Emergency Scenarios
Learn how to configure and activate access control emergency scenarios
Emergency scenarios are pre-configured emergency responses that admins can activate from Verkada Command, the Verkada Pass App, or a physical input. Each scenario defines which doors lock, which doors unlock, and who is notified, so when something happens, the right actions take effect immediately.
Verkada's five scenario types, Lockdown, Hold, Secure, Evacuate, and Shelter, are based on the Standard Response Protocol developed by the I Love U Guys Foundation, a common framework used by schools, workplaces, and public buildings to standardize emergency response.
You must be an Access Site Admin to create a scenario for a site.
Create a scenario
In Verkada Command, go to All Products > Access.
Select a site from the All Sites menu.
Click Scenarios, then on the right, click .
Under General, select a scenario type.
The scenario type you choose determines the icon and color used to identify the scenario across Command and alerts. It has no bearing on the configuration options available in the next steps. All types share the same configuration options.
Provide a name for the scenario and, optionally, an emergency message.
Under Sites and Doors, select doors from the site(s) that will lock and/or unlock when the scenario is activated.
Scenarios can be configured with no doors at all. This is useful when you want to use Command to trigger an emergency to generate alerts and notify admins without changing the state of any doors.
Under Permissions, specify who can activate the scenario, release the scenario, or unlock doors during the scenario.
The "Can Unlock Doors" permission only appears if at least one door in the scenario is configured to lock.
If multiple sites are assigned to a lockdown scenario:
If a user is not an Access Site Admin for all the sites in the scenario, they can only add or remove doors from the sites where they have admin permissions.
If an AUX input is configured to trigger the lockdown scenario, a user must be an Access Site Admin for all assigned sites to edit or delete the AUX input configuration.
Clone a scenario
In Command, go to All Products > Access.
Select a site from the All Sites menu.
Click Scenarios, then select a scenario.
At the top right, click 
> Clone.
Select a site to clone to and click Next.
Follow the configuration window to configure the scenario and make changes.
Activate a scenario
Once a scenario has been created, you will see a new emergency 
icon at the bottom-left of your navigation bar.
On the Command homepage, left navigation, click 
Active Scenario.
Select the scenario to initiate.
Click Activate to start the scenario.
More than one scenario can be active at the same site at any given time, regardless of scenario type. When multiple scenarios are active and a door is configured across more than one of them, the lock state takes precedence on a per-door basis. If one active scenario tells a door to lock and another tells the same door to unlock, the door will lock. When the scenario locking the door is released, the door will switch to unlocked, provided the other scenario is still active.
Scenarios can also be activated from the Verkada Pass App, the Command mobile app, an AUX input, or the Scenarios API.
Configure an AUX input to initiate a scenario locally
Once a scenario has been created, you can configure an AUX input on an access controller to trigger the scenario when the AUX input is activated.
In Verkada Command, go to All Products > Access.
Under Controllers, select the access controller where you want to set up an AUX input.
From the access controller’s details page, click Add and select AUX Input.
Under Settings:
a. Enter a unique name. b. Select the desired name, port, and connection type. c. Click Next.
Under Actions:
a. Select Scenario Trigger as the Input Type. b. Select the Scenario that you want to trigger when the AUX input is activated.
Click Done.
If an AUX input is configured to trigger a scenario that includes doors on other access controllers, the AUX input’s access controller will establish a local connection with the other access controllers through the local area network (LAN). When the AUX input is activated, each door in the scenario will lock or unlock according to its configuration, through the local network. For more details, see Cross-Device Local Connection for Access Control.
View active scenarios
Admins can access active scenarios from the alerts inbox in Command to always know what is happening across the site.
When a scenario is activated, a notification card slides out from the Alerts icon.
The alert inbox icon turns red, pulses, and displays the number of active emergencies while at least one scenario is active.
Dismissing or hiding a notification card does not release the scenario. Users can dismiss cards individually or hide all visible cards at once.
On the Command homepage, left navigation, click Alerts.
On the left, select Active Emergencies.
The Active Emergencies tab lists all active scenarios alongside any unresolved, raised alarms. This view is the source of truth for what's currently active across your sites.
Select a scenario to view more information.
Release a scenario
On the Command homepage, left navigation, click Alerts.
On the left, select Active Emergencies.
Select a scenario, and on the right, click Release.
Click Confirm to release.
Scenarios can also be released from the Verkada Pass App, the Command mobile app, or the Scenarios API.
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