Welcome messages

A welcome message is the first thing a new member sees from your community. Buddy posts it in your welcome channel the moment someone joins, filled in with their name, your member count and anything else you like. You build it in a step-by-step editor with a live Discord-style preview, so you know exactly what people will see before you save.

Before you start#

Create the channel first. Most servers use #welcome and keep it read-only for members, so the greetings don't get buried. If you want to point people at your rules, have a rules channel ready too.

Set it up#

Open welcome settings

Settings explained#

Where to welcome members#

The Roles for new members card on the same page is covered in Join roles.

Message styles#

Placeholders get longer when they're filled in (a long server name, a 32-character username), so leave some room under the limit. The counter under the text box shows how much you've used.

Welcome message options#

Who gets notified#

Unticked mentions still show in the message. They just don't send anyone a notification.

Before you save#

The checklist under the preview catches problems before they reach Discord. Click an item to jump to it. It warns you when:

• the message is empty, or over Discord's character limit;
• a Components layout has no blocks, a card is empty, or a text block has no text;
• a button has no label or emoji, a link doesn't start with https://, or a channel jump, role button or private reply isn't filled in;
• a role menu option has no label or no role;
• an emoji isn't a single emoji or a custom one like <:name:id>;
• an image link doesn't start with https://;
• the layout goes over 40 components or 4,000 text characters.

Components blocks#

A Components message is a stack of blocks shown top to bottom, exactly like the preview. Put blocks inside a Card to get the colored box, or leave them outside to show above, between or below cards. Each block has buttons to fold it away, move it up or down, move it into the card above (or out of its card), duplicate it and remove it.

Card#

A colored box that groups blocks together. Add blocks inside it with the buttons at the bottom of the card.

Cards can't go inside other cards.

Text / Section#

Text with styles like headings and bold. Add up to 3 text boxes with Add text box.

Divider / Spacer#

A line, or just empty space, between blocks. Untick Show divider line for empty space, and choose Small spacing or Large spacing.

Button Row#

Up to 5 buttons side by side. Each button has a Label (up to 80 characters), an optional Emoji, a Color (Blurple, Grey, Green or Red) and a Disabled option that shows it greyed out. When clicked sets what it does:

Role Menu#

A dropdown where members pick roles for themselves. Picking a role they already have removes it, and the menu resets after each pick so it can be used again.

Image Gallery#

Shows 1 to 10 images in a grid. Each image can be Image from a URL (PNG, JPG, GIF or WEBP), the New member's avatar, the Server icon, the Server banner, or (Premium) your Welcome Image card. Each has optional Alt text and a Spoiler option. The same image choices work for a Section thumbnail. A server icon or banner your server doesn't have is just left out.

Welcome Image File (Premium)#

Attaches your Welcome Image card as a file (welcome-card.png) members can download.

Placeholders#

Use these anywhere in the message, greetings, button labels, private replies, menu text and image URLs. Words in {curly brackets} are swapped for the new member's details when they join.

The member count includes bots. Use the Mention a role or link a channel dropdowns in the Insert tools to add {role:…} and {channel:…} without copying IDs. See all placeholders for every feature in the placeholder reference.

Examples#

Friendly welcome with a random greeting (Regular)#

Message:

{greeting}

Welcome to **{server}**, {user}! You are our **{membernumber}** member.
Please read {rules} before you jump in.

Greetings (one per line):

👋 Everyone welcome **{displayname}**!
🥳 Hooray! **{displayname}** just joined the party!
😎 Guess who's here? It's **{displayname}**!
🎉 **{displayname}** just landed in the server!
✨ A wild **{displayname}** appeared!

What a new member sees:

Discord Buddy APP Today at 4:20 PM

🎉 Alex just landed in the server!

Welcome to Buddy Café, @Alex! You are our 128th member.
Please read #rules before you jump in.

Getting started guide (Regular)#

## Welcome to {server}!
Hey {user}, glad you made it.

**Get started**
- Read the rules in {rules}
- Introduce yourself in {channel:CHANNEL_ID}
- Join the conversation

-# Member #{members} • Account created {created}

Replace CHANNEL_ID with your introductions channel, or pick it from Insert a channel link….

Discord Buddy APP Today at 4:20 PM

Welcome to Buddy Café!

Hey @Alex, glad you made it.

