Put now-playing on stream

Before you start

This needs your song requests working: Spotify linked to the channel and the request flows on. If a song typed in chat does not reach the queue yet, start with letting chat request songs.

Nothing here needs a new Twitch permission, and it never posts to chat: the widget reads what your linked Spotify is playing and the request queue you already have.

1. Add a widget with a Now playing layer

1. Open Overlays and press Browse templates.
2. Press Add on Now playing, read its review and press Add.
3. Click the new Now playing card in Your overlays to open it.
4. The editor opens on the canvas, with the panel drawing the song that is playing right now and the requests queued behind it. Select the layer to open its settings on the right.

Already have an overlay you want it on? Open it, choose Add on the left, and drag the Now playing tile onto the canvas, or open it and press Add to drop it in the middle — every type is offered on every overlay.

Now playing 2 gives the current track more room and groups the queue in the same panel. Select the layer, open Content, press Preview new look, then Use new look and Publish. Existing version 1 widgets keep their current look until you choose the new one. The screenshot shows version 2.

The settings under the layer’s Settings shape the list under the track:

• Show up next — the requests queued behind the current song. Turn it off to show the current track alone.
• Songs to show — how many of them, from 0 to 5; 0 hides the list.
• Show who requested each song — the viewer’s name beside the track and each request.
• Show how many songs are queued — add the queue count, including the current track. This is off by default.

Theme controls the colors, fonts, corners and spacing. Open Parts · Layer for the heading, track title, artist, requester and queued-song text. Studio, Capsule, Scoreboard and Minimal each keep the same song information; Minimal removes the panel background for content over your scene.

The heading Now Playing and a refresh every five seconds are built in. Changes go into your draft; press Publish to put them on stream.

2. Put it on stream

1. In the widget’s editor open OBS URL — in the bar along the top, beside Publish — and select the copy icon (Copy OBS URL). You can also use the copy icon (Copy URL) beside the widget in the widget list.
2. In OBS, add a Browser Source to the scene that should show the song and give it a name you will recognise.
3. Paste the URL into the URL field, leave Local file off, and set the size to 1920 × 1080.
4. Place the source where you want the song to appear, and keep its scene visible while you check it.

A worked example

You want the song and the queue in the bottom-left corner of your scene, under your camera. Add a Now playing widget, copy its URL and paste it into a Browser Source sized 1920 × 1080. In the widget’s editor, drag its box on the canvas to the corner you want — the box moves with it — and press Publish. A viewer types !sr Sandstorm in chat: the request is accepted, the song starts, and within five seconds the widget reads Now Playing, Sandstorm, Darude, with the requests queued behind it numbered underneath.

The box you move is the widget’s own size and position on a 1920 × 1080 canvas, which is why a 400-wide box suits a corner.

What you should see

• The heading Now Playing, the song Spotify is playing, its artist and, when a viewer requested it, who asked for it. Your own music shows too, with no requester.
• An Up next list: as many requests as Songs to show, numbered, each with its requester unless you turned that off.
• No song playing when nothing is playing or Spotify is paused — the empty state, not an error.
• No artwork, playback timer or player controls.
• A new request appearing within about five seconds of being accepted, with nothing to do in OBS.

If you already pasted the old URL into OBS

The old /overlay/<token>/nowplaying address still works, so a stream showing it right now does not go blank. What moved is the page that managed it: the old Overlay page has been retired, and its address now takes you to the channel’s Overlays page instead.

There, a card names the token your old link uses and offers Rotate token and Revoke token on it. To move over, create the Now playing widget above and paste its URL into the Browser Source in place of the old one: one copy-and-paste, and nothing else in your scene changes.

If nothing shows

• Nothing is playing, or Spotify is paused. The widget shows a track only while Spotify is actually playing one.
• Spotify is not linked, or the request flows are off — see letting chat request songs.
• The songs missing from Up next were queued in Spotify itself. The current track follows Spotify, but Up next lists only the requests made in your channel, not Spotify’s own queue.
• The Browser Source is in a scene that is not visible, or sits behind a full-screen capture. Keep the scene visible while you check it.
• You rotated the old token: the URL already in OBS stops working and the source shows an invalid-token message. Rotate or revoke from that card on Overlays, then paste the widget URL into the source.
• The source is the wrong size: a 1920 × 1080 source is what the editor’s canvas shows, so the widget lands where you put it.