MEE6 bot guide: setup, commands and what it can do for your server

MEE6 is the most widely installed general-purpose Discord bot, and most gaming servers meet it before any other. This guide walks you through adding it safely, configuring the plugins that matter, the slash commands your mods will use daily, and the XP formula behind its leveling system so you can set role rewards that actually make sense.

What MEE6 actually does

MEE6 is a modular bot. You turn on “plugins” from a web dashboard, and each plugin adds a feature set to your server. The core plugins most gaming communities use are Levels, Moderator, Welcome, Reaction Roles, Custom Commands, Social Alerts and Timers. By MEE6’s own count it sits in more than 20 million servers, which is why so many players already know what “/rank” means when they join yours.

The bot has two halves. The dashboard at mee6.xyz is where you build everything: level curves, banned-word lists, welcome embeds, Twitch alerts. Discord itself is where members interact with the result through slash commands and reactions. Almost nothing is configured from inside Discord, so bookmark the dashboard.

Here is how the main plugins split between the free tier and Premium. MEE6 has shifted features between tiers several times, so treat the free-tier caps as “small” rather than fixed numbers and confirm the current limits on your own dashboard.

Plugin	Free tier	Premium adds	Worth it for gaming servers?
Levels	XP, role rewards, leaderboard, level-up message	Custom rank card backgrounds, XP import/export, higher customisation	Yes, free tier is enough for most
Moderator	Automod filters, warn/mute/ban commands, infraction log	Larger filter lists, more automated actions	Yes, free tier is solid
Welcome	Text welcome in channel or DM, auto-role	Welcome image cards, more variables	Free is fine
Reaction Roles	A limited number of reaction role messages	More messages and roles	Only if you run many role menus
Custom Commands	A limited number of commands	More commands, advanced responses	Depends on how many you need
Social Alerts	One or two feeds (Twitch, YouTube)	Multiple feeds per platform	Useful for streamer servers
Timers	Scheduled recurring messages	More timers	Free covers rules reminders
Music	Restricted	Full playback	No, use a dedicated music bot
Economy, Giveaways, Birthdays, Polls	Basic versions available	Extra options	Nice-to-have

Premium is sold per server. MEE6 currently lists it at $11.95 a month, up from $9.99 a month in 2024, with a yearly plan at $49.99 that works out to roughly a third of the monthly price. Check the pricing page before you buy, because the company adjusts plans fairly often and a lifetime option has come and gone.

What you need before you start

Setup takes about ten minutes if you have these ready:

• A Discord account with the Manage Server permission on the target server. Server owners and anyone with Administrator qualify.
• A clear idea of which channels are for chatting, which are for bot spam, and which should never give XP (announcements, rules, voice text channels).
• A list of the roles you want to hand out at levels, created in advance under Server Settings, then Roles.
• For automod, a short list of words or patterns you actually want blocked. Start small and expand.
• A dedicated log channel that only staff can read.

Add MEE6 to your Discord server

Step 1: Authorise through the dashboard

Go to mee6.xyz in a browser, press Add to Discord, and sign in through Discord’s OAuth page. You will see a dropdown of every server where you hold Manage Server. Pick the right one. The invite flow asks for the Administrator permission by default. That is convenient for the bot and bad for your security posture, and we cover trimming it in the next step.

After you click Authorize, the MEE6 bot user appears in your member list with its own managed role, also called MEE6. The dashboard reloads and shows your server card. Click it to reach the plugin grid.

Step 2: Fix the permissions

Administrator means that if a MEE6 staff account were ever compromised, or if the bot had a bug, it could touch anything. Nobody has shown MEE6 abusing this, but the principle of least privilege exists for a reason. Open Server Settings, then Roles, then click the MEE6 role and untick Administrator. Then grant the specific permissions below.

Permission	Why MEE6 needs it
View Channels, Send Messages, Embed Links	Basic operation and level-up messages
Manage Roles	Role rewards, reaction roles, auto-role on join
Manage Messages	Automod deletions and /clear
Moderate Members	Timeouts for /mute and /tempmute
Kick Members, Ban Members	/kick, /ban, /tempban
Read Message History	Reaction roles on older messages
Add Reactions	Reaction role menus
Manage Channels	Only if you use the temporary voice channel plugin
Manage Nicknames	Only if you use nickname moderation

One rule saves hours of troubleshooting: the MEE6 role must sit above every role it will assign or moderate. Drag it up the list in Server Settings, then Roles. If it sits below your “Level 10” role, rewards silently fail.

