Skip to main content

​
Overview

A Honeypot is a bait channel that looks like a normal member-visible channel but is not intended for regular conversation. Petto watches the channel and automatically moderates members or bots that send a message there. This is designed to catch compromised accounts and automated spam bots that blindly post while scanning a server. Petto ignores itself, but it checks other bot messages before the normal bot-message skip so spam bots can be caught too.
All Honeypot commands require Administrator. The configured action can be:
  • softban — bans the user, removes their recent messages, and immediately unbans them.
  • ban — permanently bans the user and removes recent messages according to Discord’s limits.
  • kick — removes the user from the server without banning them.
The default action is softban.

​
Adding a Honeypot

Choose a text or announcement channel that members can see. Do not deny View Channel or prevent messages from reaching the channel, because Petto needs to receive a message there in order to detect it.
If the channel already has a Honeypot, running add again updates its configured action and refreshes the warning panel. The panel includes Petto’s Honeypot artwork, a persistent trigger counter, and a counter button using <:petto_honeypot:1541493688054841405>.

​
Listing Honeypots

View every active Honeypot in the current server, its configured punishment, and its persistent trigger count.
The counter is stored per server and channel. The panel button is informational only: clicking it does not disable the Honeypot or change its action; it replies privately with the current count.

​
Removing a Honeypot

Remove a channel from the server’s Honeypot configuration. Members will no longer be punished for sending messages there, and Petto removes the warning panel when it can access the message.

​
Exemptions and permissions

The following are exempt from Honeypot actions:
  • The server owner.
  • Members with Administrator.
  • Members with Manage Messages.
  • Petto itself.
Petto needs these permissions in the Honeypot channel to configure and maintain the panel:
  • View Channel
  • Send Messages
  • Read Message History
  • Manage Messages
It also needs Kick Members or Ban Members, depending on the selected action. Its highest role must be above the target member’s highest role. Discord’s role hierarchy still applies; a Honeypot cannot punish an owner, a higher role, or another protected member.

​
What gets logged

Every trigger deletes the message, increments the persistent counter, and attempts the configured action. A successful action creates a normal moderation case, so it appears in the sanctions log with a reason such as:
The detection itself is also sent to the automod log category. To keep these separate, route them to different channels:
See Logging for all available event categories and routing options.

​
Troubleshooting

​
The panel does not appear

Check that Petto can view and send messages in the selected channel and has Manage Messages. Run the add command again after fixing permissions to recreate or refresh the panel.

​
The message is detected but the action fails

Check the matching Kick Members or Ban Members permission and move Petto’s role above the target member’s highest role. The trigger may still appear in the automod log even when Discord rejects the punishment.

​
Staff members are not punished

That is intentional. The owner, Administrators, and members with Manage Messages are exempt so staff can inspect or maintain the bait channel safely.

Automod

Configure content checks, anti-spam, anti-raid, anti-alt, and silent channels.

Logging

Route sanctions, automod detections, and other event categories to separate channels.