Docs
Getting started
Setting up Staffd takes a few minutes and one decision: its name. You add it to your server, it reads the place and shows you what it learned, and picking a name hires it and starts the job.
1. Add it to your server
Click Add to Server on staffd.gg, choose your server on Discord's authorization screen, and approve. Discord only lets people with the Manage Server permission add apps, so this is usually the owner or an admin. No Staffd account is needed; signing in on the website is separate and only for the dashboard.
Leave the permissions ticked. Six are needed to set up, and if any are missing it messages you with a one-click fix. See Permissions.
2. Find its private channel
Straight away it creates one private channel, called #staffd for now. This is where it talks with you and brings anything that needs a human's call.
- You (the server owner) and anyone with the Administrator permission see it automatically.
- Nobody else does until you add them in the channel's own settings (Edit Channel, then Permissions).
- Anyone who can see the channel can talk to it and use the buttons on its cards, so add people you trust.
- It doesn't read or change your server's roles to set this up.
3. Meet your intern
It greets you there as an intern. Its nickname reads [Intern] Staffd while it learns, and its profile picture is a grey lanyard badge with one stripe filled in. Then it does its day-one reading:
- your rules channel (named like
#rulesor#guidelines) - a rulebook linked from that channel, if it's a Google Doc or a GitBook
- pinned messages, and a general look around your server to get a feel for the place
It can only read channels its role can open. It doesn't watch or moderate anything yet, though you can already talk to it in the private channel.
4. Check the First impressions card
A moment later it posts a card titled First impressions:
- The vibe I'm getting: a short read of your community's tone.
- Rules I found: the rules it pulled out, with your own labels kept (like "2.4" or "NLR"). On a long rulebook it lists some and says how many more it read.
- Where I read your rules: the link it read, when your rulebook lives on Google Docs or GitBook.
If it found no rules, the card says so plainly and shows a small placeholder baseline, marked as not your rules. If it can see your rules channel but can't open it, the card says which permissions to fix.
Something off? Before you hire, drop a link to your rulebook in the private channel, or fix your rules channel and tell it to re-read. You get a fresh card each time. See Your rules.
5. Pick a name. That's the hire.
Under the card is a menu labeled "Pick my name to hire me". Choose a suggested name, or choose "Type my own" and enter any name up to 32 characters. There's no separate approve step. The moment you pick:
- It takes that name, and the
[Intern]tag drops from its nickname. - Its badge switches to the full Staffd badge, unless you've given it your own picture with
/avatar. - Its private channel is renamed to match: hire it as Deputy and the channel becomes
#deputy. - It posts a short first message about your server, in its own words.
- It offers to welcome new members for you, with Yes, turn it on and Not now buttons. See Welcoming new members.
To change its name later, use /rename. The private channel keeps its current name, so rename the channel in Discord if you want them to match.
What happens next
- It watches every channel it can see, except its own private channel. When a message crosses a line, it posts a flag card for your team. It never acts on its own. See How moderation works.
- Talk to it any time in the private channel, no @ needed. Members can @mention it anywhere with questions. See Talking to your employee.
- For the first couple of weeks it posts a short daily report of what it watched. See Reports and check-ins.
The trial clock
Your 14-day free trial starts when you hire it, not when you install it, so setup doesn't use any of it. No card is needed. The clock starts the first time you hire it on a server; hiring it again later doesn't restart it.
On day 14 it posts a performance review in the private channel: real numbers from its time on the job, the plan your server's activity fits, and a button to hire it full-time. See The trial, hiring and billing and pricing.
If setup stalls
- No private channel appeared: it's missing a setup permission. Check your DMs for a message from it. See Permissions.
- It greeted you but no card came: it posts a note saying it hit a snag, usually because it can't read some channels. Give its role View Channel and Read Message History there and tell it to re-read, or drop your rulebook link in the channel.
- Anything else: see Troubleshooting.