# Invite the bot to your server

> The bot has to be invited from inside the TicketCord dashboard - that’s how we know it landed and finish the setup. Here’s what to click and why this path matters.

## Important: invite from the dashboard, not Discord

You have to start the invite from TicketCord. If you generate your own invite link in the Discord Developer Portal, or use the Discord client to add the bot directly, **we won’t see that it joined**. The dashboard stays stuck on “waiting for the bot”, setup doesn’t advance, and tickets won’t open.

The reason is on our side, not yours: the dashboard kicks off the invite, watches for the join event, and writes a small record linking your account to that server. That linking step is what gives the dashboard permission to manage the bot afterwards. A self-generated invite skips that step entirely.

## Steps

1. In the dashboard, click **Invite to server** next to your bot.
2. Pick the server. You need the Discord **Manage Server** permission in that server, or it won’t appear in the list.
3. Confirm the permissions screen Discord shows you. Click **Authorize**.
4. You’re redirected back to TicketCord, which waits for Discord to confirm the bot actually arrived. Usually a second or two.

## What permissions we ask for

TicketCord requests the minimum permissions tickets need - no Administrator. Roughly:

- **Channel management** - create the ticket channel, set the requester’s permission overwrite so only they (and staff) can see it.
- **Send messages & embeds** - post the welcome message, replies, and the close summary.
- **Manage messages** - pin the welcome message and clean up bot output on close.
- **Read message history & add reactions** - power the transcript and quick actions like claim/close emoji.

If your server uses fine-grained role hierarchies, place the bot’s role above any role it needs to manage - Discord enforces this independently of permissions.

## If you already invited it the wrong way

Easy to fix. Kick the bot from your server, head back to the dashboard, and click **Invite to server** there. It’ll re-add cleanly and the dashboard will pick it up this time. Your bot token stays the same - you don’t need to reset anything.

## If the invite screen still looks empty

If you do use the dashboard and the server picker is still empty, the bot token Discord has on file probably doesn’t match the application you’re authorizing. Go back to [Create your first bot](https://ticketcord.com/help/getting-started/create-bot), reset the token, and re-paste it.

## Next up

Bot is in the server - time to [set up your first ticket category](https://ticketcord.com/help/getting-started/first-category).

## Machine-readable resources

- [Canonical HTML](https://ticketcord.com/help/getting-started/invite-bot)
- [TicketCord llms.txt](https://ticketcord.com/llms.txt)
- [AI page index](https://ticketcord.com/api/ai/pages)