Twitch Chat Rules: 15 Examples and a Copy-Paste Template

Chat rules aren't there to make your chat boring. They tell new viewers what kind of place they've walked into, and they give your mods something to point to when things get heated. Good rules are short, clear and fit your channel.

Below you'll find a template you can copy, 15 rule examples to pick from, where to set rules on Twitch and how to enforce them without turning into the fun police.

Twitch chat rules template (copy and paste)

Twitch asks for one rule per line, so this template is ready to paste into the Chat Rules setting:

Be kind. Treat everyone in chat with respect.
No hate, harassment or discrimination of any kind.
No spam, excessive caps or copy-paste walls.
No self-promotion or links unless a mod allows it.
No backseating unless I ask for help.
No spoilers for games, shows or movies.
Don't share personal information, yours or anyone else's.
Listen to the mods. Their decisions are final.

Eight rules are plenty. Anything longer and people stop reading.

15 chat rule examples

Pick the ones that match your stream. You don't need all of them.

Respect

1. Be kind. The simplest rule and the one everyone understands. Twitch's own channel opens its rules with it.
2. No hate, harassment or discrimination. This is already part of Twitch's Community Guidelines. Stating it in your rules shows you take it seriously.
3. Listen to the mods. Mods enforce the rules for you. Make clear that arguing with a timeout in chat isn't the way to handle it.
4. No drama about other streamers. Keeps your chat from turning into a comment section about someone who isn't there.

Spam and self-promotion

5. No spam. Repeated messages, copy-paste walls and endless caps make chat unreadable for everyone else.
6. No self-promotion. "Check out my stream" in someone else's chat is a classic. Decide whether you allow it at all, maybe in a dedicated channel on your Discord.
7. No links without permission. Protects your viewers from scams and your chat from unwanted content.

Gameplay

8. No backseating. Unless you ask for tips, let the streamer play the game. Add "unless I ask for help" if you like hints from chat.
9. No spoilers. Especially important for story games and new releases.

Topics and language

10. English only (or your stream's language). Makes moderation possible and keeps the conversation readable for everyone. If you have a multilingual community, skip it.
11. No politics or religion. A common rule for channels that want to stay light. Leave it out if discussion is part of your content.
12. Keep it family-friendly. Only if your stream is. It tells viewers what to expect before they say something.

Safety

13. Don't share personal information. No real names, addresses or other private details, neither yours nor anyone else's.
14. Don't ask to become a mod. Saves your mods a lot of repeating themselves.
15. Follow Twitch's Community Guidelines. A catch-all line that covers everything you didn't list yourself.

Rules for different kinds of streams

Stream type	Rules worth adding
Cozy or family-friendly	Keep it family-friendly, no politics or religion
Competitive gaming	No backseating, no toxicity toward other players
Story games	No spoilers, not even small hints
Just Chatting	No drama about other streamers, don't share personal information
Multilingual community	Leave out "English only" and say which languages mods can moderate

How to set chat rules on Twitch

Twitch has a built-in Chat Rules feature. In your Creator Dashboard, open the moderation settings, find Chat Rules under Chatter Permissions and enter one rule per line.

First-time chatters then see a pop-up with your rules and have to click Agree before they can send a message. It's the most reliable way to make sure new viewers have at least seen your rules once.

Other places to show your rules

• About panel: a "Rules" panel below your stream, for everyone who scrolls down.
• !rules command: your chat bot posts the rules when someone types the command. With Nightbot it's !commands add !rules followed by your text.
• Pinned message: mods can pin a message in chat, for example a short summary of your rules during a heated moment.

How to enforce your rules

Rules only work if they're enforced consistently. Many channels follow a simple three-step approach, which Twitch also mentions: warning, timeout, ban.

• Warning: with /warn, the viewer has to acknowledge the warning before they can chat again. Good for first slip-ups.
• Timeout: temporarily blocks someone from chatting. The default is ten minutes, and it can be set up to two weeks.
• Ban: permanent, until you or a mod lift it.

Twitch tools that help

Tool	What it does
AutoMod	Holds back risky messages for review. Levels 0 to 4, with categories for discrimination, sexual content, harassment, profanity and smart detection.
Blocked Terms	Blocks specific words or phrases, even with AutoMod switched off. Wildcards with * work too.
Chat modes	Followers-only, subscriber-only, emote-only, slow mode, unique chat and a chat delay for non-mods.
Chat verification	Requires a verified email or phone number, for example for first-time chatters.
Shield Mode	Switches on stricter preset safety settings with one command, useful during a raid gone wrong.
Suspicious user controls	Flags likely ban evaders and lets mods monitor or restrict them.

Rules on stream, too

If you show chat on stream, rule-breaking messages also end up in clips and VODs. With ChatStyle, messages your mods delete disappear from the overlay too. The Censor Flagged Words setting replaces words Twitch flags as potentially sensitive with asterisks, and chat commands like !rules are hidden from the overlay by default.

Keep it short, keep it yours

The best chat rules sound like you. "Don't be a jerk" works just as well as a formal paragraph, as long as your mods know what it means in practice. Start with a few rules, see what actually comes up in your chat and adjust from there.

Want your chat to look as good as it behaves? Browse the chat templates and add a designed chat overlay to OBS. Here's how to add Twitch chat to OBS.