# Endpoint for current viewers of a stream **URL:** \ **Category:** API\ **Created:** [February 24, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/endpoint-for-current-viewers-of-a-stream/9377 "2017-02-24T22:18:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Felk](https://d3ovvz0v2ajtpu.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/discuss.dev.twitch.com/felk/32/1690_2.png) [@Felk](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/u/Felk)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/endpoint-for-current-viewers-of-a-stream/9377/1 "2017-02-24T22:18:38Z")
Hello, I would really like to see an official endpoint to query the current viewers of a stream, _as user ids_. The old, undocumented endpoint `http://tmi.twitch.tv/group/user/twitchplayspokemon/chatters` has always been troublesome and unreliable due to its “unofficial” state and frequent failures, but now it became even more problematic because of public name changes. I’ve seen names float around and cause trouble in our system even about 30 minutes after they got a name change. What would work too is a heartbeat-like service for streams instead of games, like described here: [Viewer Heartbeat Service for channels](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/viewer-heartbeat-service-for-channels/9364) but it would need to not require users to opt-in. So I don’t think it fits this task too well. ---
**Author:** ![swiftflux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@swiftflux](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/u/swiftflux)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 10:52pm UTC](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/endpoint-for-current-viewers-of-a-stream/9377/2 "2017-02-24T22:52:07Z")
Agreed; the lack of a proper viewers/chatters endpoint is becoming increasingly problematic, especially considering `JOIN` irc messages are suppressed in channels with over 1000 chatters. It would be very useful to have this information for channel analytics. Is there a reason an official chatters endpoint hasn’t been implemented? It seems like an often-requested but neglected feature. ---
**Author:** ![george](https://d3ovvz0v2ajtpu.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/discuss.dev.twitch.com/george/32/120_2.png) [@george](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/u/george)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 11:17pm UTC](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/endpoint-for-current-viewers-of-a-stream/9377/3 "2017-02-24T23:17:10Z")
Seems like [Drops and the VHS](https://dev.twitch.tv/docs/v5/guides/drops/) is the first step in the direction of allowing developers to collect viewer information from willing participants although very limited in scope at this time. Hopefully Twitch will expand on it on the future. I would consider a true viewer list a privacy violation so there would need to be some robust per-app or per-channel authorization system first. ---
**Author:** ![Mike111177](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Mike111177](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/u/Mike111177)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 11:22pm UTC](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/endpoint-for-current-viewers-of-a-stream/9377/4 "2017-02-24T23:22:07Z")
You can already get a full viewer list in a channel from the viewer list button at the bottom of chat. ---
**Author:** ![george](https://d3ovvz0v2ajtpu.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/discuss.dev.twitch.com/george/32/120_2.png) [@george](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/u/george)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 11:22pm UTC](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/endpoint-for-current-viewers-of-a-stream/9377/5 "2017-02-24T23:22:51Z")
Those are users logged into chat, not viewers. ---
**Author:** ![Mike111177](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Mike111177](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/u/Mike111177)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 11:25pm UTC](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/endpoint-for-current-viewers-of-a-stream/9377/6 "2017-02-24T23:25:01Z")
That’s what we usually mean by viewers… “logged into chat”… what do you think we want to collect IP’s? ---
**Author:** ![Dist](https://d3ovvz0v2ajtpu.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/discuss.dev.twitch.com/dist/32/7192_2.png) [@Dist](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/u/Dist)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 11:33pm UTC](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/endpoint-for-current-viewers-of-a-stream/9377/7 "2017-02-24T23:33:00Z")
It was an important distinction he made, there is a difference between viewers and users in chat which people should realise. ---
**Author:** ![Felk](https://d3ovvz0v2ajtpu.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/discuss.dev.twitch.com/felk/32/1690_2.png) [@Felk](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/u/Felk)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2017, 11:33pm UTC](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/endpoint-for-current-viewers-of-a-stream/9377/8 "2017-02-24T23:33:24Z")
We are talking about an official API to not rely on undocumented (legacy) endpoints. Where do you think that button gets its data from? An internal endpoint 3rd party developers cannot rely on ---
**Author:** ![system](https://d2opxh93rbxzdn.cloudfront.net/original/2X/0/05909729875cce3b53e59d5561c4d23bb14948fc.png) [@system](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2017, 11:33pm UTC](https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/endpoint-for-current-viewers-of-a-stream/9377/9 "2017-03-26T23:33:27Z")
Closed on March 26, 2017, 11:33pm UTC This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.