Glossary¶

The words CroStream uses, in alphabetical order, each with a link to where it's explained in full. The three you'll meet most are trigger, macro and action: a trigger waits for an event, then runs a macro, whose steps are actions.

A¶

Action¶

One thing CroStream can do, such as Send chat message, Switch scene or Play a sound. Each step of a macro runs one action. The Actions page lists them all and lets you run one by hand. See Actions and the Action reference.

Activity¶

The page with the live log of everything that happens: events that came in, the macros they ran, and each step's result, including failures and their reasons. See Activity.

Affiliate, Partner¶

Twitch's monetized channel levels. Channel points, polls and predictions only exist on Affiliate and Partner channels. See Affiliate and Partner features.

Alert¶

A short on-screen announcement in an overlay, such as "NightOwl just followed!", with an image and sound. Alerts stay hidden until a macro plays one. See Alerts.

Application ID¶

The number that identifies a Discord application. CroStream has one built in; you can use your own to change the name Discord shows. See Discord.

Authentication¶

How a webhook checks who is calling, or how CroStream signs in to the service it calls: a token, a signature (HMAC) or nothing. See Webhooks.

B¶

Backup¶

An automatic copy of your settings file, saved before every change, which you can restore from Settings → Backups. See Backups.

Branch¶

One path through an If or Switch step: the steps that run when its condition or value matches. The Activity page shows which branch each run took.

Breadcrumbs¶

The short trail attached to a crash report: CroStream's last 100 log lines and the types of recent events (never their content), so the developer can see what led to the error.

Broadcaster¶

You, the channel owner. CroStream logs in to Twitch as the broadcaster, and Broadcaster is the highest role.

Browser mode¶

Running CroStream without its window and using it from a web browser, for example on a computer without a screen. See Browser mode.

Browser source¶

The OBS source type that shows a web page. CroStream's overlays go into OBS as browser sources. See Overlays.

Built in¶

A part of CroStream itself rather than a connection to another service: Hotkeys, Queues, Tools, Viewers and Overlays. Their cards on the Integrations page carry a Built in tag. See Integrations.

C¶

Channel points¶

Twitch's viewer reward currency. Viewers spend them on rewards you create; each spend is a redemption. Not to be confused with CroStream's own viewer points.

Chat command¶

A chat message that starts with a word like !lurk. The Chat command event fires a trigger when someone types it. See Your first chat command.

Clip¶

The action that captures a moment: OBS saves its replay buffer and Twitch creates a clip. See OBS Studio.

Companion app¶

An app on your computer that CroStream connects to when it's open, but that you may often have closed: Steam and Discord. Not being connected is normal for them. See Companion apps.

Condition¶

A check a macro makes before running some steps, such as "OBS is streaming", "the viewer has at least 100 points" or {months} >= 12. You build conditions in an If step from facts and variables. See Conditions.

Config folder¶

The folder holding your settings, logins, overlays and widgets. See Where files are kept.

Cooldown¶

How long a trigger waits after firing before it can fire again, written like 30s or 5m. Cooldown counts for everyone; User cooldown counts per viewer. See Triggers.

Counter¶

A number CroStream remembers between streams, such as a death counter, changed and read by Tools actions. See Actions.

Crash reporting¶

Sending the developer an error, with what led to it, so it can be fixed. Off in released versions until you turn it on; always on in a development build. See Crash reporting.

D¶

Dashboard¶

The first page: your stream's status, stats, OBS health, the live feed and buttons for your pinned macros. See Dashboard.

Delay¶

A macro step that waits a set time before the next step.

Destination¶

A saved place that Send a webhook steps send to: its address, how to sign in, and fixed headers. Its secret is write-only. See Destinations.

Development build¶

A build that isn't a published release, such as a test build or one made from the source. It always sends crash reports. Marked Development build in Settings → Updates.

E¶

Element¶

One thing placed on an overlay, such as a text, an image, a chat box or an alert. Each element is made from a widget. The overlay editor lists them under Layers. See Overlays.

Event¶

Something that happens that CroStream can react to: a chat command, a follow, a raid, a channel point redemption, a Steam game starting, a hotkey press. Each integration provides its own events; a trigger picks one. See Events.

Export, import¶

Saving chosen macros, triggers and queues to a file, and bringing them in from one. See Export and Import.

F¶

Fact¶

A piece of live information a condition can check, such as Current scene in OBS, Playing a Steam game or a viewer's points. See Conditions.

H¶

History¶

Everything CroStream recorded over past streams: events, macro runs, chat, totals and top supporters. See History.

Hotkey¶

A keyboard shortcut that fires a trigger from anywhere on your computer, even while a game has focus. See Hotkeys.

HMAC¶

A signature that proves a message came from someone who knows a shared secret and wasn't changed on the way. CroStream checks the HMAC-SHA256 of an incoming webhook's exact body, and can sign the bodies it sends. See Webhooks.

I¶

If¶

A macro step that runs some steps only when a condition holds, with optional Else if and Else branches. See Macros.

Integration¶

CroStream's connection to another program or service (Twitch, OBS Studio, Steam, Discord), or one of its built-in parts. Each brings events and actions. See Integrations.

L¶

Layer¶

An element's place in the stack of an overlay: elements higher in the Layers list are drawn on top.

Login¶

Your saved permission to use a service, such as your Twitch login. It is a secret and expires after a while. See Login warnings.

