How to Create a Twitch Command Script for Streamlabs Chatbot — Part 2: Basic Structure

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Alright, in Part 1 we installed everything we needed and determined what we are going to build. In this part we’ll build the basic structure that is the same for all scripts. Let’s get cracking!

Basic Setup

All Streamlabs Chatbot (SC) commands have some basics you need to have implemented correctly for it to even appear as a runnable script in their UI, let alone run it. These are:

File naming

For the Python script to be picked up as a script for SC, the format should be command_StreamlabsSystem.py.

So, let’s start by creating a mulder directory and within that directory, create mulder_StreamlabsSystem.py.

You’re free to choose where to create this directory, as long as it’s named the same as the command.

Pro tip: If you create it in the internal SC scripts directory on your machine, it will save a lot of work importing and updating when we hit the test/release step. On Windows, you’ll find it at:

C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Streamlabs\Streamlabs Chatbot\Services\Scripts

Basic structure

SC won’t show your script in the scripts section unless it contains at least the following:

• Script information: this is a set of global variables SC uses to populate some of the fields in the Scripts section. Let’s add these to our empty script:
• Script initializer : the Init() method is run by SC every time the script is (re)loaded in the Scripts section. Add the following under the Script Information (add a new line first for cleanliness):
• Script execution: the Execute(data) method is run by SC every time any command is typed into the Twitch video chat. We’ll address how to filter only the mulder command in a bit. The data parameter is passed by SC automatically and contains information about the sender and the message. Let’s add this to our script:
• Script iteration logic: the Tick() method is run every time the script progresses, so every tick, as the name suggests. This is logic that runs even when there is no incoming data or anything…