Twitch Stream Monitor

Overview

Polls Twitch channels every 5 minutes via cron. When a streamer goes live, starts recording automatically. When recording ends, uploads to Drive and sends a notification.

Requirements: streamlink, ffprobe (homebrew), python3. Drive upload requires Google OAuth token at ~/.config/ares/google/token.json.

Setup

1. Copy and configure channels.json

cd ~/ares-skills/twitch-stream-monitor/scripts
cp channels.example.json channels.json

Edit channels.json:

{
  "channels": [
    {"player": "DisplayName", "twitch": "twitchhandle"}
  ],
  "recordings_dir": "~/recordings/streams",
  "state_file": "/tmp/stream_monitor_state.json",
  "streamlink_path": "/opt/homebrew/bin/streamlink",
  "ffprobe_path": "/opt/homebrew/bin/ffprobe",
  "upload_script": "~/clawd/scripts/stream_upload.py",
  "notify_whatsapp_jid": "120363XXXXXXXXX@g.us",
  "notify_on_live": true,
  "notify_on_done": true
}

Fields:

• channels — list of {player, twitch} objects. player is display name; twitch is the Twitch handle.
• recordings_dir — where recordings are saved (created if missing)
• state_file — tracks active recording PIDs across cron runs
• upload_script — path to stream_upload.py (optional; omit to skip Drive upload)
• notify_whatsapp_jid — WhatsApp group JID to notify (optional; omit to print to stdout only)
• notify_on_live — send notification when stream starts
• notify_on_done — send notification with Drive link when stream ends

2. Install streamlink

brew install streamlink

3. Test manually

python3 ~/ares-skills/twitch-stream-monitor/scripts/monitor.py

Cron Setup

Run every 5 minutes:

crontab -e

Add:

*/5 * * * * /usr/bin/python3 /Users/YOUR_USER/ares-skills/twitch-stream-monitor/scripts/monitor.py >> /tmp/stream_monitor.log 2>&1

How It Works

1. Cron triggers monitor.py every 5 minutes
2. For each channel:
   • If no active recording: check streamlink --stream-url for liveness
   • If live → spawn streamlink recording process → save PID to state file → notify "LIVE"
   • If already recording → check if PID is still alive
   • If PID died → stream ended → run upload script → notify with Drive link
3. State persistence: /tmp/stream_monitor_state.json tracks {channel: {pid, file, started}}

Notifications

Notifications are sent via openclaw message send --channel whatsapp. Configure notify_whatsapp_jid with the target group or contact JID.

Live notification:

🔴 PlayerName is LIVE — Recording started
twitch.tv/handle

Done notification:

📁 PlayerName Stream — Recorded
🔗 https://drive.google.com/...
📹 1h 23m | 2400MB

Drive Upload

Uses stream_upload.py (provided at ~/clawd/scripts/stream_upload.py). Requires:

• Google Drive API enabled
• OAuth token at ~/.config/ares/google/token.json
• pip3 install google-api-python-client google-auth

Uploads to GE-Streams/ subfolder in the configured Drive root. Makes file public with view link.

Troubleshooting

streamlink not found: Update streamlink_path in channels.json or install with brew install streamlink.

Recording starts but stays empty: Stream may require auth. Try streamlink twitch.tv/CHANNEL best manually.

Cron not running: Ensure full paths in crontab. Check /tmp/stream_monitor.log.

State stuck (PID shows as alive but stream stopped): Delete /tmp/stream_monitor_state.json and re-run.