AutoMod

Discord ships its own message filter, AutoMod, which blocks messages before they are ever posted. HepBoat does two things with it: it logs everything AutoMod does into your mod log alongside your other moderation, and it lets you write and manage those rules from the dashboard instead of Server Settings.

This is not a HepBoat filter. Discord enforces these rules, so they apply even when the bot is offline, and they catch a message before anyone sees it. HepBoat's own censor deletes after the fact and can do things Discord's cannot, like warning or muting on a hit. Most servers run both.

Setup checklist

1. Set up a mod log channel and subscribe it to the four AutoMod events listed below. Logging does not require a plugin block.
2. Open Moderation > AutoMod. If your server lacks AUTOMOD_DASH, use the page to inspect rules and manage them in Discord Server Settings instead.
3. With the grant, create a disabled keyword rule first. Add a harmless test phrase, a clear block message, and a private staff test channel.
4. Save and confirm the rule appears on both the dashboard and Discord's AutoMod page. Then enable it.
5. Post the phrase from a regular test account in the test channel. Confirm Discord blocks it and HepBoat logs AutoMod rule triggered.
6. Remove the test phrase or rule before expanding the real rule to public channels.

The bot needs Discord permission to manage AutoMod rules for dashboard edits. A rule that is merely logged still belongs to Discord and follows Discord's own permissions, exemptions, rule limits, and validation.

Logging

Nothing to configure. Once your mod log is set up, AutoMod activity shows up as four events you can subscribe to per channel like any other:

• AutoMod rule triggered - a message was blocked or flagged, with the rule that caught it.
• AutoMod rule created / updated / deleted - someone changed a rule, whether from the dashboard or from Discord's own settings.

That last group matters more than it sounds: without it, a moderator quietly loosening a rule in Server Settings leaves no trace anywhere.

Managing rules from the dashboard

The Moderation → AutoMod page lists every AutoMod rule on your server, mirrored from Discord. Anyone who can view the dashboard can read them; editors and admins can change them.

With the AUTOMOD_DASH feature the page becomes editable, and you can create, edit, enable, disable, and delete rules without leaving HepBoat. Without it the page stays read-only - the listing and the logging both keep working.

Discord's rule types appear as Keyword, Spam, Keyword preset, Mention spam, and Member profile. For a keyword rule you get the fields Discord itself offers:

• Keywords, one per line. * wildcards work, so badword, another* and *suffix are all valid entries.
• Regex patterns, one per line, for the cases a wildcard cannot express. This is the one place in HepBoat where you write real regex - your censor word lists are always matched literally.
• Allow list - exceptions that should never trip the rule.
• Block message - the notice Discord shows the member when their message is blocked.
• Exempt roles and channels, so staff or a testing channel can be left out.

Changes you make here are applied to Discord and mirrored straight back, so the list always reflects what Discord is actually enforcing. Rules created in Server Settings show up here too.

Good to know

• AutoMod rules belong to Discord, not to HepBoat. Removing the bot leaves them in place, and Discord's own limits on how many rules a server may have still apply.
• A rule that Discord rejects (a malformed pattern, or one rule too many) fails on save and the page tells you what Discord said.
• Blocked messages never reach the bot, so a message AutoMod stops cannot also trip your censor filters or count toward spam rules. If you want a warning or a mute on a hit, use censor for that phrase instead - or as well.

Troubleshooting

• The page is read-only: the server does not have AUTOMOD_DASH; logging still works.
• A trigger is not logged: subscribe a mod log channel to AutoMod action events and make sure HepBoat can post there.
• A member bypasses a rule: inspect the rule's exempt roles and channels in Discord. HepBoat does not override Discord's exemption logic.
• The same phrase trips censor but not AutoMod: these are separate engines with different syntax. Test the exact rule in Discord's AutoMod editor.