Discord auto role: give new members a role automatically on join

Every new member on Discord starts with nothing but @everyone. If you want newcomers to carry a starter role like "Member" or "New" right away, the role has to be assigned automatically. Discord itself has no simple switch for this, so a bot usually takes care of it: it sees the join and hands out the configured roles without anyone on the team having to click.

Sounds simple, but there are a few pitfalls. An auto role can undermine your verification, fail because of the role hierarchy or give bots the same permissions as humans. In this guide you set up automatic role assignment step by step, with Discord's own settings and with Lizbot, and decide when the role should come right away and when only later.

What an auto role is good for

Depending on the server, an automatically assigned role does different jobs:

• Access: The role unlocks the channels that @everyone can't see. This is the most common use, but also the trickiest one if you have verification.
• Labelling: A role like "New" shows the team who has only just joined, without any extra permissions.
• Order in the member list: Roles displayed separately group newcomers or bots in the list.
• Separating bots: Bots get their own role like "Bots", so you control their permissions and visibility in one place.

Before you start, think about which of these jobs your auto role has. That decides whether it should be given right on join, after Discord's rules screening or only after verification.

Right away, after rules screening or after verification?

Rule of thumb: if the role grants access to channels and your server is public, it belongs behind verification. Label roles without permissions can come right away.

1. Create the role and check the hierarchy

Create the starter role in the server settings under Roles with "Create Role". Give it only the permissions it really needs. For a pure label, a role with no extra permissions at all is enough. For an access role, it's best to control visibility through channel and category overwrites, not through server-wide permissions. How that works in detail is explained in the guide Set up Discord roles.

Now the most important point: a bot can only assign roles that sit below its own highest role. Drag the Lizbot role in the role list above every role Lizbot should assign automatically. Lizbot also needs the Manage Roles permission. If it's missing, the Server check in the dashboard reports it as an error for the Welcome module. Why bots fail on hierarchy and permissions is explained in the guide on missing bot permissions.

2. Turn on autoroles in Lizbot

In Lizbot, automatic role assignment is part of the Welcome module and is included in the Free plan without restrictions. Here's how to set it up:

1. Open the dashboard, pick your server and go to the Welcome module.
2. Open the Autoroles tab and turn on the Enabled switch in the Autoroles section.
3. Under Roles for members, pick the starter role or several roles.
4. Under Roles for bots, pick the role that newly added bots should get. This field can also stay empty.
5. Decide on the Only assign after Discord membership screening switch (more on that in step 3).
6. Save.

On every join, Lizbot automatically tells whether a human or a bot has arrived. Humans only get the member roles, bots only the bot roles. That way a new bot doesn't end up in the "Member" role by accident, and your team doesn't have to sort bots by hand. Coming from ProBot? The guide ProBot alternative helps you move your autorole, welcome image and levels.

Test it with an alt account or ask someone to rejoin quickly. If the role is missing afterwards, it's almost always the hierarchy from step 1.

3. Assign only after Discord's rules screening

On community servers, Discord can require new members to accept the server rules before they can talk, react or send direct messages to other members. Discord calls this Rules Screening, formerly Membership Screening; in the Lizbot dashboard it's called membership screening. The feature requires an activated community server. You find it in the server settings under Safety Setup, in the DM and Spam Protection settings. There you set up to 16 rules and turn on that newcomers have to confirm them. The current instructions are in Discord's Rules Screening FAQ.

Until they confirm, the member counts as "pending". If Only assign after Discord membership screening is turned on in Lizbot (this is the default), Lizbot waits for exactly that: the autoroles only come once the member has accepted the rules. Without active rules screening on Discord, the switch has no effect and the roles come right away.

Important: this switch only refers to Discord's own rules screening. It has nothing to do with Lizbot verification or the Lizbot Rules acceptance module. For verification, see step 4.

4. Give the access role through verification

If you use verification, the role that unlocks channels shouldn't come as an autorole on join. Otherwise every newcomer gets access immediately, and verification is just decoration. Lizbot points this out in the dashboard: if verification is on, autoroles for members are set and the Only assign after Discord membership screening switch is off, a warning appears that newcomers skip verification this way. The only exception is the role until verification. So no warning doesn't automatically mean your setup is safe: rules screening doesn't stop anyone who simply clicks accept.

