Configure Your Stream Key and First Stream

Any piece of software you're already using for live streaming is likely compatible with Owncast. Visit our broadcasting software page to see some specific pieces of software and how they're configured.

The admin interface can be found by navigating to /admin on your Owncast server (e.g., https://owncast.example.com/admin).

Configuring your broadcasting software to stream to your Owncast server requires you to use the /live endpoint along with providing the stream key. (e.g., rtmp://owncast.example.com/live with stream key abc123). If your software does not allow specifying the stream key separately, you may need to append it to the URL as rtmp://owncast.example.com/live/abc123.

Default credentials

Default	Value
Admin username	admin
Admin password	abc123
Stream key	abc123

These are the default credentials for logging into the Owncast admin interface and streaming to your Owncast server. It is highly recommended that you change these values immediately after your first login to ensure the security of your server.

Next steps

1. Point your broadcasting software at your new server using rtmp://yourserver/live with your stream key. If your software doesn't have a way to specify a stream key use the url rtmp://yourserver/live/streamkey and use your stream key instead.
2. Access your server in your web browser by visiting http://yourserver:8080.
3. You can visit the Admin dashboard at http://yourserver:8080/admin where you can check visitor and server stats, change your stream key, personalize the content displayed on your page, and more. To log in, use the username admin and your admin password (abc123 by default).

Note: Your stream key and admin password both default to abc123, but they are separate settings. The stream key is only used by your broadcasting software to publish video. It is not your admin password.

Stream Key

To begin streaming you need two things: your Owncast server's RTMP URL (rtmp://yourserver/live) and a stream key. The stream key and the admin password both default to abc123, but they are separate settings. The stream key lets your broadcasting software publish video. The admin password logs you into the admin dashboard. Change both as soon as you can.

The admin password and stream keys are managed independently, so you can add as many stream keys as you like. Most people only need one, but multiple keys are useful in some setups, such as giving a co-host their own key you can revoke later.

You manage stream keys in the admin under Configuration > Server Setup, which has Server Config and Stream Keys tabs. New keys are auto-generated for you, and each key in the list can be revealed and copied. See the server setup guide for the full page.

If you start Owncast with the --streamkey flag, the Stream Keys tab is hidden and the value from the command line is used for that session.

What to configure next

Some common items many people update after installing Owncast are:

• Your site name, logo, description and external links that are displayed on the web site.
• Your stream key, which your broadcasting software uses to publish video, and your admin password, which you use to log into the admin dashboard.
• Enable your stream to show up in the Owncast Directory.

Read more about what you can configure and how.