Frequently asked questions

Getting started

What is Banwatch? Banwatch is a ban-management and early-warning tool for Discord communities. It lets you look up a user's ban history across the network, warns you when a flagged user joins your server, and notifies you when someone already in your server is banned elsewhere. It currently tracks 45,000+ unique bans across 450+ contributing servers.

Will Banwatch automatically ban my members? No. Banwatch will never automatically ban users. It informs you so you can make your own decision. (The one exception is the opt-in premium bot-trap feature, which you deliberately set up to ban anyone who clicks a trap button or receives a trap role.)

How do I add Banwatch to my server? Use the invite link: https://discord.com/oauth2/authorize?client_id=1047697525349564436. Approve the permissions, then run /config change to set your mod channel. See Permissions for the full setup checklist.

How do I set it up after inviting it? Run /config change, choose Mod Channel, and pick the channel where you want Banwatch to post. On first setup Banwatch imports your existing bans, so expect a burst of messages in that channel. After that it works in the background.

Permissions & troubleshooting

The bot isn't posting / doesn't seem to work. What do I check first? Run /config permissioncheck. It shows a ✅/❌ list of every permission Banwatch needs and whether it can talk in your mod channel. Fix any ❌ (in role settings and in channel overrides), then try again. Do this before contacting support.

Why does Banwatch need Ban Members permission? It's the core of the tool. Without it Banwatch cannot read your server's ban list or apply bans you request, so it effectively can't function.

Who in my server can configure the bot? Anyone with Manage Server can run the /config commands. Moderation commands like /tools ban require the matching Discord permission (e.g. Ban Members). See Permissions.

Bans, lookups & evidence

How do I look up a user? Use /lookup with a user or a ban ID to see their ban history. /checkall scans every current member of your server against the global ban database.

Someone joined and Banwatch warned me — what does that mean? That user has a ban on record somewhere in the network. Banwatch shows you the reason and any evidence so you can decide whether to act. It does not ban them for you.

What is evidence and how do I add it? Serious ban reasons can be backed by evidence (text or attachments). Add it with /evidence add, view it with /evidence get, and manage it with /evidence manage. Banwatch staff may request evidence for serious allegations to keep the network accurate.

What is a "verified" ban? A ban that Banwatch staff have reviewed and confirmed. Verification helps other servers trust the accuracy of a ban record.

Can I hide my server's bans from public lookups? Yes. Run /config visibility and set it to hidden. Note your bans may still appear in the checkall cache for up to 10 minutes until it refreshes.

Appeals

Can banned users appeal? If you enable it. Run /config appeals to allow or disallow appeals for your server. When enabled, users can submit an appeal that your staff can approve or deny.

Warnings

Does Banwatch do warnings too? Yes. Use /warnings warn to warn a member, /warnings manage to review a user's warnings, and /warnings punishments to set automatic actions (timeout, kick, or ban) once a member reaches a warning threshold.

Premium

What do I get with premium? Premium adds features such as removing deleted accounts (/premium remove_deleted), bot-trap buttons and roles, receiving all network bans, cross-banning across servers you own, and preset ban reasons. See the Premium commands.

Privacy & data

What data does Banwatch store? Ban records (user, reason, originating server), evidence you submit, and your server's configuration. See the Public privacy policy for details.

How do I contact support? Run /support for a link to the support server and documentation, or /config help for in-app guidance.

How can I support the project? Banwatch is free. If you'd like to help fund it, run /donate or use the donation link.