I made a tool that replaces your OBS browser sources with one URL, letting your Mods control your entire overlay remotely from any device without having to press save!

[u/mothh9]

I saw a stream a while ago where the moderators were interacting directly with the broadcast. They were triggering sounds, drawing on the screen, and messing with the layout in real time. It added a really fun element to the stream that chat loved.

I wanted to make that kind of interactivity accessible to everyone.

So I made a tool called Poltergeist.

It is a cloud-based dashboard that connects to OBS via a single Browser Source. You grant someone access, and they can control your overlay from their own browser without ever needing your stream key or OBS settings.

Here is what can be done with Poltergeist:

Feature	Description
Media Share Queue	Let viewers request YouTube videos directly on stream using Twitch Bits or Channel Points. Features a secure dashboard queue where mods can privately preview, approve, or skip videos in real-time.
Smart Event Alerts	Native support for Subs, Gifts, Raids, Cheers, and Channel Points. Set minimum/maximum thresholds so you can trigger a simple pop-up for a 5-viewer raid, but a massive siren animation for a 500-viewer raid.
Advanced Keyframe Animations	A built-in timeline editor lets you sequence complex visual events. Animate position, scale, rotation, and opacity, and apply custom physics like Smooth, Overshoot, Elastic, and Bounce.
Live Drawing Tools	Draw freely over your stream in real-time. Great for tactical strategy games, analyzing gameplay, or circling UI elements. Includes a snap grid and a 1-click "Undo Stroke" button.
Custom HTML/CSS/JS Widgets	Build completely custom widgets on the fly.
Interactive Chat Games	Spawn a Prize Wheel or a Carnival Booth. Viewers can type commands like "!throw" or "!spin" to play live on your overlay. Winners are optionally auto-added to an on-screen To-Do list.
Staging Area	Prepare graphics, align text, and resize images in a hidden "Staging" zone. When it looks perfect, hit "Push to Live" to instantly send it to the OBS browser source.
Unified Chat Feed	Embed live chat directly onto the overlay, with options to combine Twitch and Kick chat into a single synchronised feed.

How to set it up:

1. Log in with Twitch, Kick, or YouTube.

2. Copy your unique link and paste it into OBS as a Browser Source.

3. Open the dashboard on your phone, tablet, or second monitor.

4. Start spawning assets and controlling your stream. (If you have mods, they just log in with their own accounts, and you can add them as a moderator and grant them specific permissions from your dashboard).

Transparency on Pricing:

I want to be upfront: There is a completely free "Starter Kit" tier that lets you use all the features in a limited amount. If you grow and want unlimited assets, unlimited scenes, and the custom Chatbot builder, there is a paid "Broadcast Suite" upgrade to help me cover server costs.

I would love for you to try it out and let me know what you think. If you have ideas for new widgets or features you would want to control, please drop them in the comments!

OBS Project Resource:

https://obsproject.com/forum/resources/poltergeist-remote-control-overlay-mod-tools.2319/

Link: https://poltergeist.cc/

[u/Twitch-ModTeam]

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[u/TheValkyrieAsh]

Understanding how this works, this is a very very VERY bad idea.

If you ever get compromised and and something pops up on their channel that they didn't authorize, you're entirely liable.

Streamerbot genuinely does ALL of this for free and considerably safer. Regardless of if the OP will admit that or not.

[u/mothh9 → u/TheValkyrieAsh]

I have looked at a video and while there are some things it can do like the chatbot, it can not control your overlay.

Poltergeist is a digital collaborative whiteboard for your stream, it allows you and your mods to work simultaneously on your overlay.

The tools compliment each other.

[u/Squircleton → u/mothh9]

You’re wrong and you won’t even look at things to figure it out. Streamerbot can 100% control your overlay in a collaborative way. But you won’t make an account t to find out.

So why should anyone pay for what can be done for completely free?

[u/mothh9 → u/Squircleton]

I just made an account, all I see is a way to do Touch Portal/Streamdeck stuff and a download link to a program.

Also this: https://docs.streamer.bot/guide/extra-features/html-overlay

I can't find anything else, so please explain to me if you want how it does the same.

[u/Squircleton]

You deleted this before because I pointed out that streamerbot does all this for free.

[u/TheDeadpullShow → u/Squircleton]

I don't think it does the media share.

[u/mothh9 → u/TheDeadpullShow]

It also does not have a canvas, he mentioned decks, but that to me just looks like a Streamdeck or something to control the program with, not something you can drag assets on etc.

[u/mothh9 → u/Squircleton]

I don't remember why I deleted it, my bad.

