Last updated: October 24, 2026 · Category: Tutorial · Editorial review · About the authors
Key Takeaways
- Community Onboarding lets new members pick their own roles and channels by answering a few questions. It is available on every Community server, under Server Settings > Onboarding.
- Discord requires at least 7 Default Channels, with at least 5 open to
@everyone, before you can enable it.- Onboarding organizes new members. It does not verify them, so decide separately how much of a gate your server needs.
Discord onboarding, officially Community Onboarding, is the setup new members go through when they join a Community server. They answer a few questions, and their answers give them roles and add channels to their list. You set it up in Server Settings > Onboarding by choosing Default Channels, writing Customization Questions, previewing the result, and enabling it.
This guide covers Discord's built-in onboarding. For greeting messages, from Discord's system messages or a bot, see Discord welcome messages.
Before You Start
Discord's Community Onboarding FAQ (retrieved 2026-09-28) sets three conditions:
- A Community server. Onboarding "is available to all community servers." Discord Community Server covers enabling Community.
- The right permissions. You need "Manage Server" and "Manage Roles," or "Administrator."
- A desktop. "Admins can only configure and enable Community Onboarding on desktop." Members can go through it on any device.
Onboarding assigns roles, so the roles it hands out need to exist first. How to make roles on Discord covers creating and ordering them.
Step 1: Choose Default Channels
Go to Server Settings > Onboarding and add Default Channels. These are the channels every new member sees. Discord suggests "channels with healthy activity and friendly for new joiners," such as general chat, polls, giveaways, forums, or looking-for-group channels.
To enable onboarding, Discord requires:
- at least 7 Default Channels
- at least 5 of them allowing
@everyoneto view and send messages
Step 2: Write Customization Questions
Customization Questions assign extra channels and roles. For each question, you add answers and link each answer to channels, roles, or both. When a member picks an answer, they get those roles and channels.
Each question has three options:
| Option | What it does | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Ask before a member joins | Shows the question during onboarding | Questions that assign channels and important roles |
| Allow multiple answers | Lets members pick several answers | "Choose all that apply" questions |
| Make Required | Members must answer to continue | Questions that assign channels most members need |
Questions not asked before joining still appear later in the Channels & Roles tab, where members can change their answers "at any time."
Example Onboarding Questions
Discord's own examples include "What would you like to do here?" for your main channels and "What off-topic channels do you want?" for optional ones. Discord's Community Onboarding Examples article (retrieved 2026-09-28) adds that "6 is a good maximum" for answer options on channel questions, and recommends making "separate questions for off-topic channels."
These examples show how answers can map to channels and roles. They are suggestions, not Discord templates:
| Question | Example answers | What each answer assigns |
|---|---|---|
| What would you like to do here? | Chat, find teammates, share art | The matching channels |
| Which games do you play? | One answer per game, up to 6 | A game role and its channel |
| Which off-topic channels do you want? | Memes, music, pets | Those channels |
| Do you want giveaway and event pings? | Yes, No | A notification role, so only interested members get pinged |
| Which region are you in? | Americas, Europe, Asia | A region role |
The same article warns: "DON'T put rules inside your onboarding questions." Members accept rules in a separate step.
Step 3: Assign Most Member Channels
Discord recommends making sure "most of your member channels" are reachable through Default Channels or an answer. It warns that "if channels are left out of onboarding, newer members may not ever find those channels." Discord shows which channels are not assigned yet. Members can still find unassigned channels later through Channels & Roles > Browse Channels.
Step 4: Preview and Enable
Use the Preview button to go through onboarding as a new member would. Check that each answer grants the right roles and channels, then enable it.
Keep the flow short. Discord warns that with too many answer options "members will feel overwhelmed," and asks for short text "so new members can read and answer them easily."
To change onboarding later, return to Server Settings > Onboarding. Discord's FAQ answers "Yes" when asked whether members who leave and rejoin go through onboarding again.
Onboarding and Verification
Discord's FAQ takes a clear position here. It suggests considering "removing bot-powered restrictions that add confusion," and relying on its Raid Protection for join-raids instead. When Raid Protection detects a likely raid, Discord says it can send an alert and require "CAPTCHA for new joiners within the next hour."
Whether that is enough depends on the server:
- Servers without join-based rewards can follow Discord's advice: onboarding and Raid Protection, on top of the Verification Level that Community already requires.
- Servers with rewards tied to joins or invites have a different risk. Accounts that pass onboarding can still be alts created to farm a leaderboard or a giveaway. There, a verification step or an account-age filter makes farming the rewards harder. How Discord verification bots work covers the options.
If you do keep a verification gate, check it against onboarding's requirements. Onboarding needs at least 5 Default Channels where @everyone can view and send messages. A gate that removes those permissions from @everyone conflicts with that. Discord's Rules Screening FAQ gives similar advice for bot role gates: "re-enable perms on @everyone."
Onboarding, Rules, and Welcome Messages Together
These features do different jobs and work well together. In the order a new member meets them:
- Onboarding questions set to "Ask before a member joins" appear first and give members their roles and channels.
- Rules Screening asks members to accept your rules. The Examples article says "Members will be asked to accept rules after they join." Discord server rules covers setup.
- A welcome message greets them once they are in, and can name the person who invited them.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I turn on onboarding in Discord?
Enable Community on your server first. Then go to Server Settings, then Onboarding, add at least 7 Default Channels, create your questions, preview the flow, and enable it. You need Manage Server and Manage Roles, or Administrator, on desktop.
What are the requirements to enable Discord onboarding?
Discord says you must select at least 7 Default Channels, and at least 5 of them must allow @everyone to view and send messages. Community Onboarding is available to all Community servers.
Can I set up Discord onboarding on mobile?
No. Discord says members can go through onboarding on any device, but admins can only configure and enable it on desktop.
What questions should I ask in Discord onboarding?
Short questions that map to channels and roles, such as what members want to do in the server or which topics interest them. Discord suggests 6 answers as a good maximum for channel questions, and a separate question for off-topic channels. Consider making a question required when it assigns channels most members need.
How do I change Discord onboarding?
Edit it in the same place you set it up: Server Settings, then Onboarding, on desktop. Discord says members who leave and rejoin go through onboarding again, and existing members can change their answers in the Channels & Roles tab.
Is onboarding the same as a welcome message?
No. Onboarding lets new members pick roles and channels before or after they join. A welcome message, from Discord's built-in system messages or a bot, greets the member once they are in. The two work together.