Run a support desk
Set up private tickets with categories, staff roles and transcripts, a help forum with status buttons, FAQ auto replies and staff applications.
On this page
- 1. Create a staff role
- 2. Set up tickets
- Add categories
- Post the ticket panel
- Transcripts
- 3. Add a help forum
- 4. Answer FAQs automatically
- 5. Hire staff with applications
- Troubleshooting
- Members get "I was not able to create your ticket"
- /setup says Buddy is missing a permission
- Staff can't see tickets
- The forum status buttons don't appear
- An auto response doesn't fire
- Applicants say the bot couldn't DM them
- The role or channel I want isn't listed
- Related
A good support setup answers easy questions automatically, keeps private issues private and makes it obvious which requests still need help. In this recipe you'll combine four Buddy features:
- Tickets for private one-on-one help, sorted into categories, with transcripts.
- A help forum with status buttons for public questions.
- Auto responses for the questions people ask every day.
- Applications to hire the staff who'll run it all.
Allow 30–45 minutes. You can set up just the parts you need.
1. Create a staff role#
If you don't have one yet, create a Support Team role in Server Settings → Roles and give it to
your helpers. You'll use it for tickets, the help forum and application reviews.
2. Set up tickets#
It's under Tickets & applications in the sidebar.
In Ticket settings, set Ticket log channel to a staff-only channel like #ticket-logs.
Buddy logs every ticket that's opened, closed and deleted there.
Switch on Ping a staff role when a ticket is opened and pick your Support Team as the
Default role to ping.
Click Save ticket settings.
In Staff roles on every ticket, pick Support Team and click Add. Members with this role can
see and reply in every ticket.
Add categories#
Categories let members say what their ticket is about, and each one can have its own first reply and its own role to ping.
In Ticket settings, switch on Ask members to pick a category and save.
In Ticket categories, fill in Name, a Short description (up to 50 characters), an optional Automatic first reply and an optional Notify role. Click Add category.
Add one for each kind of request. Use the arrows in the Order column to sort them.
Example categories:
| Name | Short description | Automatic first reply |
|---|---|---|
General help | Questions about the server | Thanks {user}! Tell us what you need and a helper will be with you soon. |
Report a member | Rule breaks, harassment | Please include the username, what happened and any screenshots. |
Billing | Store and payment issues | Please include your order ID so we can find your purchase. |
Free servers can have up to 5 ticket categories. Premium plans raise the limit. See Premium.
Post the ticket panel#
For example #open-a-ticket.
Type /setup and pick Create Ticket Embed with Button.
In Ticket Embed Text, write a short note like "Need help? Click below and our team will reply in a private channel." Submit it.
Buddy posts the panel with a 🎫 Create Ticket button. Members can also run /ticket anywhere.
🎫 Create Ticket
When a member opens a ticket, Buddy creates a private channel named like 🎫-sam under a TICKETS
category, adds your staff roles and posts 🔒 Close and 🔒 Close with Reason buttons. Each
member can have one open ticket at a time.
Transcripts#
When a ticket is closed or deleted, Buddy saves a transcript. Find them on the Ticket system page with the Transcripts button. Staff can also click 📝 Transcript after closing a ticket. Transcripts are kept for 90 days.
Add an AI summary to ticket logs adds a short summary of the reason and conversation to the closed-ticket log. It sends the ticket's messages to OpenAI, so it's off by default. See the Privacy Policy.
3. Add a help forum#
For questions that others can learn from, a forum works better than tickets.
For example #help.
It's under Tickets & applications. Click Add forum, pick your forum and click Add forum.
Click the edit button next to your forum.
In Forum and support, set Support mode to Support Mode Enabled and add Support Team to
Support roles.
In Message in new threads, write Content like "Thanks {user}! A helper will be with you soon. Please share screenshots if you can." Support mode's buttons are attached to this message, so don't leave it empty.
Click Save forum.
Now every new post is renamed [New] ..., gets a 🟠 reaction and Buddy's message with In Progress,
On Hold and Resolved buttons. Staff click them to rename the thread ([In Progress] ...) and
change the reaction (🔵 🟡 🟢), so anyone can see the status at a glance.
Staff can see every thread's status with /support_status, filtered by status, or the most active ones
with /support_latest.
Under Thread notifications, pick a New threads channel so your team gets a heads-up in a staff channel whenever someone posts.
4. Answer FAQs automatically#
It's under Automation & alerts.
In Add an auto response, type a Trigger and a Response. Optionally limit it with Only respond in or Never respond in.
Repeat for your common questions.
Buddy replies when a message is exactly the trigger (capital letters don't matter). !rules triggers
on "!rules" but not on "where are the !rules?". Short command-style triggers work best.
Good FAQ triggers:
| Trigger | Response |
|---|---|
!ip | Our server IP is play.example.com (Java and Bedrock). |
!ticket | Need private help? Click 🎫 Create Ticket in {channel:123456789012345678}. |
!apply | Want to join the team? Run /apply and pick an application. |
Replace the example channel ID with your own. Free servers can have 5 auto responses; Premium raises the limit.
5. Hire staff with applications#
It's under Tickets & applications. Type a title like Support Team application in
New application and click Create.
Click the edit button. In Application details, set a Command (a short name, no spaces), a Description and the Review channel where answers are posted. Set the review channel before anyone applies.
In Messages in DMs, set a Start message and End message.
In Questions, type each question and click Add. You can add up to 20.
In Reviewer roles, add the roles that can approve or deny. In Roles given when approved,
add the Support Team role.
Click Save application.
Members run /apply, choose the application and answer the questions in their DMs (5 minutes per
question). Their answers appear in the review channel within about a minute, with Approve,
Deny, Approve with Reason, Deny with Reason and Create Ticket with Applicant buttons.
Approving gives the roles automatically and DMs the applicant.
Want a public "Apply here" panel instead? Run /setup in your applications channel, open
Tickets & applications and click Post application menu here (or pick
Create Application Embed with Dropdown in the feature option).
Troubleshooting#
Members get "I was not able to create your ticket"#
Buddy needs Manage Channels in the server to create ticket channels.
/setup says Buddy is missing a permission#
/setup doesn't need Buddy to have Administrator. To open its panel (and post the ticket button or
application menu), Buddy needs View Channel, Send Messages and Embed Links in the channel
you're in. Give Buddy those there, then run /setup again. The panel's
health check lists anything else missing,
such as Manage Channels for tickets, with a Fix Buddy's permissions button.
Staff can't see tickets#
Add their role in Staff roles on every ticket. Only roles added there (plus the ping roles) are added to new ticket channels.
The forum status buttons don't appear#
Click Save forum with Support mode enabled. The buttons are attached to the message Buddy posts in each new thread (a short default line if Content is empty). Buddy also needs Manage Threads and Send Messages in Threads in the forum.
An auto response doesn't fire#
The message must match the trigger exactly. Also check Only respond in and Never respond in, and that Buddy can send messages there. Each trigger can only fire once every 10 seconds per channel.
Applicants say the bot couldn't DM them#
They need to allow DMs from server members: right-click your server, open Privacy Settings and turn on Direct Messages.
The role or channel I want isn't listed#
Run /setup in Discord and pick Update Channels and Roles for Website, then reload the dashboard.