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The rule that explains most permission issues

Discord enforces one hard rule for every bot, Petto included: a bot can never act on a member whose highest role sits above the bot’s own role in the server’s role list, no permission or admin setting overrides this. This applies to !ban, !kick, !mute, !role, and anything else that touches a member directly. Petto uses the server’s prefix; ! is only the default.
This means Petto also can’t moderate members with a role positioned above its own, even if that member has no special permissions themselves, hierarchy is purely about role position, not what the role grants.
kira tries to ban PartnerBot and Petto says it cannot ban this member because their highest role is above or equal to its own

In Discord: a ban refused because the member's highest role is above Petto's.

Petto checks your own place too: you cannot use a sanction on someone whose highest role is equal to or above yours, unless you own the server.
kira tries to warn chu, who has the same moderator role, and Petto says you cannot target someone with an equal or higher role

In Discord: your own role has to be above the member's too.

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Fixing it

Server Settings → Roles, drag Petto’s own role up until it sits above every role you want it to be able to act on. It doesn’t need to be at the very top, just higher than its targets.

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Bot permissions vs. channel permissions

Two separate things have to both be true:
  1. Server-wide permissions: what Petto’s role is granted overall (Manage Roles, Ban Members, Manage Channels, etc.), set once in Server Settings → Roles.
  2. Channel-specific overrides: a channel can deny Petto something it has server-wide, permission overwrites on a specific channel always win over the role-level grant.
kira tries to ban drama_llama and Petto says it needs the Ban Members permission to do that

In Discord: the role of Petto does not have Ban Members.

A command failing in exactly one channel but working everywhere else is almost always #2, not #1.
kira runs lock in announcements and Petto says it needs the Manage Channels permission in that channel

In Discord: Petto has Manage Channels in the server, but a channel override takes it away there.

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Command-level permission requirements

Beyond what Petto itself needs, most config commands also require the member running them to have Manage Guild (or a more specific permission like Ban Members for !ban). This is Discord’s own permission system, checked by Petto for prefix commands.
Chillet, a Helper, tries to ban drama_llama and Petto says the permission ban_members is missing

In Discord: a Helper without Ban Members tries !ban.

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Petto command levels

The dashboard’s Permissions page and !permission expose an additional optional layer. Create groups from level 0 to 100, assign users or roles, then set a required level on a command. The highest matching group level wins. This layer never replaces Discord permissions or hierarchy; it only adds a configurable staff gate. The server owner and members with Administrator are never stopped by a level.
kira runs nuke and Petto says the permission level required for nuke is missing

In Discord: nuke needs level 80 and the Moderators group is level 50.

See Command permissions for the full prefix-only command reference.

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Where this shows up

Moderation

Every sanction command is subject to hierarchy.

Permission Issues

Step-by-step troubleshooting when something isn’t working.