Separate what you read from what the audience sees
The unified panel is private. The overlay is public because it goes into the video. Don't turn everything on out of habit: decide whether the scene needs chat, alerts or both.
In the installed Corneta app, open Chat → Set up → Overlays and turn on the local server. It generates one URL for alerts and another for chat. The demo mode in the browser doesn't start this server.
Add them in OBS
- Copy the URL of the block you want.
- In OBS, add a Browser Source to the scene.
- Paste the URL and set the width and height for the area you use.
- Turn on sound only on the alerts source, if you want to hear it on stream.
- Go back to Corneta and use Test.
- Repeat for the second block, without reusing the same source.
The Add to OBS action automates this step when the WebSocket is connected. If you change the position, duration or size later, remove the source and add it again so you don't keep an old URL.
A layout that doesn't turn into a mess
- keep the chat away from the HUD, captions and webcam;
- limit the number of messages;
- use automatic fade-out when the feed covers content;
- keep the platform icons visible;
- hide commands that start with
!; - test long names, emotes and two-line messages.
Rules and moderation still apply
A message shown in the overlay crosses the visual boundary between platforms. It doesn't get unified moderation: deleting it at the source doesn't guarantee the text disappears from a frame that has already been streamed.
To fix a transparent screen, a busy port or caching problems, follow the OBS overlay troubleshooting.