Using Points in Alerts

Published 31 Jul 2026

Points Settings handles the everyday awards. This page covers the two things you do from an alert: changing someone's balance yourself, and showing a balance on screen or in chat.

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Letting Viewers Check Their Balance

This is the most common request, and it needs no special action. Every event carries the sender's balance as {{ user_points }}.

1. Create a new Alert.

2. Choose your platform, and Chat Message as the event.

3. Under Chat Message Match, enter !points.

4. Add your platform's chat message action, for example Twitch: Send Chat Message.

5. Set the message to:

   @{{ username }} you have {{ user_points | "0" }} points

6. Save.

The | "0" part means "show 0 if this viewer has no record yet". Without it, an untracked viewer sees a blank space.

Works anywhere

{{ user_points }} works in any field that accepts placeholders, not just chat. Use it in a Discord message, a stream overlay, or an HTTP request.

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Changing Points from an Alert

Use the User: Modify Points action when you want an award that Points Settings cannot express, such as a bigger bonus for a higher subscription tier.

1. Open or create an Alert.

2. Add the User: Modify Points action. It is under Users & Goals.

3. Choose the User:

   Option	What it does
   User from Event (auto-detect)	Uses whoever triggered the alert. This is what you want almost every time.
   Specific User	Always targets one viewer you pick from a list.

4. Choose the Operation:

   Operation	What it does
   Add Points	Increases the balance.
   Subtract Points	Decreases it. Balances never go below zero.
   Set Points	Replaces the balance with an exact number.
   Reset to 0	Clears the balance. No amount needed.

5. Enter the Amount. This accepts placeholders, so {{ value }} uses the tip amount from the event.

6. Save.

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Worked Examples

Bonus points for a raid

• Trigger: Twitch, Received a Raid
• Action: User: Modify Points, User from Event, Add Points, Amount {{ value }}

The raider gets one point per viewer they brought.

Double points during happy hour

Make a second alert on the same trigger as your normal one, turn on Always Trigger so both fire, and add a Modify Points action to the new one. Switch it off with its alert set when happy hour ends.

Charge points for something without a redemption

• Trigger: Chat Message, Match Contains !vote
• Action 1: User: Modify Points, Subtract Points, Amount 50
• Action 2: whatever the vote should do

This is the manual version of a redemption. Use it when you need the command to accept extra words, which redemptions do not.

There is no balance check here

Unlike a redemption, the Modify Points action does not check whether the viewer can afford it. Subtracting more points than someone has simply floors them at zero, and the rest of the actions still run.

Tier-based subscriber bonus

Create one alert per tier, each filtered to a single Valid Subscription Tier, and give each a different Add Points amount.

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Points on Your Overlay

To show a balance on stream, put {{ user_points }} in the message of a Stream Overlay action:

{{ username }} redeemed a shock! ({{ user_points }} points left)

For a running leaderboard, use the Top Tippers section of the Tipping Menu widget, which tracks tip totals rather than points.

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Finding a Viewer's ID

The Specific User option asks you to pick from a list of names. If you need the underlying ID, for example for an HTTP request, open the Users page and click a viewer's row to expand it. TipLink User ID is at the bottom.

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Troubleshooting

{{ user_points }} comes out blank

That viewer has no record yet. Add the | "0" fallback, and check Track Chat-Only Viewers is on in Settings if you expect chatters to be tracked.

The Modify Points action reports an error

It could not work out who to award. This happens with anonymous events, and with events that carry no username. Check the event's detail view on the Activity page to see what it actually contained.

Points went to the wrong person

Two viewers on the same platform sharing a display name can be confused with each other when the platform sends no user ID. Check the viewer's expanded row for a Platform User ID. If there is not one, TipLink is going by name alone.