CountLink

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Timer / Stream Countdown (OBS)

OBS Countdown Timer & Count-Up Timer — Free Twitch Overlay

Add the overlay version of this page as an OBS Browser Source and it drops onto your scene with a transparent background, so there's no green screen or chroma key to set up. Set your stream-start countdown, copy the link into OBS, and it's live. Share the regular link with mods or co-streamers and their screens match yours exactly.

Anyone opening your link right now sees exactly this.

Change the countdown

You can set the time on the board itself. Click the digits and roll them with the arrows, or just type it. These controls do the same job, plus counting down to a date.

Opens the same countdown the code was made for.

CountLink is free, and one person builds it. If it's been useful, you can buy Bruno a coffee on Ko-fi.

Tip on Ko-fi

Add it to OBS in 3 steps

  1. In OBS, go to Sources → + → Browser.
  2. Paste the overlay link below (not the regular sync link) and set the size. 400×160 is a good starting point.
  3. Check "Shutdown source when not visible" to save CPU between uses.
The overlay link is the same countdown with the background made transparent and every button/menu stripped out: just the digits, ready to sit on top of your scene.

Stream overlay builder: presets and themes

Pick a preset and a look, check it over the sample scene, then copy the Browser Source URL. It starts counting each time OBS loads the scene, so one URL serves every stream.

Preset
Length takes 5m, 1h30m, 90s or 10:00.
Theme
Starts
https://countlink.app/embed/?overlay=1#for=5m&go=1&l=Starting%20soon
Colour applies to Outline, Neon, Glass and Minimal. Split-flap and Light keep their own colours. "When I go live" holds at the full time until OBS starts streaming, so the preview here shows it waiting. "Every time the scene is shown" restarts it whenever you switch to that scene, which suits a Be right back scene. For a count-up clock, start a stopwatch on the board above and use the overlay button instead.

Pause it or add time from inside OBS

A countdown you control live works a little differently from the self-starting one above, because there has to be one running countdown for the controls to talk to:

  1. On the board at the top of this page, tick phone control, set the time and press start.
  2. Press Copy OBS overlay link and add it as a Browser Source. It follows that countdown, pauses included.
  3. Press Copy for an OBS dock, then in OBS open Docks → Custom Browser Docks, name it CountLink and paste the URL. Pause, ±1 minute, stop and flash a message now sit in a panel inside OBS.

The same control link works on your phone, and mods can follow the countdown on the regular link. It's free, with no account.

Or write the URL yourself

The button above copies a link to the countdown currently on the board. You don't have to use it. An overlay URL can be typed from scratch, which is handy for a scene you set up once and reuse, or a duration you'd rather not set by hand first:

https://countlink.app/embed/?overlay=1#for=10m&go=1

Change 10m to whatever you need: 5m, 1h30m, 90s, 25m. The go=1 on the end is what makes it start counting the moment the scene loads, which is what you want for a "starting soon" screen: because OBS keeps the URL you gave it, every reload starts the countdown fresh rather than resuming one that already ran out. Add &l=Starting%20soon to put a label above the digits. For a different look, add &style=outline, neon, glass, minimal or light before the #, and &color=ff3df5 (any hex colour) to recolour the digits, for example https://countlink.app/embed/?overlay=1&style=neon&color=ff3df5#for=10m&go=1. After go=1, &start=stream waits until you go live, &start=scene restarts it each time its scene is shown, and &o=1 keeps counting past zero.

Counting up instead of down

The same overlay runs the other direction. Pick Count up (stopwatch) on the board before you start, then copy the overlay link exactly as above. The URL it gives you carries &d=up and holds the start instant rather than an end one. Two things follow from that: an OBS reload resumes the clock where it actually is instead of restarting it, and there's no deadline to reach, so it keeps counting past 24 hours for a marathon, a subathon or an "on air for" readout. (go=1 is a countdown-only shortcut and doesn't apply here. Start the count-up on the board and copy its link.)

Only use go=1 for your own overlay, never for a link you send to people. A link that starts itself starts per person: everyone opening it would begin their own countdown from whenever they clicked. For a mod or co-streamer who needs to watch the same clock as you, share the regular sync link instead: it carries one fixed end instant, so their screen and yours land on zero together.

Common questions

Will the background really be transparent in OBS?

Yes, the overlay link removes the page background entirely (transparent, not just visually dark), so only the countdown digits appear on your scene, with no chroma key or green screen needed.

Can it count up instead of down, for an "on air for" clock?

Yes, choose "Count up (stopwatch)" on the board before you start, then copy the overlay link the same way. It counts from the instant you started and keeps going past 24 hours rather than stopping or rolling back to zero, so it suits a long stream, a marathon or a subathon.

Does the countdown keep running if I switch OBS scenes?

Yes, as long as the Browser Source stays loaded. If you enable "Shutdown source when not visible," OBS will reload it when the scene becomes active again and it will recalculate against the same shared deadline correctly.

Can I change how the overlay looks, or use a Starting soon or BRB preset?

Yes, the overlay builder on this page has Starting soon, Be right back, Intermission and Stream ending presets, and six looks: the split-flap board, Outline (white digits with a dark edge that stays readable over gameplay), Neon, Glass, Minimal and Light. Outline, Neon, Glass and Minimal take any digit colour. The preview shows it over a sample scene before you copy the URL, and it's all free with no watermark.

Can the countdown wait until I actually go live?

Yes, choose "When I go live" in the overlay builder (or add &start=stream to the URL). The overlay sits at the full time until OBS starts streaming, then counts down. "Every time the scene is shown" (&start=scene) instead restarts it from the full time whenever you switch to that scene, which suits a Be right back scene.

What happens if my break runs over?

Tick "Keep counting past zero" (or add &o=1) and at zero it chimes once, then keeps counting as +0:42 in red so you and your viewers can see how far over it is.

Can I resize the overlay without it looking blurry?

Yes, the digits are rendered as live text (not an image), so resizing the Browser Source in OBS stays sharp at any size.

Will viewers on Twitch see the same countdown as my screen?

Yes, whatever is on your OBS scene is what viewers see, and the overlay's countdown is calculated from the same shared deadline, so there's nothing separate to keep in sync.

Can my co-streamer or mod use the same countdown on their own screen?

Yes, share the regular (non-overlay) link with them and their device shows the identical time remaining, useful for coordinating a multi-person stream start.

Does this cost anything or add a watermark to my stream?

No, it's free with no watermark. The one exception is if you use the QR-code button, which calls a third-party API only when clicked; the overlay/timer itself never does.