Step 3: Control who can run commands

Discord lets you restrict slash commands per bot without touching MEE6’s dashboard. Open Server Settings, then Integrations, then click MEE6 under Bots and Apps. From here you set which roles and channels can use each command. The sensible default: moderation commands limited to your mod roles, /rank and /levels allowed everywhere except announcement channels.

Expected result

When this is done you should be able to type / in any channel and see MEE6’s commands in the picker, /rank should return a card showing Level 0 with zero XP, and the MEE6 role should appear near the top of your role list with Administrator off. If commands do not appear, jump to the troubleshooting table at the end.

Set up the Levels plugin properly

Leveling is the reason most gaming servers install MEE6. It rewards people for talking, and tying roles to levels gives regulars a visible status that new members want. Enable the Levels plugin on the dashboard and you get a block of settings. Here is what each one does and the values that work for a mid-sized gaming community.

Setting	Recommended value	Reason
Level-up announcement	Dedicated bot channel	Keeps “GG” spam out of chat
Level-up message	Customised with {user} and {level}	The default “GG {user}, you just advanced to level {level}!” is fine but bland
XP rate	1x for new servers, 0.5x for large active ones	High-traffic servers level too fast at 1x
No-XP channels	Bot commands, announcements, memes, voice text	Stops farming in low-effort channels
No-XP roles	Muted, bots, alt-flagged roles	Prevents punished users progressing
Role rewards	4 to 6 milestones	Too many tiers dilute each one
Remove previous role rewards	On	Keeps member role lists short
Leaderboard	Public	Visible competition drives chat

How MEE6 XP works

Every message earns a random amount between 15 and 25 XP, and a member can only earn once per 60 seconds. Spamming ten messages in a minute earns the same as one. The XP needed to go from one level to the next follows this formula, where L is the current level:

5 × L² + 50 × L + 100

So going from level 0 to level 1 needs 100 XP, level 1 to 2 needs 155, level 2 to 3 needs 220, and the gaps keep widening. The cumulative totals below assume an average of 20 XP per message, which is the midpoint of the range.

Level	Total XP required	Messages (approx.)	Realistic time at 50 messages a day
5	1,150	58	1 to 2 days
10	4,675	234	About 5 days
20	23,850	1,193	Around 24 days
30	67,525	3,376	Around 2 months
50	268,375	13,419	Around 9 months
100	1,899,250	94,963	Over 5 years

Use this table when placing role rewards. A common mistake is putting the first reward at level 20, which a casual player will not touch for weeks. Something at level 5 gives new members a quick win, then level 10, 20, 35 and 50 spread the rest. Level 100 is effectively a lifetime achievement and only makes sense on servers that have been around for years.

Role rewards and permissions tied to levels

The “Remove previous role rewards” toggle matters more than it looks. With it on, a member hitting level 20 loses their level 10 role and gains the level 20 one, so your member list stays clean. With it off, long-tenured members carry six stacked roles. Pick based on whether your roles grant channel access. If level 10 unlocks a clips channel and level 20 unlocks a scrim channel, you either stack the roles or give the level 20 role both channel permissions. Most servers find it easier to stack and accept the clutter.

Configure the Moderator plugin

MEE6’s automod is older than Discord’s built-in AutoMod and overlaps with it. The honest take: Discord’s native AutoMod now handles keyword and spam filtering well enough for most servers, but MEE6 still wins on the infraction system, the warn-then-escalate ladder, and the moderation slash commands that work the same way across every server your mods manage.

The plugin has these filter categories, each with its own on/off switch, exempt channels, exempt roles and action:

• Banned words and phrases, with wildcard support
• Bad links, with a per-server allowlist
• Discord invites
• Excessive capital letters
• Excessive emojis
• Excessive spoilers
• Repeated text
• Mass mentions
• Zalgo and unusual Unicode

Each filter can delete the message, warn the member, or do both. The infraction system then lets you set automatic escalation, for example “3 warnings in 24 hours triggers a 1-hour mute” and “5 warnings triggers a 7-day ban”. Those thresholds are configurable and the defaults are too lenient for competitive gaming servers where rage-bait escalates fast. Something like 2 warnings for a 30-minute mute, 4 for a 24-hour mute, 6 for a ban is a reasonable starting ladder.

