This article will explain how to invite a Discord bot to your Discord server, as well as some things to keep in mind before inviting a bot.
Things to consider before inviting a Discord bot to server
Prioritize using applications in the official App Directory
Discord officially launched the App Directory feature in late October 2022, which is like the App Store or Google Play for Discord bot versions.
Users don’t even need to leave Discord and open a web browser. They can simply search for the bot they want to use in the App Directory, then click “Add to server.” After the authorization process, they can invite the bot to their server.
It is recommended to avoid using bots from unknown sources
Not all bots are listed in the App Directory, so sometimes users need to look for bots on third-party websites.
Since each Discord bot has different functionalities, the permission requirements it requests from a server may also vary. Many bots require “administrator” permission to perform certain functions. Therefore, it is best to avoid using bots from unknown sources as much as possible to prevent malicious individuals from using bots as a means of invading a server, causing community members to suffer losses.
Especially in NFT Discord servers, extra caution is needed when using bots. There have been multiple instances in the past where hackers breached bots and used them to post messages with malicious links, causing community members to inadvertently click on phishing websites.
To avoid such situations, you can check the ratings and usage status of each bot in advance.
Steps to invite a bot to join a server
The invitation steps for each Discord bot are roughly the same. The following is an example of inviting the Mee6 bot:
Step 1: Find the bot’s official website / invitation link
First, find the bot’s official website or invitation link. It is recommended to read the introduction content of the bot carefully before inviting the bot to the server, to see if the design of the function meets your needs and if it is a reliable bot.
MEE6 Homepage
Step 2: Inviting the bot
The next step is to click the option on the website to add the bot to your server or click the bot invitation link. You will need to log in to your Discord account, and then the system will ask which server you want to add the bot to. Your Discord account must have “Administrator” permission for that server to select it.
Select the server you want to invite the bot to
Step 3: Grant the bot appropriate permissions
Each bot will have different permission requirements based on its functions. This step is very important, and if you do not trust the bot you are about to invite, do not grant it administrator permission.
For example, the MEE6 bot has many functions, so it requires almost all server permissions. After granting permissions, you can invite the bot to your server. You can also adjust the bot’s individual permissions through the server’s role settings.
A long list of server authorization requests
Step 4: Confirm if the invitation was successful
After completing the above steps, you can go to the member list on the right side of the server and check whether the bot you just invited has successfully joined the server.
MEE6 Online
Create a “bot-specific” role
After the bot joins the server, it is considered a member of the Discord community.
For easy management of the Discord server in the future, it is recommended to create a “bot-specific” role. The name can be chosen freely as long as it identifies its purpose.
The purpose of this group is that many bots require the highest priority of a role in order to perform certain functions properly. Therefore, placing a “bot-only role” above all other roles ensures that all bots have the highest priority (as shown in box 2 of the figure below), and all newly added bots should be manually assigned the “bot-only” role.
Create a “bot-specific” role
Each bot requests the minimum necessary permissions before joining a server, so there is no need to enable any special permission settings in the “bot-only” role, and avoid adjusting the bot’s original permissions arbitrarily, as this may cause the bot to lack the necessary permissions to perform certain functions.
Also, if you don’t want the member list on the right side of the server to be filled with bot names at the top, you can go to the role settings and turn off the “Display role members separately from online members” option (as shown below). This way, the names of these bots with the highest priority role will not appear at the top of the community member list.
turn off the “Display role members separately from online members” option
Unable to invite a bot to a specific server?
Possibility 1: Discord account does not have administrator permission
Discord account must have either of the two permissions shown below in the server to invite a bot.
Permission to invite bots to join the server
Possibility 2: Discord account has not been verified via email
If the message “You need to verify your e-mail address in order to add this bot to a server” appears when inviting a bot, it means that the Discord account has not been verified via email. Go to “User Settings” and verify the email again.
Bot is not functioning properly on the server?
Possibility 1: Bot’s role permission priority is insufficient
You can refer to this article to learn how to create a “bot-specific” role and add it to your bots as the highest priority role.
Possibility 2: Bot does not have necessary permissions to function
This may be caused by mistakenly adjusting the bot’s permissions. There are two ways to solve this problem:
- Kick the bot out of the server and re-invite it: The downside of this method is that all the settings for the bot in the server will need to be readjusted, and it may cause inconvenience if the bot has other functions running.
- Open a new server, invite the same bot, and check its default required server permissions: Compare the bot’s default required permissions with the server’s current permissions and grant the bot the missing permissions.