This is what a clean split looks like:

1. On the Welcome page, open the Verification tab and turn verification on.
2. Pick the Method: Button in Discord (one click), Web page with captcha or Code by email. All three are included in the Free plan.
3. Under Role after verification, set your access role, for example "Member".
4. Optional: under Role until verification, set a role like "Unverified". Lizbot gives it on join and removes it again after verification.
5. Optional: set a Minimum account age in days to reject brand new accounts.
6. Save and post the verification message in your start channel with Post message with button in.

The autoroles then hold at most roles without any access effect, such as a "New" label, or you leave the member roles empty and only use autoroles for bots. More details on the methods are in the guide Set up Discord verification and on the Verification page.

5. Give roles back when members rejoin

When someone leaves the server, Discord takes away all their roles. If the person rejoins, they start from zero. They get the autoroles again as usual, because for Lizbot it's a new join. Roles a member has earned, however, would be lost.

For level roles, Lizbot solves this in the Leveling module: in the Rewards tab, under Role rewards, you find the Give rewards back when members rejoin switch, which is on by default. Anyone who comes back automatically gets the level roles that match their saved XP. Lizbot follows the same safety rules as with autoroles:

• If Discord's rules screening is running, the rewards only come after the rules are accepted.
• If Lizbot verification is on, they only come after verifying. That way nobody can get around verification through an old level role.

On the Free plan up to 10 role rewards count, from Pro on as many as you like. If there are more rewards than the plan allows, Lizbot gives back the lowest tiers. How to stagger level roles sensibly is explained in the guide on the level system.

Other roles, such as team or event roles assigned by hand, are not restored automatically on rejoin. Roles from a role menu with reaction roles members simply pick up again themselves.

6. Blocked roles: what Lizbot never assigns automatically

An autorole hits everyone who joins, including raid accounts, which you keep out with proper raid protection. That's why Lizbot doesn't give members roles with team permissions such as Administrator, Manage Server, Manage Roles, Manage Channels, Manage Webhooks, Ban Members, Kick Members, Timeout Members, Manage Messages, Manage Nicknames or Mention @everyone, @here, and All Roles. Only permissions the role grants on top of @everyone count. Roles managed by an integration and @everyone itself are blocked as well. If you pick such a role, the dashboard names the affected roles when you save. Take the permissions away from the role or pick a different one.

Bot roles are different: only people who already have the Manage Server permission can add bots. Here Lizbot only checks whether the role is below the Lizbot role. Still, give the bot role only the permissions all bots need. Special permissions are better given to a bot through its own role that Discord creates for it.

Discord's Onboarding as an addition

Community servers can also use Discord's Onboarding. There, newcomers answer questions when they join and get roles based on their answers, for example for games or languages. This doesn't replace an autorole, but complements it well: the autorole or the verification role handles access, Onboarding hands out the interest roles. Anyone who wants to switch later uses a role menu, as described in the guide Set up Discord roles.

With Lizbot you can also have a message posted on the Welcome page in the On role grant tab (section Welcome on role grant) as soon as someone newly gets a specific role, such as a language role. This works with roles from role menus just as well as with the role after verification. How to design the greeting itself is explained in the guide on the welcome message. How to build these messages for new mods, boosters or VIPs is covered in the guide Message on role assignment.

Three typical setups

Small server for friends: autorole "Member" for humans, "Bots" for bots, right on join. No verification needed, because the invite link isn't public.

Public community: Discord's rules screening on, Lizbot verification by button or captcha with Role after verification "Member". Autoroles only for bots or for a "New" label without permissions. Giving level rewards back on rejoin turned on.

School, club or company server: verification by Code by email with an allowed domain, access role through verification, autorole for bots. That way only people with a matching address get in.

Checklist

• Starter role created, with only the permissions it needs
• Lizbot role sits above every role that is assigned automatically
• Lizbot has the Manage Roles permission
• Autoroles turned on in the Autoroles tab, member and bot roles kept separate
• With verification: access role set as role after verification, not as an autorole
• Rules screening switch matches your Discord settings
• Give rewards back when members rejoin checked
• Tested with an alt account

Common mistakes

• Lizbot role too low: Lizbot silently skips roles above the Lizbot role. Drag the Lizbot role up.
• Access role as an autorole despite verification: Then newcomers are in as soon as they join. Grant access through the role after verification.
• Rules screening expected, but not active on Discord: The Lizbot switch only waits if Discord really lists newcomers as pending.
• Team permissions on the starter role: Lizbot doesn't automatically give members roles with permissions like Manage Messages. That's intentional.
• Permissions on both @everyone and the starter role: Decide whether @everyone or the starter role sees the channels, otherwise the role doesn't work as a barrier.