Exempt your mod roles from the filters, turn on the Discord invite filter in every channel except an advertising channel if you run one, and always set a log channel. Without a log channel you get deletions you cannot explain to members who complain.

MEE6 commands your mods will use

MEE6 moved entirely to slash commands after Discord required them for verified bots. The old “!” prefix commands like !rank and !tempmute no longer work on the official bot, and if you see guides still using them, they predate the switch. Type / and select the MEE6 icon to see the live list for your server. These are the ones that get daily use.

Command	What it does	Who should have it
/rank	Shows your level, XP and leaderboard position, or another member’s if you specify one	Everyone
/levels	Posts a link to your server’s web leaderboard	Everyone
/warn member reason	Logs an infraction and DMs the member	Mods
/infractions member	Lists a member’s warning history	Mods
/clear-infractions member	Wipes a member’s record	Admins
/mute member reason	Indefinite mute	Mods
/tempmute member duration reason	Timed mute, covered below	Mods
/unmute member	Ends a mute early	Mods
/kick member reason	Removes a member, they can rejoin	Mods
/ban member reason	Permanent ban	Senior mods
/tempban member duration reason	Timed ban that lifts automatically	Senior mods
/unban user reason	Reverses a ban	Senior mods
/clear amount	Bulk deletes recent messages in the channel	Mods
/slowmode seconds	Sets channel slowmode	Mods
/user-info member	Join date, account age, roles	Mods
/server-info	Member count, creation date, region	Everyone
/help	Lists available commands	Everyone

Custom commands you build on the dashboard also appear as slash commands. A gaming server typically adds /rules, /lfg with a template, /sens for a pinned settings guide, and /patch linking the current patch notes. Keep names short and unique, because if another bot registers the same command name Discord shows both and members pick the wrong one.

The MEE6 tempmute command explained

/tempmute is the command people search for most, because it is the one that trips up new mods. The syntax is:

/tempmute member: @Name duration: 10m reason: spamming invites

The duration field accepts a number followed by a unit: s for seconds, m for minutes, h for hours, d for days. So 30m, 2h and 3d are all valid. Modern MEE6 applies Discord’s native timeout rather than a Muted role, which means two things. First, the member cannot send messages, react, or join voice anywhere in the server, with no per-channel role setup needed. Second, Discord caps timeouts at 28 days, so anything longer should be a /tempban instead.

The reason you type is logged to the member’s infraction record and posted in your log channel. Always fill it in. A record that says “spam” six times is useless when you are deciding on a ban later; one that says “posted scam link in #general after warning” is evidence.

If /tempmute fails with a permission error, check two things. The MEE6 role needs Moderate Members, and the target member’s highest role must be below the MEE6 role. You cannot timeout a co-admin from a bot sitting beneath them.

Welcome messages, reaction roles and alerts

These three plugins round out a basic gaming server. Each takes about five minutes.

Welcome. Choose a channel, write a message using {user} and {server}, and optionally enable “Send a DM” for a private rules reminder. The Auto Role option assigns a role on join. The practical pattern is an auto-role called “Member” that unlocks the general channels, combined with Discord’s own Membership Screening so the role only lands after they accept the rules.

Reaction Roles. Build a message on the dashboard, attach emoji-to-role pairs, and MEE6 posts it and manages reactions. Use it for game pings (Valorant, Apex, Rocket League), platform (PC, PlayStation, Xbox) and region (NA East, EU West, OCE). Discord’s native onboarding questions now do this without a bot for Community servers, so compare before committing. MEE6’s version still wins when you want the menu inside a specific channel rather than only at join.

Social Alerts. Connect a Twitch channel and the bot posts in a chosen channel when the stream goes live, with a custom message. The free tier allows very few feeds, which is the single biggest reason streamer-focused servers end up paying for Premium. For a server built around one streamer, free is enough.

Common mistakes with MEE6

These account for most support questions on MEE6’s own Discord and the server-help channels we monitor.

