Docs

#Getting started

Protostar is set up from your browser or with slash commands in Discord. Getting going takes about a minute.

1. Add Protostar to your server. Use the Add to Discord button on the homepage. You need the Manage Server permission.
2. Move its role up. In Server Settings, Roles, drag the Protostar role above every role you want it to hand out or moderate. Discord won't let a bot manage roles above its own.
3. Open the dashboard and log in with Discord. Every server you manage appears there.
4. Switch on what you want. Everything starts on sensible defaults.

#The dashboard

The dashboard has a page for each feature. Change anything, and a bar appears at the bottom with Save changes and Discard. Nothing changes in your server until you save.

• Every option has a ? next to it. Hover, tap or tab to it for a plain-words explanation.
• The dots in the sidebar show which features are switched on.
• Use the server menu at the top to switch between your servers.
• Tick Keep me signed in when logging in to stay signed in on that device for 30 days. Log out to forget the device.

#Moderation

Every warning, timeout, kick and ban becomes a numbered case, so your team has a record. Set a mod log channel and each case is posted there too.

• Members are messaged privately when they're moderated, with the reason. Turn this off with /modsettings dm.
• Moderators can't act on someone whose highest role is the same as or above their own, and Protostar can't act on anyone above its own role.
• /ban also works on people who aren't in the server, so troublemakers can be banned before they join.
• /purge checks up to 100 recent messages and can filter by member, text or bots.

#Automod

Automod removes unwanted messages and gives the sender a strike. Reach the strike limit within 10 minutes and the member is timed out. It starts switched off: turn it on in the dashboard or with /automod enable.

By default, 3 strikes within 10 minutes means a 10 minute timeout. Set strikes to 0 to never time anyone out.

Blocked words

• Words match whole words only, in any capitals: blocking spam doesn't catch spammer.
• End a word with * to catch longer words that start with it: spam* catches spammer and spamming.
• Simple disguises are caught too (0 as o, 1 as i, 3 as e, 4 as a, 5 as s, 7 as t, @ as a, $ as s, ! as i).
• Add several at once by separating them with commas.

Allowed websites and exceptions

Allowed websites include their subdomains, so youtube.com covers www.youtube.com. Starting list: youtube.com, youtu.be, twitch.tv, kick.com, tenor.com, giphy.com. Members who can manage messages are never filtered, and you can exempt any role or channel.

#Logs

Logs post what happens in your server to one channel. Pick a private channel only your team can see.

Messages from ignored channels are never logged.

#Leveling

Members earn 15 to 25 XP for a message, at most once every 60 seconds, so sending lots of messages quickly doesn't help. Both are adjustable.

Each level needs a little more XP than the last. The XP to go from level L to the next is 5 × L² + 50 × L + 100.

• Rewards give roles at the levels you choose. Members either keep every reward role, or only their highest one.
• Level-up messages can go in the channel they were chatting in, a specific channel, a private message, or nowhere.
• No-XP channels and roles never earn XP.
• /rank shows a rank card in your server's color, and /leaderboard shows the top members.

#Welcome and auto-roles

Greet new members in a channel, say goodbye when someone leaves, and message newcomers privately. Messages use placeholders like {user} and {server}.

• Auto-roles are given to everyone who joins. Bots can get their own separate roles.
• Roles above Protostar's own role can't be given out.
• /welcome test posts the welcome message as if you just joined.

#Role buttons

Role buttons let members pick their own roles with one click. Clicking again removes the role. Buttons keep working after the bot restarts.

1. Run /rolepanel create in the channel where the panel should go.
2. Right-click the panel and choose Copy Message Link.
3. Run /rolepanel add with that link and a role. Add a label, emoji or color if you like.

A panel holds up to 25 buttons. Make as many panels as you need.

#Connections and live alerts

Protostar posts in your server the moment someone goes live, with the stream's title, game, viewers and thumbnail, and an optional ping. When the stream ends, the post updates to say how long it ran.

Connections

In the dashboard's Connections page, link the accounts your server follows. Twitch, Kick and TikTok connect by signing in, which proves the account belongs to the person connecting it and marks it Verified. Signing in with TikTok also turns on alerts for your new TikTok videos. Other platforms are added by name, and Protostar finds their picture for you.

Supported platforms

Alerts

• Choose who to ping: nobody, a role, @everyone or @here.
• Write your own message with alert placeholders, or leave it empty for the standard one.
• Send test posts a clearly marked test alert with the real ping, so you can check it works without going live.
• A short connection drop doesn't end the stream, and restarting within 10 minutes doesn't ping everyone again.

#Social posts

Protostar can also post when an account shares something new: a new YouTube or TikTok video, a Bluesky or Mastodon post, or a new item in any RSS or Atom feed. That covers blogs, Substack newsletters, podcasts, Tumblr and most news sites.

