# Create your first chat command

Make !hello reply in chat, add aliases and personalise the message.

Updated 31 October 2026

## 1. Start from Simple command

**Build your first flow** in the footer of the public site opens this guide. To follow along, [connect your Twitch channel first](https://bloopbot.com/docs/getting-started#connect), then choose the channel you want to build for in the dashboard.

1. Open your channel’s **Flows** page, then **Packs → Starter**. Starter is added automatically once for channels using the earlier setup, with new flows paused. A new guided-setup channel chooses its tools: if Starter is absent, use **Marketplace** to add just **Simple command**, or choose **Starter** if you want the pack.
2. Open **Simple command**. If you removed it, press **Add** and choose the **Simple command** template to add it again.
3. Give the flow a recognisable name, such as “Hello command”. The flow name is for you; the Command field controls what viewers type.

> **Pebble can build one with you**
>
> Pebble’s **Your first flow** tutorial, under **Build your own** in Next steps on **Overview**, builds a `!lurk` command on the canvas (`!brb`, then `!hug`, when you already have one), tries it with **Test fire**, switches it on and watches for a real run in your chat. **Make it only for mods** goes on from there. Start either from [Tutorials](https://bloopbot.com/docs/tutorials).

## 2. Set the command and reply

In the **Simple** view, set **Command** to `hello`. **Prefix**, under **More options** in the same step, already reads `!`; leave it, and do not type the exclamation mark into **Command** as well. In **Do this → Message**, enter:

```
Hey $(user)! Thanks for stopping by.
```

The bot replaces `$(user)` with the person who triggered the command. Leave **Send as** set to **A normal message**, or choose a mention or **A reply in the original chat**. For YouTube, follow [Make a YouTube command reply](https://bloopbot.com/docs/connect-youtube#commands): choose its platform on the trigger, and replies appear as ordinary messages in the original YouTube live chat.

![Simple command in Simple view with hello, Twitch and Kick selected, no conditions and a personalised greeting message.](https://bloopbot.com/docs/screenshots/simple-command.jpg)

_A command’s trigger, optional conditions and response in Simple view._

## 3. Add another way to trigger it

In **Also responds to**, enter `hi, hey`. Viewers can now use `!hello`, `!hi` or `!hey`. Enter the words without the prefix, separated by commas.

## 4. Split one command into several flows

**Subcommand**, under **More options** on the trigger, makes a command trigger only when a specific word comes right after it, so several flows can share one command name without stepping on each other. For example, one flow could handle `!lurk` on its own and a different flow could handle `!lurk back` — each with its own message and its own conditions.

1. Set **Command** to `lurk` on both flows.
2. On the first flow, leave **Subcommand** blank. It answers a bare `!lurk` and any word after it that no other flow claims — a useful fallback for a general lurk message.
3. On the second flow, enter `back` in **Subcommand**. It now answers only `!lurk back`, never a bare `!lurk`.
4. Save both. Type `!lurk` alone and only the first flow replies; type `!lurk back` and only the second one does.

To match more than one word, separate them with commas or spaces — `open start` and `open, start` both give a flow two subcommand words.

The subcommand word does not change how the rest of the message is read: it is still `$(1)`, and whatever follows it is `$(2)` and onward, exactly as if **Subcommand** were empty. Word matching ignores case, so `!lurk BACK` matches a subcommand of `back`.

> **Two flows claiming the same word**
>
> If two live flows both answer the same command and subcommand — or both leave **Subcommand** blank — chat gets a reply from each of them. Saving or turning on the second one shows a warning naming the other flow, and the Flows page lists both under **Needs attention**; change one flow’s command or subcommand, or pause one of them, to fix it.

## 5. Name the words after a command

`$(1)`, `$(2)` and so on are the words typed after the command, by position. When a command takes several, give them names so the message reads clearly and a [control panel button](https://bloopbot.com/docs/control-panels#inputs) can fill them too. This suits a command such as `!goal home Saka 23`.

