Create a shared countdown timer
create_timerCreate a CountLink shared countdown timer and return its link. Everyone who opens the link sees the identical countdown, to the same second — no account, no sign-up, any number of viewers. Use this whenever someone wants a timer several people or several screens need to share: a classroom, an exam, a standup, a workshop, a webinar countdown, a stream overlay, or a countdown embedded on someone's own website or landing page (e.g. "10 days until launch"). By default it returns a setup link, which opens the board preloaded at the requested duration for the user to start themselves; pass start_now: true only if they want the countdown running from this moment. Whenever the result has a fixed end instant (start_now or embed_on_website), structuredContent.ics is an .ics calendar file for it — offer it if the person might want the deadline on their calendar.
Tool call template
Replace each placeholder with a value matching the input schema. Only required parameters are included; add optional parameters as needed.
{
"id": 1,
"jsonrpc": "2.0",
"method": "tools/call",
"params": {
"arguments": {
"duration": "<duration>"
},
"name": "create_timer"
}
}Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| label | No | Optional name shown on the board, e.g. "Exam" or "Break". Keep it short. | |
| duration | Yes | How long the timer runs. Accepts "25m", "1h30m", "90s", "5:00", "1:30:00", or a plain number read as minutes ("45"). A setup link or OBS overlay holds up to 99h59m59s. With start_now or embed_on_website, longer countdowns of up to 366 days are fine: "10d", "10 days", "10d 6h" or "240h". | |
| overtime | No | True keeps the countdown running past zero as "+0:42" so everyone sees how far over it is (talks, breaks that run long). Works for shared links, setup links and overlays. | |
| start_now | No | False (default) returns a setup link the user starts themselves — correct for a timer that should begin later, and for anything being written down in advance. True returns a link for a countdown already running from now, fixed to one instant so every viewer is in sync; only use it when the timer should start immediately. | |
| embed_style | No | Board style for embed_on_website: "board" (default, dark split-flap), "minimal" (plain digits) or "light". Ignored otherwise. | |
| embed_width | No | Pixel width of the embedded iframe when embed_on_website is true. 160–1600, default 400. Ignored otherwise. | |
| embed_height | No | Pixel height of the embedded iframe when embed_on_website is true. 80–900, default 160. Ignored otherwise. | |
| overlay_color | No | Optional digit colour for the OBS overlay as hex, e.g. "ff3df5" or "#5ef2ff". Applies to outline, neon, glass and minimal. Ignored otherwise. | |
| overlay_start | No | When an OBS overlay (for_obs_overlay) starts counting. load (default): when the scene loads. stream: waits at full time until the stream goes live in OBS. scene: restarts from the full duration every time its scene becomes active — good for a Be right back scene. Ignored otherwise. | |
| overlay_style | No | Look of the OBS overlay when for_obs_overlay is true. board (default) is the split-flap board; outline is white digits with a dark edge that stays readable over gameplay; neon glows; glass sits the digits on a smoked rounded panel; minimal is plain digits; light is dark-on-light. Ignored otherwise. | |
| for_obs_overlay | No | True returns a URL to paste into OBS (or any streaming tool) as a Browser Source: a transparent background with just the digits, which starts counting as soon as the scene loads. Use it when someone wants a countdown on their stream. Do not give an overlay URL to several people to open — it starts fresh for whoever loads it; for that, call this again without the flag and share that link instead. Mutually exclusive with embed_on_website. | |
| embed_on_website | No | True returns ready-to-paste <iframe> HTML for embedding a countdown on someone's OWN website or landing page — e.g. a launch-day countdown on a marketing page. Unlike for_obs_overlay, this is a fixed instant every visitor to that page sees identically (not a per-visitor restart), and free with no watermark option — the only requirement is a small attribution line under the widget linking back to CountLink, which the returned HTML already includes. Use this whenever someone asks for a countdown to put ON their own site/page, as opposed to a link to share with other people directly. Mutually exclusive with for_obs_overlay. |