Docs/Getting started/Permissions
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Permissions and role hierarchy

Discord permissions decide what Ovels is allowed to do. Role position decides who it's allowed to do it to. Most setup problems trace back to the second one.

01

Why role position matters

Discord will not let any bot — Ovels included — act on a member whose highest role sits above the bot's own role in Server Settings → Roles, even if the bot technically has the Ban Members or Timeout Members permission. This is a Discord-level rule, not something Ovels can override.

In practice: if you want Ovels to be able to moderate your entire staff team below the owner, its role needs to sit above every staff role, and below only roles that should be untouchable. The same rule applies to auto-role assignment, reaction roles, and color roles — Ovels can only grant or remove a role that sits below its own.

02

Dashboard access is checked live

Signing into the dashboard doesn't grant standing access. Every dashboard page and every save re-checks your current Discord roles and Manage Server permission at request time — the session only proves who you are, not what you're currently allowed to do. That means if you're demoted or removed from a server in Discord, your dashboard access changes immediately, without needing to sign out.

03

Granting only what's needed

You don't have to keep every permission from the initial invite. After setup, review Server Settings → Integrations → Ovels and remove anything tied to a feature you're certain you won't use. If you later enable that feature from the dashboard, it will fail quietly in Discord until the permission is restored — so when in doubt, leave it granted rather than guess.

Quick checkIf a moderation command silently fails against one specific member but works on everyone else, role hierarchy is almost always the cause — compare that member's highest role position to Ovels' role position.