Go live on Twitch.

Create a Twitch account

If you don't already have one, create an account on Twitch. Use whatever email you want — you can change your display name later.

Install OBS Studio

OBS is free, open-source, and the industry standard. It's what virtually every serious streamer uses. There are other options — ignore them. Start here.

When OBS opens for the first time, it'll offer an Auto-Configuration Wizard. Select "Optimize for streaming" and let it run — it'll pick sensible defaults for your hardware and connection.

Connect OBS to Twitch

You need to link OBS to your Twitch account so it knows where to send your stream. The easiest way: in OBS, go to Settings → Stream, select Twitch as the service, and click Connect Account. Log in, authorize, done.

If you'd rather paste the key manually, grab it from your Creator Dashboard:

Set up your scene

OBS works with Scenes (layouts you switch between) and Sources (the things shown in each scene). For your first stream, you need one scene with one or two sources.

In the "Sources" panel at the bottom of OBS, click the + button:

Sort your audio

Viewers will forgive bad video. They will not forgive bad audio. But "bad audio" doesn't mean you need a fancy mic — it means background noise and echo.

In OBS, check Settings → Audio. Make sure your mic is selected under "Mic/Auxiliary Audio." Then do a test recording (File → Start Recording), talk for 30 seconds, and listen back.

Dial in your settings

If you ran the Auto-Configuration Wizard, you're probably fine. But if you want to tweak things, these defaults work for most people:

Go live

Set a title and category on Twitch. For building with AI, good categories include Software and Game Development, Science & Technology, or Just Chatting.

In OBS, hit the big button:

That's it. You're live. It doesn't need to be perfect. Talk through what you're doing, even if nobody's watching yet. The first stream is always the hardest — after this, it's just muscle memory.