Raspberry Pi on lite os: offline/auto-start?

[philou155]

Hi,

Is there a way to auto start birdnet-go on my raspberry pi with a lite os (access via ssh on my android or windows pc)?

I also want it to execute while offline... to access via ssh, i can use my phone's hotspot, but I'd like the pi to keep running birdnet-go 24/7 offline. how do i do that?

thanks!

[tphakala]

Preferred installation method using install.sh configures BirdNET-Go to start on system boot, no additional configuration is needed.

But if you did install with any other method, you can configure start on boot by doing:

Binary Installation Method

1. Create a systemd service file:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/birdnet-go.service

2. Add this content (replace YOUR_USERNAME with your actual username):

[Unit]
Description=BirdNET-Go Analyzer Service

[Service]
ExecStart=/home/YOUR_USERNAME/birdnet-go realtime
Restart=always
User=YOUR_USERNAME
Group=YOUR_USERNAME
WorkingDirectory=/home/YOUR_USERNAME

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Docker Installation Method

1. Create a systemd service file:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/birdnet-go.service

2. Add this content (customize the environment variables and paths):

[Unit]
Description=BirdNET-Go
After=docker.service
Requires=docker.service

[Service]
Restart=always
ExecStart=/usr/bin/docker run --rm \
    -p 8080:8080 \
    --env TZ="Your/Timezone" \
    --env ALSA_CARD=YOUR_AUDIO_DEVICE \
    --device /dev/snd \
    -v /path/to/your/config:/config \
    -v /path/to/your/data:/data \
    ghcr.io/tphakala/birdnet-go:latest

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and Start the Service

After creating the service file:

# Enable service to start on boot
sudo systemctl enable birdnet-go.service

# Start the service now
sudo systemctl start birdnet-go.service

# Check status
sudo systemctl status birdnet-go.service

Configuration Notes

• The service will automatically restart if it fails (Restart=always)
• It starts automatically when your Pi boots up
• Runs completely offline - no internet connection needed
• You can still access it via SSH when needed using your phone's hotspot
• For Docker setup:
  • Replace Your/Timezone with your timezone (e.g., "America/New_York")
  • Set ALSA_CARD to your audio device (find using arecord -l)
  • Set proper paths for config and data volumes in your system

Troubleshooting

View service logs:

sudo journalctl -u birdnet-go.service -f

Restart the service:

sudo systemctl restart birdnet-go.service