How To Complete First-Time Setup

This guide gets SheevChat connected and ready for its first stream. You only need to connect the platforms you use.

Choose Guided or Manual Setup

On a fresh installation, select Walk Me Through Setup for an interactive setup path, or continue with SheevChat's defaults and use the manual sections below.

Guided Setup lets you choose only the areas you want to learn. Available tracks include appearance and accessibility, streaming accounts, chat, broadcast software, overlays, Commands and Automations, data migration, SheevPad, backups, Spotify, and any A.I. tools granted to your account.

SheevChat presents prerequisites first. For example, a lesson that controls OBS waits until OBS is connected. Practice lessons open the real Command, Automation, and Overlay editors without silently saving or overwriting a record. The When / Where / Do lesson explains how a trigger, destination, and action sequence work together.

You may also install beginner, intermediate, or advanced starter examples for Commands, Automations, and Timers. These are optional saved records that you can inspect, edit, disable, or delete afterward.

Your selected tracks, progress, scroll position, and safe return point are remembered. Close the walkthrough when you need a break and resume it later. Migration lessons hand off to Data Manager's existing preview-first import tools rather than replacing them.

1. Open SheevChat

Install and launch SheevChat. It runs a local service for its interface, browser sources, and mobile tools, so keep the app open while streaming.

SheevChat may also remain available from the Windows system tray when its main window is closed.

2. Connect Your Streaming Accounts

  1. Open Settings → Connect.
  2. Expand the platform you use.
  3. Under Main, click Sign in with Twitch, YouTube, Kick, or TikTok.
  4. Sign in with the account that owns your channel and approve the requested permissions.
  5. Return to SheevChat and click Connect.

The platform card should show the correct account and a connected status. TikTok requires an active LIVE before inbound chat can connect. Complete its locally managed browser login when you also want SheevChat to send messages.

Enable Connect on launch if you want Twitch, YouTube, or Kick to connect whenever SheevChat opens. YouTube still needs an active live broadcast to attach to.

If your YouTube channel has simultaneous livestreams, use Manual video ID to connect an exact active broadcast by ID or URL. Manual streams are session-only and can be removed individually. See How To Connect Multiple YouTube Livestreams.

For TikTok, enable Auto Connect to let SheevChat quietly watch for your LIVE and connect when it appears. TikTok outbound chat supports manual messages and explicitly enabled Commands, Timers, Automations, SheevPad actions, and Trivia. Link-bearing TikTok messages are skipped rather than sent. See How To Connect TikTok LIVE and Send Chat.

3. Add a Bot Account — Optional

A separate bot account lets messages appear under your bot's name instead of your broadcaster account.

  1. Sign out of the platform in your browser or open a private browser window.
  2. In the platform's Bot column, click Sign in Bot.
  3. Sign in with the separate bot account.
  4. Give that bot the required moderator permissions on your channel.

Check the displayed account name before continuing. Do not connect your broadcaster account as both Main and Bot unless that is intentional.

You can skip this section and send messages through the Main account.

4. Check the Default Features

Open Bot Commands and review the built-in commands. Enable only the commands you want viewers to use, then check their permissions, cooldowns, and responses.

Useful places to review before going live include:

  • Settings → General for chat display and behavior
  • Settings → General → Themes and Accessibility for the app theme, contrast, transparency, focus outlines, links, and font sizes
  • Settings → Audio if messages should be read aloud
  • Settings → General → Third-party Dependencies for optional clip, media-conversion, and local AI voice tools
  • Settings → Overlays for OBS Browser Sources
  • Bot Commands → Data Manager for saved viewer and bot data

You do not need to configure every feature during first-time setup.

Press Ctrl+K whenever you need to find a saved Command, Automation, Timer, or SheevPad item and jump directly to its editor.

5. Adjust Zoom and Accessibility

  • Press Ctrl/Cmd with + or = to zoom in.
  • Press Ctrl/Cmd with - to zoom out.
  • Press Ctrl/Cmd with 0 to reset the interface zoom.

The zoom level applies to the complete SheevChat interface and is remembered between launches.

Under Settings → General, use Font Size to adjust Chat, Events, Viewers, and Sidebar text independently. Under Hotkeys, assign global shortcuts for TTS controls, alert sounds, and increasing or decreasing those font sizes. Click a hotkey field and press the desired combination; press Escape to clear it.

6. Test Before Going Live

  1. Open Tests from the SheevChat header.
  2. Simulate a chat message or supported event.
  3. Confirm it appears in Chat and Events.
  4. Test any commands, TTS, automations, or overlays you plan to use.

The test tools use realistic sample users, roles, amounts, and event details so permission checks, variables, alerts, Credits, and Loyalty results are closer to a live event. A successful simulation still does not confirm that a platform account is authorized or connected.

For a real platform test, connect while live and send a chat message from another account. Confirm SheevChat receives it and can send a response.

7. Choose What to Set Up Next

  • Action Builder for commands, automations, timers, and multi-step actions
  • Overlays and Docks for OBS or Streamlabs
  • OBS Studio Control when OBS should respond to Commands, Automations, Timers, or SheevPad
  • SheevPad for desktop or mobile control buttons
  • Mobile / Tablet for a second control screen
  • Multi-PC Streaming when SheevChat and streaming software run on different computers
  • Back Up, Export, and Restore after your setup is customized
  • Marketplace Packages for optional apps, overlay widgets, themes, and action packs
  • Third-Party Dependencies when clips, converted video, Piper, Kokoro, or optional local playback helpers are needed
  • Streamlabs Desktop Control when Streamlabs should respond to Commands, Automations, Timers, or SheevPad
  • Themes and Accessibility for a readable app-wide appearance
  • Chat Display and Emotes for badges, platform indicators, emote providers, refresh, username colors, and replies
  • TikTok LIVE and Chat for Auto Connect, outbound messaging, Watchtime, and TikTok User Cards
  • Text-to-Speech for system, Piper, or Kokoro voices and overlay playback
  • Multiple YouTube Livestreams when one channel has concurrent broadcasts
  • Finding and Starting Raids to discover and review a Twitch or Kick raid target
  • Creating Twitch Clips to configure the optional !clip command or reuse its action
  • Selecting Random Viewers for giveaways, games, and other participation workflows

Common Problems

  • Wrong account connected: Sign out, then sign in again with the intended account.
  • Signed in but not connected: Click Connect after authorization.
  • YouTube cannot find chat: Start the live broadcast, then connect again.
  • YouTube finds the wrong live video: Connect the intended active video through Manual video ID.
  • TikTok cannot find chat: Start the LIVE, then click Connect or wait for Auto Connect's next check.
  • Bot cannot send messages: Give it the required channel permissions or use the Main account.
  • Nothing works after an update: Restart SheevChat and reconnect accounts if permission changes are requested.
  • Overlay or mobile page is unavailable: Keep SheevChat running and check its port, firewall, and Local/LAN address.