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Automod overview

Phantom's automod is a rule-based filtering system that runs on every message your members send. Rules belong to one of 8 categories, each tuned to catch a different class of behaviour. You configure rules from the dashboard and Phantom evaluates them instantly, with no noticeable delay for members.

Phantom Discord automod overview with all eight rule categories and their statusModeration → Automod, with every category and its rule count.

The 8 categories

CategoryWhat it catches
Keywords & regexBanned words, slur lists, custom regex patterns
Links & invitesURL allow/deny lists, Discord invite blocking, shortener detection
Mention flood@everyone abuse, mass user/role pings, mention-raid behaviour
Text styleALL CAPS, zalgo, emoji spam
AttachmentsFile-type allow/deny, oversize files
SpamRate, duplicate detection, cross-channel spam
Channel spamPer-channel rate limit
New-account join gateJoins from accounts younger than N days

Where it lives

Dashboard: Moderation → Automod. Each category has its own drill-in page with the rule list, the "Add rule" form, and a Test harness that previews verdicts against a sample message.

How rules work

A rule has:

  • Category — one of the 8 above
  • Name — your label for it, e.g. "Block crypto scams"
  • Enabled flag — toggle without deleting
  • Enforcementcustom (Phantom enforces) or native (registers as a Discord AutoMod rule that Discord enforces, much faster on triggers but with stricter limits)
  • Scopeall (every channel), include (only listed channels), or exclude (every channel except listed)
  • Exempt roles — members with any of these roles never trigger this rule
  • Config — category-specific settings (the keyword list, the threshold, etc.)
  • Actions — what happens when the rule trips, in order. Up to 6 per rule.

Action chain

Each rule can chain up to 6 actions, executed in order:

ActionEffect
deleteDelete the offending message
log_onlyWrite to the audit log and the mod-log channel without enforcing
warnIssue a warning case (counts toward the escalation ladder)
timeoutDiscord timeout for a configured duration
kickKick the member
banBan (with optional delete_days for message cleanup)

Typical setups:

  • Soft: log_only (you watch the hits before turning on enforcement)
  • Standard: delete + warn (deletes the offending content, gives a warning)
  • Hard: delete + timeout 30m for repeat-spam categories

Permissions

  • automod.view — see the page + rules
  • automod.edit — create / edit / toggle / delete rules

Limits

  • 100 rules max per guild
  • 25 rules per category
  • 1000 keywords per keyword rule
  • 60 chars per keyword
  • 260 chars per regex pattern
  • 500 domains per link rule
  • 6 actions per rule
  • 30-day automod-hit retention (older hits are pruned)

Performance

Automod evaluates every message your server posts and is built to stay fast even on the busiest servers. Rules with enforcement = native are evaluated by Discord itself (no round-trip through Phantom) for things native AutoMod can express.

Testing a rule before enabling it

Inside any category page, the Test pane lets you paste a sample message and see what verdict the rule would give. Use this before flipping enabled to spot false positives.

Cross-Server Sync

Automod rules can sync across a network of servers. See Cross-Server Sync. Rules' channel/role references are mapped per-server via the network's handle bindings.

Phantom is a product of Hydra Labs. The bot is run as a managed service; you do not need to host it yourself.