6 automation tips for managing your Discord server

Discord started as a chat app for gamers, and while gaming is still a strong part of the app’s DNA, it’s grown beyond that. Discord servers are popular with people organizing volunteer efforts, talking about hobbies, and collaborating for work. 

Discord servers are invite-only spaces—similar to workspaces in other team chat apps. However, Discord sets itself apart with features such as voice chat, permission-based roles, and endless customization options that make it well-suited for building and managing an online community.

Discord moderators and admins often rely on third-party bots to automate tasks and run commands for you. Bots can handle things like answering frequently asked questions, adding moderation actions such as temporary bans, creating a ticketing system, and more. While these bots are incredibly useful, there’s a learning curve to setting them up. 

If you want to find ways to keep your Discord server running smoothly and integrate it with other apps—sending information to and from Discord—without spending time learning how to manage bots, Zapier can help. We’re a no-code automation tool that helps you send information from one app to another.

Whether you use Discord to engage with your followers, moderate a community, or work with teammates at your actual job, we’ve collected a few Zaps—what we call the automated workflows you create with Zapier—to help you manage and grow your server.

Automatically assign roles

One way Discord differs from other team chat apps is how it uses roles. Rather than a traditional community role structure—admins manage the server, moderators manage the conversations, and members can only post—Discord’s roles are infinitely customizable. And many admins and moderators use bots to allow members to self-select these roles.

You can create standardized roles in Discord, such as administrators, moderators, or verified users. You can also create roles that serve cosmetic or informational purposes, like in this screenshot below, where I’ve set up roles that would let someone choose if they want to be identified as a Zaperoni, Zorp, or Zapien (it’s a hotly-contested topic at Zapier—I’m team Zaperoni). 

For example, I co-moderate a crafting Discord community. (Welcome to my secret life.) Other than our two standard roles distinguishing mods and verified users, we also allow members to self-assign other roles. Some roles allow members to display which crafts they like to do—so instead of my Zapier-specific example above, you might have seen a role like “knitter,” “sewist,” or “macrame.” If you’re using Discord for work, you might set roles for different teams, and see things like “marketing,” “sales,” “human resources,” and “product.”

Other roles in my crafting server allow people to opt in to receiving automatic invites to join events like a group voice chat hangout or a craftalong. Going back to the work example, this could be used to get automatic alerts to all-company meetings or for important deadlines.

While most folks will use a bot to handle role-setting, you can also use Zapier to automatically assign member roles. 

If your server has a separate verification process for new members, you can also use Zapier to connect a form or spreadsheet app to Discord. 

Keep members informed about new content

Discord is popular with Twitch streamers and other content creators who want to build a deeper relationship with their followers. If you want to keep your community updated on what you’re producing, you can use these Zaps to notify a Discord channel. 

Not publishing content?  You can also use Zapier to send information into Discord about transactions, new bugs, or even updates to your Spotify playlists.

Automatically greet new server members

By default, you can set your server to automatically announce when a new member joins your Discord server. But if you run a pretty large community, you’ll likely want to direct new members to important places such as announcement channels or places where they can review community rules. 

First, make sure you have a welcome channel set up specifically for new members. Then, use a Zap to automatically greet new members with a custom message. 

Auto-respond to frequently asked questions

Tired of answering the same question in chat constantly? You can create your own auto-responder bot in Discord using Zapier.

You can use a filter—available on our paid plans—to trigger an automated response when someone uses a specific phrase. 

Automate Discord messages on a schedule

Perhaps you run a weekly thread on a specific topic in your Discord, or you’re the responsible moderator who reminds the team to prune the members list once a month. Instead of sending those messages manually, you can use a Zap to automatically send those messages on a specific schedule. 

Don’t want to send the same message each time? You can use a search step on a spreadsheet or Formatter’s Pick from list function so you can randomize the language.

You can also set up reminder messages with a Zap that connects to your calendar app. With this, you can push out reminders for upcoming events. 

Set up an automatic suggestion box

The best online communities are the ones where members are invested and take an active role in making it great. While moderators help keep things running smoothly, they can’t be everywhere. 

In the crafting Discord I run, the members have a lot of great suggestions for the server. But since we have members from all over the world (and we like to sleep), it was hard to keep track. 

Eventually, I set up a Typeform for members to make suggestions. At the end of each month, the mods receive a digest of the submissions for us to review. This helped streamline the process and made it more manageable for our team to make decisions. 

You can recreate this yourself with one of the Zaps below: 

If you’d like to receive a digest of form submissions, you can add a digest step—available on our paid plans—and choose when and how you’d like your digest delivered.

Manage your Discord community with automation

Moderating your Discord server doesn’t have to be a full-time job. With automation, you can streamline moderation tasks so you can spend more time participating in the fun.  

These workflows are just the start of all that you can do with Discord and Zapier. Zapier supports thousands of apps, so you automate almost any task. Start building your Zap now and see what you can create.