organize captured images into training datasets
• Reference: JSON-level config, retention policies, and sync optimization