PIR / MQTT - Presence sensor(s) revived

[rkorell]

Dear MagicMirror-ians

As may already known I was a real fan of MMM-Pir.
For also good known reasons this nice module is not longer maintained.

I have a local clone which runs OK but in the meantime I had switched to MMM-MQTTScreenOnOff wich attaches a “better” (radar-) sensor to my mirror. But I’ve missed the progress bar, the dimming and cron-like functionality. In addition the radar sensor is much slower than PIR- caused by a 5 second update intervall as minimum.

After plenty of tinkering and testing, and above all torturing AI heavily I’m excited to announce:
MMM-PresenceScreenControl is finally out! 🎉

This module brings together the best of both worlds:
• The beloved timer bar and auto-dimming from MMM-Pir,
• The reliability, MQTT support, and simplicity of MMM-MQTTScreenOnOff,
• All cleaned up, without unnecessary complexity, cryptic cron strings, or weird build tricks.

A few highlights:
• Presence detection with PIR, MQTT, or both (whichever triggers first wins)
• A visual timer bar so you always know how long the screen will stay on
• Straightforward “ignore” and newly introduced “always-on” time windows using plain times and days—no cryptic cron needed
• Customizable screen on/off commands—works on Pi, PC, X11, Wayland, CEC, and more
• Touch mode for remote or manual override (yes, you can poke your mirror awake remotely!)

If you’re after spinning circles or relay magic, this isn’t your thing (yet 😉).

But if you want a solid, readable, and maintainable presence module that just works—even (hopefully) after updates—this is for you.

Give it a try, share your feedback, open pull requests, or ask questions right here or on GitHub:

Happy mirroring!

Ralf

[Peter]

@rkorell sadly it does not work: Pi 2b, bookworm, Pir only.
It says: Presence: no
It has worked for years with MMM-Pir on Bullseye.
Can you help please?
Peter

[rkorell]

Dear @Peter,

I can imagine that this is a restriction of your hardware.
I’m not THAT system specialist but as far as I remember there are some limitations regarding environment and software versions on Pi2b …
Because the “actuality” of used libgpiod this may doesn’t work on this specific hardware.

I can imagine Sam (@sdetweil ) can deliver a more precise statement on this.

On pi4/5 with “current” MM versions this works - and yesterday I got feedback regarding a successful installation.

Is there any log-entry which can be useful here?
Is the right GPIO configured for PIR?
Is the PIR sensor functional / calibrated?
Is power/ground connected to PIR?
Is power supply sufficient and working?

Regards,
Ralf

[Peter]

@rkorell
The Pir worked fine with MMM-Pir and Bullseye on the Pi 2b.
Fresh install with Bookworm: everything worked fine except the Pir.
That is why I tried your module.
Peter

[advpolish]

I’m not THAT system specialist but as far as I remember there are some limitations regarding environment and software versions on Pi2b -

[rkorell]

Dear @Peter,
Yes fully understood…
Without context - and may an answer regarding my questions - It‘s really hard to help.

Warmest regards,
Ralf

[rkorell]

Good afternoon!

today’s check of MMM-PresenceScreenControl shows me an issue posted by @icemanmw , which wasn’t on my radar but is an easy and useful addition.
Thanks for this idea.
I’ve added two additional parameters mqttUser and mqttPassword for those of you requiring additional authentification.

In Addition to this external trigger I had have some issues resolved :

While migrating my MagicMirror setup from Bookworm to Debian 13 (Trixie), I ran into a few things that required
changes to MMM-PresenceScreenControl. Since others might face the same issues, here’s a summary.

v1.1.0: GPIO fallback for Trixie + touch simplification

Trixie ships with libgpiod 2.x, which is a breaking API change from 1.x. The node-libgpiod npm package doesn’t work
with it (and also has issues with newer Electron versions). Rather than waiting for upstream fixes, the module now
auto-detects the situation and falls back to Python/gpiozero, which works perfectly on Trixie out of the box. No
configuration change needed — if you’re on Bookworm, nothing changes; if you’re on Trixie, it just works.

I also simplified the touch handling: the old touchMode parameter (0-3) is gone. Touch/click is now always active —
tap anywhere to wake up the display and reset the timer. Less config, same result.

v1.2.0: Removed VNC disconnect workaround

On older setups (X11), I had a double-click feature that would shut off the screen AND disconnect the VNC session to
avoid a “mini window” problem. Turns out this is no longer needed: wayvnc (0.9.1+) on Wayland/labwc natively manages
screen power through the wlr-output-power-management protocol. When you connect via VNC, the screen turns on. When you
disconnect, it goes back to whatever state it was in. Clean and simple — so I removed the workaround entirely.

Both updates are fully backwards-compatible. If you’re upgrading from v1.0.x, just pull the latest version. The only
thing to clean up in your config is removing touchMode and vncDisconnectCommand if you had them — but even if you
don’t, they’re simply ignored.

