How to Set Up Custom Alerts in DualStream

Alerts are the little on-screen celebrations that fire when someone follows, subscribes, raids, or cheers - the pop-up, the sound, the animation that tells your chat (and you) that something just happened. They're one of the easiest ways to make a stream feel alive, and in DualStream you build them right inside the app. No separate alert service, no browser-source URL to paste, no second tab to babysit.

This guide walks through the whole thing: turning alerts on, designing one, previewing it, setting up desktop and mobile, and using Variations to give your biggest moments their own reaction.

Or, if you want the video walk-through, check out this video:

Where alerts live

Open the Alerts workspace from the activity bar on the left (the bell icon). You'll see three things:

• The event list down the left - every alert type you can turn on, each with its own toggle.
• The canvas in the middle - a Desktop preview and a Mobile preview, side by side, showing where each alert sits on screen.
• The inspector on the right - a Test button, a live preview of the selected alert, and the alert's layers (Title, Subtitle, Media, Background).

Along the bottom is the toolbar you'll use to build an alert: Variants, Message, Media, Sound, Animation. That's the whole kit.

Step 1: Turn on the alerts you want

Each event type has a toggle in the left list. Flip on the ones you care about:

Follow, Subscribe, Resub, Gift Sub, Cheer, Raid, Hype Train, Points (channel point redemptions), Super Chat, Super Sticker, and Milestone - eleven in total. Start with Follow and Subscribe if you're new; add the rest as you go.

Up top, the Alert Settings dropdown controls scope. "Unique to this scene" means these alerts apply to the current scene only - handy if you want a different look on your gameplay scene than your Just Chatting scene.

Shortcut: if you'd rather not start from a blank canvas, scroll to Alert Packs at the bottom of the list. DualStream ships with ready-made themed sets (like Space Odyssey and Y2K Retro) - animated artwork you can drop in and tweak instead of building from scratch.

Step 2: Design the alert

Select an alert and build it with the bottom toolbar:

1. Message - set the text. This is your headline and subtext, like "New Follower!" with the viewer's username underneath. You can also set text and background color here, either by picking from the color wheel or punching in a hex value.
2. Media - click Browse to add the visual: an image, GIF, or short video that plays when the alert fires.
3. Sound - add the audio cue that plays alongside it.
4. Animation - choose how the alert enters and exits.

On the right, the alert's pieces show up as layers - Title, Subtitle, Media, Background - each with an eye icon to show or hide it, and a handle to reorder. To place everything, use the Grid / Free toggle on the canvas: Grid snaps elements into tidy positions, Free lets you drag the artwork and text wherever you want, independently of each other.

Step 3: Preview it with Test

Don't wait until you're live to find out an alert is too loud or off-center. Hit Test in the top-right inspector and the alert fires in the preview exactly as your viewers will see it. Tweak, test, repeat until it feels right.

Step 4: Set up desktop and mobile

DualStream runs a Desktop and a Mobile layout at the same time, and alerts get a spot on each. You have two options:

• Leave Mirror desktop to mobile on, and your desktop design carries straight over.
• Turn it off and arrange the mobile version on its own - useful when a wide alert that looks great on desktop needs to move or shrink to fit a vertical screen.

Switch between the Desktop and Mobile tabs in the inspector to design each one.

Step 5: Give big moments their own reaction with Smart Variations

This is the part worth learning. A standard follow and a 50-gift-sub bomb shouldn't get the same five-second pop. Variations let one alert behave differently depending on what actually happened.

Here's the flow, using a Prime sub as the example:

1. Select the alert (e.g., Subscribe) and open Variants in the bottom toolbar.
2. Click + Add to create a new variant.
3. Give it a Label - something like "Prime Sub."
4. Set the Condition that triggers it. For this one, choose Is Prime.
5. Under Overrides (optional), set what's different about this version: a different Variant Media, a different Variant Sound, a custom Duration (leave it at 0 to inherit the base alert's timing), or a different animation.

Anything that doesn't match a variant's condition falls back to your Default alert, so you only have to design the exceptions.

Beyond Prime, conditions can key off things like the sub tier, the cheer or gift amount, raid size, hype-train level, whether the viewer left a message, or even a Random option that rotates between versions to keep things fresh. Stack a few and your alerts start reacting to the moment instead of playing the same clip every time.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a third-party alert tool like a separate alerts website? No. DualStream's alert designer is built into the app, so there's no external service to connect or browser source to paste in.

What alert types can I set up? Eleven: Follow, Subscribe, Resub, Gift Sub, Cheer, Raid, Hype Train, Channel Points, Super Chat, Super Sticker, and Member Milestone.

Can I give Prime subs or huge raids a different alert? Yes - that's what Variations are for. Add a variant, set a condition (Is Prime, a gift amount, a raid size, and so on), and override the media, sound, duration, or animation just for that case.

Can my desktop and mobile alerts look different? Yes. Keep "Mirror desktop to mobile" on to share one design, or turn it off and lay out each format separately.

How do I preview an alert without going live? Use the Test button in the inspector - it fires the selected alert in the preview on demand.

Can I start from a template instead of building from scratch? Yes. Alert Packs give you themed, animated sets you can drop in and customize.

The bottom line

Alerts in DualStream go from blank to broadcast-ready in one workspace: toggle the events you want, design each with Message, Media, Sound, and Animation, preview with Test, and use Smart Variations to make the big moments hit harder than the routine ones. Everything lives in the app, and both your desktop and vertical audiences get an alert built for their screen.

New to DualStream? Download it at dualstream.gg and start building.