• Set them up on the dashboard's Social posts page, or with /social add.
• When you add an account, Protostar only notes what's already there, so your channel isn't flooded with old posts. Only posts made after that are announced.
• Reposts, boosts and replies are skipped: only the account's own posts are announced.
• YouTube alerts post the video's link, so Discord shows its own player. Live streams are left to live alerts, and premieres are announced when they start.
• Send test posts the account's latest post, clearly marked as a test, with the real ping.

TikTok videos

TikTok only lets apps see a creator's videos after the creator agrees, so the creator sets this up themselves:

1. On the dashboard's Connections page, choose Connect with TikTok and sign in. TikTok asks to let Protostar see your profile and public videos.
2. Choose Video alerts next to your account, or add a TikTok alert on the Social posts page.

• Protostar can only read your public videos. It can't post, comment or change anything on your account.
• New videos are announced within about 10 minutes.
• If a connection shows Sign in again, TikTok stopped the access (for example, it was removed in the TikTok app). Connect again to restart its alerts.
• Removing the connection deletes Protostar's sign-in and cancels its access on TikTok.

#Placeholders

Placeholders are words in curly brackets that Protostar swaps for real details when it posts. Anything it doesn't recognise is left exactly as you typed it.

Welcome, goodbye and private welcome messages

Level-up messages

Everything above, plus:

Live alerts

The standard alert message is {name} is live on {platform}! {url}.

Social posts

The standard messages are {name} just posted a new video! {url} for YouTube, {name} posted on Bluesky: {url} for Bluesky, {name} posted on Mastodon: {url} for Mastodon, {name} posted a new TikTok! {url} for TikTok, New from {name}: {url} for RSS feed.

#Durations and other formats

Durations

Used by /timeout and /slowmode. Combine units with no spaces.

• A plain number means minutes for /timeout and seconds for /slowmode.
• Timeouts can last up to 28 days. Slowmode goes up to 6 hours, and 0 turns it off.

Colors

Colors use hex codes, like #7C9CFF. The dashboard has a color picker.

#All commands

Every command, grouped by feature. Settings commands need Manage Server, and moderation commands need the matching moderation permission.

Moderation

Automod

Logs

Leveling

Welcome

Role buttons

Live alerts

Social posts

Info and settings

#Permissions Protostar needs

The Add to Discord button asks for exactly the permissions Protostar uses, and never Administrator, so the bot can only ever do what its features need. Here's what each one is for:

#Troubleshooting

Protostar's commands don't show up.

Press Ctrl+R in Discord to refresh. Commands you don't have permission for are hidden from you.

It says a role is above its own.

In Server Settings, Roles, drag the Protostar role above the role it's trying to give.

A message didn't post.

Check Protostar can see the channel and has Send Messages and Embed Links there.

A live alert didn't post.

Check the account name, and that the platform isn't marked as not set up. Alerts post within a minute or two of going live, sometimes a little longer on YouTube. Use Send test to check the channel and ping.

A social post wasn't announced.

Posts are announced within a few minutes. Reposts, replies and posts that aren't public are skipped, and so are posts older than 2 days. If a feed can't be read, check its address opens in your browser and starts with https://.

A ping didn't notify anyone.

Protostar needs the Mention @everyone, @here and All Roles permission, or the role must be set to allow anyone to mention it.

How do I give Protostar its blue name?

Discord doesn't let bots change the color of their own role, so this one's up to you: in Server Settings, Roles, choose the Protostar role, then Color, and enter #9AD1FF. If your server gives Protostar a role above its own, it colors its role by itself.

There's an old role called "Protostar color".

Older versions made that role for the name color. Protostar now removes it by itself, unless someone changed it, in which case you can delete it: it has no permissions.

My server isn't on the dashboard.

You need Manage Server in that server, and Protostar must be in it. Choose Refresh your server list on the servers page.

#Privacy

Protostar keeps only what it needs to work:

• Your server's settings, as you set them in the dashboard or with commands.
• XP and message counts for leveling. Counts only: message text isn't stored.
• Moderation cases, with the reasons your moderators give.
• Connected streaming accounts: their public names and pictures. For TikTok, also the sign-in that lets Protostar see the creator's public videos, stored encrypted.
• Followed social accounts and feeds, and which of their public posts were already announced.

Messages are read to apply automod rules and award XP, then forgotten. Deleted and edited message logs go to your own log channel in Discord. Signing in to the dashboard never shares your email address, and Protostar stores no IP addresses. A server's data is deleted 30 days after Protostar is removed from it, and adding it back within that time keeps everything as it was.

The full details are in the Privacy Policy, and the rules for using Protostar are in the Terms of Service.

Cookies

The website only sets cookies when you sign in to the dashboard: one keeps you signed in while you use it, and, if you tick Keep me signed in, another remembers your device for 30 days. Logging out removes them. There are no advertising or tracking cookies.