Feature permissions
Each YAWBDB feature needs specific Discord permissions to work. This page lists what the bot requires, feature by feature.
⚠️ Important: the YAWBDB invite link does not pre-grant any permission. After adding the bot, you must give its role the permissions below (or grant Administrator if you prefer a simple setup). See Bot permissions for troubleshooting.
🔑 Baseline (all features)
These are required for the bot to function at all:
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
| View Channels | Read the channels it operates in |
| Send Messages | Reply, post logs, confirmations |
| Embed Links | Most bot responses use embeds |
| Attach Files | Exports, recordings, transcripts |
| Read Message History | Context for moderation and AI features |
🗝️ Per-feature permissions
| Feature | Additional permissions |
|---|---|
| Moderation | Ban Members, Kick Members, Moderate Members (timeout) |
| Automod | Manage Messages (delete filtered messages), Moderate Members |
| Anti-Raid | Ban Members, Kick Members, Moderate Members |
| Anti-Nuke | View Audit Log (required — identifies who performed each action), plus Manage Roles / Kick Members / Ban Members depending on the chosen response. Bot role must outrank the admins it protects against |
| Honeypot | Manage Messages (delete trap messages), plus Ban Members / Kick Members / Moderate Members depending on the action. Manage Messages (pin) for the optional warning embed |
| Server Logs | Baseline only (View Audit Log recommended for richer actor data) |
| Reaction Roles | Manage Roles, Add Reactions |
| Giveaways | Baseline only (posts an embed, reads member roles, optionally DMs winners) |
| Suggestions | Baseline only — plus Create Public Threads if you enable discussion threads |
| Starboard | Baseline only (reads reactions, reposts & updates its own messages) |
| Scheduled Messages | Baseline only (posts in the target channel at the scheduled time) |
| Social Alerts | Baseline only (posts the announcement embed). To ping a role, either make the role mentionable or grant Mention @everyone, @here, and All Roles |
| Embed Builder | Baseline only (posts the composed embed in the chosen channel) |
| Birthdays | Baseline only to announce; Manage Roles if you use a birthday role, with the bot's role above it. To ping a role, either make the role mentionable or grant Mention @everyone, @here, and All Roles |
| Games | Baseline only (posts the game embeds and their buttons in the channel where the command was used) |
| Form Builder | Baseline only (posts the submission recap in the answers channel). To ping a role, either make the role mentionable or grant Mention @everyone, @here, and All Roles |
| Join Verification | Manage Roles (assign verified role); Kick Members if auto-kick is enabled |
| Discord Reports | Create Public/Private Threads, Send Messages in Threads, Manage Threads |
| Discord Tickets | Manage Channels or threads permissions (ticket channels), Manage Threads |
| Leveling | Manage Roles (role rewards) |
| Auto Join Role | Manage Roles |
| Audio Recording / AudioToText | Connect, Speak (voice channels) |
| Rules Channel | Manage Messages (keep the rules channel clean) |
| Auto Responder / AI Response / Random Bot Interactions | Baseline only |
| Voting | Baseline only |
🪜 Role hierarchy matters
Discord only lets the bot act on members and roles below its own highest role:
- The bot cannot ban, kick, timeout or warn a member whose highest role is above the bot's role.
- The bot cannot assign a reward role that sits above its own role in the role list.
If a moderation action or role reward silently fails, drag the YAWBDB role higher in Server Settings → Roles.
✅ Quick checklist
- Open Server Settings → Roles and select the YAWBDB role.
- Grant the permissions for the features you enabled (table above).
- Move the role above any role the bot must manage.
- Check per-channel permission overrides — a channel-level deny beats a role-level allow.