Have you started streaming with OBS Studio but have no idea how to view your chat while your streaming? Have no fear, in this tutorial we are going to show you how to integrate your chat into your OBS.
In the past you may have had your browser open to view your chat directly on Twitch but this can use extra resources especially if you are using Google Chrome. Let’s jump in and take a look at how to add chat to OBS Studio.
Chat Integrations Available For OBS Studio
OBS Studio is a great base software that we can use to stream and then there are hundreds of additional add-on tools we can use to customize it specifically for our own streams.
To add a chat box to your OBS you will need to pick a chat add on of your choice. Below are some of the most popular options.
- Native Twitch Chat
- Kapchat Chat Box
- Streamlabs Chat Box
How To Add A Chat Box To OBS Studio
Below I am going to outline how to install each chat option above. Feel free to use the one that best suits you. If you want chat and no other features I would recommend just going with the Twitch native option.
How To Add The Twitch Native Chat To OBS Studio
Step 1 – Get Your Chat Box URL From Twitch
To add the Twitch native chat box to OBS go to your Twitch account –> Login and navigate to your Stream Dashboard. Once you are in your Stream Manager navigate to the chat box and click on the settings COG.
When you click on the settings COG you will see the option to “Pop out Chat”. Click this and a pop out chat window will appear on your screen like below.
Step 2 – Create A Browser Dock In OBS
Next we want to copy the URL in the pop out chat box. To do this click on the URL –> Right Click –> Copy.
Now open up OBS Studio and navigate to the Top Bar. Select View –> Docks –> Custom Browser Docks.
Here you will be able to give your dock a name (Chat) and then paste the URL we previously copied in the URL Box. Click on apply and your chat box will appear however it won’t be docked in OBS.
If you are unable to see your chat then go back into View –> Docks and make sure that Chat (Or whatever you named it) is ticked.
Step 3 – Dock Your Chat In OBS
Now we want to dock our chat into OBS so we can view everything related to our stream in one place. To do this just click and drag your dock onto the section of OBS you want it to site. As you can see below I dragged mine to the right hand side of my scene.
How To Add The KapChat Chat Box To OBS
Kapchat is a third party extension that allows you to view your chat in OBS. It also has some nice features like showing FrankerFace and BTTV emotes in your chat as well as make custom CSS Edits if you want to get really fancy with your chatbox.
Step 1 – Install KapChat
You can get Kapchat by clicking here. Once you are on the Kapchat website getting set up is simple.
Click on the Get It button to get started with setting up.
Step 2 – Set Up Your Kapchat Settings
When you click on the “Get It” button you will see the screen below where we can select our options.
Enter your channel name and select the settings that you want to have for your chat. Then proceed to clicking Generate. If you want to preview your chat you can click the preview button.
When you click on generate you will be presented with a URL that we can then use to create a browser dock inside OBS Studio.
Step 3 – Add KapChat To Streamlabs
Now open up OBS Studio and navigate to the Top Bar. Select View –> Docks –> Custom Browser Docks.
Here you will be able to give your dock a name (KapChat) and then paste the URL we previously copied in the URL Box. Click on apply and your chat box will appear however it won’t be docked in OBS.
To dock this pop out chat in OBS, just click and drag it into the position that you want in your OBS Streaming Program.
How To Add The Streamlabs Chat Box To OBS Studio
Streamlabs also has a chat box that you can add directly into OBS Studio. If you have Streamlabs Prime they have quite a few themes you can apply to change the look of your chat box. Let’s take a look at how to set it up.
Step 1 – Configure the Streamlabs Chatbot
First off you will need to create an account on Streamlabs.com. Once you have done that you can then go directly to the chat box page. As you can see below there are lots of options here you can configure to make your chat box work the way that you want it to.
Streamlabs chat box also allows you to use Frankerface and BTTV emotes on your stream.
Step 2 – Add the Chat Box To OBS Studio
To add the chat box to Streamlabs you need to copy the URL from the Widget URL box at the top of the settings page.
Once you have this URL copied you can add it to OBS Studio by going to View –> Docks –> Custom Browser Docks.
Give your browser dock a name and paste your URL. Once you click apply you will be able to see your Streamlabs chat box widget. You can then drag this to the position you want it inside OBS Studio.
How to Add Your Chatbox As An Overlay
You can also add any of these chat boxes as overlays to your stream. Below is a quick step by step on how to do it but we have a more comprehensive guide to adding chat as an overlay.
- Copy the URL of your Chat Bot
- Open OBS Studio and add a new Browser Source
- Copy your URL as the browser source
- Select Apply and your chat box will appear on screen
Wrapping Up
Hopefully you can now view your chat much more easily inside OBS Studio while streaming. You can also use this method to add the chatbox as an overlay on your stream. Just copy the URL and add it as a browser source to OBS Studio.
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