From f002513d362c02d6875986e64067004476137a1b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Josh Hawkins <32435876+hawkeye217@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sun, 29 Mar 2026 12:33:57 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] send MQTT snapshot when object enters required zone (#22690)

When mqtt.required_zones is configured, the initial mqtt snapshot on
object creation is always blocked because zone evaluation hasn't run
yet (entered_zones is empty). Later, the snapshot is only re-sent if
a better thumbnail is found, so if the first frame was already the
best capture the snapshot is silently lost.

Add a new_zone_entered flag to TrackedObject that triggers an mqtt
snapshot publish as soon as zone entry is confirmed, closing the gap
between object detection and zone evaluation.

Closes blakeblackshear/frigate#21027
---
 frigate/camera/state.py         | 12 ++++++++++++
 frigate/track/tracked_object.py |  2 ++
 2 files changed, 14 insertions(+)

diff --git a/frigate/camera/state.py b/frigate/camera/state.py
index a203264a6..8d0b58602 100644
--- a/frigate/camera/state.py
+++ b/frigate/camera/state.py
@@ -428,6 +428,18 @@ class CameraState:
                     c(self.name, updated_obj, frame_name)
                 updated_obj.last_published = frame_time
 
+            # send MQTT snapshot when object first enters a required zone,
+            # since the initial snapshot at creation time is blocked before
+            # zone evaluation has run
+            if updated_obj.new_zone_entered and not updated_obj.false_positive:
+                mqtt_required = self.camera_config.mqtt.required_zones
+                if mqtt_required and set(updated_obj.entered_zones) & set(
+                    mqtt_required
+                ):
+                    object_type = updated_obj.obj_data["label"]
+                    self.send_mqtt_snapshot(updated_obj, object_type)
+                updated_obj.new_zone_entered = False
+
         for id in removed_ids:
             # publish events to mqtt
             removed_obj = tracked_objects[id]
diff --git a/frigate/track/tracked_object.py b/frigate/track/tracked_object.py
index 44d270875..f5c33d1e6 100644
--- a/frigate/track/tracked_object.py
+++ b/frigate/track/tracked_object.py
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ class TrackedObject:
         self.zone_loitering: dict[str, int] = {}
         self.current_zones: list[str] = []
         self.entered_zones: list[str] = []
+        self.new_zone_entered: bool = False
         self.attributes: dict[str, float] = defaultdict(float)
         self.false_positive = True
         self.has_clip = False
@@ -278,6 +279,7 @@ class TrackedObject:
 
                             if name not in self.entered_zones:
                                 self.entered_zones.append(name)
+                                self.new_zone_entered = True
                         else:
                             self.zone_loitering[name] = loitering_score