List Your Stream in the Owncast Directory

To help people discover streams by people using Owncast we have an optional Owncast directory located at https://owncast.directory you can add yourself to.

1. Visit the "General" settings in the admin.
2. Set the public URL to your Owncast instance that you want people to be linked to.
3. Set the "About" with a brief description of your stream.
4. Set the tags associated with the content you stream.
5. Mark if your content is Not Safe For Work (nsfw).
6. Turn on the "Enable directory" toggle at the bottom of the page. It stays disabled until you have set your Server URL.

If your server is not showing up in the directory

1. It's opt-in, so make sure you follow the configuration directions to enable the directory for your server.
2. Your server registers by pinging the directory every 4 minutes, and only while you are live. Expect to show up a few minutes into the first stream after enabling this feature.
3. You may want to run your server with owncast --enableVerboseLogging to see what errors show up.
4. If you used to be listed, but no longer show up, reset your registration in the admin under Server Setup > Advanced Settings > Reset Directory. The section appears once the directory is enabled.
5. If you recently changed the URL of your server, reset your registration the same way.
6. If there's some issue that's causing you not to be listed please file a GitHub issue so we can help troubleshoot or reset your registration with the directory.

Browse the Owncast Directory

If your application has what is often called "IPTV" or M3U support, you can browse the directory directly by adding https://owncast.directory/api/iptv to the application. Not all apps support this.

Additionally, there are some native applications that allow you to browse the Owncast directory and watch streams directly from within the application. Read more about watching streams.

Build your own directory

The Owncast directory is not the only one possible. Every Owncast server broadcasts its live status over ActivityPub, so you can run your own directory or aggregator that tracks which servers are streaming. See building a directory of Owncast streams for the protocol, and the owncast-directory-example repository for a small runnable reference.