brscan-skey

Brother "Scan to PC" button → multi-page PDF in a folder.
Made for Paperless-ngx, works with any folder. For models without Scan to FTP / Network.

Docker image version Docker pulls Image size Architecture: amd64 License: MIT Changelog Buy me a coffee

Quick start · Requirements · Settings · Troubleshooting · Issues

Press SCAN → Scan to PC on a Brother network scanner and get a multi-page PDF in a folder: the Paperless-ngx consume folder, a Nextcloud folder, an SMB share, and so on.

This is useful on models that have no "Scan to FTP / Network / SharePoint" menu (many North American models, such as the DCP-L2550DW). The container runs Brother's brscan-skey daemon. It registers with the device, waits for the button, scans with SANE and writes the PDF.

• Takes every page in the document feeder. When the feeder is empty, it scans the glass.
• Writes compact PDFs: JPEG for gray and colour, CCITT G4 for black & white. The page size is preserved.
• Writes each file atomically, so a watcher such as Paperless never picks up a half-written file. The owner is configurable (PUID/PGID, default 99:100 for Unraid).
• Runs on linux/amd64 only, because Brother publishes x86 drivers only.

Requirements

1. Host networking. The device sends the button event to UDP port 54925 on the host.
2. The device must accept SNMP writes. brscan-skey registers itself with an SNMP SET. On the device's web page, go to Network → Network → Protocol → SNMP and choose "SNMP v1/v2c read-write access". If you set a custom Set community, put the same value in SNMP_COMMUNITY. Without this, the device shows "No PC found". Choosing this mode disables SNMPv3. Read-only tools, such as the Home Assistant Brother integration (v2c public), keep working.
3. A model supported by brscan4. Most Brother laser and inkjet models from about 2012 to 2020 are supported. Run docker run --rm --entrypoint list-models devzwf/brscan-skey for the list. The container refuses to start with an unknown model.

Quick start

docker run -d --name brscan-skey --network host --restart unless-stopped \
  -e SCANNER_IP=192.168.1.50 \
  -e SCANNER_MODEL=DCP-L2550DW \
  -e SKEY_USER=Paperless \
  -e TZ=America/Toronto \
  -v /path/to/paperless/consume:/output \
  devzwf/brscan-skey:latest

services:
  brscan-skey:
    image: devzwf/brscan-skey:latest
    container_name: brscan-skey
    network_mode: host
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      SCANNER_IP: 192.168.1.50
      SCANNER_MODEL: DCP-L2550DW
      SKEY_USER: Paperless
      TZ: America/Toronto
      PUID: 1000
      PGID: 1000
    volumes:
      - ./consume:/output

Then, on the device, press SCAN → Scan to PC → File, choose your PC (the SKEY_USER name) if the device asks, and press OK.

Settings

Every Scan to PC target (File, Image, OCR, E-mail) produces the same PDF.

How it works

1. At startup, the container registers the device with the brscan4 SANE backend. It then starts brscan-skey, which tells the device "send scan button events for SKEY_USER to this host". The registration is refreshed every few minutes, so it comes back after the device reboots.
2. When the button is pressed, scanimage --batch reads the feeder. If no page comes out, it scans the flatbed.
3. The pages are assembled with img2pdf. The PDF is written to /output/.brscan-tmp/, then renamed into /output. Paperless only consumes the top level of its folder (when not recursive), so the hidden subfolder is ignored.

Troubleshooting

• "No PC found" on the device: SNMP is read-only. See Requirements, step 2. Check that the container runs with --network host.
• Nothing happens after OK: look at docker logs brscan-skey. Each scan logs start and then OK: N page(s) → file.pdf.
• "Document feeder jammed": the pages read before the jam are kept in the PDF.
• Wrong name on the device: set SKEY_USER, then restart the container.
• Several hosts registered: the device lists every registered PC. Stop any other brscan-skey instance on your network.

Building

docker build -t brscan-skey:local .

CI (Gitea Actions): secrets.yml runs gitleaks on the full history, ci.yml builds and smoke-tests every push. release.yml publishes X.Y.Z, X.Y and latest to Docker Hub when a vX.Y.Z tag is pushed (the tag must match VERSION). It also rebuilds the latest release every Monday to pick up Debian security updates.

License

The files in this repository are under the MIT license. The Brother drivers keep their own license; see THIRD_PARTY.md. This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by Brother Industries, Ltd. "Brother" is a trademark of its owner.