1. Leaving Administrator on. Covered above. Trim it.
2. MEE6 role too low. Role rewards, reaction roles and timeouts all fail silently or with a vague error.
3. No no-XP channels. Members farm levels in a counting channel or by chatting in a bot-spam channel.
4. Level-up messages in #general. On a 500-member server this is dozens of bot posts a day drowning real chat.
5. Automod with no exemptions. Your mods get warned for posting a Discord invite to a partner server.
6. Duplicate automod. Running MEE6 filters and Discord AutoMod with the same word list double-actions members.
7. Trusting the first “MEE6” DM. It is almost never the real bot.
8. Buying Premium for one feature. Check whether a free specialist bot does the same thing. Our list of discord bots for gaming covers the alternatives for music, LFG and tournament brackets, where MEE6 is not the best tool.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
Slash commands do not appear	Bot added without the applications.commands scope, or command permissions blocked	Re-run Add to Discord from the dashboard, then check Server Settings, Integrations, MEE6
/rank shows nothing or zero for an active member	Levels plugin off, or the channel is in the no-XP list	Enable the plugin and review the no-XP channel list
Role reward not given at the level	MEE6 role below the reward role, or missing Manage Roles	Drag MEE6 above the reward role in Server Settings, Roles
Welcome message never posts	Bot lacks View Channel or Send Messages in that channel	Edit the channel, Permissions tab, add MEE6 with both allowed
Automod deletes but does not warn	Filter action set to delete only	Change the action to delete and warn in the Moderator plugin
/tempmute returns a permission error	Missing Moderate Members, or target outranks the bot	Grant the permission and fix the role order
Bot appears offline	MEE6 outage, happens a few times a year	Check MEE6’s status page or official server, wait
Leaderboard shows strangers	Wrong server selected on the dashboard	Switch server in the top-left dashboard selector
Dashboard says you lack permission	Your account lost Manage Server	Ask the owner to restore it or edit for you

Should a gaming server use MEE6 at all?

The analyst answer: yes for leveling and infractions, maybe for welcome and reaction roles, no for music. MEE6’s level system is the de facto standard, its leaderboard is public and shareable, and its infraction ladder is more flexible than Discord’s native tools. Those are real advantages.

The company has made choices that cost it goodwill. In 2022 it announced an NFT avatar project and reversed course within days after widespread community backlash. It has also moved features into Premium more than once, which is why older guides describe free features that now sit behind the paywall. None of that affects whether the bot works, but it is fair context for a server owner deciding how much to build on it.

A reasonable setup for a new gaming community: MEE6 for levels and moderation, Discord’s native AutoMod as a second layer with a different keyword list, native onboarding for initial role selection, and a specialist bot for anything MEE6 does poorly. That gives you the familiar /rank experience members expect without paying for plugins you will not use.

FAQ

Is MEE6 free?

The core bot is free and covers leveling, automod, welcome messages, a small number of reaction role menus and custom commands, and basic social alerts. Premium is a per-server subscription, listed at $11.95 a month for a long time, and unlocks higher limits plus cosmetic extras like rank card backgrounds.

How do I use the MEE6 tempmute command?

Type /tempmute, pick the member, enter a duration such as 15m, 2h or 3d, and add a reason. The mute uses Discord’s timeout, so it caps at 28 days. Your MEE6 role needs Moderate Members and must be above the member’s highest role.

How much XP do you get per message in MEE6?

Between 15 and 25 XP per message, at most once every 60 seconds. Getting from level 0 to level 1 takes 100 XP, and each level after that needs 5 × L² + 50 × L + 100 XP more, where L is the level you are on.

Can MEE6 remove someone’s XP or reset levels?

Yes. On the dashboard, open the Levels plugin and use the leaderboard management tools to edit or reset a member’s XP, or reset the whole server. Dashboard-only, not a slash command, so it stays in admin hands.

Why does MEE6 ask for Administrator?

Because it is the easiest way to guarantee every plugin works on invite. You can and should remove it afterwards under Server Settings, Roles, MEE6 role, and grant only the specific permissions each plugin needs.

Is the MEE6 bot safe?

The official bot is verified by Discord and has run on millions of servers for years. The risks are impersonator accounts in DMs and over-broad permissions. Verify the checkmark on any MEE6 account that messages you, never log in through a link someone sends, and manage the bot only through mee6.xyz.