How to Set Up Twitch Host Alerts

Note: As of October 3, 2022 Twitch has deprecated the /host and /unhost commands and updated "autohosting" to "suggested channesl". Read more

Having your channel hosted by a fellow streamer can be a really great feeling. Naturally, you’d want to know if someone is hosting you so you can experience the joy and share your gratitude with the streamer hosting you. Fortunately, Twitch has built-in broadcaster notifications which will appear in your chat box whenever someone is hosting you. But what if your chat moves fast and you don’t notice the message?

Enter Streamlabs Alert Box! Used by millions of streamers, the Streamlabs Alert Box will give you notifications for Follows, Subs, Donations, and of course, Hosts. It’s incredibly easy to set up and even more fun to personalize with our many widgets. We’ll show you exactly how to set up Twitch host alerts through Streamlabs to get you up and running in minutes. If you want further clarification on hosting, you can read our post about the differences between hosts and raids.

1. Click the plus sign to add a new source to your scene in Streamlabs Desktop.

2. Choose “Alertbox” from the list of options, click “Add Source.”

3. Click on “Add Source again.”

4. Position the Alertbox where you want it and make sure it’s visible (keep it at the top of your sources so it doesn’t get buried under your game or something else).

5. Click the “Test Widgets” button, then “Host” to give it a try.

Well, that was easy! How about browsing through Streamlabs’ widgets to further personalize your stream? If you want to add alerts that you made yourself or purchase on somewhere like Etsy, you can do that too. Our post on Alert Box Variations will show you how. 

1. Click on “Alertbox Library” in the top left corner of your Streamlabs Desktop screen.

2. Browse through the many themes—note which themes require a Streamlabs Ultra Membership.

3. Keep browsing—plenty of free widgets to choose from!

4. We’ll choose these Genshin Impact widgets to match our overlay. Click on Install Widget Theme.

5. All done! You can click on “Test Widgets” to double-check that the theme applied. Easy!

The great thing about the Streamlabs Alert Box and widgets is that you can download as many different themes as you like and use them with different scenes. You can set up scenes based on the game you’re playing, the mood you’re in—anything! Now that you have Streamlabs Host Alerts enabled, how about asking a friend to host your stream and doing them the same courtesy in return?