Discord Automod: What It Is and How to Set It Up
What Discord's native AutoMod covers, and how Airwavy's three automated moderation layers — Anti-Scam, Warning Points, and AI Moderation — fit together.
Quick answer
"Automod" isn't one feature — it's Discord's built-in filters plus whatever a bot adds on top. Airwavy adds three layers: Anti-Scam auto-deletes scam-pattern content (free), Warning Points escalates repeat rule-breakers automatically by point value (Server Premium), and AI Moderation is an opt-in second-opinion layer for ambiguous cases (Server Premium). Each solves a different problem, and most servers want more than one.
What you'll learn
- What Discord's own native AutoMod actually covers, and where it stops
- The three automated layers Airwavy adds, and which problem each one solves
- How to set up Warning Points so repeat rule-breakers escalate automatically
- How the three layers work together without stepping on each other
- Common mistakes when turning on more than one automated system at once
Why manual-only enforcement doesn't scale
Most day-to-day moderation isn't a dramatic raid or a scam wave — it's the same small handful of members repeatedly breaking the same rules, staff applying inconsistent judgment calls because there's no shared standard, or a new moderator not knowing what past warnings a member already has.
Automation doesn't replace staff judgment; it makes the boring, repetitive, easy-to-get-wrong part — remembering what happened last time and applying it consistently — happen the same way every time.
What Discord's own AutoMod offers
Discord ships a native AutoMod system per server: block custom keyword lists, a built-in spam-pattern filter, mention-spam limits, and member-profile checks on new accounts. It's a real first layer and costs nothing to turn on — but it works purely on rules you define up front, with no memory of what a specific member has already done, and no way to escalate a response based on someone's history.
Airwavy's three automated layers
Airwavy doesn't add one "automod" toggle — it adds three independent systems, each aimed at a different kind of problem. Understanding which is which prevents the most common mistake: turning one on and assuming it covers everything.
Anti-Scam — pattern-based, always on, free
Continuously scans for scam-shaped content — message, URL, and behaviour patterns — and can auto-delete matches with a staff alert. This is about content that looks like a scam, regardless of who posted it. See the Stop Discord Spam guide for the full setup.
Warning Points — deterministic escalation, Server Premium
Assigns point values to warnings, timeouts, kicks, and softbans, with a configured maximum. This is about a specific member's history: the same infraction should carry more weight the fifth time than the first. Staff still issue the action through /mod; Airwavy tracks the running total and can escalate once a threshold is reached.
AI Moderation — second opinion, opt-in, Server Premium
Reviews candidates that deterministic signals already flagged — scam-like links, configured phrases, spam, mass mentions, suspicious attachments — for cases without a clean pattern match. It only ever alerts staff or deletes a confirmed-unsafe message; it never bans, kicks, or times out anyone.
Set up Warning Points
- Open Moderation in the dashboard and confirm your staff roles and their permitted actions are already configured.
- If you have Server Premium, open warning points and assign a point value to each action type — warnings, timeouts, kicks, softbans.
- Set the maximum threshold and decide what happens automatically once a member reaches it.
- Start with conservative values and write down what staff should do at each threshold, so the ladder is predictable for both staff and members.
- Layer in Anti-Scam (always available) and AI Moderation (Premium, opt-in) separately — they run independently of Warning Points and of each other.
Common mistakes
- Assuming Warning Points is available on the free tier — it's a Server Premium feature; free servers use /mod's manual actions without automatic point escalation.
- Setting escalation values without documenting them for staff — an undocumented ladder is as inconsistent as no ladder at all.
- Turning on all three layers at once with aggressive settings — introduce one at a time and watch how it behaves on real traffic before adding the next.
- Expecting AI Moderation to take destructive action — it only alerts or deletes; bans, kicks, and timeouts still go through /mod or Warning Points.
Troubleshooting
Repeat offenders aren't being escalated automatically
Confirm Server Premium is active and Warning Points is configured with point values and a maximum threshold — without it, /mod actions are recorded but don't escalate on their own.
I can't tell why a member was flagged
Check /mod case for the moderation case and /mod warnings for their history; enable a private moderation-log channel if staff need a shared record.
Native Discord AutoMod and Airwavy both flagged the same message
That's expected — they run independently. Discord's AutoMod handles it based on your keyword/spam rules; Airwavy's layers evaluate the same message separately. Overlap isn't a conflict, just double coverage.
Related guides
How to Stop Spam in Discord
Why Discord spam happens, what Discord's own tools miss, and how to stop it automatically with Airwavy's Anti-Scam detection and AI Moderation.
Read guideHow to Prevent Discord Raids
What a Discord raid looks like, what's protected for free, and how to configure Airwavy's Anti-Raid thresholds, detection signals, and incident workflow.
Read guideSoftban, Timeout, and Undeafen: Discord Moderation Actions Explained
What softban actually does, how it differs from a ban, and how timeout, untimeout, and undeafen work — with the exact limits Airwavy enforces.
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