Recommended first setup

Cloudy ships with everything switched off. This page is an opinionated order for turning things on: the safety net first, then the parts members actually see. Nothing here is mandatory — skip what your server does not need.

0 — Set the server defaults

Two settings apply to every plugin, so get them right before you configure anything else:

• Bot language — the language of bot replies and slash-command descriptions on this server.
• Embed accent colour — the left rim of every embed Cloudy posts, unless a plugin overrides it.

Both live on Server defaults. Changing the colour later means re-checking every embed you customised, so pick it now.

1 — Logging, before anything else

Turn on Moderation → Logging and give at least Mod actions a channel. Everything you set up afterwards becomes debuggable: when a member says "the bot muted me for nothing", the log has the rule, the message and the moderator.

Keep sensitive categories (mod actions, message edits/deletes) in a staff-only channel, and put the noisy ones (joins, voice) somewhere else so the important log stays readable.

→ Moderation

2 — A welcome message

The fastest visible win. Pick a channel, write one line with {user} in it, save.

Welcome {user} — you are member #{server.memberCount}. Have a look at #rules first.

Welcome & Goodbye is one of the four free plugins, so this works without a license.

→ Welcome & Goodbye

3 — Verification, if you get raided

If your server is public, put a verification panel in a #verify channel and give the granted role access to everything else. New members solve a small maths captcha and get the role; bots and drive-by raiders do not.

Set channel permissions so that @everyone can only see #verify, and the verified role sees the rest. The panel alone does nothing if unverified members can already read the whole server.

→ Verification

4 — AutoMod, conservatively

Do not enable all ten rules on day one. Start with the three that almost never produce false positives:

• Server invites — action Delete message
• Excessive mentions — action Delete message & warn user
• Anti-spam — action Delete message & timeout user

Add Bad words once you have written your own word lists, and leave External links off unless your server genuinely bans links — it is the rule that annoys real members most.

Set up warn escalation at the same time (for example 3 → 1 h timeout, 5 → kick) so warnings mean something.

→ AutoMod

5 — Something to do

Pick one engagement plugin, not all of them:

• Leveling if you want long-term activity. The defaults (2 XP per message, 60 s cooldown) are sane; only touch the curve if you know what you want.
• Reaction roles if members should self-select interests or pings. Free plugin.
• Economy if your community likes games. It is the deepest plugin and the easiest to misconfigure — read the whole page before changing payouts.

6 — Tickets, once you have staff

A ticket panel is only useful when someone answers. Create it in a #support channel, point it at a Discord category, and add your staff roles. Turn on a log channel so closed tickets leave a transcript.

→ Tickets

A sensible first-week checklist