Discord server template: build roles, channels and permissions in minutes

Setting up a Discord server by hand takes hours: creating categories, sorting channels, building roles, setting permissions for every role in every channel, writing rules, preparing log channels for your team. Mistakes creep in fast, like a staff channel that suddenly everyone can see, or a rules channel anyone can post in.

A server template does that work for you. Lizbot comes with ready-made templates, shows you up front what will be created, and builds everything in one go. By the end of this guide you'll have a server with a clean role hierarchy, sensible permissions and connected modules, and you'll know how to save your own templates, share them and roll back a build.

What's inside a Lizbot template

Lizbot has 12 ready-made templates: Gaming Community, Esports Team, Creator Community, Customer Support (Business), Study Group, Minecraft Server, Roleplay Server, Music Community, Open Source Project, Anime Community, Friends Group and Minimal. Each template includes:

• Roles in a fixed order: for example Founder, Admin, Moderator, Helper, Server Booster, level roles, Member, ping roles and Unverified. Permissions are tiered, and at most the top role has Administrator.
• Categories and channels: an info area with rules, announcements, welcome and roles, plus community, topic and voice areas.
• A staff area only your team can see, with staff chat, mod log, server log, reports and ticket log.
• Starter messages: ready-made rules, an FAQ and an overview of the roles.
• Module links: every channel can have a purpose, such as log channel or welcome channel. Lizbot connects the matching modules to it automatically during the build.

Many templates are designed around verification: new members first see only the info area and get the rest after confirming. More on that in the verification guide.

1. Invite Lizbot and check permissions

Open the dashboard, sign in with Discord and pick your server. If Lizbot isn't there yet, invite it. You need the Manage Server permission on that server.

To create roles and channels, Lizbot needs Manage Roles and Manage Channels. The position of its role matters too: on Discord, a bot can only manage roles below its own highest role. So drag the Lizbot role as far up as possible under Roles in your server settings. The setup assistant checks this before building and shows you which permissions are missing or which roles sit above Lizbot.

2. Start the setup assistant

For a new server, the setup assistant starts on the overview page of the dashboard. First you choose the language Lizbot writes in on Discord (German or English). It applies to the templates too. Then you decide:

• New server: Lizbot builds roles, categories and channels from a template and configures the modules to match.
• Existing server: Lizbot uses your existing channels and roles. You map them, with suggestions already filled in.

For a fresh server, choose New server. If you already have a grown structure, Existing server is usually the better route.

3. Pick and customize a template

In the Template step you see all ready-made templates. Each one comes with a preview of its roles and channels. Existing channels and roles with the same name are reused instead of being created twice. The preview marks each entry as either new or reused.

With Customize template you rename things, remove channels or roles and add your own. These changes only apply to this build, unless you save them as your own template.

4. Clean up and build

In the Clean up step you choose what should go before the build, such as the empty default channels of a freshly created server. Whatever the template replaces is preselected. Lizbot creates a backup before deleting anything. Protected items like the @everyone role, Lizbot's own role or the required channels of a Community server can't be selected.

Then click Build server. Lizbot creates roles, categories, channels, permissions and starter messages and connects the modules.

5. Review your modules

After the build you land in the cockpit. Under Modules you switch on or off what your server needs, such as tickets, leveling, giveaways or role menus. A module's commands only show up on Discord while the module is on. That keeps your members' command list tidy.

Managing templates in the dashboard

Independently of the assistant, you'll find all templates in the dashboard under Tools in the Server templates tab. There's a Gallery with ready-made and custom templates. One click opens the preview. When applying, you choose between two modes:

• Add to existing: existing items stay, missing ones are added. This is the safe default.
• Rebuild: deletes existing channels and roles that aren't in the template. You confirm by typing "REBUILD". Lizbot creates a safety backup first, kept for 30 days under Backups.

Save and share your own templates

Save current server stores your server as a template. Roles, channels, permissions and Lizbot modules are included, but no messages or members. You can edit your own templates, download them as JSON and create a code with Share. Another server then adopts the template via Import code.

How many custom templates you can keep depends on your plan:

Draft a template with AI (Pro and up)

In the Create with AI tab you describe your server in your own words, for example "English-speaking Minecraft server with survival and creative, staff applications and event announcements". You pick a size (small, medium or large) and whether existing channels and roles should be taken into account. You refine the draft in conversation, for example with "Add an area for tournaments", and only adopt it once it fits.

Templates by command: /build

If you'd rather work on Discord, use /build. The command is meant for administrators:

• /build preview shows what a template creates.
• /build apply applies it. Existing channels are kept by default. If you set the option to keep channels to No, Lizbot deletes everything except Discord's system channels after a confirmation.
• /build undo reverts the last build. Lizbot deletes the roles and channels that build created and resets changed settings, as long as nobody has changed them since. This works for builds from the last 7 days.

Checklist

• the Lizbot role sits high up in your server settings
• Lizbot has Manage Roles and Manage Channels
• preview checked: what's new, what's reused
• "Add to existing" chosen, unless you deliberately want to rebuild
• rules and FAQ adapted to your community
• only the modules you need are on
• a backup created after the build

Common mistakes

• Lizbot role too low: the bot can't create or assign roles above its own. Move its role up before you build.
• Rebuilding without need: on an active server, "Add to existing" is almost always right. A rebuild loses the messages in deleted channels.
• Switching everything on at once: start with the modules you actually need. You can add more any time.
• Not reading the starter messages: the rules are a suggestion. Adapt them before your first members arrive.
• Waiting too long to undo: /build undo only works for 7 days. Review the build right afterwards.