# Visual flows for Twitch

Bloopbot commands, alerts and timers are flows you draw in your browser: a trigger, the checks you want and the actions that follow.

## Three parts

| Part | Question it answers | Example |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Trigger | When should this start? | Someone types `!hello` |
| Check | Should it carry on? | The viewer is a moderator |
| Action | What should happen? | Send a chat message |

A straight line of steps can stay in the **Simple** form. Switch to **Canvas** when you want branches, extra checks or loops. Both edit the same flow.

![The flow canvas with a Chat command trigger connected to a Chat message action. Under the trigger, a tray of the values it hands on — Who typed it, After the command, Word 1, Word 2 and a +1 more button; under the Chat message, its Message field with a user badge. The node palette is on the left and Test fire and Save are in the top bar.](https://bloopbot.com/docs/screenshots/flow-canvas.jpg)

_The canvas: a Chat command trigger for !hello connected to a Chat message action, with the values the trigger hands on in the tray underneath._

## Start from something that works

You don’t have to start from a blank canvas. **Explore packs** has ready-made packs for everyday commands, alerts, moderation, music and more, and every flow you install is your own copy to change. Community packs from other streamers sit there too.

- The **Starter** pack brings everyday commands and stream reactions, paused until you turn them on.
- **+ New flow → From another bot** brings your Nightbot or StreamElements commands across as flows.
- **Describe it** turns a sentence into the closest ready-made flow, filled in for you to review. It may not be available on your channel yet.

![The Explore packs page: the category filters All, Alerts, Moderation, Music, Community and Utility, then the Starter pack card marked Popular with 11 flows and the Alerts pack card marked New with 7 flows, whose description says it shows your alert designs on your overlay with a thank-you in chat, each with its Use pack button.](https://bloopbot.com/docs/screenshots/flow-templates.jpg)

_Explore packs: pack cards by category, with single flows below._

## Grow it one step at a time

- **Values travel between steps.** Each step hands on what it knows, such as who typed a command or how long the song queue is, and a later step can use it. You can drag a value from one step into another. See [connect values with data wires](https://bloopbot.com/docs/data-wires).
- **Checks branch.** A **Who can trigger**, **Cooldown** or **Check a value** step has a path for yes and a path for no, so mods and viewers can get different answers.
- **Loops repeat.** **For each** runs its branch once per item, such as each viewer in a gift of subs.
- **Groups tidy up.** A few steps you use in several flows become one card; change it once and every flow that uses it follows. See [reuse a set of nodes as a group](https://bloopbot.com/docs/group-nodes).
- **Variables remember.** Declare a number or text once on **Variables**, change it from any flow, and show it in chat or on an overlay. See [keep a counter with variables](https://bloopbot.com/docs/variables).

## Test before it goes live

Press **Test fire** and the flow runs as a dry run: the **Run log** shows which steps ran, which check stopped it and which actions would have happened, without posting to chat or changing a real value. A flow that starts on a Twitch event, such as a raid or a poll, test-fires with a realistic example of that event.

When a flow is live, the **Run log** keeps showing what each real run did, so a command that didn’t answer tells you why.

## Where your flows run

Flows run on Bloopbot’s servers, not on your computer. There is nothing to install, you build them in any browser, and your commands and filters keep answering chat when your PC is off. Overlays still show through OBS, as Browser Sources.