1. Select the command trigger. In its settings, under **Arguments**, select **Add an argument** three times and name them `team`, `scorer` and `minute`. Set `minute`’s type to **Number**.
2. In **Do this → Message**, enter:

```
GOAL for $(input.team)! $(input.scorer) scores in minute $(input.minute).
```

1. Save. Typing `!goal home Saka 23` now fills **team** with `home`, **scorer** with `Saka` and **minute** with `23`.

The words fill the arguments in the order you list them, and **the last argument takes the rest of the line**. So keep the one that holds a name or a sentence last: with `team` and `scorer`, `!goal home Bukayo Saka` fills **scorer** with `Bukayo Saka`.

- **A word you leave out** uses the argument’s **default**, and is empty when it has none. Fill in the default under the argument, for example `home` for **team**.
- **Number** arguments only accept a plain number such as `12`, `-3` or `2.5`. Anything else, such as `soon`, comes out empty rather than as `0` or the default.
- **Yes/no** arguments accept `on`, `off`, `yes`, `no`, `true`, `false`, `1`, `0`, `y` and `n`, in any case. Anything else comes out empty.
- **A subcommand word is not an argument.** If you set a **Subcommand** (section 4) such as `open`, the arguments start after it: `!giveaway open 5` fills the first argument with `5`, and `$(1)` is still `open`.
- **`$(1)`, `$(2)` and the rest keep working** exactly as before, so a flow you already have is unchanged until you add an argument.

Pick an argument from the **Insert…** menu under **Inputs · Chat command**, or type `$(input.team)`. On the canvas, each argument also has its own port on the command’s card: drag it onto a step to put `$(input.team)` there. If you use `$(input.…)` with a name no argument has, **Save** refuses the flow and names the step. If the flow also has a **Run button** trigger, give it the same names as **inputs**. Without them, pressing **Run** starts the flow with those values empty, and saving warns you. [Adding a Run button from a control panel](https://bloopbot.com/docs/control-panels#run-trigger) copies the arguments across for you.

> **A command with no arguments**
>
> A command that lists no arguments reads exactly as it always has. `$(input.…)` only means something once the command, or a **Run button** next to it, declares it.

The time is available to any flow too. `$(now)` is the current time as a number of milliseconds, the same from every trigger. See [Keep a counter with variables](https://bloopbot.com/docs/variables#read) for what to do with it.

## 6. Point viewers at your Commands page

Your channel has a public **Commands** page that lists the commands viewers can use, grouped by who can use them ([show your chat commands](https://bloopbot.com/docs/public-page#commands) covers which groups it lists). To have chat share it, open **Flows → Packs → Starter**, open **Commands link** and turn it on. If you removed it, press **Add** and add **Commands link** again. Its command is `!commands` and its reply is:

```
Here are my commands: $(commandsurl)
```

`$(commandsurl)` is the address of your Commands page, filled in when the flow runs. It uses your own domain once one is serving your public page, and you can put it in any text your flows send, from any trigger: a timed message, a follow greeting or your own command. **Test fire** fills it in as well, so you can see the address before you go live. If the address can’t be found, the token comes out empty. To change what viewers see when they use `!commands`, edit the reply like any other message.

## 7. Save and check the result

1. Press **Save** after editing.
2. Press **Test fire** and expand the **Run log** to inspect the simulated result. This does not send a Twitch message.
3. Enable the flow if it is paused.
4. Type `!hello` in your Twitch chat. You should see your personalised reply.

No reply? Check [the troubleshooting guide](https://bloopbot.com/docs/troubleshooting). For a moderators-only command, add [a permission condition](https://bloopbot.com/docs/permissions-and-cooldowns).

Chat events have reserved capacity while timer work is busy, so a timer backlog can keep draining without making your command wait behind every reminder. Twitch rate limits and slow actions can still delay the reply.