Twitch chat overlay: put the best messages on screen
A raw chat box in the corner of the stream is noisy, hard to read and occasionally embarrassing. Broadcast shows do it differently: someone reads the messages and puts the good ones on screen. This guide sets up a chat overlay for Twitch, YouTube and Kick that works that way — with an automatic feed for when you want one.
The operator picks, the graphic shows
Messages from your channels flow into the Chat object on the Live page. Click one and it goes on air as a quote card, styled like the rest of your graphics, with the viewer’s name. Nothing reaches the screen unless someone chose it.
If you do want a running feed, the chat feed graphic shows the latest messages — between 2 and 12 of them — in the lower left or right corner, and updates as new ones arrive.
Connecting your channels — step by step
- In CueFinch open Prep → Connections → Chat.
- Twitch: type the channel name. That is all — no login, no key; messages are read anonymously.
- Kick: type the channel name. This is not an official route and may stop working; if the lookup is blocked, the chatroom id can be entered by hand.
- YouTube: enter your own free Google API key. The daily quota covers roughly four to five hours of streaming.
- Press Save and connect. Each platform shows its connection status, and messages start arriving in the Live page’s Chat object.
Keeping it clean
Add words to the filter list and any message containing them is greyed out in the panel and kept out of the feed and the vote count. Because nothing goes on air without a click, the quote card is safe even when chat is not.
Polls voted from chat
Run a poll graphic and switch on Count votes from chat. Viewers vote by typing 1 to 4 or the option text; each viewer gets one vote and can change it. Chat votes add to any you enter by hand, and the bars on screen update every second.
One overlay for three platforms
When you stream to Twitch, YouTube and Kick at once, all three chats arrive in the same list. A quote card looks the same whichever platform the message came from, so you can read the best question from anywhere without switching windows.
When a platform disconnects
Chat connections are best-effort: platforms change their systems, and Kick in particular has no official access. If a connection drops, CueFinch keeps retrying and the rest of the panel carries on. You can always type a quote by hand.
Let your audience on screen — on your terms. Download the free beta, type your channel name and put the first message on air.
Download the free beta