GUIDE
Chat overlay
A chat overlay is an OBS browser source that shows live chat from Twitch, YouTube, or both. It can show platform icons, badges, Twitch and BetterTTV emotes, and YouTube Super Chats if you want. Messages can also get visual effects — fire, lightning, ice, rainbow, hearts, and more. Twitch chat GIFs can be shown or hidden per overlay (separate from the Twitch emotes toggle). When GIFs are disabled, messages that are GIFs do not appear on the overlay at all.
Sources
- Twitch: This uses read-only IRC with your linked Twitch channel. You do not need extra chat authorization. Link Twitch on the Account page if you have not already.
- YouTube: This is optional. Connect YouTube chat in the dashboard (separate from Google login). Your channel must be eligible for YouTube live streaming. Leave “Show YouTube messages” off if you only want Twitch.
- Channel points: Optional. Connect Channel points in the dashboard so the site can create rewards on your Twitch channel and detect when viewers redeem them. You pick which rewards trigger effects.
Setup
- Open Dashboard → Chat and create a chat overlay.
- Toggle which sources and extras you want (platform icon, badges, emotes, Super Chats). Overlay settings save as you change them.
- Copy the Display URL into an OBS or StreamLabs browser source. This uses the same pattern as counters.
- You can mark one overlay as current and use the Current URL. This lets you switch overlays without editing OBS.
Display URL
Chat overlays use /view/chat/… (or /view/chat/current). Keep the private key secret, just like other display links.
Deleted and moderated messages
When Twitch or YouTube removes a message, the matching line is removed from the chat overlay. A Twitch timeout or ban, or a YouTube user ban, also clears that user's messages currently shown in the overlay.
Message effects
Effects are animated styles on individual chat lines — fire, lightning, ice, rainbow, hearts, sparkle, poison, gold, glitch, confetti, and similar. They appear on the OBS overlay and stay on that message until it scrolls away. Glitch shows readable text for a few seconds, then jitters and scrambles the letters for a few seconds before settling again. Scan lines and falling blocks keep moving the whole time.
In Dashboard → Chat, use Chat message effects to choose which built-in and custom effects are allowed. That list is global for every overlay. Preview an effect by clicking its name. Enabled effects save as you toggle them, and custom effects save as you edit them. Custom effects can reuse a built-in motion, pick a background color or style, choose built-in sprites, or upload PNG/JPEG/GIF images (2 MiB, 2048×2048 max). You can choose a file or drop it onto the upload box. Uploads are stored on this server under a random token, not the original filename.
You can add effects in two ways:
- Streamer control: Open the Interactive URL on your phone or in a browser tab (not as an OBS source). Tap a message to give it a random effect. The same effect shows on your Display URL overlay for viewers.
- Channel point redemptions: Enable channel points effects on the overlay, create or select rewards, and set how many minutes each redemption lasts. When a viewer redeems a tracked reward, their Twitch messages get random effects for that time on any of your chat overlays. Multiple redemptions stack, up to ten minutes total per viewer.
For a debug pass through every effect, open the Interactive URL with &debugEffects=1. Each tap advances to the next effect in order and shows the effect name on the message.
Streamer control (Interactive URL)
Copy the Interactive URL from the dashboard preview panel (/view/chat/.../interactive). Open it on a phone or second screen while you stream.
- Do not add this URL to OBS — it is for you to tap messages, not for on-stream display.
- Each tap picks a random effect for that message and updates the overlay live.
- Useful for highlighting funny moments, subs, or messages you want to call out without channel points.
Channel point redemptions
- In Dashboard → Chat, connect Channel points (separate from your normal Twitch login).
- Twitch will ask you to allow this site to create and manage channel point rewards — approve that prompt.
- On your overlay, turn on Enable channel points effects, set minutes per redemption, and create or select rewards to track.
- Redemptions are tracked as soon as Channel points is connected and rewards are selected — chat does not need to be on the current OBS scene. The timer starts at redeem time. If you switch to a chat overlay (or a different chat overlay) before that time runs out, that viewer’s effects continue there.
Rewards you create here are published to your Twitch channel. Only rewards created through this site appear in the “App rewards to track” list, so you always know which redemptions the overlay listens for.
Ignored usernames
In Dashboard → Chat, use the global Ignored usernames list to hide messages from bots or accounts you do not want on any overlay. Matching is case-insensitive. For each username, choose Twitch, YouTube, or both (default). The list saves as you edit it and applies to every chat overlay on your account.
Tips
- Set width/height in the browser source properties to the size you want on stream (for example
400×700). Do not stretch the source afterward — that makes text blurry. - You can also place chat on a combined overlay. See the overlay guide. It stays inside the box you place on the canvas.
- Chat text scales with the browser source height. Use Text scale on the dashboard if you want it relatively larger or smaller inside that box.
- Use a transparent background when the overlay should sit on top of your scene.
- YouTube only polls while the overlay is open in OBS and YouTube is enabled as a source.
- Channel point redemptions are detected even if chat is not currently visible. Effects apply to the viewer’s next Twitch messages on whichever of your chat overlays is listening, until the time expires.