Permissions
Permissions are a way to limit and grant certain abilities to users in Discord. A set of base permissions can be configured at the guild level for different roles. When these roles are attached to users, they grant or revoke specific privileges within the guild. Along with the guild-level permissions, Discord also supports permission overwrites that can be assigned to individual roles or members on a per-channel basis.
Permissions are stored in a variable-length integer serialized into a string, and are calculated using bitwise operations. For example, the permission value 123
will be serialized as "123"
. For long-term stability, it's recommended to deserialize the permissions using your preferred languages' Big Integer libraries. The total permissions integer can be determined by OR-ing (|
) together each individual value, and flags can be checked using AND (&
) operations.
In API v8 and above, all permissions are serialized as strings, including the allow
and deny
fields in overwrites. Any new permissions are rolled back into the base field.
Additional logic is required when permission overwrites are involved; this is further explained below. For more information about bitwise operations and flags, see this page.
Below is a table of all current permissions, their integer values in hexadecimal, brief descriptions of the privileges that they grant, and the channel type they apply to, if applicable.
Bitwise Permission Flags
Value | Name | Description | Channel Type |
---|---|---|---|
0x0000000000000001 (1 << 0) | CREATE_INSTANT_INVITE | Allows creation of instant invites | T, V, S |
0x0000000000000002 (1 << 1) | KICK_MEMBERS 1 | Allows kicking members | |
0x0000000000000004 (1 << 2) | BAN_MEMBERS 1 | Allows banning members | |
0x0000000000000008 (1 << 3) | ADMINISTRATOR 1 | Allows all permissions and bypasses channel permission overwrites | |
0x0000000000000010 (1 << 4) | MANAGE_CHANNELS 1 | Allows management and editing of channels | T, V, S |
0x0000000000000020 (1 << 5) | MANAGE_GUILD 1 | Allows management and editing of the guild | |
0x0000000000000040 (1 << 6) | ADD_REACTIONS | Allows for the addition of reactions to messages | T, V, S |
0x0000000000000080 (1 << 7) | VIEW_AUDIT_LOG | Allows for viewing of audit logs | |
0x0000000000000100 (1 << 8) | PRIORITY_SPEAKER | Allows for using priority speaker in a voice channel | V |
0x0000000000000200 (1 << 9) | STREAM | Allows the user to use video and stream (go live) in a voice channel | V, S |
0x0000000000000400 (1 << 10) | VIEW_CHANNEL | Allows guild members to view a channel, which includes reading messages in text channels and joining voice channels | T, V, S |
0x0000000000000800 (1 << 11) | SEND_MESSAGES | Allows for sending messages in a channel and creating threads in a forum (does not allow sending messages in threads) | T, V, S |
0x0000000000001000 (1 << 12) | SEND_TTS_MESSAGES | Allows for sending of /tts messages | T, V, S |
0x0000000000002000 (1 << 13) | MANAGE_MESSAGES 1 | Allows for deletion of other users messages | T, V, S |
0x0000000000004000 (1 << 14) | EMBED_LINKS | Links sent by users with this permission will be auto-embedded | T, V, S |
0x0000000000008000 (1 << 15) | ATTACH_FILES | Allows for uploading images and files | T, V, S |
0x0000000000010000 (1 << 16) | READ_MESSAGE_HISTORY | Allows for reading of message history | T, V, S |
0x0000000000020000 (1 << 17) | MENTION_EVERYONE | Allows for using the @everyone tag to notify all users in a channel, and the @here tag to notify all online users in a channel | T, V, S |
0x0000000000040000 (1 << 18) | USE_EXTERNAL_EMOJIS | Allows the usage of custom emojis from other servers | T, V, S |
0x0000000000080000 (1 << 19) | VIEW_GUILD_INSIGHTS | Allows for viewing guild insights | |
0x0000000000100000 (1 << 20) | CONNECT | Allows for joining of a voice channel | V, S |
0x0000000000200000 (1 << 21) | SPEAK | Allows for speaking in a voice channel | V |
0x0000000000400000 (1 << 22) | MUTE_MEMBERS | Allows for muting members in a voice channel | V, S |
0x0000000000800000 (1 << 23) | DEAFEN_MEMBERS | Allows for deafening of members in a voice channel | V |
0x0000000001000000 (1 << 24) | MOVE_MEMBERS | Allows for moving of members between voice channels | V, S |
0x0000000002000000 (1 << 25) | USE_VAD | Allows for using voice-activity-detection in a voice channel | V |
0x0000000004000000 (1 << 26) | CHANGE_NICKNAME | Allows for modification of own nickname | |
0x0000000008000000 (1 << 27) | MANAGE_NICKNAMES | Allows for modification of other users nicknames | |