Get started

• Read the rules in #rules
• Introduce yourself in #introductions
• Join the conversation

Member #128 • Account created 3 years ago

Short and sweet (Embed)#

Choose Embed and turn on Ping the new member when the message is posted, so they still get a notification:

👋 Welcome {user} to **{server}**!
You're member **{membernumber}**. Say hi and grab your roles in {channel:CHANNEL_ID}.

Discord Buddy APP Today at 4:20 PM

@Alex

👋 Welcome @Alex to Buddy Café!
You're member 128th. Say hi and grab your roles in #roles.

Today at 4:20 PM

{membernumber} already includes the "th", so write "member {membernumber}", not "member #{membernumber}th".

Welcome card with buttons (Components)#

Load the Welcome card with buttons sample. It builds this layout:

1. Card
   • Text / Section with the new member's avatar on the right: ## {username} | Member #{members}, then {greeting}, then a welcome line.
   • Divider / Spacer
   • Text / Section: ### Start here and a small line of help text.
   • Button Row: 📜 Rules (jumps to your rules channel) and 🙋 Need Help? (a private reply).
   • Text / Section: -# Joined {joined} • Enjoy your stay in {server}.

Discord Buddy APP Today at 4:20 PM

alex_92 | Member #128

😎 Guess who's here? It's Alex!

Welcome to Buddy Café, @Alex. Everything you need to get started is one click away.

Start here
Read the server rules or ask the team for help.

📜 Rules 🙋 Need Help?

Joined just now • Enjoy your stay in Buddy Café.

When someone clicks Need Help?, only they see the reply:

Need a hand, {username}? Ask in any help channel or mention a staff member and we'll get you sorted.

Role picker (Components)#

The Role picker sample adds a Role Menu with your first three roles. A good setup for interest roles:

Set Max picks to 3 so members can take all three at once. Picking a role again removes it.

Premium#

With Premium you can show your Welcome Image card inside a Components message: pick Welcome Image card (premium) as an image source in a gallery or thumbnail, add a Welcome Image File block, or load the Welcome Image card inside a card (premium) sample. Buddy draws the card for each new member and attaches it to the message. Everything else on this page is free. See Premium.

Troubleshooting#

When a welcome message can't be posted the way you built it, Buddy writes the reason to the Bot errors list (the error log) on your dashboard's main Dashboard page. Check there first.

Nothing is posted when someone joins#

• Make sure a Welcome channel is selected and you clicked Save welcome settings.
• Check Bot errors for Channel not found: the channel was deleted or Buddy can't see it. Pick another channel.
• Missing Permissions: View Channel, Send Messages (and Embed Links for the Embed style): give Buddy's role those permissions in the welcome channel, including any channel overrides.
• Bots that join never get a welcome message. Test with a real account.
• If you use a custom bot, it posts the welcome message instead of Buddy, so check its permissions too.

The member got "Welcome @member to Server!" instead of my message#

That's the fallback, so new members are still greeted when your message can't be sent:

• The saved message was blank. Write a message and click Save message template.
• The Components layout couldn't be sent. Bot errors shows Unable to send welcome message with Discord's reason (for example an image link Discord couldn't load). If Buddy lacks Attach Files in the welcome channel, Bot errors shows Missing Permissions: Attach Files and the Components message is sent without the Welcome Image card. Fix it and save again.
• Welcome layout is empty: every block came out empty for that member (for example a text box that only contained {rules} with no rules channel set).
• Welcome layout could not be read: re-save the message on the Welcome page.

If you had text saved in the Regular message box before switching to Components, the fallback uses that text instead of the default line.

Button or menu emojis are missing#

Emoji rejected by Discord in Bot errors means Discord refused an emoji, usually a custom emoji from a server Buddy isn't in. Buddy posts the message without button and menu emojis rather than not at all. Use a standard emoji or a custom emoji from your own server.

New members don't get a notification#

• Turn on Ping the new member when the message is posted. Mentions inside an embed never notify.
• Check The new member is ticked under Who gets notified if you use {user}.

A role button or menu says it can't give the role#

• Buddy needs Manage Roles, and its role must be above the role in Server Settings → Roles.
• The role may have been deleted. Pick it again and save.
• Roles with Administrator, Manage Server or Manage Roles can't be given out this way.

Saving shows an error#

The message names the block that needs fixing, like "Card 1, Block 2: a text block needs 1 to 3 text boxes with something in them". The Before you save list catches most of these first. A role error that mentions /setup means the role isn't synced yet: run /setup → Update Channels and Roles for Website in Discord and try again.

{rules} shows nothing#

Pick a Rules channel in Where to welcome members and click Save welcome settings.

Related#