# Owncast - Free and Open Source Livestreaming

> Free and Open Source Livestreaming

This file contains links to documentation sections following the llmstxt.org standard.

## Table of Contents

- [Show Custom Action Buttons On Your Page](https://owncast.online/docs/api/actions/): You can display external user interfaces into Owncast by registering external actions.
- [ActivityPub & The Fediverse Protocol](https://owncast.online/docs/api/activitypub/): A protocol-level reference for the ActivityPub activities Owncast sends and receives, so you can build a Fediverse application that interoperates w...
- [Owncast Web APIs](https://owncast.online/api/): Integrate external code with Owncast over HTTP, using webhooks to receive events and access-token APIs to send actions.
- [Send requests to the Owncast API](https://owncast.online/docs/api/requests/): Use an access token to send chat messages, set the stream title, and perform other actions over the Owncast API.
- [Webhooks](https://owncast.online/docs/api/webhooks/): Learn how to set up and use webhooks to get notified about events on your Owncast server.
- [Back Up Your Stream Data and Configuration](https://owncast.online/docs/backups/): Owncast makes periodic backups of your data that can be restored.
- [ffmpeg](https://owncast.online/docs/broadcasting/ffmpeg/): ffmpeg is a leading command line tool for processing video.
- [Compatible hardware](https://owncast.online/docs/broadcasting/hardware/): Various pieces of hardware have been tested with Owncast.
- [Set Up Broadcasting Software](https://owncast.online/docs/broadcasting/): How you configure your broadcasting software can impact the quality and performance of your stream
- [Jitsi](https://owncast.online/docs/broadcasting/jitsi/): Jitsi is an open source video conferencing provider.
- [OBS/Streamlabs Desktop](https://owncast.online/docs/broadcasting/obs/): OBS is a popular piece of free software for live streaming.
- [Restream.io](https://owncast.online/docs/broadcasting/restream/): Restream is a commercial service to stream to multiple locations at once.
- [Zoom](https://owncast.online/docs/broadcasting/zoom/): Zoom is a video conferencing provider.
- [Content Delivery Networks (CDNs)](https://owncast.online/docs/cdns/): A CDN can help improve the network performance of your Owncast instance by caching and distributing content from servers located closer to users.
- [Enable Chat authentication](https://owncast.online/docs/chat/chat-authentication/): Verify and keep your chat identity.
- [Upload Custom emoji](https://owncast.online/docs/chat/emoji/): Add your own custom emoji for use in chat.
- [Chat](https://owncast.online/chat/): How to use the Owncast chat features.
- [Chat moderation](https://owncast.online/docs/chat/moderation/): Add moderators, remove messages and users from your chat.
- [Hardware Accelerated Encoding & Codecs](https://owncast.online/docs/codecs/): If you have direct access to specific hardware you may be able to increase the performance of your server by using a compatible codec.
- [Customizing colors and appearance](https://owncast.online/docs/configuration/appearance/): Customize the appearance of your Owncast instance.
- [Add custom JavaScript](https://owncast.online/docs/configuration/custom-javascript/): Run custom JavaScript on your Owncast web page.
- [Configuration](https://owncast.online/docs/configuration/): Configuration is generally done through the Owncast administration page located on your server under `/admin`, however, there are a number of runti...
- [Live stream notifications](https://owncast.online/docs/configuration/notifications/): Send notifications when your stream goes live.
- [Plugins](https://owncast.online/docs/configuration/plugins/): An overview of Owncast plugins, what they can do for your stream, and how to install one from the admin.
- [Configuration via Runtime Flags](https://owncast.online/docs/configuration/runtime-flags/): Configuration is generally done through the Owncast administration page located on your server under `/admin`, however, there are a number of runti...
- [Server Setup](https://owncast.online/docs/configuration/server-setup/): Reference for the Server Setup page in the Owncast admin, covering the admin password, stream keys, ports, FFmpeg path, and network settings.
- [Run Owncast as a Background Service](https://owncast.online/docs/configuration/systemservice/): Setup owncast to run as a system service, automatically starting when your server does.
- [Customize Your Owncast Site](https://owncast.online/docs/configuration/website/): Customize your Owncast web page by adding additional content and links.
- [Host public assets](https://owncast.online/docs/custom-assets/): Make your own files publicly available.
- [List Your Stream in the Owncast Directory](https://owncast.online/docs/directory/): The Owncast Directory is a centralized list of streams for people to discover.
- [Embed Owncast Into Your Website](https://owncast.online/docs/embed/): You can easily embed your chat or video into another site.
- [Ways to extend Owncast](https://owncast.online/docs/extend/): Build on Owncast with plugins that run inside the server, or with web APIs and webhooks for code you run elsewhere.
