Automation Rules

Automation rules are the core of VPE's intelligence. Each rule is simple: 'When THIS happens, do THAT.' For example: 'When someone donates $50 or more, play the big celebration overlay.'

Rules can be layered and combined. You can have a base set of rules for everyday streams, then add special rules for events, holidays, or specific games. VPE merges them together automatically.

You can edit rules from the Config panel in the dashboard, or work with the JSON files directly if you prefer. Either way, changes take effect within seconds — no restart needed.

Triggers define the conditions that activate a rule. You can trigger on specific events (a big donation, a raid), on stream mood (energy is high, chat is going wild), or on score thresholds (engagement above 70%).

Multiple conditions can be combined in a single rule. For example: 'When there's a chat spike AND the stream mood is energetic' — both must be true for the rule to fire.

To create 'either/or' logic, simply write two rules with different triggers but the same effect. If a donation OR a raid should trigger a celebration, make one rule for each.

Example rule:

When: "Big donation" moment is detected
  AND: Stream mood is "energetic"
Then: Fire "celebration_overlay"
  Channel: overlay
  Priority: 8 (high)
  Big effect: yes

Actions define which effect fires when a rule's conditions are met. You pick from your named effects catalog — the same effects you create and preview in the Effects tab.

Each action has a priority from 1 (low) to 10 (high). When multiple rules trigger at the same time, higher-priority actions win. This ensures your most important celebrations always get through.

You can mark an action as a 'big' effect. Big effects get special protection: they can't be interrupted by lower-priority effects, they're tracked separately in analytics, and they have their own budget limit.

VPE prevents effect overload with simple budgets. You set how many effects can fire per minute (default: 6) and how many big effects can fire per minute (default: 2).

During intense moments like a donation train, VPE picks the highest-priority effects and gracefully skips the rest. Your stream stays professional even when events are flooding in.

Per-platform budgets let you balance attention when multistreaming. Limit Twitch-triggered effects to 4 per minute and YouTube to 3 per minute, so neither platform dominates your overlay.

Cooldowns prevent the same effect from firing too often. If your raid celebration has a 60-second cooldown, it won't fire again within that window even if another raid comes in.

You can set different cooldowns for different triggers. A celebration effect might have a 60-second cooldown normally, but only 30 seconds when triggered specifically by raids.

Cooldowns and budgets work independently. An effect might be within budget but still blocked by cooldown, or within cooldown but blocked by budget. Both checks must pass.

VPE automatically adjusts which effects get priority based on the current stream mood. During calm moments, subtle and low-key effects take the spotlight. During hype moments, the big celebrations dominate.

This creates natural pacing without any manual intervention. Your stream breathes — quiet moments feel intimate, and exciting moments feel explosive.

Mood awareness is a soft influence, not a hard block. A subtle effect can still fire during a hype moment if nothing higher-priority is competing. VPE just naturally favors what fits the vibe.

All rule changes take effect within seconds. Edit a rule in the dashboard, and VPE picks it up immediately — no restart, no downtime, no interruption to your stream.

VPE validates your rules when they load. If there's a typo or an invalid reference, you'll see a clear error message explaining what's wrong before the rule goes live.

The Config panel in the dashboard gives you a visual editor for all your rules, so you can see exactly what's configured and make changes with confidence.