0x0000000010000000 (1 << 28) | MANAGE_ROLES 1 | Allows management and editing of roles | T, V, S |
0x0000000020000000 (1 << 29) | MANAGE_WEBHOOKS 1 | Allows management and editing of webhooks | T, V, S |
0x0000000040000000 (1 << 30) | MANAGE_EXPRESSIONS 1 3 | Allows editing and deleting emojis, stickers, and soundboard sounds | |
0x0000000080000000 (1 << 31) | USE_APPLICATION_COMMANDS | Allows members to use application commands, including slash commands and context menu commands | T, V, S |
0x0000000100000000 (1 << 32) | REQUEST_TO_SPEAK | Allows for requesting to speak in stage channels | S |
0x0000000200000000 (1 << 33) | MANAGE_EVENTS 3 | Allows for editing and deleting scheduled events | V, S |
0x0000000400000000 (1 << 34) | MANAGE_THREADS 1 | Allows for deleting and archiving threads, and viewing all private threads | T |
0x0000000800000000 (1 << 35) | CREATE_PUBLIC_THREADS | Allows for creating public and announcement threads | T |
0x0000001000000000 (1 << 36) | CREATE_PRIVATE_THREADS | Allows for creating private threads | T |
0x0000002000000000 (1 << 37) | USE_EXTERNAL_STICKERS | Allows the usage of custom stickers from other servers | T, V, S |
0x0000004000000000 (1 << 38) | SEND_MESSAGES_IN_THREADS | Allows for sending messages in threads | T |
0x0000008000000000 (1 << 39) | USE_EMBEDDED_ACTIVITIES | Allows for using Activities (applications with the EMBEDDED flag) in a voice channel | T, V |
0x0000010000000000 (1 << 40) | MODERATE_MEMBERS 2 | Allows for timing out users to prevent them from sending or reacting to messages in chat and threads, and from speaking in voice and stage channels | |
0x0000020000000000 (1 << 41) | VIEW_CREATOR_MONETIZATION_ANALYTICS 1 | Allows for viewing guild role subscriptions insights | |
0x0000040000000000 (1 << 42) | USE_SOUNDBOARD | Allows the usage of the soundboard in a voice channel | V |
0x0000080000000000 (1 << 43) | CREATE_EXPRESSIONS 3 | Allows for creating emojis, stickers, and soundboard sounds, and editing/deleting ones created by the current user | |
0x0000100000000000 (1 << 44) | CREATE_EVENTS 3 | Allows for creating scheduled events, and editing/deleting ones created by the current user | |
0x0000040000000000 (1 << 45) | USE_EXTERNAL_SOUNDS | Allows the usage of custom soundboard sounds from other servers | V |
0x0000400000000000 (1 << 46) | SEND_VOICE_MESSAGES | Allows for sending voice messages in a channel | T, V, S |
0x0000800000000000 (1 << 47) | |||
0x0001000000000000 (1 << 48) | SET_VOICE_CHANNEL_STATUS | Allows setting voice channel status | V |
0x0002000000000000 (1 << 49) | SEND_POLLS | Allows sending polls | T, V, S |
0x0004000000000000 (1 << 50) | USE_EXTERNAL_APPS | Allows the usage of user-installed applications without forced-ephemeral responses | T, V, S |
1 These permissions require the user or bot owner account to use multi-factor authentication when used on a guild that has guild-wide MFA enabled.
2 See Permissions for Timed Out/Quarantined Members to understand how permissions are temporarily modified for timed out/quarantined users.
3 The separate events for resource creation are only available to clients that specify a recent client build number. Otherwise, they are ignored and the management permissions are enforced.
Note that permission names may be referred to differently in the Discord client. For example, "Manage Permissions" refers to MANAGE_ROLES
, "Use Voice Activity" refers to USE_VAD
, and "Timeout Members" refers to MODERATE_MEMBERS
.
Permission Hierarchy
How permissions apply may at first seem intuitive, but there are some hidden restrictions that prevent users from performing certain inappropriate actions based on a user's highest role compared to its target's highest role. A user's highest role is its role that has the greatest sorting priority in the guild, with the default @everyone role starting at 0. Permissions follow a hierarchy with the following rules:
- A user can grant roles to other users that are of a lower position than its own highest role.
- A user can edit roles of a lower position than its highest role, but it can only grant permissions it has to those roles.
- A user can only sort roles lower than its highest role.
- A user can only kick, ban, and edit nicknames for users whose highest role is lower than the user's highest role.
Otherwise, permissions do not obey the role hierarchy. For example, a user has two roles: A and B. A denies the VIEW_CHANNEL
permission on a #coolstuff channel. B allows the VIEW_CHANNEL
permission on the same #coolstuff channel. The user would ultimately be able to view the #coolstuff channel, regardless of the role positions.