- [Configure Your Stream Key and First Stream](https://owncast.online/docs/getting-started/configure-first-stream/): Learn how to login, change your stream key, and start your first stream with Owncast.
- [Use a container image](https://owncast.online/docs/getting-started/install/container/): Images for running Owncast within a containerized environment are available for releases.
- [Installation](https://owncast.online/docs/getting-started/install/): Start streaming to your own server in seconds.
- [Owncast Quick Installer](https://owncast.online/docs/getting-started/install/installer/): Start streaming to your own server in seconds.
- [Manual Install](https://owncast.online/docs/getting-started/install/manual/): If you don't want to use the automated installer you can download it yourself.
- [Pre-installed Owncast with hosting providers](https://owncast.online/docs/getting-started/install/providers/): Automatically have a server with Owncast pre-installed by using supported hosting providers.
- [Welcome](https://owncast.online/docs/): Welcome to the official Owncast documentation. Here you'll find resources to help you install, configure, and troubleshoot your Owncast instance.
- [Reducing Latency](https://owncast.online/docs/latency/): Understand what affects Owncast stream latency and how to reduce the delay between you and your viewers.
- [Stream performance](https://owncast.online/docs/metrics/): It's important to know if your Owncast stream is performing well. There are a few tools within the admin to assist with this.
- [Owncast Plugin APIs](https://owncast.online/docs/plugins/apis/): Every owncast.* method your plugin can call from inside a handler, what it returns, and what permission it needs.
- [Authentication](https://owncast.online/docs/plugins/auth/): Build a plugin that makes viewers sign in with OAuth, a password, or any HTTP-based provider before they can reach protected Owncast resources.
- [Chat plugins](https://owncast.online/docs/plugins/chat/): Build chat bots, moderation tools, and message filters for Owncast plugins using chat handlers and owncast.chat APIs.
- [Chat plugin commands](https://owncast.online/docs/plugins/commands/): Declare chat commands with aliases, cooldowns, moderator gating, and automatic !help listings.
- [Configuration via Plugins](https://owncast.online/docs/plugins/configuration/): Let admins configure your plugin with typed settings. Owncast renders the form, you read the values at runtime with owncast.config.get.
- [Plugin Events](https://owncast.online/docs/plugins/events/): Every event your plugin can subscribe to (chat, stream, fediverse, filter, HTTP, and more), with its payload shape.
- [Serving HTTP via Plugins](https://owncast.online/docs/plugins/http/): Serve URLs from your plugin, write dynamic handlers, gate admin endpoints, and push realtime events to browsers.
- [Extend Owncast with plugins](https://owncast.online/docs/plugins/): Write plugins that run sandboxed inside Owncast to react to chat, post to the fediverse, serve HTTP endpoints, and add UI.
- [Plugin Manifest reference](https://owncast.online/docs/plugins/manifest/): Every field your plugin's manifest can contain, with examples.
- [Packaging & publishing plugins](https://owncast.online/docs/plugins/packaging/): Bundle your plugin into a .ocpkg, install it on a server, and list it in the public plugin catalog.
- [Plugin Permissions](https://owncast.online/docs/plugins/permissions/): The full permission list, what each one grants, and how Owncast's plugin security model works.
- [Plugin quickstart](https://owncast.online/docs/plugins/quickstart/): Scaffold a new Owncast plugin in JavaScript or Python, build it, package it, and install it on your server.
- [JavaScript SDK](https://owncast.online/docs/plugins/sdks/javascript/): Author Owncast plugins in JavaScript or TypeScript with @owncast/plugin-sdk: scaffolding, the definePlugin API, the CLI, and the scenario test harn...
- [Native WebAssembly](https://owncast.online/docs/plugins/sdks/native-wasm/): Build an Owncast plugin as a self-contained WebAssembly module with Rust, TinyGo, AssemblyScript, Zig, or another compiled language.
- [Python SDK](https://owncast.online/docs/plugins/sdks/python/): Author Owncast plugins in Python with owncast-plugin-py: install, the @plugin decorators, the owncast-plugin-py CLI, and testing.
- [Testing plugins](https://owncast.online/docs/plugins/testing/): Drive your built plugin through the real Owncast runtime with mocked side effects. Scenario tests, assertions, fixtures, HTTP auth.
- [Contributing web UI with Plugins](https://owncast.online/docs/plugins/ui/): Add admin pages to the Owncast admin UI and action buttons to the viewer chrome.
- [What You Need to Run Owncast](https://owncast.online/docs/resources-requirements/): There is no hard and fast rule for how much resources Owncast will use, since it depends on your configuration and requirements, but here are some ...