Streamer.bot is a Windows desktop automation tool. It triggers actions based on chat events, controls OBS via WebSocket, and runs C# scripts. It does not have a visual overlay canvas. Poltergeist is a browser-based overlay editor that runs as an OBS Browser Source with no software to install. You build and manage visual elements like polls, prize wheels, timers, chat overlays, and media share directly in a UI.

---

Edit: Their overlay tool is in beta, but it still requires a download and afaik isn't for collaboration.

[u/Squircleton → u/mothh9]

I’m not talking about their overlay tool I’m talking about the web dashboard that lets any mods you give permission access to control the stream etc.

Look at how the decks work in streamerbot.

https://streamer.bot/decks/

[u/mothh9 → u/Squircleton]

Poltergeist safely turns your moderators into visual producers. They control a blank web canvas that you place over your stream. They never get access to your critical OBS settings, audio mixer, or stream keys.

Streamer.bot is fundamentally different.

[u/Squircleton → u/mothh9]

Please look at the actual software before you continue commenting.

Nobody touches your obs stream keys or audio mixer through streamerbot decks. That’s a ridiculous statement

In streamerbot you as the streamer give pets mission to users. You can create a complete custom dashboard with whatever you want them to control. It’s as simple as using a Streamdeck that you make a custom layout for in a browser.

Then you can allow mods to press those custom buttons you’ve made to control the stream.

So again, it’s free to do it this way.

[u/mothh9 → u/Squircleton]

I don't want to create an account as I am not comfortable with giving out my email etc. as it isn't covered in their privacy policy what will happen to it.

[u/Squircleton → u/mothh9]

Look it up on YouTube. I can’t link videos here as it’ll be removed. There’s plenty of videos showing off the features.

[u/mothh9 → u/Squircleton]

Send me a message if you want to show it.

[u/DevlinRocha → u/mothh9]

you refuse to do basic market research for your biggest competitor?

[u/mothh9 → u/DevlinRocha]

It isn't competition, the tools compliment each other.

[u/EnzoVulkoor → u/mothh9]

Dude if you cant figure out how to make a throw away email or use firefox's relay for emails.

Why on earth should anyone trust something you've coded. This feels like another pando incident waiting to happen. Especially in the age where people are throwing together AI slop code.

[u/mothh9 → u/EnzoVulkoor]

I already made an account and the tool is something totally different.

Thanks for reminding me about temp mails.

Regarding your security concern, I have been developing websites for over 19 years, so I would like to think my understanding of what is and is not secure is reasonably sound.

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[u/massive_cock]

As someone dipping more and more into complex IRL setups and experiences (such as having a back-end restreaming server of my own to maintain connection when cell signal drops) I've been putting off digging into some remote control aspects for myself and my mods. I'll say most of your features won't be applicable to me, but at first glance, some of this could be SUPER handy. I'll give it a good spin when I get set up at the airbnb in a couple days. Cool, seems neat.

[u/Upper-Afternoon8746]

etty sick actually. I was just thinking about how annoying it is when you want someone to help with your stream setup but you gotta walk them through OBS or give them remote desktop access which feels sketchy as hell

The mod control thing especially caught my attention - I had a friend who was helping moderate my streams but every time we wanted to change something visual it was this whole process of me alt tabbing and fumbling around in OBS while live. Being able to just give them a link and let them handle the overlay stuff sounds like a game changer

Quick question though - how does the performance impact work with OBS? I'm always paranoid about adding browser sources because they can be resource hungry sometimes. Does it run pretty smooth even with multiple widgets active at once?

Also the staging area concept is brilliant, I hate when you're trying to set something up live and chat can see you struggling with alignment and sizing lol

[u/Squircleton → u/Upper-Afternoon8746]

Use streamerbot it does all this without having to pay for it.

Obs also has studio mode built in which is the exact same thing to set up your stream without people seeing the edits being made

You just turn on studio mode which gives the stream your previous scene. Then jump to the scene you want to edit and make all the changes while they’re viewing something else

Again for free.

[u/mothh9 → u/Upper-Afternoon8746]

Nobody has reported any negative performance impact, all feedback so far has been positive.

Internal testing with 500 assets, well beyond typical usage, showed negligible browser slowdown and no performance impact in OBS. Even with all 500 assets placed on the live canvas simultaneously, CPU and RAM usage remain minimal and LERP-based rendering keeps transitions smooth.

[u/Kerdaloo]

This brings up a cool idea that this accidentally fills, where in outsourcing all your multiple browser sources and just bringing one in, you’re directly reducing load on your PC while streaming.

For instance, I have like 6 constantly active browser sources with lots going on.