Glossary
Plain-language definitions of the key terms used in TipLink and its documentation.
A
Action: What TipLink does when an alert fires. Examples: show a stream overlay, post to Discord, vibrate a PiShock device, play a sound. Each alert can have multiple actions that all run at the same time.
Alert: A rule you create that says "when this event happens, do these things." TipLink checks your alerts in order when an event arrives and runs the first one that matches.
Alert Set: A named group (like a label or folder) for organising your alerts. Useful when you have many alerts and want to filter them by category.
Auto Connect: A per-account setting that tells TipLink to automatically connect to that platform account every time TipLink starts, without you needing to click Connect manually.
C
Canvas: See Overlay Canvas below.
Chat Message: An event type representing a message sent in a streaming chat. Chat messages are excluded from TipLink's processing by default. You must explicitly enable them per platform account.
Cooldown: A waiting period that prevents an alert from firing too frequently. See Cooldowns & Rate Limiting.
Connect / Disconnect: The action of activating or deactivating a platform connection. A platform account must be connected for TipLink to receive its events. Connected accounts show a red "Disconnect" button.
E
Event: Something that happens on a connected platform, such as a donation, subscription, chat message, or raid. Events are received by TipLink, stored in the Activity log, and matched against your alerts.
Event Queue: The internal list of received events waiting to be processed. Events are processed in order (oldest first). The queue can be paused from the Settings page.
Excluded Events: A per-account setting that prevents specific event types from ever being recorded or processed by TipLink.
G
Global Cooldown: A cooldown that applies to an entire alert. Once it fires, no one can trigger it again until the timer expires. Compare with Per-User Cooldown.
Goal: A fundraising or milestone target you create in TipLink. Goals have a current value and a target value, and can be displayed on your stream overlay as a progress bar.
O
Overlay: See Stream Overlay below.
Overlay Canvas: A named screen area (at a defined resolution) where overlay widgets are placed. Each canvas has a unique browser source URL that you add to OBS or Streamlabs. One TipLink installation can have multiple canvases.
P
Per-User Cooldown: A cooldown that applies per viewer. Each person has their own timer. Once a viewer triggers the alert, they personally cannot trigger it again until their cooldown expires. Other viewers are unaffected.
Platform: A service TipLink can connect to, such as Twitch, Kick, Fansly, Ko-fi, or PiShock. Each platform has its own setup process and supports different event types.
Q
Queue: See Event Queue above. Also a cooldown behaviour mode: when set to Queue, events that arrive during a cooldown are held and fired automatically once the cooldown expires.
R
Rate Limiting: The feature that controls how often an alert is allowed to fire. Includes global cooldowns, per-user cooldowns, and ignore/queue behaviour. See Cooldowns & Rate Limiting.
Replay: A way to manually re-trigger a past event from the Activity page. Useful for testing alerts without waiting for a real event.
S
Status (Event): The processing state of an event. Statuses include: In Queue, Processing, Success, No Matching Alert Found, Partial Failure, Complete Failure, and Error. See Activity Log for full explanations.
Stream Overlay: A browser-based visual layer that displays alert animations, goal progress bars, variable values, and other widgets on your stream. Added to OBS or Streamlabs as a Browser Source.
T
Template Variable: A {{ fieldName }} placeholder in action text that TipLink replaces with live event data when the alert fires. For example, {{ username }} becomes the viewer's name. See Using Event Data in Actions.
Trigger: The condition(s) that must be true for an alert to fire: the platform, account, event type, and any value range. See Triggers.
V
Variable: A named value stored by TipLink that can be updated by alerts and displayed on overlays. Variable types include Text, Number, True/False, and Countdown Timer. See Variables.
W
Webhook (Inbound): A way for external apps to send events into TipLink over HTTP. TipLink runs a local webhook server, and you send POST requests to it from other tools (Discord bots, Home Assistant, custom scripts). See Using Webhooks.
Widget: A visual element placed on an Overlay Canvas, such as an alert box, goal progress bar, or variable display.