Options

Options

Everything on the Options page, with its default. Config keys are given so a setting can be found in config.json.

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OSC output

The connection to VRChat. This is the only part that must be right for anything to appear in the game.

Setting	Key	Default	What it does
Send to VRChat	send_to_vrchat	off	Master switch. Off means nothing is sent at all
Target IP	osc_ip	127.0.0.1	Where VRChat is listening
Target port	osc_port	9000	VRChat's OSC input port
Send interval	interval_sec	5 sec	How often the assembled message goes out
Instant send	osc_instant_send	on	Push a changed message immediately instead of waiting for the next tick
Slim chatbox	slim_chatbox	on	Narrow bar instead of the big box

Instant send always stays inside VRChat's rate limit; a message that would be too soon is postponed, not dropped.

Slim chatbox appends an invisible control suffix that makes VRChat render the narrow bar. The suffix always stays at the end — if the text is too long, the text is trimmed rather than the suffix dropped, otherwise the big box would suddenly come back.

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OSCQuery

Setting	Key	Default	What it does
Native OSCQuery	oscquery_enabled	on	Advertise the app over mDNS so VRChat finds it automatically

With OSCQuery on, VRChat negotiates the ports itself and the fixed port numbers above stop mattering. Requires zeroconf; the toggle is disabled when it is missing.

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OSC input

Receiving, rather than sending. Needed by the Avatar parameter and External OSC blocks in Advanced Mode.

Setting	Key	Default	What it does
Receive avatar parameters	osc_input_enabled	off	Bind a port and listen
Port	osc_input_port	9001	VRChat's default output port
External OSC target IP	osc_ext_ip	127.0.0.1	Default target for the External OSC out block
External OSC target port	osc_ext_port	9002	same

Off by default because it binds a UDP port, and 9001 is contested territory — other OSC tools want it too. A port that is already taken is explained in the status line rather than crashed on.

The external target is kept separate from the VRChat target on purpose: pointing one somewhere else must not be able to break the chatbox.

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Keyboard

Setting	Key	Default	What it does
Watch the keyboard	hotkey_input_enabled	off	Lets the Get Hotkey block react to a combination pressed anywhere

It watches which keys are down and never swallows them or records what you type — but it is still the keyboard, so it stays off until switched on.

• Windows: a low-level hook, nothing to install.
• Linux: reads /dev/input through python-evdev, which usually means your user has to be in the input group:

sudo usermod -aG input $USER
# log out and back in

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Appearance

Setting	Key	Default	What it does
Theme	theme	default	One of eight presets
Colour overrides	theme_colors	(none)	Per-theme, per-token colour
Background image	theme_background	(none)	A file from config/backgrounds/
Card opacity	theme_opacity	0.82	How transparent cards are over a background

Themes: default, carbon, nebula, embers, grass, ocean, rose, mono.

Ten colour tokens can be overridden individually per theme: bg, panel, card, inner, border, accent, accent_hi, text, dim, danger. An override that is not a valid #rrggbb value is ignored rather than breaking the whole stylesheet.

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Diagnostics

Setting	Key	Default	What it does
Debug	debug	off	Verbose console output, including plugin logs

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Settings that live elsewhere

Not everything is on the Options page. For completeness:

Apps page

Setting	Key	Default
Personal Status active	status_active	on
Status texts / count / cycle	status_texts, status_count, status_cycle_sec	20 slots, 1, 10 sec
Status template	status_template_active	1
MediaPlay active	media_active	off
MediaPlay poll interval	media_poll_sec	1 sec
Hardware active	hw_active	off
Hardware poll interval	hw_poll_sec	2 sec
FPS via MangoHud	hw_fps, hw_mangohud_dir	off
Custom Box active	box_active	off
All in one active	aio_active	off
All in one mode	aio_mode	normal
Number of strings	aio_count	1
Rotate strings	aio_rotate, aio_rotate_sec	off, 10 sec
App order	app_order	status, media, hardware

Textbox page

Setting	Key	Default
Pause apps after sending	textbox_pause_sec	10 sec
Number of presets	textbox_preset_count	5
Card order	textbox_order	chat, stt, presets
Spoken language	stt_language	de-DE
Target language	stt_output	(none — no translation)
Translation backend	stt_method	Lingva
Microphone	stt_mic	system default
Strict microphone	stt_mic_strict	on
Send as	stt_send_mode	Standard
Position (Line mode)	chat_anchor	above All in one
Keep for	chat_hold_sec	0 (until replaced)
Show original + translation	stt_show_both	off
Say when translating	stt_translate_notice	on
Translation notice text	stt_translate_notice_text	Translate …
Block apps	stt_block	off
... also block plugins	stt_block_plugins	on
... also block the box	stt_block_box	on

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The config file

~/.config/OSC-DreamChatbox/config.json

Plain JSON, safe to read and to edit while the app is closed. A corrupt file is backed up rather than overwritten, so nothing is lost silently.

Unknown keys are kept, so downgrading does not delete settings made in a newer version.