Permissions

Learn how Discord’s permission system works including bitwise operations.

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.

Application command permissions allow you to enable or disable specific commands for entire channels in addition to individual roles or users.

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.

In API v6 (now deprecated), the permissions, allow, and deny fields in roles and overwrites are still serialized as a number; however, these numbers shall not grow beyond 31 bits. During the remaining lifetime of API v6, all new permission bits will only be introduced in permissions_new, allow_new, and deny_new. These _new fields are just for response serialization; requests with these fields should continue to use the original permissions, allow, and deny fields, which accept both string or number values.

# Permissions value that can Send Messages (0x800) and Add Reactions (0x40):
permissions = 0x40 | 0x800 # 2112

# Checking for flags that are set:
(permissions & 0x40) == 0x40   # True
(permissions & 0x800) == 0x800 # True

# Kick Members (0x2) was not set:
(permissions & 0x2) == 0x2 # False

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

Permission	Value	Description	Channel Type (Abbreviated)
CREATE_INSTANT_INVITE	0x0000000000000001 (1 << 0)	Allows creation of instant invites	T, V, S
KICK_MEMBERS *	0x0000000000000002 (1 << 1)	Allows kicking members
BAN_MEMBERS *	0x0000000000000004 (1 << 2)	Allows banning members
ADMINISTRATOR *	0x0000000000000008 (1 << 3)	Allows all permissions and bypasses channel permission overwrites
MANAGE_CHANNELS *	0x0000000000000010 (1 << 4)	Allows management and editing of channels	T, V, S
MANAGE_GUILD *	0x0000000000000020 (1 << 5)	Allows management and editing of the guild
ADD_REACTIONS	0x0000000000000040 (1 << 6)	Allows for adding new reactions to messages. This permission does not apply to reacting with an existing reaction on a message.	T, V, S
VIEW_AUDIT_LOG	0x0000000000000080 (1 << 7)	Allows for viewing of audit logs
PRIORITY_SPEAKER	0x0000000000000100 (1 << 8)	Allows for using priority speaker in a voice channel	V
STREAM	0x0000000000000200 (1 << 9)	Allows the user to go live	V, S
VIEW_CHANNEL	0x0000000000000400 (1 << 10)	Allows guild members to view a channel, which includes reading messages in text channels and joining voice channels	T, V, S
SEND_MESSAGES	0x0000000000000800 (1 << 11)	Allows for sending messages in a channel and creating threads in a forum (does not allow sending messages in threads)	T, V, S
SEND_TTS_MESSAGES	0x0000000000001000 (1 << 12)	Allows for sending of /tts messages	T, V, S
MANAGE_MESSAGES *	0x0000000000002000 (1 << 13)	Allows for deletion of other users messages	T, V, S
EMBED_LINKS	0x0000000000004000 (1 << 14)	Links sent by users with this permission will be auto-embedded	T, V, S
ATTACH_FILES	0x0000000000008000 (1 << 15)	Allows for uploading images and files	T, V, S
READ_MESSAGE_HISTORY	0x0000000000010000 (1 << 16)	Allows for reading of message history	T, V, S
MENTION_EVERYONE	0x0000000000020000 (1 << 17)	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
USE_EXTERNAL_EMOJIS	0x0000000000040000 (1 << 18)	Allows the usage of custom emojis from other servers	T, V, S
VIEW_GUILD_INSIGHTS	0x0000000000080000 (1 << 19)	Allows for viewing guild insights
CONNECT	0x0000000000100000 (1 << 20)	Allows for joining of a voice channel	V, S
