Stream Director — User Guide
Everything you need to go from setup to live production in one place.
On this page
How it works
First-time setup
Get from sign-up to live in about 5 minutes.
Connect your platform
Go to YouTube or Twitch in the nav bar and follow the connection steps. For YouTube, you authorise Stream Director to read and manage live chat for your own channel. Admin/moderator posts and saved announcements can be sent to YouTube chat, moderation removals can delete YouTube chat messages, and explicitly enabled moderation automation can remove blocked messages. The Free plan watermark is displayed on the Stream Director overlay; Stream Director does not post an automatic promotional watermark message into YouTube chat.
Add the overlay to OBS
Go to your Dashboard and copy the OBS URL shown at the bottom of the page. In OBS, add a Browser Source, paste the URL, and set the width and height to match your stream canvas (e.g. 1920 × 1080 for 1080p or 3840 × 2160 for 4K). Tick Shutdown source when not visible off, and tick Refresh browser when scene becomes active.
Design your overlay
Open the Overlay Designer to choose a layout template, colours, fonts, and animations. Hit Send test message to preview it live without going on air.
Go live and open the Director Console
Start your stream on YouTube or Twitch, then open the Director Console on any device — phone, tablet, or second monitor. Messages will start arriving as viewers chat.
Director Console
Your live control room. Open it at /Director during your stream.
📥 Inbox
Every chat message from your live stream appears here in real time, sorted by priority — paid messages at the top, then questions, then standard chat. The inbox auto-clears between sessions so you always start fresh.
▶ Show
Tapping Show on any message sends it to your OBS overlay immediately. Only one message is on screen at a time. The previous message hides before the new one appears.
📋 Queue
Tap Queue to add a message to the queue panel without showing it yet. The queue holds messages in order so you can line them up and work through them. Use the Next button or Auto-advance to move through the queue hands-free.
✓ Answer
Mark a message as answered to visually track what you've dealt with. Answered messages turn green so you know at a glance what still needs attention.
🔍 Filter pills
Filter the inbox by message type — Questions, Paid, Members, Greetings, Links, Emoji-only, Mentions, Locations, and more. Tap a pill to show only that type; tap again to clear.
🔁 Auto-advance
Tick the Auto-advance checkbox to automatically show the next queued message when the current one finishes displaying. Combine with the queue for fully hands-free message rotation.
🚨 Hide overlay
The Hide button immediately clears the current message from the overlay. Use it if something inappropriate appears or you need a quick clear.
📢 Saved announcements
One-tap access to your pre-written announcements in the sidebar. Tap any announcement to send it to the overlay instantly without having to type it out live.
OBS Overlay
The browser source you add to OBS. It has a fully transparent background.
The overlay URL is unique to your account. Anyone with the URL can view the overlay, so treat it like a password. You can revoke and regenerate it at any time from the Overlay Designer.
| OBS setting | Recommended value |
|---|---|
| Width / Height | Match your OBS canvas — 1920×1080 for 1080p, 3840×2160 for 4K |
| FPS | 60 for smooth animations, 30 is fine for most templates |
| Custom CSS | Leave blank — all styling is controlled from the Overlay Designer |
| Shutdown when not visible | Off — keeps the SignalR connection alive |
| Refresh when active | On — reconnects cleanly when you switch scenes |
| Control audio | On if you want the paid message chime to play through OBS |
Overlay Designer
Control every visual aspect of how messages appear on screen.
Layout templates
Broadcast — large card, great for most shows.
Lower Third — a wide bar across the bottom.
Split Bar — two-column with accent stripe.
Question Card — styled for Q&A segments.
Quote Card — centred, large text for standout moments.
Side Panel — narrow panel docked to one edge.
Social Stream — a compact pill ticker.
Ticker Bug — minimal name+message strip.
Canvas size
Set this to match your OBS output resolution. The overlay positions itself at exact pixel coordinates based on this value. Getting it wrong causes elements to appear in the wrong location in OBS.
Colours & fonts
Set accent colour, background colour, background opacity, text colour, and meta label colour independently. Choose from system fonts or leave on default. Changes preview live on the Send test message button.
Animations
Choose how messages enter and exit — Slide from Left/Right/Top/Bottom, Fade, Scale, or Bounce. Set the animation duration and how long each message stays on screen before auto-hiding.
Multiple themes
Create multiple themes (e.g. one for Q&A, one for paid messages, one for your game section) and switch the active theme between them. Only the active theme is used on the overlay.
Regenerate URL
Creates a new overlay URL and immediately invalidates the old one. Use this if you've accidentally shared the URL or want to rotate it for security. Update your OBS browser source immediately after.
Message types & filters
Stream Director automatically classifies every incoming message.
Every message gets one primary type tag and may also get secondary detection tags. These drive both the filter pills in the Director Console and the Auto-display rules.
| Type | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Paid | Super Chat (YouTube) or Bits cheer (Twitch). Sorted to the top of the inbox. | Platform API |
| Question | Message detected as a question — starts with a question word or ends with a question mark. | Auto-detected |
| Member | New membership / channel subscription event, or a message from an existing member. | Platform API |
| Greeting | Detected as a greeting — "hello", "hi", "hey", common welcome phrases. | Auto-detected |
| Announcement | A message you've sent from Saved Announcements, shown with a distinct style. | Manual |
| Location | Message contains a country, city, or "watching from" phrase. | Auto-detected |
| Spam | Detected as likely spam — repeated characters, excessive caps, or blocked words. | Auto-detected |
Secondary detection tags appear alongside the primary type:
Queue & auto-advance
Line up messages to display in order without any manual intervention.
