Avigilon Unity Chrome Plugin

Chrome extension + companion bridge app that synchronizes the Avigilon Unity access control database with AccessGrid mobile credentials. Perfect for companies with less than 500 employees using Avigilon on-prem that want mobile credentials.

Designed to run on multiple machines simultaneously — the sync engine is fully stateless, comparing live data from both systems on every cycle rather than relying on local state.

Screenshots

Status	Settings	Logs

Architecture

Chrome Extension (MV3 service worker)
    ↕  AccessGrid API (direct, via host_permissions)
    ↕  fetch('http://localhost:19780/api/...')
Python/Tk Bridge App (localhost HTTP server)
    ↕  requests (SSL verify=False for self-signed certs)
    ↕  XML parsing → JSON normalization
Avigilon / Avigilon Server

Why two components? The Avigilon server uses self-signed SSL certificates and returns XML responses. Chrome's fetch() cannot bypass SSL verification, so the bridge app handles SSL and XML, exposing a clean JSON API on localhost that the extension consumes.

Sync Phases

On every cycle (triggered by page navigation or 1-minute timer), the extension runs 6 phases:

Phase	Direction	Action
1	Avigilon → AccessGrid	Provision new mobile credentials for tokens marked "AccessGrid"
2	Avigilon → AccessGrid	Push token status changes (active/inactive/expired)
3	Avigilon → AccessGrid	Terminate AG cards when identities or tokens are deleted
4	AccessGrid → Avigilon	Sync AG card state changes back to Avigilon token statuses
5	—	Retries (implicit — stateless design retries on next cycle)
6	Avigilon → AccessGrid	Push contact field changes (name, title)

Setup

1. Install the Bridge App

Download the latest build from Releases for your platform:

• macOS: AvigilonBridge-macos.zip — unzip and move to Applications
• Windows: AvigilonBridge-windows.exe
• Linux: AvigilonBridge-linux.tar.gz

Or run from source:

cd bridge
python -m venv .venv
.venv/bin/pip install -r requirements.txt
.venv/bin/python main.py

On launch, configure:

• Avigilon Host/IP — the Avigilon Unity server address
• Username / Password — Avigilon admin credentials
• Check "Start bridge on login" to run automatically on boot

The bridge runs on localhost:19780.

2. Install the Chrome Extension

Download AvigilonUnitySync-chrome-extension.zip from Releases, or load from source:

1. Open chrome://extensions/
2. Enable Developer mode
3. Click Load unpacked → select the chrome-extension/ directory

3. Configure AccessGrid

Click the extension icon in Chrome and go to Settings:

• Account ID — your AccessGrid account ID
• API Secret — your AccessGrid API secret
• Template ID — the card template to provision against

4. Verify

Click Run Sync Now in the extension popup. The status panel shows identity count, AG card count, and actions taken.

Fake Avigilon Server

For local development and testing, a mock Avigilon server is included:

cd fake-avigilon-server

# HTTPS with auto-generated self-signed cert
python server.py --port 8443

# HTTP only
python server.py --no-ssl --port 9443

Seeds 10 identities (8 active with AccessGrid tokens), 3 card formats. Accepts any login credentials. Implements all JSON and XML endpoints.

Development

Bridge Tests

cd bridge
.venv/bin/python -m pytest tests/ -v

Project Structure

chrome-extension/                 Chrome MV3 extension
├── manifest.json                 Permissions, service worker config
├── service-worker.js             Stateless sync engine (6 phases)
├── accessgrid-sdk.js             AccessGrid JS SDK (fetch + Web Crypto)
├── popup.html / popup.js         Status dashboard + AG config UI
└── icons/

bridge/                           Python/Tk companion app
├── main.py                       Entry point, Tk settings window, tray icon
├── src/
│   ├── avigilon_client.py          Avigilon HTTP client (SSL bypass, XML parsing)
│   ├── server.py                 Flask localhost API (JSON proxy)
│   ├── config.py                 Fernet-encrypted config storage
│   ├── tray.py                   System tray icon (pystray)
│   ├── autostart.py              OS-specific auto-start registration
│   └── constants.py              Status codes, mappings
├── tests/                        30 tests
├── AvigilonBridge.spec           PyInstaller build spec
└── requirements.txt

fake-avigilon-server/             Mock Avigilon server for testing
└── server.py

.github/workflows/build.yml      CI: bridge binaries (3 OS) + extension zip

CI/CD

On every push to main, GitHub Actions:

1. Builds the bridge binary for macOS, Linux, and Windows (PyInstaller + UPX)
2. Packages the Chrome extension as a zip
3. Runs the test suite
4. Publishes all artifacts to a rolling latest release