- [Support Increased Viewer Capacity](https://owncast.online/docs/scaling/): A place to start when needing to increase the capacity of your server.
- [Default Login Information](https://owncast.online/docs/shared/admin-login/): Instructions for logging into the Owncast admin interface and default credentials.
- [Owncast Basic](https://owncast.online/docs/shared/diagrams/owncast-basic/): ```mermaid
- [Owncast Cdn](https://owncast.online/docs/shared/diagrams/owncast-cdn/): ```mermaid
- [Owncast Object Storage Cdn](https://owncast.online/docs/shared/diagrams/owncast-object-storage-cdn/): ```mermaid
- [Owncast Object Storage](https://owncast.online/docs/shared/diagrams/owncast-object-storage/): ```mermaid
- [Owncast With Qualities](https://owncast.online/docs/shared/diagrams/owncast-with-qualities/): ```mermaid
- [Featured Streams](https://owncast.online/docs/social/featured-streams/): Feature other Owncast streams on your server so visitors can discover them, and have your own stream featured on other servers.
- [Owncast Social Features](https://owncast.online/docs/social/): Allow people to follow your server, know when you go live, share and interact with your stream.
- [The Fediverse](https://owncast.online/docs/social/the-fediverse/): Allow people to follow your server, know when you go live, share and interact with your stream.
- [Apache](https://owncast.online/docs/sslproxies/apache/): If you're already using Apache you can use it as a proxy.
- [Caddy](https://owncast.online/docs/sslproxies/caddy/): Caddy is possibly the fastest way to setup a SSL proxy.
- [HAProxy](https://owncast.online/docs/sslproxies/haproxy/): HAproxy is a well known performant reverse proxy.
- [SSL & HTTP Proxies](https://owncast.online/docs/sslproxies/): Put your Owncast server behind a proxy to enable SSL.
- [lighttpd](https://owncast.online/docs/sslproxies/lighttpd/): lighttpd is a lightweight option for SSL proxying.
- [NGINX](https://owncast.online/docs/sslproxies/nginx/): NGINX is a very popular solution for SSL proxying.
- [Use Object Storage to Save Bandwidth](https://owncast.online/docs/storage/): Use an external storage provider to distribute your Owncast video stream.
- [Video quality and performance](https://owncast.online/docs/video-performance/): How broadcasting software, video settings, object storage, latency, and metrics combine to shape your stream.
- [Choose the Right Video Quality Settings](https://owncast.online/docs/video/): Configure your video to manage the quality and hardware performance.
- [Show Where Your Viewers Are From](https://owncast.online/docs/viewers/): Display high-level geographic information about where your current viewers are connecting from.
- [Amazon Fire TV](https://owncast.online/docs/watching-streams/amazon-fire-tv/): Watch Owncast streams on Amazon Fire TV using VLC or other compatible apps.
- [Android phones and tablets](https://owncast.online/docs/watching-streams/android/): Watch Owncast streams on Android phones and tablets with Owncasts, VLC, mpv-android, or the built-in web player.
- [Apple TV](https://owncast.online/docs/watching-streams/apple-tv/): Apple TV works best with Owncasts for tvOS, VLC, or AirPlay from iOS/macOS.
- [Chromecast](https://owncast.online/docs/watching-streams/chromecast/): Cast Owncast streams to your Chromecast device directly from Chrome browser.
- [Google TV](https://owncast.online/docs/watching-streams/google-tv/): Watch Owncast streams on Google TV using VLC or other compatible Android TV apps.
- [Watching on TVs and Devices](https://owncast.online/docs/watching-streams/): Overview of all supported devices and platforms for watching Owncast streams on televisions and streaming devices.
- [iPhone & iPad](https://owncast.online/docs/watching-streams/iphone-ipad/): Watch Owncast streams on iPhone and iPad using the native Owncasts app, Safari browser, or AirPlay to other devices.
- [Kodi](https://owncast.online/docs/watching-streams/kodi/): Watch Owncast streams on Kodi using the official Owncast plugin for directory browsing.
- [LG Smart TVs (WebOS)](https://owncast.online/docs/watching-streams/lg-webos/): Watch Owncast streams on LG WebOS TVs using an IPTV playlist app or the built-in browser.
- [Roku](https://owncast.online/docs/watching-streams/roku/): Watch Owncast streams on Roku using AirPlay or the official Owncasts app.
- [Samsung Smart TVs](https://owncast.online/docs/watching-streams/samsung-tv/): Limited options for watching Owncast streams on Samsung Smart TVs due to platform restrictions.
- [Web Browsers](https://owncast.online/docs/watching-streams/web/): Watch Owncast streams using the built-in web video player