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.
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". | |
| 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. | |
| 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. |