Run flows from a Stream Deck

What the plugin does

The Bloopbot Stream Deck plugin is a small companion app for Elgato Stream Deck. Sign in once, and it lets you put a flow's Stream Deck button trigger on a physical key: press the key, and that one trigger runs. It's a beta for macOS and Windows, downloaded from your dashboard.

Compared with wiring up a key yourself with the Website action and a flow's private URL (Use Stream Deck keys and web requests in flows), the plugin signs in with your account instead of a URL you have to keep secret, and a key runs exactly the one trigger you chose — never every URL trigger in the flow. The private URL still works and is still the right choice for a script or a phone shortcut; Three ways to press a flow from outside chat compares them.

What you need

Stream Deck app 7.1 or later, on macOS 12+ or Windows 10+.
A Bloopbot channel you own or edit, with a flow that has a Stream Deck button trigger. Use Stream Deck keys and web requests in flows shows how to add one; the Starter pack's Stream Deck button flow already has one.

Install the plugin

The plugin is a beta, downloaded from your dashboard. The steps are the same on macOS and Windows:

The Downloads page showing the Stream Deck plugin beta with its version, release date and size, a Download button and the two install steps. — The Downloads page: the plugin's version, release date and size, and the Download button. Click to enlarge.

In your dashboard, open Settings › Downloads. It shows the latest version of the Stream Deck plugin, when it was released and its size.
Choose Download. Your browser saves a .streamDeckPlugin file.
Open the downloaded file (double-click it). Stream Deck asks to install the plugin; confirm.
Bloop Flow now appears under the Bloopbot category in the Stream Deck app. Drag it onto any key, then sign in.

To update, download the latest version from the same page and open it; Stream Deck replaces the old one and your keys keep their setup.

Remove the plugin

Right-click the plugin in the Stream Deck app and choose Uninstall. Removing the plugin removes your keys' setup along with it; sign out first if you'd rather keep your Bloopbot sign-in for a later reinstall.

Sign in

Drag Bloop Flow onto a key, or select a key that already has it.
In the key's settings panel, choose Sign in to Bloopbot. Your browser opens to a Bloopbot sign-in and consent page.
Sign in with Twitch, or with your backup sign-in email if you've set one up (Keep a backup way to sign in).
Review what the plugin can do — list the channels you own or edit and their Stream Deck triggers, read Stream Deck key graphics, and press a trigger you've assigned to a key — and choose Allow.
Switch back to the Stream Deck app. The panel now shows Signed in as your account.

The plugin holds one signed-in account at a time. Choose Sign out to sign out of it everywhere in the plugin; every key keeps its setup but stops pressing until you sign in again. To use a different account, sign out first, then sign in with the other one.

This sign-in also shows up on Connected apps in your dashboard, on every channel you own or edit — see See and remove connected apps to review it there or revoke it remotely.

Put a Bloop Flow key on your deck

Once you're signed in, the key's settings panel shows the channel and trigger rows under Stream Deck's own Title and image settings.

Check This key. It starts on your remembered default channel; pick a different one you can edit if you need to.
Under Trigger, use Search flows and packs to find the trigger you want, or scroll the list. Flows you grouped into your own packs appear under those pack names. Ungrouped flows appear under My flows, and flows in packs you added from the Marketplace appear under those names. A flow can appear in more than one pack. A disabled flow's trigger is labelled (Paused) in the list; assigning it is fine, but the key won't press until you turn the flow on.
A flow with more than one Stream Deck button trigger lists each one separately — pick the specific one this key should run.
Choose a trigger. The key updates immediately with that trigger's graphic. Once a trigger is chosen, Open flow opens that flow in your Bloopbot dashboard in the browser, so you can change what the key does.

Default channel (in the same panel) sets which channel a newly dragged-on key starts with; each key can still be pointed at a different channel you can edit.

For example, to make a "Discord link" key: add a Stream Deck button trigger to your Discord-announcement flow if it doesn't have one yet, sign in to the plugin on a key, search for the flow's name, and choose its trigger. Pressing the key now posts your Discord link, the same as it would through the flow's private URL.

Send values from a key

A flow with a Run button trigger can take inputs, such as a team name or an amount (Fix or ask for a button's inputs shows them on a control panel). A Stream Deck key can set those inputs too, so one flow serves several keys. This needs plugin version 1.2 or later; download the latest from Downloads (Install the plugin).

Give the flow a Run button trigger beside its Stream Deck button trigger, and add its inputs there. The flow reads each as $(input.name).
In the key's settings, choose the flow's trigger. An Inputs row appears under Trigger, with one field for each input: text, a number, or Yes / No.
Fill in the fields you want this key to send. A field left empty uses the input's default. An input with no default is marked (required): the flow reads it as empty until you fill it in, and once a key sets any value, leaving a required one empty makes the press show the warning triangle.
Press the key, or use Test key. The flow starts with those values.

The values live in the key's own Stream Deck settings, not in Bloopbot, so two keys on the same trigger can send different values. For example, a Goal scored flow with a Team input can sit on your deck twice: a Home goal key with Team set to home and an Away goal key with Team set to away, both running the message GOAL for $(input.team)!.

