Everything you need to know about stools Broadcast — from setup to advanced features.
Table of Contents
stools Broadcast is a cloud-based streaming studio for IRL streamers. You send your camera stream via SRT or RTMP to our server — we add your custom overlays on top and stream the result directly to Twitch.
This way you don't need complex streaming software on your phone. Everything that's computationally intensive — overlay rendering, encoding, Twitch connection — is handled by our server.
Send stream via SRT/RTMP
Design overlays in the browser
Final stream on Twitch
With traditional IRL streaming, your phone does everything alone: capture, overlay rendering, encoding, and maintaining the Twitch connection. That drains battery, and if the connection drops, your Twitch stream goes down instantly. With stools Broadcast, things work differently.
Connection lost? Stream keeps going! Our server maintains a stable Twitch connection. When your phone briefly loses signal (tunnel, subway, poor reception), we show the offline scene and seamlessly resume when your signal returns.
Your phone only needs to send the camera feed — no encoding, no overlay rendering, no Twitch connection. This saves massive battery and your IRL stream lasts significantly longer.
Normally you need a PC with OBS for overlays. With us, you design everything in the browser editor and our server adds overlays to your stream in real-time.
No matter how unstable your mobile connection is — our server sends via fiber with a constant bitrate to Twitch.
Automatic scene switching, bitrate warnings in the overlay, auto-start/stop of the Twitch stream — all configurable and without manual intervention.
No OBS, no streaming PC, no complicated setup. You only need your phone and a streaming app like Larix or IRL Pro.
Your stream is sent via SRT or RTMP to our server. You'll find the addresses in your dashboard under 'Stream Input'. Apps like Larix Broadcaster, IRL Pro, or OBS are compatible.
Protocol | Address Format | Note |
|---|---|---|
SRT | srt://host:port?streamid=live/KEY | Lowest latency, recommended for IRL |
RTMP | rtmp://host:1935/live/KEY | Broadest app compatibility |
Limits: Maximum input bitrate 6,000 kbps, maximum resolution 1920×1080. Streams exceeding these limits are automatically disconnected.
The dashboard is your control center. See your stream status at a glance and quickly access all features.
Stream Input: Shows your SRT/RTMP addresses and whether your ingest is currently online.
Quick Actions: Start/stop stream, refresh overlay, open editor and settings.
Scenes: Overview of all your scenes — the active scene is highlighted and can be switched quickly.
Start Stream: With one click, your ingest stream plus overlays are sent to Twitch.
The dashboard is fully responsive and usable on mobile devices.
The Overlay Editor is a visual drag & drop editor in the browser. You can freely position, scale, rotate, and arrange elements on the canvas.
Drag & Drop: Move elements with the mouse and scale them at the corners.
Grid & Snap: Visible grid with magnetic snapping for both moving and resizing, enabling pixel-perfect placement.
Layers: Elements have a Z-order — higher layers cover lower ones. New elements always appear on top.
Lock & Hide: Elements can be locked (not movable) or toggled invisible.
Preview: Live preview of the finished overlay directly in the editor.
Fonts: Over 100 Google Fonts are available for text elements. Select the font in the properties panel on the right.
Properties Panel: The right panel shows all settings for the selected element — name, position, size, rotation, layer, and type-specific options.
The editor supports a wide variety of element types that you can freely combine.
Stream Source
Your incoming camera stream — the foundation of your IRL broadcast.
Text
Free text with configurable font (over 100 Google Fonts), size, color, and bold. Text is automatically scaled to fit the bounding box.
Image
Embed images via URL with various scaling modes (Cover, Contain, Fill).
Shape
Simple geometric shapes — rectangle or circle with configurable fill color and corner radius.
Browser Source
Embed any webpage as an iframe — ideal for alerts, widgets, and interactive content.
Video
Embed video files via URL with loop, autoplay, and mute options.
Remote Stream
Embed external streams via RTSP, RTMP, SRT, or HLS — e.g., a second camera.
Ticker
Scrolling text with configurable speed, font size, and colors.
Clock
Real-time clock with configurable format and timezone. Supports HH:mm:ss, dd.MM.yyyy, and more.
Twitch Chat
Live Twitch chat with 6 different themes (Dark, Light, Transparent, Glass, Boxed, Neon), badge display, and over 100 fonts.
Twitch Clips
Automatic playback of Twitch clips from a channel — random, newest, oldest, or most popular.
Each element can have visibility conditions. This lets you show elements only under certain conditions — e.g., a warning when the bitrate is too low.
Condition | Description |
|---|---|
Ingest online | Element is only shown when your stream input is active. |
Ingest offline | Element is only shown when no stream input is coming in. |
Bitrate below X kbps | Element is shown when your stream's upload bitrate drops below the set value. |
Bitrate above X kbps | Element is shown when your stream's upload bitrate exceeds the set value. |
Multiple conditions per element are combined with AND — all must be met simultaneously for the element to be visible.
Scenes are independent overlay layouts. Each scene has its own background and elements. You can create multiple scenes and switch between them.
Each scene has its own background (solid color or gradient) and its own elements.
The active scene determines which overlay is currently shown in the stream.
Scenes can be switched manually in the dashboard or editor.
Automatic scene switching based on ingest status (online/offline) is configurable in settings.
Background: Choose between Solid or Gradient. For gradients, you can set start and end colors as well as the direction (in degrees).
Scene names are limited to a maximum of 16 characters.
Scenes can be deleted — the active scene is protected and cannot be deleted.
The Media Gallery is your personal storage for images, videos, and audio files. Upload media and use the URLs directly in your overlay elements.
Supported formats: JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, SVG, MP4, WebM, MP3, OGG.
Maximum file size: 10 MB per file.
Total storage per user: 100 MB.
Drag & drop or click to upload. Copy the URL and use it in image or video elements.
Media can be deleted at any time to free up storage space.
In Settings, you configure everything about your output stream, Twitch connection, and automation.
Twitch Stream Key
Your Twitch stream key is needed for output to Twitch. Find it at twitch.tv/dashboard/settings.
Output Quality
Resolution (up to 1920×1080), FPS (up to 60), video bitrate (up to 6000 kbps), and audio bitrate are configurable.
Ingest Stream Key
Your personal key for SRT/RTMP addresses. Can be regenerated if needed.
No Input Scene
Choose a scene to display when no stream input is coming in yet.
Triggers react automatically to changes in your ingest status. For example, you can auto-start the Twitch stream when you begin broadcasting.
When ingest goes online:
Automatically switch to a specific scene
Automatically start the Twitch stream
When ingest goes offline:
Switch to an 'offline' scene
Automatically stop the Twitch stream
Configurable delay (tolerance for brief connection drops)
To conserve server resources, the following restrictions apply:
Maximum ingest bitrate: 6,000 kbps — exceeding this will disconnect the ingest stream.
Maximum ingest resolution: 1920×1080 — higher resolutions are rejected.
Ingest timeout: If no ingest is received within 30 minutes after starting the stream, the stream is automatically stopped.
On your first login, you must accept the Terms of Service before you can use the dashboard, editor, or stream. The ToS cover your obligations as a user, content policies, privacy, and liability. Streaming is not possible without acceptance.
stools Broadcast — Cloud IRL Streaming