Automations Overview
Build powerful event-driven workflows to automatically respond to server events, schedule actions, and chain complex automation sequences.
What are Automations?
SYNTHET Automations is an event-driven automation system that lets you create rules that automatically respond to server events. Instead of manually managing repetitive tasks, automations handle them instantly and consistently.
Think of automations as "if this, then that" rules for your Discord server. When a specific event occurs (the trigger), one or more actions execute automatically (the response). You can create simple one-step automations or complex multi-step workflows.
Key Capabilities
Auto-respond to Events
Automatically respond to member joins, message activity, reactions, and role changes without manual intervention.
Schedule Actions
Create time-based automations using cron expressions to run tasks at specific times, daily, weekly, or monthly.
Chain Workflows
Connect multiple actions into sequences. One trigger can execute dozens of actions in order with optional delays.
Conditional Logic
Add conditions to automations so they only execute when specific requirements are met (user has role, channel is X, etc).
Branching Flows
Create if/else logic paths so different actions execute based on conditions. Fork your workflow based on criteria.
Webhook Integration
Trigger automations from external systems via webhooks, and call webhooks from automation actions.
Available Trigger Types
Choose from a wide variety of server events to trigger your automations:
Member Join
Fires when a new member joins the server. Useful for welcome messages, role assignment, or introductory sequences.
Member Leave
Fires when a member leaves the server. Can log departures or clean up roles automatically.
Message Sent
Fires when a message is sent matching criteria (specific channel, content patterns, keywords). Enables auto-moderation and auto-responses.
Reaction Added
Fires when a specific emoji reaction is added to a message. Use for polls, verification, or reaction-based moderation.
Role Changed
Fires when a member is granted or loses a specific role. Trigger cascading permission or perk updates.
Voice State Change
Fires when a member joins, leaves, or moves between voice channels. Perfect for voice-based automations.
Scheduled (Cron)
Fires on a schedule using cron expressions. Run daily reports, send reminders, or execute maintenance tasks at specific times.
Webhook
Fires when an external system sends data to your automation webhook. Integrate with third-party services.
Available Action Types
Automations can execute a variety of actions when triggered:
Send Message
Send a message to a specific channel. Supports embeds, mentions, and dynamic content from trigger data.
Add Role
Automatically grant a role to the triggering user. Useful for welcome flows or permission assignment.
Remove Role
Automatically remove a role from a user. Handy for status updates or permission revocation.
Create Channel
Dynamically create new text or voice channels with custom names, permissions, and topics.
Send Direct Message
Send a private message to the triggering user. Great for confirmations or private instructions.
Call Webhook
Send data to an external webhook. Integrate with external systems or trigger third-party actions.
Log Event
Record the automation trigger and details in a log channel for audit trails and monitoring.
Delay
Pause for a specified duration (seconds, minutes, hours) before executing the next action in a chain.
Conditions & Filters
Make automations intelligent by adding conditions. Automations only execute when conditions are met:
Examples: "If user has admin role", "If message contains profanity", "If in #general channel", "If time is between 9 AM - 5 PM"
User Conditions
Check if user has specific roles, is in a role, has a custom tag, or meets account age requirements.
Channel Conditions
Filter by channel ID, channel category, channel name patterns, or channel type (text/voice/thread).
Content Conditions
Check if message contains keywords, matches regex patterns, has attachments, or contains mentions.
Time Conditions
Execute only during specific hours, days of the week, or within a date range.
Automation Priorities
When multiple automations could trigger simultaneously, SYNTHET respects automation priorities. Set each automation to low, normal, or high priority. Higher priority automations execute first. This prevents conflicts and ensures critical automations run before less important ones.
• High Priority: Critical automations like security measures, emergency alerts, or essential workflows
• Normal Priority: Regular automations like welcome messages or standard responses (default)
• Low Priority: Optional automations like nice-to-have features or logging that can be delayed
Rate Limiting & Safeguards
SYNTHET includes built-in protection to prevent automation abuse and runaway loops:
Per-Trigger Rate Limits
Each automation cannot trigger more than a configurable number of times per minute. Defaults to 10 executions/minute per automation.
Cooldowns
Set cooldowns so automations can't repeatedly execute for the same user within a timeframe (e.g., "max once per user per hour").
Execution Limits
Limit maximum concurrent executions of a single automation to prevent system overload.
Loop Prevention
Automations cannot trigger other automations directly, preventing infinite loops.
Common Use Cases
Welcome Flow
Send welcome DMs to new members, assign starter roles, post introduction prompts in welcome channel.
Verification System
Require reaction to a message to grant member role, with fallback to manual verification.
Moderation Escalation
Detect rule violations, warn users, mute on repeat offenses, escalate to mods if severe.
Daily Reminders
Post scheduled announcements, event reminders, or daily news at specific times.
Role-based Notifications
When user gets a specific role, send them custom instructions or grant access to exclusive channels.
Best Practices
- • Name automations clearly to identify their purpose and avoid confusion
- • Use conditions to make automations specific and prevent unintended triggers
- • Test automations in a safe environment before enabling on a live server
- • Monitor execution logs to catch errors or unexpected behavior early
- • Document complex workflow logic for future maintainers
- • Use automation priorities strategically for critical vs. optional tasks
- • Set appropriate rate limits and cooldowns to prevent spam or abuse
- • Keep action sequences reasonably short (10-20 actions) for better performance
Getting Started
Ready to create your first automation? Here are the key steps:
- 1. Go to Dashboard → Automations
- 2. Click "Create Automation" button
- 3. Choose a trigger type (e.g., Member Join)
- 4. Configure the trigger (specific channels, keywords, roles)
- 5. Add one or more actions (Send Message, Add Role, etc.)
- 6. Set optional conditions to limit when automation runs
- 7. Test with dry-run mode before enabling
- 8. Enable and monitor execution logs