HowlCastHowlCast
Operate

Chat popout

Use the chat as an OBS browser source or a docked window.

/popout/chat is a chrome-free version of the chat dock. Same LiveChat component the channel page uses, but with no header, no footer, no nav — just chat.

Two ways to use it

As an OBS browser source

OBS → Sources → Add → Browser. Paste:

https://tv.<your-domain>.tv/popout/chat

Width 380, height 640 work well for a sidebar overlay. Tick "Refresh browser when scene becomes active" so chat reconnects on scene swap.

As a second window

Dashboard → ChatPop out button. Opens /popout/chat in a 380×640 window. Drag to a second monitor while you stream.

Auth model

The popout reads the same session cookie as the rest of the dashboard, so the broadcaster's tokens are available — chat connects as the broadcaster with full mod / pin / delete permissions.

If you want to use it on a streaming PC that's not signed in, generate a temporary token via Better Auth and bake it into a custom URL. (Not implemented out of the box; the assumption is the streaming PC and the broadcasting PC are the same.)

Styling for OBS

The popout uses dark navy + cyan brand. For a transparent background suitable for chroma-keying, append ?transparent=1 (planned, not yet shipped — track in issues).

Refresh behavior

Chat is GetStream's React SDK. Reconnects automatically. If a stale connection sticks (e.g. after a long sleep on the streaming machine), refresh the browser source.

Next: Moderation.

On this page