Discord welcome bots
A welcome bot notices when someone joins, says hello where people will see it and gets the new member set up with the right role.
How a welcome bot works
Discord can post its own join message in the system channel, but you cannot change the wording much and it cannot hand out roles. A welcome bot listens for the member join event and does what you tell it: post a message that mentions the new member and points them to #rules, give them a starting role, and send a DM with a short guide.
Seeing joins at all requires the Server Members intent, which is off by default in the Developer Portal. Forget it and the bot comes online, looks healthy and never greets anyone. Two other details trip people up. The auto role has to sit below the bot's own role, or Discord rejects the assignment. And many members block DMs from server members, so a good welcome bot treats the DM as optional and never depends on it.
Leave messages work the same way, from the member remove event. If your server uses Membership Screening, have the bot wait until the member accepts the rules, or the role lands before they have agreed to anything. You describe the messages and roles, and the bot is built and hosted for you on Discord Bot Creator.
What it usually does
- Posts a welcome message that mentions the new member in a channel you choose
- Gives every new member a starting role
- Sends a short DM with your rules and the channels worth knowing
- Posts a leave message when someone goes
- Waits for Membership Screening before giving roles
- Uses your own wording, with the member name and member count filled in
Permissions and intents it needs
Give a bot only what it uses. These are the permissions a typical welcome bot asks for in its invite link, and why.
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
| View Channels | Sees the welcome and goodbye channels. |
| Send Messages | Posts the welcome and leave messages. |
| Embed Links | Sends the greeting as an embed with the member's avatar. |
| Manage Roles | Gives new members their starting role. The role must sit below the bot's own. |
Privileged intents
Server Members Intent
Discord only sends join and leave events to bots with this intent. Without it the welcome bot never fires.
Turn on Server Members Intent in Developer Portal → your app → Bot → Privileged Gateway Intents. Message Content is not needed. Past 100 servers, Discord has to approve the intent as part of verification.
Welcome bots built here
Real bots made by describing them, running in Discord servers now.
No welcome bots are listed yet. Bots appear here once they have been online for three days and joined a server. Yours could be the first.
Describe yours like this
Name the channels, roles and commands you want. The more specific the description, the less you need to change afterwards.
When someone joins, post "Welcome {user}, you're member #{count}!" in #welcome and tell them to read #rules. Give them the @Newcomer role and DM them a short list of our main channels. Post a goodbye message in #welcome when someone leaves.
Questions about welcome bots
Why is my welcome bot not sending messages?
Check the Server Members intent first. Without it Discord never tells the bot that someone joined, so nothing happens and no error appears. Turn it on in the Developer Portal under Bot → Privileged Gateway Intents and restart the bot. If joins arrive but nothing posts, the bot is missing View Channels or Send Messages in the welcome channel.
How do I give new members a role automatically?
Give the bot Manage Roles and tell it which role to assign on join. Then open Server Settings → Roles and drag the bot's role above the role it hands out, because Discord blocks bots from assigning roles at or above their own. If you use Membership Screening, assign the role after the member accepts the rules.
Can a welcome bot DM new members?
Yes, though not every DM gets through. Members can turn off DMs from server members, and then Discord refuses the message. A well-built welcome bot catches that error and carries on, so keep anything important in the public welcome message or a pinned #start-here channel rather than only in the DM.
Can the welcome message show the member count?
Yes. The bot reads the server's member count when the join event fires and puts it in the message, as in "you are member #1,204". That count includes bots. Leaving them out means counting the member list, which the bot can do because it already has the Server Members intent.
Other kinds of Discord bots
Describe the welcome bot your server needs
Write it in a sentence or two. You see the plan before anything is built, and your first bot runs free for 7 days.