Help and setup

Streaming, chat and your own keys

Your companion can read your stream chat out loud, and OBS can send your stream to several sites at once. Everything here is yours to set: your channel names, your stream keys, your accounts. Nothing is built in, and your keys stay on your PC. Back to the main help.

Quick map

  1. Chat in the overlay: Settings, Stream tab. Needs only a channel name (Twitch, Kick) or a chat link and key (YouTube).
  2. Going live on several sites: done in OBS with a free plugin. The Companion does not touch your stream keys.
  3. X (Twitter): stream to it from OBS with its RTMP address and key. Reading X chat needs X to approve your account first.
  4. Keys: yours alone. Never paste them in a chat, a video or a screenshot.

What you need first

  1. The Companion installed and signed in (main help).
  2. OBS Studio, for going live (free, obsproject.com).
  3. An account on each site you want to stream to.
  4. About ten minutes. You can do one site at a time and come back later.

1 · Show your stream chat in the overlay

Open the Companion panel, then Settings, then the Stream tab. Each site has its own box and its own switch button at the top (Twitch, YouTube, Kick). Fill the box, press Save Settings, then press the site's switch to connect.

Twitch

  1. Type your channel name (the part after twitch.tv/).
  2. Optional: an oauth: token, only if you want her to answer in your chat. Reading chat needs no token.
  3. Press Save Settings, then the Twitch switch. The status dot turns green.
  4. Chat lines now appear in the overlay and your companion can react to them.

Kick

  1. Type your channel name (the part after kick.com/).
  2. Press Save Settings, then the Kick switch. No account and no key are needed to read Kick chat.
  3. If it stays red, check the name has no spaces and your channel is live.

YouTube

  1. Paste the Live Chat ID or the link of your live video. Paste a YouTube Data API key, made in Google Cloud Console (free tier). The key is saved on this PC only.
  2. Press Save Settings, then the YouTube switch. YouTube only shows chat while a stream is live.

If a site does not connect, switch the site off and on again. The dot color tells you the state: grey is off, yellow is trying, green is reading chat.

2 · Go live on several sites from OBS

OBS sends the picture. Each site gives you a server address (the RTMP URL) and a stream key. We recommend the free Aitum Multistream plugin: one extra output per site, all started together.

Set up an output

  1. Install OBS Studio and the Aitum Multistream plugin (aitum.tv). Restart OBS.
  2. Open the Aitum Multistream dock. Press the add button and choose a site, or a Custom output.
  3. Paste the server address and the stream key from that site.
  4. Turn the output on. Start streaming in OBS as usual.
  5. Open the site and check the preview before you go public.

Where each site hides its key

  1. Twitch: Creator Dashboard, Settings, Stream, Primary Stream key.
  2. YouTube: YouTube Studio, Go live, Stream settings.
  3. Kick: Creator Dashboard, Settings, Stream URL and Key.
  4. X: Media Studio, Producer (also called Live Studio), create a broadcast, choose OBS and copy the RTMP URL and key.

3 · Add X (Twitter)

Streaming to X works like any other site: a server address and a key from X's Media Studio. Some accounts need X Premium to go live, so check what X shows you.

Stream to X

  1. Go to studio.x.com and open Producer (or Live Studio).
  2. Create a broadcast and pick OBS. Copy the RTMP URL and the Stream key.
  3. In the Aitum dock add a Custom output. Paste both. Turn it on.
  4. Start streaming and watch the preview in Producer. Press Go live there when you are happy.

Reading X chat

X offers a Livestream API that can read chat, but it is gated: you must apply for access on the X developer site and be approved. Until X approves your account, the overlay cannot show X chat.

Applied and approved? Tell us on Discord and we will help you connect it.

4 · Keep your keys safe

The rules

  1. A stream key lets anyone stream as you. Never paste it in a chat, a screenshot, a video or a support message.
  2. The Companion stores what you type on your own PC, not on our servers.
  3. Streaming and showing your OBS settings? Hide the Stream tab first.
  4. If a key leaks, make a new one on the site at once. The old one stops working.

Common problems

  1. The status stays red: check the name or link, save, then switch the site off and on again.
  2. OBS says it cannot connect: the key or the server address is wrong. Copy both again from the site, with no spaces.
  3. One site works and another does not: turn them on one at a time to find which one fails.
  4. Still stuck: ask in our Discord, and never include the key.