Have fun and a nice rest of the day.

Warmes regards,
Ralf

[htilburgs]

@rkorell
When I install this module (currently using MMM-Pir) I got a lot of messages of deprecated modules. It also gives me 8 vulnerabilities (2 low, 6 high).

npm warn skipping integrity check for git dependency ssh://git@github.com/electron/node-gyp.git
npm warn deprecated inflight@1.0.6: This module is not supported, and leaks memory. Do not use it. Check out lru-cache if you want a good and tested way to coalesce async requests by a key value, which is much more comprehensive and powerful.
npm warn deprecated glob@7.2.3: Glob versions prior to v9 are no longer supported
npm warn deprecated @npmcli/move-file@2.0.1: This functionality has been moved to @npmcli/fs
npm warn deprecated rimraf@3.0.2: Rimraf versions prior to v4 are no longer supported
npm warn deprecated glob@8.1.0: Old versions of glob are not supported, and contain widely publicized security vulnerabilities, which have been fixed in the current version. Please update. Support for old versions may be purchased (at exorbitant rates) by contacting i@izs.me
npm warn deprecated glob@8.1.0: Old versions of glob are not supported, and contain widely publicized security vulnerabilities, which have been fixed in the current version. Please update. Support for old versions may be purchased (at exorbitant rates) by contacting i@izs.me
npm warn deprecated tar@6.2.1: Old versions of tar are not supported, and contain widely publicized security vulnerabilities, which have been fixed in the current version. Please update. Support for old versions may be purchased (at exorbitant rates) by contacting i@izs.me

> MMM-PresenceScreenControl@1.3.0 postinstall
> ./postinstall

node-libgpiod not installed (optional), skipping electron-rebuild.
PIR sensor will use Python/gpiozero fallback.

added 181 packages, and audited 182 packages in 34s

29 packages are looking for funding
  run `npm fund` for details

8 vulnerabilities (2 low, 6 high)

To address issues that do not require attention, run:
  npm audit fix

To address all issues (including breaking changes), run:
  npm audit fix --force

Run `npm audit` for details.
pi@MagicMirror:~/MagicMirror/modules/MMM-PresenceScreenControl $ 

I’m running on a Pi 4b with Trixie.

[rkorell]

Dear @htilburgs Thank you so much for flagging this — I genuinely appreciate it! I have to admit: on my own system, I
probably just watched the npm install output fly by and thought “yeah, whatever, it works” 😄

But you’re absolutely right that a clean install experience matters, so I looked into it properly.

The good news: v1.3.1 is now released and fixes everything. To update:

cd ~/MagicMirror/modules/MMM-PresenceScreenControl
git pull
rm -rf node_modules package-lock.json
npm install

You should now see 0 vulnerabilities and 0 deprecation warnings. The package count also dropped from 181 to 47 — quite
a diet! Details are in the updated
https://github.com/rkorell/MMM-PresenceScreenControl/blob/main/README.md#changelog.

What I changed:

• Removed @electron/rebuild from the pre-installed optional dependencies. It was dragging in a massive tree of build
  tools (tar, glob, rimraf, node-gyp…) that are never actually used at runtime. On Trixie, they weren’t even used at
  install time since node-libgpiod can’t compile there. The postinstall script already had on-demand logic for the rare
  case it’s needed — so listing it as a dependency was just unnecessary baggage.
• Upgraded mqtt from v4 to v5 (fully backwards-compatible, no config changes needed).

A word about those “vulnerabilities”: npm audit tends to be… let’s say enthusiastic about scaring people. Every
single one of those 8 vulnerabilities was either a build-time-only dependency (tar path traversal — relevant only when
extracting npm packages during install) or a theoretical ReDoS in minimatch (exploitable only if someone feeds
malicious glob patterns into a help-text lookup function). None of them could ever be triggered at runtime on a
MagicMirror sitting in your living room.

That said — seeing 8 vulnerabilities (6 high) in bright red after installing a module is not exactly
confidence-inspiring, even if the actual risk is zero. So I’m glad you pointed it out, and now the install is squeaky
clean.

Let me know if v1.3.1 works for you!

Thanks again and warm regards,
Ralf

[htilburgs]

@rkorell said:

cd ~/MagicMirror/modules/MMM-PresenceScreenControl
git pull
rm -rf node_modules package-lock.json
npm install

Better:

rm -f node_modelues package-lock.json
git pull
npm install

Otherwise the git pull wil not work.

