The API learns to tell who's live
Every user in an API response now says whether they are streaming. If they are, you get the platform, a link, a thumbnail, and the end time, with no extra request.
Also leadingThe biggest story by anyone else. Held off 2 challengers since.
You hit the log from your API client and the first commit author comes back with a live object attached. You didn't fetch that profile separately. There's a Twitch link, a thumbnail you can render right away, and the minute the stream ends.
Credit goes to jubianchi, who taught every user the API sends to carry a live object. While a stream runs, it holds four things. They are the platform (youtube or twitch), a clean watch or channel link, a thumbnail, and an end time. When nothing is running it is null, and it flips to null the moment that end time passes, even before the cleanup job clears the database. It comes back signed or not, just as the web shows streams to guests. The details already sit on the user row, so a page of 30 followers costs no extra query.
There's one catch. A stream counts as live for 12 hours at most, the longest the web form allows. Broadcast longer and the badge goes null until you set the stream again in your settings. The API only reports. Going live or ending a stream is still a website job.