The answer is probably no but I wanted to ask as a sanity check: does this setup require an internet connection after the initial setup?

My family asked me to set up security cameras at my grandmas place, which has no internet and they don't want to pay monthly.

The idea is that family will visit and check the recordings regularely to see whether the services we hired do their job and not abuse my demented grandma.

I'm thinking of:

• a rpi/minipc that can do it's own hotspot
• a huge ssd slapped onto it
• web interface that visitors can log into with a password
• 2-3 wifi cameras that connect to it

Can confirm, I've recently got some cameras and set up Frigate and it's been great. Not using Reolink but the ones I have work well enough. I have a TPLink that I like, and a Hilook starlight camera that I am not convinced on as it doesn't seem to have auto-exposure adjustment. Both work well for object detection, though there's a bit of a learning curve with frigate needing to be configured via YAML for a lot of things.

I've also started playing with Frigate's face detection but I don't think the cameras are really positioned for it. It probably makes more sense for a front door camera getting a good view of the person.

I've also got Home Assistant picking up the frigate camera streams which works well too.