How countdown links work
A countdown link is https://count.live/? followed by parameters separated by &, for example https://count.live/?date=2026-12-31T23:59:59-05:00&title=New%20Year. Nothing is stored on our servers: change the link and you change the countdown.
While you edit a countdown, the builder keeps your work after the # in its own address (count.live/#date=…), so refreshing the page doesn’t lose it. The link to share is always the one in the Share panel.
URL parameters
| Parameter | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
date | Target date and time (ISO 8601). Without an offset it’s read as UTC; the builder always adds one. | 2026-12-31T23:59:59-05:00 |
tz | IANA time zone the countdown belongs to. Used for repeating countdowns and calendar math, and shown with showtz=1. | America/Los_Angeles |
title | Event title (max 50 characters) | New Year |
subtitle | Subtitle text, can span several lines (max 200 characters) | The countdown begins |
end | Message shown when the countdown ends (max 100 characters) | Happy New Year! |
bg | Background color: hex without #, or transparent | 1a1a2e |
fg | Text color, hex without # | ffffff |
theme | Color preset (see below) | neon |
font | sans, serif, mono or display | mono |
bgimg | Background image, an HTTPS URL (URL-encoded) | https://… |
units | Comma-separated time units (see below) | d,h,m,s |
recur | Repeat: daily, weekly, monthly or yearly | weekly |
sound | Sound at zero: chime or bell | chime |
celebrate | Animation at zero: confetti or fireworks | confetti |
notify | Browser notification at zero (1 to enable) | 1 |
showtz | Show the time zone under the countdown (1) | 1 |
progress | Progress bar (1, needs start) | 1 |
percent | Percentage complete (1, needs start) | 1 |
start | Start date for progress, ISO 8601 | 2026-01-01T00:00:00 |
redirect | Page to open after the countdown ends (HTTPS) | https://example.com/launch |
redirectDelay | Seconds to wait before redirecting (needs redirect) | 5 |
attribution | 0 hides the “Made with count.live” link | 0 |
embed | Minimal embed view without buttons (1) | 1 |
Theme presets
Use theme= with one of: dark, light, neon, pastel, ocean, sunset, forest. Custom bg and fg colors are ignored when a theme is set.
Time units
| Unit | Accepted names |
|---|---|
| Years | y, yr, yrs, years |
| Months | mo, mon, months |
| Weeks | w, wk, wks, weeks |
| Days | d, day, days |
| Hours | h, hr, hrs, hours |
| Minutes | m, min, mins, minutes |
| Seconds | s, sec, secs, seconds |
| Milliseconds | ms, milliseconds |
How units add up: the largest unit you choose shows its total, and each smaller unit shows what’s left after the larger ones. With only weeks and minutes, a 15-day countdown reads “2 weeks, 1440 minutes”, not “2 weeks, 30 minutes”.
When it reaches zero: the countdown ends at the exact target time. Hidden smaller units round up to the nearest unit you show, so with only minutes a countdown to 12:30:45 shows “1 minute” until 12:30:45, then the end message.
Precise time calculations
Years and months use real calendar dates, accounting for leap years and months of different lengths: from January 15 to March 15 is exactly 2 months, whether February has 28 or 29 days. Weeks, days, hours and smaller units are calculated from the time left after whole years and months.
Dates and time zones
Supported date formats:
2026-12-31T23:59:59-05:00: date, time and UTC offset (what the builder writes)2026-12-31T23:59:59: date and time2026-12-31T23:59: without seconds2026-12-31: date only, at midnight
Dates without an offset are read as UTC. A countdown always runs to one exact moment, so everyone who opens the link sees the same time remaining, wherever they are. To count down to a time in another city, pick that city’s time zone in the builder.
Repeating countdowns
With recur, a countdown restarts by itself: when it reaches zero it plays its celebration, works out the next occurrence in its time zone, and keeps counting. That makes it ideal for weekly meetings, a daily stream, birthdays and anniversaries. If a redirect is set, the redirect happens instead, except when the countdown is embedded.
Progress bar and percentage
Add progress=1 and/or percent=1 together with a start date to show how much of the time between start and date has passed.
Redirect when it ends
Set redirect to an HTTPS address to send visitors there when the countdown ends, for example to a product page at launch. redirectDelay waits a number of seconds first. Redirects are turned off when the countdown is embedded in another site.
Clickable links in text
Full URLs (starting with http:// or https://) in the title, subtitle and end message become clickable links automatically.
Embedding
Countdowns can be embedded anywhere that accepts iframes or rich embeds. Step-by-step guides: Canva, Notion, OBS and streaming, and websites (WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Webflow, HTML).
embed=1hides the buttons on the countdown page for a clean look; the builder’s embed code includes it.- All visual options (colors, theme, font, background image, units) work in embeds.
- Embeds are responsive: the countdown scales to whatever size you give it.
bg=transparentgives a see-through background, for example for an OBS overlay.
Feedback
Found a bug or missing an option? Email dev@count.live.