Contents
Stream Keys vs Restream Keys
Viewing and Revealing a Stream Key
Creating a Restream Key
Rotating a Restream Key
Deleting a Restream Key
Stream Keys vs Restream Keys
These are two different credentials with two different permission models — don’t assume they work
the same way. Both the Stream Keys and Restream Keys pages are visible to every member of
your Client; what differs is who can use their controls.
| Stream Key | Restream Key | |
|---|---|---|
| What it’s for | Your OBS setup (directly, or through the OBS plugin) uses this to send video into the platform for a given event. | The destination’s own RTMP key (for example, YouTube’s) used when an event restreams via the “Manual RTMP key” target. |
| Who can see the list (masked) | Every member | Every member |
| Who can reveal or copy the real value | User or above (or a system admin) | Client Admin (or a system admin) |
| Who can create/change/delete/rotate it | System admin only — a Client Admin cannot create, enable/disable, delete, or rotate a stream key | Client Admin (create, rotate and delete — see below) |
A control you can’t use is shown dimmed with the reason; see
Members and Roles.
Treat Keys Like Passwords
Anyone with a stream key can send video into your Client’s account, and anyone with a restream
key can push to your restream target. Only reveal or share a key with the operator or system that
actually needs it.
Viewing and Revealing a Stream Key
- Open Stream Keys in the dashboard — useful for grabbing the key value yourself to set up OBS
by hand when you’re not using the OBS plugin (see
OBS Plugin Guide). - Every stream key belonging to your Client is listed with its Label, a masked Stream Key
value, Status (Active/Disabled), and Created date. The blue box at the top shows the
RTMP Streaming Endpoint — the server URL every stream key uses — with its own Copy
button. - Next to the masked value sit a Reveal button and a Copy button. Click Reveal to see
the real value on screen; click Hide (in the same spot) to mask it again. Click Copy to
copy the real value straight to your clipboard without ever displaying it — the button briefly
reads Copied, or Copy failed if your browser refused the clipboard write (if that happens,
use Reveal and copy the value by hand instead). Prefer Copy over Reveal whenever your
screen might be shared or projected. Every Reveal and every Copy is recorded in the audit log
against that specific key. For a Readonly member both buttons are dimmed with ”🔒 Needs User
or above”. - + Add Key, and each row’s Disable/Enable, Rotate and Delete, are shown to
everyone but dimmed with ”🔒 Set by system administrators” for every Client role. If you need a
new stream key, an existing one disabled, or one deleted (for example, a retired camera
position), contact FIRST Chesapeake technology support at
technology@firstchesapeake.org or your system admin. The
procedure they’ll follow is documented in
System Admins and Test Mode.
If a stream key may have leaked, ask a system admin to Rotate it. Rotating gives the key a new
value and keeps its label and event assignments, but the old value stops working at once and any
session live on the key ends; the system admin’s confirmation says so (“…and any session currently
live on this key will be ended.”). Plan it outside a live broadcast, then update any OBS set up by
hand with the new value and check that each encoder using the key connects again.
A stream key only accepts video during the stream window of the event it’s assigned to, plus a day
before as a pre-event test (see
Event Configuration Reference).
Creating a Restream Key
Restream keys are only used by events whose Restream target is “Manual RTMP key” (see
Event Configuration Reference).
An event in “YouTube channel (system-managed broadcasts)” mode doesn’t need one.
- As a Client Admin, open Restream Keys in the dashboard.
- Click + Add Key. The Add Restream Key dialog opens.
- Fill in Label (placeholder “e.g. Main Field”) and YouTube RTMP Stream Key (placeholder
“YouTube Live stream key”; paste the RTMP key from your YouTube Live dashboard — it’s validated as
8–128 characters of letters, numbers, underscores, and hyphens only; anything else, including
stray whitespace, is rejected with “Restream key may only contain letters, digits, hyphens, and
underscores”). - Click Create Key. A label your Client already uses is refused with “A restream key with this
label already exists for this client”. - The new key appears in the table, masked, with Reveal/Copy controls like Stream Keys
(Copy works right away, no need to Reveal first), plus Rotate and Delete buttons.
Rotating a Restream Key
As a Client Admin (for your own Client) or a system admin, click Rotate on a restream key’s row.
This opens a dialog titled “Rotate “label"" with the text: “The old value will stop working
immediately, and any encoder or event still using it will need to be updated with the new value
below.” — followed by a New YouTube RTMP Stream Key field, validated the same way as on
creation. Click Rotate Key to replace the stored value; the new value is then shown in the table,
already revealed. The key keeps its id, label, and every event assignment, so you don’t need to
repoint anything afterward. The rotation is recorded in the audit log.
Rotating is refused while an event using the key is live on YouTube or its restream push is running:
- “The YouTube broadcast for date is live. Stop the broadcast to change where it goes (restream
key).” - “The restream push is running. Stop the push to change where it goes (restream key).”
Stop the broadcast or push first (see
Running a Live Event),
then rotate.
Deleting a Restream Key
Click Delete on the key’s row. The confirmation is titled “Delete restream key?” and reads:
Delete restream key “label”?
If this key is assigned to any events, it will be unassigned. This cannot be undone.
The same two refusals as for rotating apply: you can’t delete a key while an event using it is live
on YouTube or pushing.
Otherwise, deleting a key that events still use clears their restream key assignment rather than
failing. Their stream key and clipping are unaffected, but those events can no longer restream: a
push started on one fails with “No manual restream key assigned to this event” until a Client Admin
picks another key in the event’s Livestream settings. Double-check which events use a key before
deleting it, especially close to an event.