Put a macro on a Stream Deck button

Fire a keypress, a chat message or an OBS change from a physical button — no plugin to compile.

A macro is one thing GriddleBot does when you fire it: press keys in a program, say something in chat, or change a setting like your OBS scene or your system volume. A Stream Deck button can fire any of them.

There is nothing to install. The desktop app runs a tiny server on your own PC that only your PC can reach, and the Stream Deck opens a URL that tells it what to run.

Make the macro first

  1. In the desktop app, open Macros and click Add macro.
  2. Give it a name you will recognise on a button — this is what you will pick in the next step.
  3. Choose what it does: Press keys, Say in chat, or Change a setting.
  4. For Press keys, type the keystrokes and choose which window they go to. Leave it on "Whatever window is focused" if you want them to land wherever you are.
  5. Press Test. The app tells you what happened, so you know it works before it is on a button.

Get the button URL

  1. In the desktop app, open Settings and scroll to "Stream Deck & external control".
  2. Set Action to "Run a macro".
  3. Pick your macro from the list beside it.
  4. Press Test there too — this checks the whole path, not just the macro.
  5. Press Copy to put the button URL on your clipboard.

Put it on the Stream Deck

  1. Open the Elgato Stream Deck app.
  2. From the actions list on the right, drag "Website" onto an empty key. It is under System.
  3. Paste the URL you copied into the URL box.
  4. Tick "Access in background".
  5. Give the key a title and an icon so you know what it is mid-stream.
  6. Press the physical key to test it.

"Access in background" is the step everyone misses. Without it the Stream Deck opens your web browser every time you press the key — the macro still runs, but a browser window jumps up over your game.

If the button does nothing

The desktop app has to be running — closed to the tray is fine, fully quit is not. The URL contains a token that is unique to your PC, so a URL copied from someone else's machine will not work, and the URL changes if you reset the token.

A macro that presses keys into a named window only works while that window is open. The app refuses to send the keys anywhere else on purpose: if your game is shut, F5 going into whatever you happen to be typing in would be worse than nothing happening.

The same URL works in anything that can open a link — AutoHotkey, a browser bookmark, a phone shortcut. The Stream Deck is not special.

You can also give a macro a global hotkey in the app, which works without a Stream Deck at all.

All setup guides  ·  Install and pair the desktop app  ·  Control OBS from the dashboard  ·  Set up a soundboard

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