1. Add Guard to your server
Guard is free. To add it you need the Manage Server permission on the Discord server you want to protect.
Add Glitchworks Guard to your server
- Press the button and choose your server from the list.
- Discord shows the permissions Guard asks for. Leave them all ticked so every feature works.
- Press Authorise. Guard joins your server straight away.
2. Move its role near the top
Discord only lets a bot manage roles and members that sit below its own role. If Guard's role is near the bottom, it can't give people the Verified role, time out or ban raiders, or undo permission changes.
- Open Server Settings > Roles.
- Drag the Glitchworks Guard role up, above your member, Verified and staff roles. Just under your owner or admin roles is ideal.
- Save the changes.
Guard can never act on the server owner, whatever its role position. That's a Discord rule.
3. Run /setup
Type /setup in any channel and press Enter. A short wizard walks you through each step below.
Every step has a recommended button that sets everything up for you, so if you're not sure, pick that and move on. Nothing is final: you can change any step later with /settings.
The setup steps, explained
What each step means, and what we suggest.
Staff role
What it means: The role your moderators have. People with it can see tickets and logs and use the moderation commands. Admins always can.
Our advice: Pick your existing moderator role, or press the recommended button to create one. Only give it to people you trust.
Roles and channels
What it means: A starter set of roles and channels for your type of server. It only adds what's missing and never deletes, renames or moves anything.
Our advice: Use it if your server is new. Skip it if you're happy with your current layout.
Logs channel
What it means: A private channel only staff can see. It records joins and leaves, deleted and edited messages, moderation actions, honeypot catches and ticket transcripts.
Our advice: Turn it on. It's the easiest way to see what happened and when.
Protection
What it means: Guard's automatic defences. Pick Relaxed (the lightest touch), Balanced or Strict (the tightest), then switch single options on or off. Each option is explained below.
Our advice: Balanced suits most servers.
Verification
What it means: A #verify channel with a button that gives people the Verified role. You can also lock the server, so anyone who hasn't verified only sees #verify.
Our advice: Turn it on. Lock the server too if you've had trouble with bots or raids.
Honeypot
What it means: A #do-not-post channel. Real members leave it alone, so anything that posts there is almost certainly a spam bot, and it gets caught.
Our advice: Turn it on. It costs nothing and catches spam bots early.
Tickets
What it means: A #support channel where members open private tickets. When a ticket closes, its transcript is saved as a PDF.
Our advice: Start with a preset. You can add more ticket types later.
Welcome messages Optional
What it means: A message that greets people when they join.
Our advice: Turn it on if you'd like new members to feel welcome.
Safeguarding Optional
What it means: Rules-based checks that privately alert your senior team about worrying messages. It's not AI and it never punishes anyone. You choose which checks are on, which senior roles get the alerts (the owner always does), and two switches: Remove details deletes personal details, a child's age and doxxing straight away (staff still get the alert), and Check staff checks staff messages too. How safeguarding works.
Our advice: Pick a small group of trusted senior roles and turn on the checks that fit your community.
Partnership Optional
What it means: Get your server listed in the Glitchworks Discord.
Our advice: Say yes if you'd like more people to find your server. Every Guard server gets 5% off our store, and partners get 10%.
Protection options
After picking a protection level, you can switch any of these on or off.
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Anti-nuke | Stops mass deletes, bans and kicks. |
| Permission guard | Undoes admin permissions given by untrusted people. |
| Bot guard | Removes bots added by untrusted people. |
| Anti-raid | Locks the server during join floods. |
| Scam and phishing links | Deletes the message and bans the sender. |
| Spam filter | Catches message spam. |
| Mass-mention filter | Catches messages that mention 6 or more people. |
| No links from brand-new members | Brand-new members can't post links. |
| Block other servers' invites | Removes invite links to other Discord servers. |
| Guard network ban list | Keeps out scammers and nukers already caught in other Guard servers. |
Changing things later
Use /settings at any time to change any step: add a ticket type, change your protection level, pick different safeguarding roles, and so on. You don't need to run the whole setup again.
Testing safeguarding
Staff aren't checked by default, so if you test from your own staff account, nothing happens. That's expected. To test, either:
- turn on Check staff in
/settings(and turn it off again when you're done), or - post from a non-staff account, such as a spare test account.
Use harmless, made-up test messages, never anyone's real details.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| The bot can't manage roles, give the Verified role, time out or ban | Its role is too low. Open Server Settings > Roles and drag the Guard role above the roles and members it needs to manage. See how. |
| Slash commands like /setup are missing | Wait a minute, then restart Discord (Ctrl+R on desktop). If they still don't show, add the bot again with the button at the top of this guide. |
| Safeguarding test alerts don't arrive | Staff aren't checked unless Check staff is on. Turn it on, or test from a non-staff account. More on testing. |
| New members can't see any channels | The server is locked for unverified members. They need to press the button in #verify. You can change this with /settings. |
Still stuck?
Open a ticket on our Discord and tell us what you've tried. Screenshots of any errors help us sort it faster.
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