Stream Layout Tutorial 2: Alerts & Chat Box
Stream alerts are an automated way to thank your viewers for following, donating, and subscribing. While alert services each offer a wide variety of ways to configure their alerts, adding any of them to OBS Studio is a simple and straightforward process.
1. Choose an Alert Provider
The first step in adding alerts to your stream is to pick an Alert Provider. By connecting your streaming account with their website, they can get the information about your new followers, subscribers and more. You then embed their Alert Overlay in OBS Studio.
Some examples of Alert Providers with free alerts services:
Note: you do NOT require any plugins to use alerts in your stream
2. Configure the Alert Overlay
On your chosen Alert Provider's website, you can choose the type of alerts to show, change the images that display, change the sounds that are used, etc. See the Alert Provider's website and documentation for more details.
Common Alert Overlays include:
| Alerts | Shows each event as it happens. For example: "So-and-so just subscribed at Tier 1!" |
| Events List | Shows a listing of the last few most recent events |
| Chat Box | Shows the content of the stream chat |
| Labels | Shows one piece of information, such as the latest follower, latest subscriber, etc. |
| Cup | Shows a cup that is filled with icons that represent different kinds of events |
3. Add the Alert Overlay to OBS Studio
Once you've got your account set up and configured some alerts, you're ready to add them to OBS Studio.
- Find the URL for your alert
- Depending on which service you use, this can have different names. Common names include Overlay URL, Widget URL, and Alert URL
- Select the Scene you wish to add your alert to from the Scenes list
- In the Sources list, right click to add a new source and select Browser
- In the properties for your new Browser source, paste your alerts URL in the URL field
- Adjust the width and height to an appropriate size for your alert
Click OK to save your changes and your new alert will be in your scene.