# Plate reader (ALPR)

The ALPR reads the plates of cars around you and runs them through your CAD automatically, without a manual plate lock. **Only flagged vehicles raise an alert**; clean plates stay silent.

Each hit gives two notifications (plate, vehicle and direction, then owner, statuses and flags) and an audio cue. ALPR only runs while the plate reader is showing (`/togglepr`).

> [!NOTE]
> ALPR runs plates through CDE CAD or ImperialCAD. With neither (`provider = 'none'`, the default), plates are still read and shown, just never run. Use voice dispatch's plate check, or the vehicle wheel, to run a plate against c3r's records.

## Alerts

| Flag | Means |
|---|---|
| **Stolen Vehicle** | Marked stolen in the CAD |
| **Impounded Vehicle** | Marked impounded in the CAD |
| **Expired Registration** | Registration not valid or active |
| **No Insurance** | Insurance missing or invalid |
| *CAD flags* | Anything else your CAD returns: warrants, BOLOs, dangerous or missing person, your own custom flags (CDE CAD only) |

Custom flags come through as they are, so a flag you add in the CAD shows up in game without touching the radar.

## Setup: CDE CAD

Your credentials go in `server.cfg`, not in the config. Most communities already have these set from CDE's own resource.

1. Generate a FiveM API key in your CDE CAD **Admin Panel → FiveM Settings**.
2. Add to `server.cfg`:
   ```cfg
   set CDE_CAD_API_URL      "https://your-cdecad-instance.com/api"
   set CDE_CAD_API_KEY      "fvm_your_api_key"
   set CDE_CAD_COMMUNITY_ID "your-discord-guild-id"
   ```
3. Set `Config.alpr.provider = 'cde'` in `shared/config.lua`.

## Setup: ImperialCAD

Runs through the ImperialCAD resource, so the radar never handles your API key.

1. Install and start [ImperialCAD](https://docs.imperialcad.app).
2. Put your credentials (**Admin Panel → Settings → API**) at the top of `server.cfg`, above `ensure ImperialCAD`:
   ```cfg
   setr imperial_community_id "yourCommunityId"
   set imperialAPI "yourApiKey"
   ```
3. Set `Config.alpr.provider = 'imperial'`.

ImperialCAD doesn't return a vehicle's make, model or colour, so those alerts show the plate and flags only. It has no impound field either: a registration status containing "impound" raises the impound flag. Business-owned plates are marked `(Business)`.

## Scan settings

```lua
Config.alpr = {
    provider = 'none',         -- 'none' | 'cde' | 'imperial'
    radius       = 25.0,       -- metres around you that plates are read
    rescanDelay  = 300,        -- seconds before the same plate is read again
    scanInterval = 200,        -- ms between scans
    cacheMinutes = 60,         -- how long a result is reused; 0 looks up every sighting
    lockCooldown = 120,        -- seconds before re-locking the same plate asks the CAD fresh again
    maxQueriesPerMinute = 60,  -- per player; 0 for no limit
    discordWebhook     = '',   -- posts flagged hits to Discord
    discordWebhookName = 'ALPR System',
}
```

Results are cached so a unit sat in traffic doesn't hammer your CAD, and the cache survives a restart. The catch is staleness: a car reported stolen five minutes ago reads clean until its entry expires. **Locking a plate skips the cache** and asks the CAD there and then, at most once every `lockCooldown` seconds per plate. Lower `cacheMinutes` if your CAD data changes fast, or clear it with `exports.seeker_dual:ClearAlprCache()`. `/alprcache` in the server console shows what's cached.

Lookups over the per-minute limit aren't lost: they're retried on a later pass.

## Discord

Set `discordWebhook` and every flagged hit posts an embed with the plate, direction, vehicle, owner and flags: red for stolen or impounded, yellow for registration and insurance. Clean plates never post.