How to create a bracket and add it to your stream with OBS

Want your chat (or your living room) to vote on a bracket live? With BracketTap you can build one in a minute, drop it into OBS Studio as a Browser Source, and let viewers vote from their phones by scanning a QR code. No accounts, no chat bot, nothing to install.

Here's the whole setup, start to finish. These steps use the current BracketTap screens and OBS Studio 30 or later on Windows, Mac or Linux.

What you need

• OBS Studio (free from obsproject.com)
• A phone, tablet or second screen to run the game from (your main computer works too)
• A few minutes, and something worth arguing about

Step 1: Create your bracket

1. Go to Create a bracket.
2. Type a title at the top (it's optional, but it shows on stream).
3. Type a choice in Add a choice and press Enter, then press Enter or tap Add. Repeat until you have between 2 and 64 choices. Got a list already? Tap Paste a list and paste one choice per line (or comma-separated), then tap Add all.
4. Use 🔀 Shuffle, the ↑ ↓ arrows, or drag to change the matchups. Odd numbers are fine: byes are added for you.

Your bracket saves itself on this device under My brackets, so you can come back to it later.

Tip: No time to build one? Pick a ready-made bracket on Discover, or start from one of the bracket ideas and tap Build my bracket →. On a Discover bracket, Make your own version ✏️ copies it into the builder so you can edit it.

Step 2: Open a room and copy the stream view link

1. Tap Play with friends 📱. BracketTap makes a private room with a 6-character room code, and the screen you're on becomes the Host screen.
2. On the host screen, open 📺 Party TV or streaming? Put it on the big screen. (Once the game has started, the same settings are under the 📺 TV / Stream button at the top.)
3. Pick a Layout: Wide · QR right or Wide · QR left for a normal 16:9 stream, or Tall · QR top / Tall · QR bottom for a 9:16 vertical stream.
4. Pick a Background: Dark, Light, Green screen or Transparent. Transparent is the easiest way to lay the bracket over your own scene.
5. Leave Show the join QR code and room code so viewers can vote ticked so viewers can get in.
6. Tap Copy link right under the stream view link box. (The Copy link on the join card copies the players' link instead.) The stream view link looks like https://brackettap.com/stream/ABC234?bg=dark.

The stream view is read-only: it updates live, never counts as a player, and has no site menus or ads on it. Keep the host screen open on your phone or second monitor. That's where you run the game.

Step 3: Add the stream view to OBS

1. In OBS, choose the scene you want, then in the Sources panel click + and choose Browser.
2. Pick Create new, give it a name like "BracketTap", and click OK.
3. Paste the stream view link into the URL field.
4. Set Width to 1920 and Height to 1080. For a tall layout, use 1080 × 1920 instead.
5. If you want the sound effects on stream, tick Control audio via OBS. Don't want them? Untick Sound effects on stream on the host screen before you copy the link.
6. Optional: tick Shutdown source when not visible and Refresh browser when scene becomes active. The page reloads whenever you switch to the scene, and it always shows the room's latest state.
7. Click OK, then drag the corners in the preview to size it.

The stream view scales to whatever size you give it, so it stays sharp if you shrink it into a corner.

Tip: Chose Green screen? Right-click the source, choose Filters, and add a Chroma Key effect filter. With Transparent you don't need a filter at all.

Step 4: Viewers scan the QR code and vote

The stream view shows a Vote on your phone panel with a QR code and the room code.

• Viewers scan the QR code with their phone camera, or go to brackettap.com/join and type the room code.
• Everyone taps their pick on their own phone. Vote counts stay hidden until the reveal, so nobody knows who's winning.
• When someone joins, the stream view shows a quick "+1 player joined".

Before you start, the stream view says Get your phones out! and counts the players as they arrive. When you're ready, tap Start the bracket ▶ on the host screen. Latecomers can still join after you start.

Step 5: Run the show

On the host screen, each matchup has Host controls:

• Reveal now shows the votes. If the room reveals by itself once everyone has voted, the host screen says so.
• Next matchup ▶ moves on, and on the last one Crown the champion 🏆 ends the bracket.
• A Vote timer (off by default) closes voting and reveals automatically when time runs out.
• On a tie, choose Sudden-death revote or Random tiebreak 🎲.
• On a computer, use the keyboard: 1/2 to vote, Space to reveal or go to the next matchup.

Don't want to vote yourself? Tap Stop voting myself and just run the game.

Tips for a smoother stream

• Let it run itself with continuous mode. Turn on 🔁 Continuous mode in the host settings. Each result shows for a few seconds, then the next matchup opens on its own (with a 30-second vote timer if you haven't set one). After a champion there's a 3-minute countdown, then everyone votes on the next Discover bracket to play. It pauses if nobody votes or joins for 15 minutes.
• Make the champion moment count. When you crown the champion, the stream view switches to a big trophy screen with "name wins" and the choices it beat on the way. In continuous mode, it also shows what's up next and a countdown, and the QR code comes back so new viewers can join for the next round.
• Streaming on YouTube? Paste your stream's link under 📱 Live stream on voters' phones, and voters can open your stream above the vote buttons, so they watch and vote on one screen.
• Leaving it on a TV for hours? Keep Screen saver ticked. About every 10 minutes, between matchups, the bars swap or the QR code changes sides to protect the screen.
• Small crowd? A bracket works with any number of voters, and you can vote too. The 🎡 Spinner wheel, where votes add weight to a spin, needs at least 3 voters.

FAQ

Does the stream view count as a player?

No. It only watches the room. Only phones that join with the QR code or room code count as players.

Do my viewers need an account or an app?

No. They scan the QR code or type the room code at brackettap.com/join and vote in their phone's browser.

Will this work in Streamlabs too?

Yes. Add it as a Browser source the same way, with the same link and size.

How long does a room last?

Until you delete it, or about 72 hours after the last activity. You can play another bracket in the same room so nobody has to rejoin.

Can I run the game from my phone while OBS is on my computer?

Yes, that's the easiest setup. Open the room on your phone as the host, copy the stream view link, send it to your computer (a message or email to yourself works), and paste it into OBS.

Ready to try it? Create a bracket, or grab a ready-made one on Discover. For more streaming ideas, see BracketTap for streamers.

Using a different app? See our guides for Streamlabs Desktop, TikTok LIVE Studio and PRISM Live.