Skip to content

Getting started

CroStream is a desktop app that sits next to OBS while you stream. It watches your Twitch chat, channel point redemptions, follows, raids and more, and reacts for you: it can switch OBS scenes, save clips, post in chat, play sounds, put alerts on stream and much more. Out of the box, typing !clip in your chat saves the OBS replay buffer, creates a Twitch clip and posts the link.

This section takes you from nothing to a working setup in four steps. Plan on about fifteen minutes.

  1. Install CroStream (this page).
  2. Log in to Twitch, so CroStream can see your chat and act on your channel.
  3. Connect OBS, so CroStream can switch scenes and save clips.
  4. First steps: test !clip, look around the window and set up the few preferences worth changing on day one.

What you need
A computer Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit), macOS 13 Ventura or newer, or a recent Linux desktop (see the Linux tab below). Run CroStream on the computer you stream from.
A Twitch account CroStream logs in as you, the broadcaster. You don't need to register anything with Twitch yourself.
OBS Studio 28 or newer The remote-control connection CroStream uses (obs-websocket) is built into OBS from version 28.
The OBS replay buffer (optional) Only needed if you want !clip and other clip actions to save a replay video. Connecting OBS shows how to turn it on.

Downloads

CroStream isn't publicly released yet: see the download page for what's coming and when. The instructions below describe what to do once you have a build.

Install CroStream

  1. Run the CroStream installer you downloaded.
  2. If Windows shows Windows protected your PC (Microsoft SmartScreen), click More info, check that the publisher is shown as expected, then click Run anyway. SmartScreen shows this for programs it hasn't seen many people download yet.
  3. Follow the installer: pick a folder (the default is fine) and click through to Finish. The installer adds CroStream to the Start menu and puts a shortcut on your desktop. If your computer is missing Microsoft's WebView2 runtime, which draws CroStream's window, the installer downloads and installs it for you.
  4. Start CroStream from the Start menu or the desktop shortcut.

To uninstall, open Settings → Apps → Installed apps in Windows, find CroStream and choose Uninstall. Your settings and data are kept, in case you reinstall; Where CroStream keeps its files shows where they are if you want them gone too.

CroStream needs macOS 13 Ventura or newer.

  1. Open the file you downloaded and drag CroStream into your Applications folder.
  2. Open CroStream from Applications (or Launchpad, or Spotlight).
  3. The first time, macOS asks whether you're sure you want to open an app downloaded from the internet. Click Open.

If macOS instead says it can't check the app for malicious software and only offers Done or Move to Trash, click Done, open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down to the message about CroStream and click Open Anyway. Then open CroStream again and confirm. You only do this once per version.

CroStream's icon appears in the menu bar at the top of the screen as well as in the Dock. See Desktop behaviour for what it does.

To uninstall, quit CroStream and drag it from Applications to the Trash. Your settings and data are kept; see Where CroStream keeps its files.

CroStream's window is drawn by GTK 4 and WebKitGTK 6.0, which recent desktops (Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 13, current Fedora and Arch) can install from their normal software sources.

From a package (.deb or .rpm): install it with your software center or package manager. It pulls in the libraries it needs and adds CroStream to your app launcher.

From the plain program file:

  1. Install the libraries the window needs:

    Distribution Packages
    Ubuntu, Debian libgtk-4-1 libwebkitgtk-6.0-4
    Fedora gtk4 webkitgtk6.0
    Arch gtk4 webkitgtk-6.0

  2. Make the file executable: in a terminal, chmod +x crostream, or mark it as executable in the file's properties in your file manager.

  3. Run it.

GNOME: install the AppIndicator extension

CroStream puts an icon in the system tray. Stock GNOME (Fedora Workstation, for example) has no tray, so the icon has nowhere to appear. Install the AppIndicator and KStatusNotifierItem Support GNOME extension (Ubuntu ships it already turned on). Without a tray, don't turn on Close to the tray or Start in the tray in Settings: the window would hide with no icon to bring it back. Opening CroStream again from the launcher still brings the running window forward.

Desktop notifications need a notification service, which every mainstream desktop has.

Only one CroStream at a time

Opening CroStream while it's already running doesn't start a second copy: it brings the running window to the front, even if it was hidden in the tray. Two copies would fight over your settings, so CroStream refuses to run twice on the same computer.

Prepare OBS

CroStream controls OBS through OBS's built-in WebSocket server, and !clip saves OBS's replay buffer. Both are off in a fresh OBS. Connecting OBS shows how to turn them on and connect, step by step.

CroStream used to be called streamlink. If you used it under that name, your settings, logins, triggers, macros and data move over by themselves the first time CroStream starts. See Upgrading from an older version for the details.

Running without a window

CroStream can also run with no window at all, on a spare computer or a server, and show the same interface in a web browser. That's an optional extra for advanced setups: see Browser mode. Most streamers never need it.

Next step