Getting started

The bot works the moment it joins. Nothing below is required, but this is the order most servers set things up in.

#Open the dashboard

Go to dashboard.tides.cx and sign in with Discord. You will see every server you can manage.

You get in if you have Administrator or Manage Server in that server. A server owner can also let specific roles in without giving them either. See Who can use the dashboard.

#Set the basics

General settings holds the few things the rest of the bot reads.

Setting	What it does
Bot prefix	What `t!` commands start with. Per server, so you can pick something that does not clash with another bot
Error log channel	Where the bot reports its own failures, so a broken setting is visible instead of silent
Manager roles	Roles that get the whole dashboard without Administrator
Scoped roles	Roles that get only the pages you tick

#Point the logs somewhere

Logging is the fastest thing to switch on and the one people miss most. Pick a channel per category, covering joins and leaves, message edits and deletes, moderation actions, voice and roles. Or send the lot to one channel.

Moderation actions log whether or not you set this up, because they create a case either way. Logging just puts them somewhere people can read.

#Decide what moderation looks like

Under Moderation you set the things that apply to every punishment:

Immune roles, per action. Staff can be immune to bans but still muteable
Whether the user gets a DM, and what it says
Predefined reasons, so t!ban @user raid expands to the full wording
Warn thresholds, so three warns becomes a mute

Every one of those is a message you can rewrite. See Messages.

Set the appeal site up before you need it. A ban DM with an appeal link in it stops most "I was banned unfairly" DMs to staff before they start.

#Turn on what you actually use

Everything else is a module you can leave off. Tickets, giveaways, leveling, welcome messages, join roles, reaction roles, social notifications, the dupe list. None of them do anything until you configure them, and none of them clutter the command list of a server that does not use them.

#Check it works

Run /help in your server. The menu lists what is available in that server. A command you disabled or a module you left off will not be in it. If something is missing that you expect to see, that is where to look first.