diff --git a/client/include/app.h b/client/include/app.h
index 8e34ede6..965874e9 100644
--- a/client/include/app.h
+++ b/client/include/app.h
@@ -102,6 +102,12 @@ int app_renderOverlay(struct Rect * rects, int maxRects);
 
 void app_freeOverlays(void);
 
+/**
+ * invalidate the window to update the overlay, if renderTwice is set the imgui
+ * render code will run twice so that auto sized windows are calculated correctly
+ */
+void app_invalidateOverlay(bool renderTwice);
+
 struct OverlayGraph;
 typedef struct OverlayGraph * GraphHandle;
 
diff --git a/client/src/app.c b/client/src/app.c
index 69753c64..84e8f768 100644
--- a/client/src/app.c
+++ b/client/src/app.c
@@ -622,9 +622,6 @@ void app_alert(LG_MsgAlert type, const char * fmt, ...)
   va_start(args, fmt);
   overlayAlert_show(type, fmt, args);
   va_end(args);
-
-  g_state.renderImGuiTwice = true;
-  app_invalidateWindow(false);
 }
 
 KeybindHandle app_registerKeybind(int sc, KeybindFn callback, void * opaque, const char * description)
@@ -915,3 +912,10 @@ void app_overlayConfigRegisterTab(const char * title,
 {
   overlayConfig_registerTab(title, callback, udata);
 }
+
+void app_invalidateOverlay(bool renderTwice)
+{
+  if (renderTwice)
+    g_state.renderImGuiTwice = true;
+  app_invalidateWindow(false);
+}
diff --git a/client/src/overlay/alert.c b/client/src/overlay/alert.c
index 8d327dc2..6a640a5e 100644
--- a/client/src/overlay/alert.c
+++ b/client/src/overlay/alert.c
@@ -130,5 +130,6 @@ void overlayAlert_show(LG_MsgAlert type, const char * fmt, va_list args)
   l_alert.timeout = ALERT_TIMEOUT;
   l_alert.type    = type;
   l_alert.show    = true;
-  l_alert.redraw  = true;
+
+  app_invalidateOverlay(true);
 }