I’m working on an app that uses the Twitch API to pull live stream data for a specific user, but I’m running into an issue where the API response keeps showing the stream as “offline,” even when the user is live on Twitch.
Here’s what I’ve done so far:
Verified the client ID and access token, and ensured the token has the correct scopes (user:read:email, stream:read, etc.).
Used the https://api.twitch.tv/helix/streams endpoint with the user’s ID to check their live status.
Cross-checked that the user ID is correct by fetching it from the Twitch API directly.
Is there a caching delay in the Twitch API, or do I need additional parameters in the request? Has anyone else experienced this issue where streams show as offline in the API response but are live on the site?
Verified the client ID and access token, and ensured the token has the correct scopes (user:read:email, stream:read, etc.).
user:read:email isn’t needed, getting streams is public there are no scopes required, and stream:read doesn’t exist and you should have gotten an error {"status":400,"message":"invalid scope requested: 'stream:read'"} if you attempted to request it.
Is there a caching delay in the Twitch API, or do I need additional parameters in the request? Has anyone else experienced this issue where streams show as offline in the API response but are live on the site?
Yes, all API endpoints are cached. It can potentially take several minutes for the API to update after a stream goes live.
Thank you for clarifying the scope requirements! I must have misinterpreted the documentation—I’ll remove user:read:email and won’t worry about stream:read since, as you mentioned, it doesn’t actually exist.
It’s also good to know about the caching delay. I was concerned that the data might be immediately out of sync, but if there’s a known delay of a few minutes, that explains the discrepancy I was seeing. I’ll build in a buffer to account for this delay in the app.
