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Effect Queues Guide

This guide walks through a practical example of using an Effect Queue to manage multiple donation alerts so they never overlap on stream.

If you haven't already, you may want to read the core Effect Queues page first for an overview of how queues work.

This guide focuses on a single common pattern—a Sequential queue for donation alerts. The same approach works for other scenarios too, like raid alerts, hype trains, or any situation where you want multiple alerts to play one at a time instead of all at once.

Example: Managing Multiple Donations with a Queue

Goal: Ensure every donation or cheer gets its own complete alert, even if several come in back-to-back.

1. Create a "Donation Alerts" queue

  1. Navigate to the Effect Queues tab in Firebot.
  2. Click the blue + New Effect Queue button.
  3. Set Name to something clear, like Donation Alerts.
  4. Set Mode to Sequential (so alerts play one after another).
  5. Leave Interval/Delay (secs) at 0 for now (no extra gap between alerts), or add a small delay if you want a short pause between alerts.
  6. Click Save.

You now have a queue dedicated to donation-style alerts.

2. Point donation events at the queue

Next, you'll configure your donation-related events so their effects are added to the Donation Alerts queue instead of running all at once.

  1. Go to the Events tab.
  2. Create (or edit) events that trigger on things like:
    • Twitch → Cheer (Bits)
    • Twitch → Channel Point Redemption, if you use point‑based donation style rewards
    • Streamlabs → Donation or other integration events you use for monetary support
  3. For each of these events, in the Effects section:
    • Add your desired effects (for example: Play Sound, Show Image/GIF, Chat Message, Show Text).
    • At the top of the effects list, expand the QUEUE section.
    • Select your Donation Alerts queue.

From now on, whenever these events fire, their effects lists will be added to the Donation Alerts queue instead of all playing at the same time.

3. How it behaves on stream

With this setup:

  • Each donation/cheer adds an entry to the Donation Alerts Sequential queue.
  • Firebot runs one full alert at a time, in the order they were received.
  • If three donations come in within a few seconds, viewers will see three separate alerts, one after another, instead of everything overlapping.

This keeps your alerts readable, your audio from turning into noise, and ensures every supporter gets a clear moment of recognition.