M¶

Macro¶

A list of steps that run in order when something starts it: a trigger, a pinned button on the Dashboard or in the Controls window, or the Run button. One macro can be used by several triggers. See Macros.

Marker¶

A bookmark in your stream: a Twitch stream marker in the VOD and a chapter in your OBS recording.

Media library¶

CroStream's collection of your images, sounds, videos and fonts, ready to use in overlays and actions. See Media library.

Minimum role¶

The lowest role a viewer needs for a trigger to fire for them. See Triggers.

O¶

obs-websocket¶

The remote-control connection built into OBS 28 and newer, which CroStream uses to talk to OBS. See OBS Studio.

Overlay¶

A layered scene of elements that CroStream draws and OBS shows as a browser source: alerts, chat, goals, timers and more. See Overlays.

P¶

Points¶

CroStream's own viewer currency, kept in the viewer database and controlled by your macros. Separate from Twitch channel points. See Viewers.

Pop-out window¶

The Chat and Controls windows you can open beside the main window, for example on a second screen. See Pop-out windows.

Provider¶

The integration that carries out an action. Some actions have more than one provider: Clip runs on both OBS and Twitch. A step runs on every connected provider unless you pin it to some under Providers.

Q¶

Queue¶

A line that holds reactions and lets them out at a steady pace, for example one song request every three minutes. See Queues.

R¶

Redemption¶

A viewer spending Twitch channel points on one of your rewards. It can fire a trigger. For rewards CroStream created, it is then marked done if the macro succeeds, or refunded if it fails; see Settlement.

Replay buffer¶

OBS's rolling recording of the last few seconds or minutes, saved to a file on demand. The Clip action uses it. See The replay buffer.

Rich Presence¶

Discord's name for the status line on your profile, such as "Watching CroStream". See Discord.

Role¶

How a viewer relates to your channel, from lowest to highest: Everyone, Subscriber, VIP, Moderator, Broadcaster. Triggers use it as a minimum role.

Run¶

Running a macro directly with its Run button, without an event. Also, one execution of a macro, as listed on the Activity page.

S¶

Scope¶

One Twitch permission, such as user:write:chat. Your login grants a set of scopes. See What CroStream asks permission for.

Secret¶

Something that works like a password, such as your Twitch login or the OBS password. Secrets are stored apart from your settings and never shown, backed up or exported. See Secrets.

Sentry¶

The error-monitoring service (sentry.io) that receives crash reports when they are on. See Sentry.

Session replay¶

An opt-in part of crash reporting: a recording of the CroStream window around an error, with all text and media masked on your computer. See Crash reporting.

Settlement¶

What happens to a channel point redemption after its macros finish: marked done (fulfilled) if every run succeeded, otherwise canceled and the points refunded. Twitch only allows this for rewards CroStream created. Test and Run never settle anything. See Triggers.

Slug¶

The last part of an incoming webhook's address, after /hook/: ko-fi in http://localhost:62690/hook/ko-fi. Lowercase letters, digits and dashes.

Source (OBS)¶

One item in an OBS scene: a camera, a game capture, an image, a text, a browser source. Not to be confused with an event.

State folder¶

The folder holding what CroStream records as it runs: history, the viewer database, the media library. See Where files are kept.

Status¶

Whether an integration is working: Connected, Connecting, Awaiting, Disconnected, Disabled or Error. See What the status means.

Status bar¶

The strip along the bottom of the window showing each connection's status and the clock.

Step¶

One line in a macro: an action, or a flow step such as Delay, If, Switch or Stop. See Macros.

Stop¶

A macro step that ends the macro there, either as done or as failed. Ending as failed refunds a channel point redemption.

Switch¶

A macro step that picks which steps to run by a value, such as the sub tier, with a Default branch for anything else.

T¶

Test¶

The button on a trigger that runs its macro with a made-up sample event. It skips roles and cooldowns and never settles a redemption.

Token¶

For a webhook, a long random secret that a sender must include, in an Authorization: Bearer header or as ?token= in the address. See Webhooks.

Tray¶

The icon CroStream keeps in your system tray (the menu bar on macOS), with a menu to show the window, open pop-outs or quit. See The desktop app.

Trigger¶

A rule that says "when this event happens, run that macro", with options such as which chat command or reward, the minimum role and cooldowns. See Triggers.

U¶

User cooldown¶

A cooldown counted separately for each viewer.

V¶

Variable¶

A placeholder in curly braces, such as {user} or {game}, that CroStream fills in when a macro runs: from the event that started it, from earlier steps, or that you set yourself. See Variables.

Viewer database¶

CroStream's record of everyone who has watched or chatted: watch time, messages, follow date, points. See Viewers.

W¶

Webhook¶

A web address that one program calls to tell another that something happened. CroStream has incoming webhooks (addresses on your PC that other apps call to start your macros) and outgoing ones (the Send a webhook step calls other apps). See Webhooks. A Discord webhook is a different, single-purpose kind: a secret address that lets an app post messages into a Discord channel, used by the Post to Discord action. Treat it like a password.

Widget¶

A kind of element you can place on an overlay. CroStream comes with many built-in widgets, such as text, image, chat, goal bar, alert, timer and wheel. You can clone a built-in one to change how it looks, and power users can write their own in HTML, CSS and JavaScript. See Widgets.