Add messages to the queue
Tap Queue on any message in the inbox. It appears in the queue panel on the right side of the Director Console. You can queue multiple messages before your current on-screen message finishes.
Show the first queued message
Tap Show first at the top of the queue panel, or tap Show directly on the current on-air message when you're ready to advance. You can also click Next to immediately advance.
Enable auto-advance for hands-free rotation
Tick Auto-advance in the Director Console. When a message's display time expires, the next queued message appears automatically. The overlay plays a hide animation, then an entry animation for the new message.
Auto-display rules
Automatically show certain messages on screen without you having to tap Show.
Auto-display rules trigger instantly when a matching message arrives. Rules are rate-limited to prevent message spam — only one auto-display fires every 30 seconds by default. Find this under Auto-display in the nav bar.
| Rule type | When it fires | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Paid above threshold | Super Chat / Bits amount is at or above your set amount | Automatically highlight big donations |
| New membership | Someone joins the channel or subscribes | Never miss a new member event |
| Moderator message | Message is from one of your platform moderators | Let mods flag important chat events |
| Channel owner | Message is from the channel owner themselves | Auto-highlight your own chat messages |
| VIP viewer | Author name matches your VIP list | Guarantee regulars always get featured |
| Contains hashtag | Message body contains a specific #tag | Campaign hashtags, voting, call-to-action |
| Contains keyword | Message body contains a specific word or phrase | Topic-specific triggers, event names |
🚨 Emergency stop
One button on the Auto-display page stops all auto-display rules immediately. Use it if something unexpected is triggering during a sensitive moment. Rules resume when you restart them individually.
✈ Aviation pack
A pre-built set of rules tuned for aviation and travel streams — automatically displays location mentions, aircraft type callouts, and ATC-style keywords. One click to install.
Timers & Goals
Persistent widgets on your overlay canvas, independent of chat messages.
Timers and Goals live in the Overlay Designer (scroll to the bottom of the left sidebar). They appear on the OBS overlay at the same time as chat messages — they're independent overlays sitting on their own layer.
⏱ Countdown timer
Count down from a set duration to zero. Great for stream start countdowns, segment timing, or giveaway windows. Displays in H:MM:SS format. Flashes when it hits 0:00.
⏫ Count-up timer
Count up from zero — useful for "time since stream started", "watching for X hours", or any elapsed-time display. Runs indefinitely until paused or reset.
🎯 Goal bar
A progress bar with a current value and target. Set the label (e.g. "Subscribers"), unit (e.g. "subs"), and target. Update the current value from the Director Console Goals panel during your stream.
📍 Positioning
Each timer or goal has its own anchor (top-left, top-right, bottom-left, bottom-right) and offset percentage so you can precisely place them without overlapping your chat messages.
Saved Announcements
Pre-written messages you can send to the overlay in one tap.
Go to Announcements in the nav bar to create and manage your saved announcements. During a stream, they appear in the sidebar of the Director Console for instant access.
Use announcements for things you say repeatedly: "Subscribe for more", "Join our Discord at…", "Next stream is on…", sponsor reads, and call-to-action moments. They display with a distinct blue announcement style on the overlay.
Test Studio
Test your overlay setup without going live.
The Test Studio lets you send synthetic messages to your overlay at any time — even when you're not live. Use it to:
- Check that your OBS browser source is connected and receiving
- Test how different message types look (paid, member, question)
- Preview animations after changing your theme
- Confirm that the paid chime sound is working
- Show a test message to verify positioning and scale at your canvas resolution
Team & roles
Invite collaborators to help direct your stream.
| Role | What they can do |
|---|---|
| Owner | Full access — billing, settings, platform connections, team management, overlays, themes, all console features. There is one Owner per workspace. |
| Director | Full Director Console access — Show, Queue, Answer, Hide, Announcements, Timers, Goals. Cannot change account settings, themes, or billing. |
| Moderator | Director Console access plus moderation tools — blocking words and authors. Cannot manage team or settings. |
Invite team members from the Team page. They receive an email with a link to create their account. Each person gets their own login — never share your password.
Session History
A record of every live stream where Stream Director was active.
Each session shows:
- Messages received — total chat messages ingested during the session
- Messages featured — how many you sent to the overlay
- Questions displayed — question-type messages featured
- Duration — how long the session ran
Click any session to see its individual message history — every message received, whether it was shown, and when.
Account & security
Keep your account and overlay secure.
Two-factor authentication
Enable 2FA from your account settings using any TOTP app (Google Authenticator, Authy, 1Password). Strongly recommended — your overlay URL is tied to your account.
Overlay URL security
Your overlay URL contains a secret token. Don't share it publicly. If it's been exposed, regenerate it from the Overlay Designer immediately — the old URL stops working instantly.
Clear all messages
From the Dashboard danger zone, you can permanently delete all chat messages and history from your workspace. This is irreversible — a confirmation modal appears before anything is deleted.
Moderation tools
Block specific words or author names from the Moderation section. Blocked authors' messages are automatically hidden from your inbox. Blocked words cause messages to be tagged as Spam.