Permission Overwrites
Overwrites can be used to apply certain permissions to roles or members on a channel-level. Applicable permissions are indicated by a T for text channels, V for voice channels, or S for stage channels in the table above.
When using overwrites, there are cases where permission collisions could occur for a user; that is to say, the user may have certain overwrites with permissions that contradict each other or their guild-level role permissions. With this in mind, permissions are applied to users in the following hierarchy:
- Base permissions given to @everyone are applied at a guild level
- Permissions allowed to a user by their roles are applied at a guild level
- Overwrites that deny permissions for @everyone are applied at a channel level
- Overwrites that allow permissions for @everyone are applied at a channel level
- Overwrites that deny permissions for specific roles are applied at a channel level
- Overwrites that allow permissions for specific roles are applied at a channel level
- Member-specific overwrites that deny permissions are applied at a channel level
- Member-specific overwrites that allow permissions are applied at a channel level
The following pseudocode demonstrates this process programmatically:
Implicit Permissions
Permissions in Discord are sometimes implicitly denied or allowed based on logical use. The two main cases are VIEW_CHANNEL
and SEND_MESSAGES
for text channels. Denying a user or a role VIEW_CHANNEL
on a channel implicitly denies other permissions on the channel. Though permissions like SEND_MESSAGES
are not explicitly denied for the user, they are ignored because the user cannot read messages in the channel.
Denying SEND_MESSAGES
implicitly denies MENTION_EVERYONE
, SEND_TTS_MESSAGES
, ATTACH_FILES
, and EMBED_LINKS
. Again, they are not explicitly denied when doing permissions calculations, but they are ignored because the user cannot do the base action of sending messages.
For voice and stage channels, denying the CONNECT
permission also implicitly denies other permissions such as MANAGE_CHANNELS
.
There may be other cases in which certain permissions implicitly deny or allow other permissions. In all cases, it is based on logical conclusions about how a user with certain permissions should or should not interact with Discord.
Inherited Permissions (Threads)
Threads inherit permissions from the parent channel (the channel they were created in), with one exception: The SEND_MESSAGES
permission is not inherited; users must have SEND_MESSAGES_IN_THREADS
to send a message in a thread, which allows for users to participate in threads in places like announcement channels.
Users must have the VIEW_CHANNEL
permission to view any threads in the channel, even if they are directly mentioned or added to the thread.
Permission Syncing
Permissions with regards to categories and channels within categories are a bit tricky. Rather than inheritance, permissions are calculated by means of what is called Permission Syncing. If a child channel has the same permissions and overwrites (or lack thereof) as its parent category, the channel is considered "synced" to the category. Any further changes to a parent category will be reflected in its synced child channels. Any further changes to a child channel will cause it to become de-synced from its parent category, and its permissions will no longer change with changes to its parent category.
Role Object
Roles represent a set of permissions attached to a group of users. Roles have names, colors, and can be "pinned" to the side bar, causing their members to be listed separately. Roles can have separate permission profiles for the global context (guild) and channel context. The @everyone
role has the same ID as the guild it belongs to.
Role Structure
Field | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
id | snowflake | The ID of the role |
name | string | The name of the role (max 100 characters) |
description | ?string | The description for the role (max 90 characters) |
color | integer | Integer representation of a hexadecimal color code for the role |
hoist | boolean | Whether this role is pinned in the user listing |
icon? | ?string | The role's icon hash |
unicode_emoji? | ?string | The role's unicode emoji |
position | integer | Position of this role |
permissions | string | The permission bitwise value for the role |
managed | boolean | Whether this role is managed by an integration |
mentionable | boolean | Whether this role is mentionable |
flags? | integer | The role's flags |
tags? | role tags object | The tags this role has |
Role Flags
Value | Name | Description |
---|---|---|
1 << 0 | IN_PROMPT | This role is part of an onboarding prompt option |
Role Tags Structure
Field | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
bot_id? | snowflake | The ID of the bot this role belongs to |
integration_id? | snowflake | The ID of the integration this role belongs to |
premium_subscriber? | null | Whether this is the guild's premium subscriber (booster) role |
subscription_listing_id? | snowflake | The ID of this role's subscription SKU and listing |
available_for_purchase? | null | Whether this role is available for purchase |
guild_connections? | null | Whether this role is a guild's linked role |
Example Role
{"id": "1050931799506817125","name": "Premium Members","description": null,"permissions": "262144","position": 176,"color": 0,"hoist": false,"managed": true,"mentionable": false,"icon": null,"unicode_emoji": "👽","flags": 0,"tags": {"integration_id": "1055934248995000390"}}
Permissions For Timed Out/Quarantined Members
Timed out members will temporarily lose all permissions except VIEW_CHANNEL
and READ_MESSAGE_HISTORY
. This also applies to quarantined members. Owners and admin users with ADMINISTRATOR
permissions are exempt.