# Overlay Displaying API data

**URL:** <https://staging-discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/overlay-displaying-api-data/9359>\
**Category:** API\
**Created:** [February 24, 2017, 3:36am UTC](https://staging-discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/overlay-displaying-api-data/9359 "2017-02-24T03:36:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![SpiesWithin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e0b2c6/32.png) [@SpiesWithin](https://staging-discuss.dev.twitch.com/u/SpiesWithin)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 3:36am UTC](https://staging-discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/overlay-displaying-api-data/9359/1 "2017-02-24T03:36:47Z")

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Is it possible to make a tool for streamers that displays a’live’ overlay with data from an api?

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**Author:** ![IBurn36360](https://d1d6mrmdu7ztse.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/staging-discuss.dev.twitch.com/iburn36360/32/168_2.png) [@IBurn36360](https://staging-discuss.dev.twitch.com/u/IBurn36360)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 4:59am UTC](https://staging-discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/overlay-displaying-api-data/9359/2 "2017-02-24T04:59:49Z")

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Anything created with the API will only be as “Live” as the API endpoints themselves, meaning you’ll always be respecting at least a little cache time on the responses. Generally this is only a couple of minutes or so, but it means that you cannot create anything that reflects real time data from the API (At least not truly real time). That said, it is certainly possible to make an overlay with the API data (Assuming you are using that data appropriately). How you go about doing that, however, is a matter of context, as every platform for streaming and every implementation is different, so you might have to do a little plug and play to ind the best solution for what you want to accomplish.

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**Author:** ![SpiesWithin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e0b2c6/32.png) [@SpiesWithin](https://staging-discuss.dev.twitch.com/u/SpiesWithin)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 6:38pm UTC](https://staging-discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/overlay-displaying-api-data/9359/3 "2017-02-24T18:38:58Z")

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Could you link me to a guide on how to do it for twitch? With OBS.

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**Author:** ![IBurn36360](https://d1d6mrmdu7ztse.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/staging-discuss.dev.twitch.com/iburn36360/32/168_2.png) [@IBurn36360](https://staging-discuss.dev.twitch.com/u/IBurn36360)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 4:06am UTC](https://staging-discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/overlay-displaying-api-data/9359/4 "2017-02-25T04:06:16Z")

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_“How you go about doing that, however, is a matter of context”_

You’ll need to make the decision on what works best for what you want to accomplish. For OBS, you can do a source (website), a plugin and likely a few more that I am unaware of. For plugins, you can go to [here](https://obsproject.com/forum/threads/how-to-create-obs-studio-plugins.53470/). For pages, you literally make a webpage and handle everything in any one of ten thousand ways.

For Twitch…the API docs are [here](https://dev.twitch.tv/docs)

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**Author:** ![system](https://d2spem0quai2ol.cloudfront.net/original/2X/0/05909729875cce3b53e59d5561c4d23bb14948fc.png) [@system](https://staging-discuss.dev.twitch.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 4:06am UTC](https://staging-discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/overlay-displaying-api-data/9359/5 "2017-03-27T04:06:27Z")

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Closed on March 27, 2017, 4:06am UTC

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