Text commands and the prefix

By default YAWBDB answers to slash commands only. If your members would rather type !rank than /rank, set a prefix and part of the bot becomes reachable from a normal message.

This page is the complete list of what the prefix reaches and what it does not — and, for each exclusion, the reason it cannot be lifted.

⚙️ Setting the prefix

Panel → your server → Features, in the Text commands card at the top of the page.
Where it lives On the server itself, not on a feature — so you can find it whether or not Custom Commands is switched on.
What it accepts 1 to 5 characters, no spaces. ! ? . - $ ; % all work, and so do !!, a short word like yb, or an emoji.
What it refuses / (Discord owns it), @ and # and < (a message starting with those is a mention or a channel link), > (opens a quote block), ` (opens a code block).
Turning it off Clear the field and save. Text commands stop immediately.
Default Empty. Nothing changes on your server until you set one.

Changes reach the bot straight away — there is no wait and no restart.

A word prefix catches more than you think. With a prefix of yb, every message starting with those two letters is inspected. It still stays silent unless the rest names a real command, but a punctuation prefix is the safer habit.

✅ What works with the prefix

Assuming a prefix of !:

Your own custom commands

Typed Same as
!rules /rules
any command you created on the Custom Commands page its slash version

Both simple and graph-mode custom commands work. This is the main reason the prefix exists.

Games

Typed Notes
!hangman Letters are still picked from the drop-down.
!trivia Buttons work exactly as they do from a slash command.
!rps [choice] [opponent] !rps rock, !rps @someone, or both in either order.
!love <member> [other] Second member defaults to you.
!8ball <question> Everything after the command is the question.
!bingo start / !bingo stop

Leveling and stats

Typed Notes
!rank [@user]
!leaderboard [page]
!top
!boosters Answer is deleted after 30 seconds — see below.
!trends <type> messages, members or activity.

Anything else is only ever tried as one of your custom commands. A message starting with the prefix that names nothing gets no answer at all — no error, no noise.

Get an option wrong and the bot replies with the line you should have typed, e.g. Usage: !bingo <start|stop>.

🚫 What the prefix does not reach, and why

Moderation, and /info

/ban, /kick, /mute, /unmute, /warn, /softban, /unban, /history, /reason, /info.

These stay slash-only on purpose. A slash command carries a permission requirement that Discord itself enforces, and a server can tighten it further in Server Settings → Integrations → YAWBDB, per command, per role, per channel. A text message goes through none of that. Exposing !ban would quietly hand everyone a bypass of the restrictions you set in Discord — so it is not exposed.

Use the slash versions; the panel's own moderation pages remain available too.

Anything that opens a pop-up form

/wordle play, /form, /report, /ticket, /suggest.

These cannot work from a message, at all. Discord only lets a bot open a form in response to an interaction — a slash command, a button, a menu. A message is not an interaction, so there is no form to open. This is a Discord limitation, not a YAWBDB setting.

Voice and recording

/voice, /record, /record-storage.

Not exposed: they are either permission-gated or bound to a voice session.

📌 Two differences to expect

Answers are public. A slash command can reply privately, so only you see it. A message reply cannot. Where a command would normally answer privately — !boosters, a custom command you set to ephemeral, a cooldown notice — the bot replies in the channel and deletes its answer after 30 seconds. That keeps the channel clean; it does not make the answer secret.

Command messages earn no XP. A message that runs a command is a command, not chat, so it does not count toward leveling. It is still checked by Automod and the Honeypot, exactly like any other message.

🔗 See also