Create a Countdown Command

A countdown command tells viewers how long remains until your next stream, tournament, community night, or other event. StreamElements provides two countdown formats: a recurring time of day and a fixed date and time.

Choose a countdown type

Countdown	Use it for	Target format
Daily	A stream or event that starts at the same time every day	A 24-hour UTC time, such as 19:00
One-time	An event on a specific date	A complete RFC 3339 timestamp, such as 2027-09-20T19:00:00-03:00

Check the timezone

A bare time is always interpreted as UTC, not your local timezone. For a one-time event, include its UTC offset in the timestamp. For example, +02:00 means two hours ahead of UTC and -03:00 means three hours behind UTC.

Create a daily countdown

This example counts down to the next occurrence of 19:00 UTC. If 19:00 has already passed today, the countdown automatically targets 19:00 tomorrow.

1. Open the bot command dashboard, select Custom commands, and click Add new command.

2. Name the command nextstream and enter this reply:

   The next stream starts in $(time.until 19:00)

3. Replace 19:00 with your start time converted to UTC.

4. Click Activate command.

Example chat

ViewerName:!nextstream

StreamElements:The next stream starts in 2 hours 30 mins

Create a one-time event countdown

For an event on a particular date, use a complete RFC 3339 timestamp:

The community tournament starts in $(time.until 2027-09-20T19:00:00-03:00)

The timestamp has four parts:

2027-09-20 T 19:00:00 -03:00
date         time       UTC offset

Replace the example with the event’s actual date, local start time, and UTC offset. After the fixed time passes, the output ends in ago; update or disable the command when the event is over.

Troubleshooting

• The time is several hours wrong: a daily HH:MM target uses UTC. Convert the intended start time to UTC.
• The bot prints a parsing error: use either a bare HH:MM time or a complete RFC 3339 timestamp. Formats such as September 20 at 7 PM are not accepted.
• The response says the event was “ago”: the fixed timestamp is in the past. Update the target or disable the command.
• The variable appears as text: check the spelling and keep the target inside $(time.until ...).

See the $(time) reference for the precise input and output rules.

Related

• $(time): Current-time and countdown syntax.
• Custom Commands: Manage the command from the dashboard or chat.
• Timers: Post messages automatically instead of waiting for a viewer command.