Choosing a different trigger for a key clears its values, because they belong to the flow they were set for. A key on a Bloop Pack page has no settings of its own, so it presses with each input's default; use a Bloop Flow key when you need to set values. A flow with no Run button trigger shows no Inputs row, and its keys press as before.

Key graphic and name

By default a key shows the trigger's own graphic, kept in sync with the flow (or the pack it came from), and no title. If the trigger has no graphic set, the key shows a plain Bloopbot graphic.

Name: to put a name on the key, type it into Stream Deck's own Title field at the top of the key's settings. Clear the Title to take the name off again.
Picture: to use your own picture on one key, set the key's image in Stream Deck itself, the same way as for any other action. It stays in your Stream Deck profile and is never uploaded to Bloopbot. Remove it in Stream Deck to go back to the trigger's graphic.
On the key in the settings panel previews what the key is showing right now.

A key with your own picture doesn't show the plugin's status labels such as Paused or Offline, because Stream Deck shows your picture instead. The tick or warning after a press still appears.

Put a whole pack on a page

A Bloop Pack key opens one of your own packs, or a pack you added from the Marketplace, as a page of keys: every Stream Deck trigger in the pack gets its own key, with its graphic, without setting each one up.

Drag Bloop Pack from the Bloopbot group in Stream Deck's action list onto an empty key.
In its settings, check This key is on the right channel, then choose a pack under Pack. Each pack shows how many Stream Deck triggers it has. My flows collects your ungrouped flows' triggers.
Press the key. The first time, Stream Deck asks to install the Bloopbot pack page; allow it.
The deck switches to the pack page. Each key runs one of the pack's triggers, the same as a Bloop Flow key, with the same tick or warning after a press.
The last key is Back and returns you to where you were. When a pack has more triggers than fit on one page, the key next to it is More and shows the rest.

For example, a Bloop Pack key for WoW Solo opens a page with Set goal, Death +1, Clip moment, Rare drop and the pack's other keys, and Back in the corner.

The page follows the pack. For your own pack, the keys follow the flow order you set under Flows → Packs → Mine, using Move up and Move down on the pack’s page; when a flow has several Stream Deck triggers, its keys follow their order in that flow. A pack you added from the Marketplace keeps its own member order, and a trigger that joins later goes after the keys already there. The page re-checks the pack each time you open it. The page itself can't be edited in Stream Deck; to arrange keys your own way, use Bloop Flow keys instead. Pack pages work on the Stream Deck, Stream Deck MK.2, Mini, XL, Neo and the keys of a Stream Deck +; on other models the Bloop Pack key shows a warning.

Press and what the key shows

Pressing a key sends the press to Bloopbot and shows the result on the key itself:

A green tick means Bloopbot accepted the press — it does not mean every action in the flow finished, or finished successfully. There's no per-action progress from a key press.
A yellow warning triangle means the press was refused or failed, or the key couldn't press (for example while it's Paused or Offline).
Only one press runs at a time per key, and one more may wait behind it. A press sent while both are occupied gets Busy and does not start.

Besides the tick or warning after a press, a key can show a sticky status until it changes:

Paused — the trigger's flow is disabled.
Offline — Bloopbot couldn't be reached.
Signed out / Expired — sign in again to resume pressing.
No access — your account can no longer edit this channel; the key keeps its setup.
Reassign — the trigger this key used was removed or replaced; choose another one in the key's settings.
Choose flow — the key has no trigger assigned yet.

If a press times out, the key shows the warning triangle and the settings panel's last press reads Unknown — Bloopbot may or may not have run it. The plugin never presses again on its own; it does not retry.

The key shows Choose flow: no trigger is assigned yet. Open the key's settings and pick one under Trigger.
The key shows Reassign: the trigger it used was deleted or the flow was replaced. Open the key's settings and choose a new trigger; the key's Title and picture stay as you set them.
The key shows Paused: the trigger's flow is disabled. Turn the flow on from Flows in your dashboard.
The key shows No access: your account no longer owns or edits this channel. Sign in with an account that does, or ask the owner to add you as an editor.
The key shows Offline: Bloopbot couldn't be reached. Check your connection and try again; the key keeps its last known graphic.
The key shows Signed out or Expired: sign in again from the key's settings panel.
Every press shows the warning triangle: open the key's settings panel and expand Diagnostics at the bottom — it shows the last error and when the key last synced.
The key shows the warning triangle and Last press says Request failed (bad request): a value the key sends is not accepted. Check Inputs in the key's settings: an input marked (required) needs a value, a number input needs a number, and an input the flow no longer has is dropped. If you renamed or removed an input in the flow, open the key's settings and fill in the fields that are there now.
The key has no Inputs row: the flow has no Run button trigger with inputs, or the plugin is older than version 1.2. Update the plugin (Install the plugin).
The wrong flow runs when you press a key: each key is assigned to one specific trigger. Open the key's settings and check which one is selected under Trigger. A flow can have one Stream Deck trigger, so a key that should do something different needs a flow of its own.