Minecraft Discord server setup: channels, roles and how to connect it to the game

Plan the Discord server before you build it

An empty Discord with forty channels looks abandoned. A small one with channels that are actually used looks alive. Before you create anything, decide what the Discord is for, and build only what supports that.

• Announcements: the one place players check for updates, restarts and new seasons.
• Support: where players get help, report bugs and appeal bans without cluttering general chat.
• Community: chat, screenshots and suggestions, so players stay in touch between sessions.
• Events: sign ups, reminders and results, which bring players back on a set day.
• Staff: a private space for moderators to discuss reports and applications.

A Minecraft Discord channel layout to copy

This layout uses five categories. Channels inside a category share its permissions, so you set who can see and post once per category instead of once per channel.

Roles and permissions

Roles decide what people can do, and the order of roles matters: a role can only manage roles below it. Put staff roles at the top, bot roles just under the owner and admins, and member roles at the bottom.

• Never give Administrator to anyone but the owner. It skips every channel permission you set.
• Take Mention @everyone, @here and All Roles away from members, or one message can ping the whole server.
• Give staff the same role in Discord as in game, so players always know who they are talking to.
• Remove roles on the same day someone leaves the staff team.

The guide to staff roles explains what each staff role does and how many you need, which maps directly onto these Discord roles.

Welcome new members and keep spam out

The first minute in your Discord decides whether a new player stays. The same settings that make that minute clear also stop most spam accounts, so set them up before you share the invite.

• Turn on Community in the server settings. It adds a rules screen new members accept, announcement channels and onboarding.
• Use onboarding questions such as Java or Bedrock and which events interest you, and give roles based on the answers.
• Set the verification level to at least Medium, so accounts need a verified email and must be older than five minutes.
• Turn on AutoMod to block spam links, mass mentions and words you choose.
• Put a slowmode of a few seconds on general and on the channel that is linked to the game.
• Keep the welcome channel short: the server address, a link to the rules and where to ask for help.

Write announcements people read

An announcement channel only works while players trust that everything in it matters. Post less often than you think you should, and make each post easy to scan.

• Start with one line that says what happened, such as the new season starts on Saturday.
• Follow with what changes for players, as a short list.
• Give a time with a timezone, or a Discord timestamp that shows in each reader's own time.
• End with what to do next: join, vote, sign up or read the full notes.

For ideas on what to announce, the guide to server events has 25 events and a plan for announcing each one.

Keep the Discord active between updates

Most Discord servers are busy for the first two weeks and quiet after that. The difference with the ones that stay busy is rarely the number of channels. It is a handful of small habits that give members a reason to open Discord on a normal day.

• Pick a screenshot of the week from the screenshots channel and pin it in announcements.
• Run a short poll about the server every week or two, and act on the result where you can.
• Answer every suggestion, even with a short no and a reason, so members see ideas are read.
• Have one staff member say good morning or post a small update on days nothing else happens.
• Share build progress from spawn, a new area or the next season before it goes live.
• Thank players by name when they help others in the help channel.

Connect Discord to your Minecraft server

A Discord that knows what happens in the game feels part of the server instead of a separate chat room. There are three connections worth making.

Server status and alerts

On Astroworld Hosting, the Discord bot for your Minecraft server lets players check the status, who is online and the address with slash commands, and Discord notifications post crashes, backups and console warnings in a channel your admins watch.

How to add your Discord to your server website

Each template in the website builder has a community section on the home page, and the header shows a Discord button as soon as you add your invite. This is how you connect them.

1. 01

   Create an invite that does not expire

   In Discord, create an invite for your welcome channel and set it to never expire, with no limit on uses. A normal invite stops working after a week, and so would every button that points to it.

2. 02

   Open the website editor

   Go to Website in the server panel of Astroworld Hosting or minecrafthosting.cc and open the editor.

3. 03

   Add the Discord link

   Open Site settings and paste the invite under Discord link. The header of your site now shows a Join Discord button. Leave the field empty to hide it.

4. 04

   Fill in the community section

   On the home page, click the community section and write the Heading, the Description and the Button text. Leave Link empty to use the Discord link from Site settings.

5. 05

   Check the FAQ help card

   A FAQ section with the Side by side layout has a Help card. When its Link is empty it also uses your Discord link, so players who did not find an answer can ask on Discord.

6. 06

   Publish the site

   Press Publish. After the automatic content check and a review by our team, usually within a few hours, the Discord button and section are on your live site.