Issue 1:
When time is up, the screen doesn’t go off. Dim works, but then when the screen should go off, it is not dimmed anymore and on. Debug says:

[2026-03-06 18:16:29.150] [LOG]   [MMM-PresenceScreenControl] [updatePresence] pirPresence=false, touchPresence=false, presence=true, newPresence=false 
[2026-03-06 18:17:30.311] [LOG]   [MMM-PresenceScreenControl] [startCounter] Counter expired: presence=false, pirPresence=false, calling updateScreen(false) 
[2026-03-06 18:17:30.323] [LOG]   [MMM-PresenceScreenControl] [updateScreen] on=false, cmd="DISPLAY=:0 xrandr --output HDMI-1 --off" 
[2026-03-06 18:17:30.467] [LOG]   [MMM-PresenceScreenControl] [updateScreen] SUCCESS: executed "DISPLAY=:0 xrandr --output HDMI-1 --off"

Issue 2:
When module is started, and there is no movement, the mirror stays on and counter says 00:00.
Until it see movement, than counter start and after the counter is should go out (not, see issue 1). Debug after just started:

[2026-03-06 18:20:32.007] [LOG]   [MMM-PresenceScreenControl] [startCounter] Counter expired: presence=false, pirPresence=false, calling updateScreen(false) 
[2026-03-06 18:20:32.012] [LOG]   [MMM-PresenceScreenControl] [updateScreen] on=false, cmd="DISPLAY=:0 xrandr --output HDMI-1 --off" 
[2026-03-06 18:20:32.132] [LOG]   [MMM-PresenceScreenControl] [updateScreen] SUCCESS: executed "DISPLAY=:0 xrandr --output HDMI-1 --off"

Current config (for testing):

{
                        module: "MMM-PresenceScreenControl",
                        position: "bottom_right",
                        disabled: false,
                        config: {
                                mode: "PIR",
                                pirGPIO: 17,
                                onCommand: "DISPLAY=:0 xrandr --output HDMI-1 --mode 1920x1200 --rotate left",
                                offCommand: "DISPLAY=:0 xrandr --output HDMI-1 --off",
                                counterTimeout: 30,
                                autoDimmer: false,
                                autoDimmerTimeout: 60,
                                style: 2,
                                colorFrom: "red",
                                colorTo: "lime",
                                colorCronActivation: "cornflowerblue",
                                showPresenceStatus: false,
                                debug: "on",
                                resetCountdownWidth: false
                        }
                },

Pi OS version:

PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie)"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="13"
VERSION="13 (trixie)"
VERSION_CODENAME=trixie
DEBIAN_VERSION_FULL=13.3

Mirror information:

- SYSTEM:   manufacturer: Raspberry Pi Foundation; model: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.4; virtual: false; MM: 2.34.0
- OS:       platform: linux; distro: Debian GNU/Linux; release: 13; arch: arm64; kernel: 6.12.62+rpt-rpi-v8
- VERSIONS: electron: 39.7.0; used node: 22.22.0; installed node: 22.21.1; npm: 10.9.4; pm2: 6.0.14
- ENV:      XDG_SESSION_TYPE: tty; MM_CONFIG_FILE: undefined
            WAYLAND_DISPLAY:  undefined; DISPLAY: :0; ELECTRON_ENABLE_GPU: undefined
- RAM:      total: 1845.58 MB; free: 972.54 MB; used: 873.04 MB
- OTHERS:   uptime: 5652 minutes; timeZone: Europe/Amsterdam

Node version:

v22.21.1

Currently I’m using MMM-Pir from Coernel82/MMM-Pir and this works fine. But because he doensn’t maintain this module, I thougt to go over.

I use these settings in this module:

mode: 3 - use wlr-randr (For raspbian 12 with wayfire compositor)
wrandrForceRotation: "270",
wrandrForceMode: null,
waylandDisplayName: "wayland-0",
Pir mode: 1,
gpio: 17,
triggerMode : "LH" - motion signal is triggered when sensor goes from LOW (0, no-motion) to HIGH (1, motion)

[htilburgs]

Ok, I made an error because of issue 1.
I used the xrandr instead of the wrandr command for Wayland.

Now Im using:

onCommand: "DISPLAY=:0 wlr-randr --output HDMI-A-1 --on --mode 1920x1080 --transform 270",
offCommand: "DISPLAY=:0 wlr-randr --output HDMI-A-1 --off",

The screen goes off after 30 sec (current counterTimeout), but after 10 seconds the screen goes on again, counter says 00:00 without that there was any movement. Also the debug doesn’t say noting. Until I create movement, than the counter starts at 00:30 and the screen goes off and after 10 sec. on. It looks like something triggers the software, to think there is movement.

Issue 2 still exists (it only applies when Mirror is first started).
After that it detects movement and it works fine.

Issue 3
When debug is on and MMM-PresenceScreenControl is started, I see a message from [MMM-Pir][LIB][PIR]. Very confusing because I first thougt I had my other module still running.

[2026-03-06 19:36:00.975] [LOG]   [MMM-PresenceScreenControl] [MMM-Pir] [LIB] [PIR] Mode 0 Selected (gpiod library) 
[2026-03-06 19:36:00.977] [LOG]   [MMM-PresenceScreenControl] [MMM-Pir] [LIB] [PIR] [GPIOD] node-libgpiod not available, falling back to Python/gpiozero (mode 1)