How to Set Up Discord Starboard? Threshold, Emoji, and Channel Settings

A separate channel, bot permissions and a single emoji

• Create a separate highlights channel. The channel should be a text or announcement channel. Messages within this channel are never counted, so cards do not copy themselves. Disabling member posting in this channel keeps it clean.
• Bot permissions on both sides. The bot needs permission to send messages and embed links in the highlights channel. In the channels where messages are posted, the bot must be able to view the channel and message history; it cannot count reactions in channels it cannot see.
• The module must be enabled. When the Starboard switch in the Overview is off, reactions are not counted and /setstarboard will return a "module disabled" response. The system will not work without a channel selected.
• Define the emoji from the start. There is one emoji and one highlights channel per server. If you change the emoji later, reactions given with the old emoji will not count toward the new threshold.

This topic in VeyroBot:Discord Starboard Bot →

Setup via dashboard

1. Open Dashboard → your server → Starboard tab.
2. Select the channel from the Highlights Channel list.
3. In the Emoji field, enter an emoji like ⭐, a custom emoji belonging to this server, or a shortcut like :tada:. The shortcut will be converted to the actual emoji upon saving.
4. Enter a number between 1 and 50 in the Threshold field. The default is 3.
5. Adjust the Count Self-Reactions switch and click the Save Starboard button.

After saving, test it by having another account react to a message up to the threshold to see if the card appears in the channel. When testing with a single account, you must temporarily set the threshold to 1 and enable self-reaction counting.

Setup via command

/setstarboard channel:#highlights emoji:⭐ threshold:3 self_star:false

• channel: the highlights channel.
• emoji: the reaction to be counted. If left blank, the current emoji is kept.
• threshold: the number of reactions required to be highlighted, between 1 and 50.
• self_star: whether the message author's own reaction should be counted.

To update only the threshold or emoji without changing the channel, leave the channel option blank and enter only the option you wish to change.

How to choose the threshold and settings?

Regardless of the threshold, bot reactions are never counted, and bot messages are never copied.

If the emoji is rejected or a message is not featured

• Typing the name of the emoji. If you type a plain name like star into the emoji field, the save will be rejected. Paste the actual emoji or use the shortcut between colons.
• Using a custom emoji from another server. Only custom emojis uploaded to this server are accepted. An emoji copied from another server will result in a "not found on this server" error.
• Running the command without options. If /setstarboard is sent without any options, the starboard will be disabled.
• Deleting the card from the highlights channel. The record of the deleted card remains in the bot; even if the same message receives more reactions, it will not be copied again. Only delete the card if you do not want that message to ever be highlighted again.
• Wondering why a message in an NSFW channel didn't appear. Messages from an NSFW-marked channel or category are not copied unless the highlights channel is also NSFW. This is a deliberate protection.
• Thinking the card will be deleted if reactions decrease. Once a message passes the threshold, the card remains; only the number on it decreases.

Is a starboard useful on a small server?

Suitable for: Communities where humor, drawings, clips, and screenshot sharing are frequent, and good messages get lost in the feed within a few hours. The highlights channel also provides proof to new members that "there is live chat here"; you can check out our event ideas article to combine this with community formats.

Not suitable for: Very small servers with only a few messages per day and structures where you want moderators to choose what gets highlighted. Starboard does not include an approval step; for moderator curation, a scheduled or manually posted announcement is more appropriate.

Frequently asked questions

Are reactions given while the bot is offline counted?

The count is recalculated from the message's current reactions at every reaction event. A message that passed the threshold while the bot was offline will be copied once a new reaction is added or removed with that emoji after the bot comes back online.

What does the card show?

The author, message text, the first image in the message, a link to the original message, the source channel, and the date. The card carries the text as it was at the moment it was copied; if the original message is edited later, the card does not change.

Can I exclude some channels from the starboard?

No. There is no channel exclusion option in the dashboard or command; the starboard applies to messages in all channels the bot can see. The exceptions are the highlights channel itself and the NSFW rule mentioned above.

What happens if I change the threshold later?

The new threshold applies to future reactions. Previously copied cards remain in place.

How do I turn off the Starboard?

Turn off the Starboard switch in the Overview. Old cards in the channel will not be deleted.

For a general summary of the feature, see the Discord starboard bot page, for a step-by-step list, see the starboard section in the documentation, and for command details, see the /setstarboard command card. If you are unsure how channel permissions work, the Discord role and permission system article will help.

Last update: September 17, 2026. The threshold range, emoji rules, and copying behavior in this article have been verified against the starboard code in the current version of VeyroBot.