SPEAK	0x0000000000200000 (1 << 21)	Allows for speaking in a voice channel	V
MUTE_MEMBERS	0x0000000000400000 (1 << 22)	Allows for muting members in a voice channel	V, S
DEAFEN_MEMBERS	0x0000000000800000 (1 << 23)	Allows for deafening of members in a voice channel	V
MOVE_MEMBERS	0x0000000001000000 (1 << 24)	Allows for moving of members between voice channels	V, S
USE_VAD	0x0000000002000000 (1 << 25)	Allows for using voice-activity-detection in a voice channel	V
CHANGE_NICKNAME	0x0000000004000000 (1 << 26)	Allows for modification of own nickname
MANAGE_NICKNAMES	0x0000000008000000 (1 << 27)	Allows for modification of other users nicknames
MANAGE_ROLES *	0x0000000010000000 (1 << 28)	Allows management and editing of roles	T, V, S
MANAGE_WEBHOOKS *	0x0000000020000000 (1 << 29)	Allows management and editing of webhooks	T, V, S
MANAGE_GUILD_EXPRESSIONS *	0x0000000040000000 (1 << 30)	Allows for editing and deleting emojis, stickers, and soundboard sounds created by all users
USE_APPLICATION_COMMANDS	0x0000000080000000 (1 << 31)	Allows members to use application commands, including slash commands and context menu commands.	T, V, S
REQUEST_TO_SPEAK	0x0000000100000000 (1 << 32)	Allows for requesting to speak in stage channels. (This permission is under active development and may be changed or removed.)	S
MANAGE_EVENTS	0x0000000200000000 (1 << 33)	Allows for editing and deleting scheduled events created by all users	V, S
MANAGE_THREADS *	0x0000000400000000 (1 << 34)	Allows for deleting and archiving threads, and viewing all private threads	T
CREATE_PUBLIC_THREADS	0x0000000800000000 (1 << 35)	Allows for creating public and announcement threads	T
CREATE_PRIVATE_THREADS	0x0000001000000000 (1 << 36)	Allows for creating private threads	T
USE_EXTERNAL_STICKERS	0x0000002000000000 (1 << 37)	Allows the usage of custom stickers from other servers	T, V, S
SEND_MESSAGES_IN_THREADS	0x0000004000000000 (1 << 38)	Allows for sending messages in threads	T
USE_EMBEDDED_ACTIVITIES	0x0000008000000000 (1 << 39)	Allows for using Activities (applications with the EMBEDDED flag)	T, V
MODERATE_MEMBERS **	0x0000010000000000 (1 << 40)	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
VIEW_CREATOR_MONETIZATION_ANALYTICS *	0x0000020000000000 (1 << 41)	Allows for viewing role subscription insights
USE_SOUNDBOARD	0x0000040000000000 (1 << 42)	Allows for using soundboard in a voice channel	V
CREATE_GUILD_EXPRESSIONS	0x0000080000000000 (1 << 43)	Allows for creating emojis, stickers, and soundboard sounds, and editing and deleting those created by the current user. Not yet available to developers, see changelog.
CREATE_EVENTS	0x0000100000000000 (1 << 44)	Allows for creating scheduled events, and editing and deleting those created by the current user. Not yet available to developers, see changelog.	V, S
USE_EXTERNAL_SOUNDS	0x0000200000000000 (1 << 45)	Allows the usage of custom soundboard sounds from other servers	V
SEND_VOICE_MESSAGES	0x0000400000000000 (1 << 46)	Allows sending voice messages	T, V, S
SEND_POLLS	0x0002000000000000 (1 << 49)	Allows sending polls	T, V, S
USE_EXTERNAL_APPS	0x0004000000000000 (1 << 50)	Allows user-installed apps to send public responses. When disabled, users will still be allowed to use their apps but the responses will be ephemeral. This only applies to apps not also installed to the server.	T, V, S

