Join roles
Give every new member up to five roles the moment they join, such as Member or a ping role, and learn how role order decides what Buddy can assign.
On this page
Join roles are handed out automatically to everyone who joins your server. Use them to give newcomers a Member role that unlocks your channels, a ping role for announcements, or a role that marks them as new. Buddy can give up to five roles at once, and it's free.
Before you start#
Discord only lets a bot give roles that sit below its own highest role. If you create a new role, it lands at the bottom of the list, which is fine. If you move a role above Buddy's role, Buddy can no longer assign it. Roles managed by an integration (a bot's own role, the Server Booster role) can't be given by anyone.
How to move Buddy's role up
- Open Server Settings → Roles in Discord.
- Drag the Discord Buddy role above the roles you want it to hand out.
- Save. You don't need to change anything on the dashboard.
Set it up#
It's under Welcome & onboarding in the sidebar.
Scroll to Roles for new members.
Choose a role in New Members Role 1. Add more in New Members Role 2 to 5 if you need them. Leave a slot on Disabled - Select Role to Enable if you don't.
Click Save welcome settings. The next member who joins gets the roles.
Save welcome settings saves the whole top form: your Welcome channel, Rules channel and the five role slots together. Check the channels are still right before you save.
Settings explained#
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| New Members Role 1 – 5 | A role given to every member who joins. Each slot is optional. Picking the same role twice gives it once. | Disabled |
How it behaves:
- Roles are given as soon as someone joins, right after the welcome message and welcome image.
- Bots that join don't get join roles.
- Members who were already in the server before you set this up don't get the roles. Hand those out by hand, or use button roles so people can grab them.
- If one role can't be given (deleted, or above Buddy), the others are still given.
Join roles go to every single person who joins, including raiders and spam accounts. Never pick a role with Administrator, Manage Server, Manage Roles, Ban Members or similar permissions.
Examples#
A "Member" role for everyone#
The simplest setup. Create a Member role, set it as New Members Role 1, and use it in
your channel permissions. Because everyone has it, you can later lock a channel for everyone by
denying Member instead of editing @everyone.
| Slot | Role |
|---|---|
| New Members Role 1 | @Member |
Member plus a default ping role#
Give everyone @Member and an @Announcements ping role, then let people remove the ping role themselves with a button role ("Click to toggle announcement pings").
| Slot | Role |
|---|---|
| New Members Role 1 | @Member |
| New Members Role 2 | @Announcements |
Marking new members as "Unverified"#
Some servers give an @Unverified role on join so staff can spot newcomers, and keep most channels hidden from it. Keep in mind Buddy's role buttons and menus toggle the role they point at: they can give a @Verified role, but they won't remove @Unverified for you. For a click-to-enter setup, the verification gate guide walks you through hiding channels until a member clicks a button.
Troubleshooting#
When a join role can't be given, the reason shows in the Bot errors list on your dashboard's main Dashboard page, under New Member Roles.
New members don't get the role#
- Missing Permissions: Manage Roles: give Buddy's role the Manage Roles permission.
- Role above the bot: the role is at or above Buddy's highest role, or managed by an integration. Move Buddy's role above it in Server Settings → Roles.
- Role not found: the role was deleted. Pick another role and save.
- Make sure you clicked Save welcome settings after choosing the role.
- Bots never get join roles. Test with a real account.
The role I want isn't in the list#
The list shows the roles Buddy last synced from Discord. Run /setup in Discord, choose Update
Channels and Roles for Website, then reload the page.
Some members got the role and others didn't#
Join roles are only given when someone joins after you saved. Anyone who joined earlier, or while Buddy couldn't assign the role, needs it added by hand.