Channel Type (Abbreviated)	Description	Channel Types
T	Text	GUILD_TEXT, GUILD_ANNOUNCEMENT, GUILD_FORUM, GUILD_MEDIA
V	Voice	GUILD_VOICE
S	Stage	GUILD_STAGE_VOICE

* These permissions require the owner account to use two-factor authentication when used on a guild that has server-wide 2FA enabled.

** See Permissions for Timed Out Members to understand how permissions are temporarily modified for timed out users.

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 bots from performing certain inappropriate actions based on a bot’s highest role compared to its target’s highest role. A bot’s or user’s highest role is its role that has the greatest position value in the guild, with the default @everyone role starting at 0. Permissions follow a hierarchy with the following rules:

• A bot can grant roles to other users that are of a lower position than its own highest role.
• A bot can edit roles of a lower position than its highest role, but it can only grant permissions it has to those roles.
• A bot can only sort roles lower than its highest role.
• A bot can only kick, ban, and edit nicknames for users whose highest role is lower than the bot’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:

1. Base permissions given to @everyone are applied at a guild level
2. Permissions allowed to a user by their roles are applied at a guild level
3. Overwrites that deny permissions for @everyone are applied at a channel level
4. Overwrites that allow permissions for @everyone are applied at a channel level
5. Overwrites that deny permissions for specific roles are applied at a channel level
6. Overwrites that allow permissions for specific roles are applied at a channel level
7. Member-specific overwrites that deny permissions are applied at a channel level
8. Member-specific overwrites that allow permissions are applied at a channel level

The following pseudocode demonstrates this process programmatically:

def compute_base_permissions(member, guild):
    if guild.is_owner(member):
        return ALL

    role_everyone = guild.get_role(guild.id)  # get @everyone role
    permissions = role_everyone.permissions

    for role in member.roles:
        permissions |= role.permissions

    if permissions & ADMINISTRATOR == ADMINISTRATOR:
        return ALL

    return permissions

def compute_overwrites(base_permissions, member, channel):
    # ADMINISTRATOR overrides any potential permission overwrites, so there is nothing to do here.
    if base_permissions & ADMINISTRATOR == ADMINISTRATOR:
        return ALL

    permissions = base_permissions
    overwrite_everyone = overwrites.get(channel.guild_id)  # Find (@everyone) role overwrite and apply it.
    if overwrite_everyone:
        permissions &= ~overwrite_everyone.deny
        permissions |= overwrite_everyone.allow

    # Apply role specific overwrites.
    overwrites = channel.permission_overwrites
    allow = NONE
    deny = NONE
    for role_id in member.roles:
        overwrite_role = overwrites.get(role_id)
        if overwrite_role:
            allow |= overwrite_role.allow
            deny |= overwrite_role.deny

    permissions &= ~deny
    permissions |= allow

    # Apply member specific overwrite if it exist.
    overwrite_member = overwrites.get(member.user_id)
    if overwrite_member:
        permissions &= ~overwrite_member.deny
        permissions |= overwrite_member.allow

    return permissions

def compute_permissions(member, channel):
    base_permissions = compute_base_permissions(member, channel.guild)
    return compute_overwrites(base_permissions, member, channel)

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_CHANNEL.

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 we call 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	role id
name	string	role name
color*	integer	Deprecated integer representation of hexadecimal color code
colors	role colors object	the role’s colors
hoist	boolean	if this role is pinned in the user listing
icon?	?string	role icon hash
unicode_emoji?	?string	role unicode emoji
position	integer	position of this role (roles with the same position are sorted by id)
permissions	string	permission bit set
managed	boolean	whether this role is managed by an integration
mentionable	boolean	whether this role is mentionable
tags?	role tags object	the tags this role has
flags	integer	role flags combined as a bitfield

Roles without colors (colors.primary_color == 0) do not count towards the final computed color in the user list.

* color will still be returned by the API, but using the colors field is recommended when doing requests.

Role Tags Structure

Tags with type null represent booleans. They will be present and set to null if they are “true”, and will be not present if they are “false”.

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 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

Role Colors Object

This object will always be filled with primary_color being the role’s color. Other fields can only be set to a non-null value if the guild has the ENHANCED_ROLE_COLORS guild feature.

Field	Type	Description
primary_color	integer	the primary color for the role
secondary_color	?integer	the secondary color for the role, this will make the role a gradient between the other provided colors
tertiary_color	?integer	the tertiary color for the role, this will turn the gradient into a holographic style

When sending tertiary_color the API enforces the role color to be a holographic style with values of: primary_color = 11127295, secondary_color = 16759788, and tertiary_color = 16761760.

Default Role Colors Object

"colors": {
  "primary_color": 0,
  "secondary_color": null,
  "tertiary_color": null
}

Example Role

{
  "id": "41771983423143936",
  "name": "WE DEM BOYZZ!!!!!!",
  "color": 3447003,
  "colors": {
    "primary_color": 3447003,
    "secondary_color": null,
    "tertiary_color": null
  },
  "hoist": true,
  "icon": "cf3ced8600b777c9486c6d8d84fb4327",
  "unicode_emoji": null,
  "position": 1,
  "permissions": "66321471",
  "managed": false,
  "mentionable": false,
  "flags": 0
}

Role Flags

Flag	Value	Description
IN_PROMPT	1 << 0	role can be selected by members in an onboarding prompt

Permissions For Timed Out Members

Timed out members will temporarily lose all permissions except VIEW_CHANNEL and READ_MESSAGE_HISTORY. Owners and admin users with ADMINISTRATOR permissions are exempt.