How to Add a Role in Discord (and Give It to Members)

To add a role in Discord, open Server Settings, go to Roles, click Create Role, set a name, colour and permissions, then save. To give it to someone, right-click their name, choose Roles and tick it, or open the role and use Manage Members to add several people at once. You need the Manage Roles permission, and you can only assign roles that sit below your own highest role.

Checked on each bot's own site or docs on 2026-11-03. We make PeakBot. Nobody paid to be in this post.

Step 1: Create the role

1. Open your server, click the server name at the top left and choose Server Settings.
2. Click Roles, then Create Role.
3. On the Display tab, type a name and pick a colour. Turn on "Display role members separately from online members" if you want the role to show as its own group in the member list. Turn on "Allow anyone to @mention this role" only if you want it pingable.
4. On the Permissions tab, switch on only what this role needs. For a cosmetic or ping role, leave everything off. Members already get whatever the @everyone role allows.
5. Click Save Changes.
6. Drag the role up or down in the role list. Position matters: a higher role can manage lower ones, and the highest coloured role decides a member's name colour.

Step 2: Give the role to members

One member at a time: right-click the member in the member list or on one of their messages, hover Roles and tick the role. On mobile, tap their name to open their profile and use the roles option there.

Several members at once: go to Server Settings > Roles, click the role, open the Manage Members tab, click Add Members, search for people, tick them and confirm.

How to add a role to everyone in Discord

There are two different goals here.

• You want every member to have a permission. Edit the @everyone role in Server Settings > Roles. Every member has it automatically and it cannot be removed, so you do not need a new role at all.
• You want a named role on every member. Discord has no one-click option for this. On a small server, the Add Members dialog above works. On a larger one, use a bot with auto roles, which gives the role to each person as they join, so new members are covered from then on.

How to add colour roles

1. Create one role per colour, with no permissions turned on.
2. Drag the colour roles above any other coloured roles, because a member's name shows the colour of their highest coloured role. If staff colours matter more to you, put the staff roles above the colour roles instead.
3. Let members choose their colour. On a Community server, Discord's own Onboarding lets you ask questions that hand out roles. Otherwise, use a bot's self-assign feature.

How to add reaction roles

Discord has no built-in reaction roles. The closest native option is Onboarding on Community servers, where members pick roles when they join or later from Channels & Roles. For roles picked by reacting or clicking a button on a message, you need a bot.

Limits vary by bot. Dyno gives free servers 3 reaction roles, with more on Premium. MEE6 lists reaction roles under Premium, with up to 40. Arcane includes 10 reaction roles on its free plan. Carl-bot is widely used for reaction roles; check its site for current limits.

Why a bot is not adding roles (Carl-bot, Dyno or any other)

When a reaction role or auto role silently fails, it is almost always one of these:

1. The bot's role is below the role it is giving. Go to Server Settings > Roles and drag the bot's role above every role it should hand out. This is the most common cause.
2. The bot lacks Manage Roles. Check its role's permissions.
3. The bot cannot see the channel. It needs View Channel, Read Message History and, for reactions, Add Reactions in that channel. Channel overrides can block it even if the role allows it.
4. The role is managed by Discord. See the next section.
5. The message changed. If the reaction role message was deleted or reposted, the setup may point at a message that no longer exists. Set it up again on the new message.
6. The bot is offline or was re-invited without its old permissions.

"Members cannot be manually added or removed from this role"

This message appears on managed roles: roles Discord controls for you. Examples are a bot's own role created when you invited it, the Server Booster role, and roles tied to integrations or linked roles. Discord decides who has them, so neither you nor a bot can assign them. The fix is to create a normal role and give that instead.

How PeakBot does it

We make PeakBot, a Discord bot with a web dashboard. All of its role automation lives on one page.

1. Go to peakbot.pro, log in and pick your server.
2. Open Roles in the dashboard sidebar.
3. Set up what you need:
   • Auto roles on join: a role every new member gets when they arrive.
   • Self-assign: let members pick roles themselves, such as colour roles or ping roles.
   • If/then rules: give or remove a role when a condition is met.
4. Drag PeakBot's role above the roles it should give, in Server Settings > Roles. The same hierarchy rule applies to every bot.

Other dashboard pages also hand out roles:

• Verification: an unverified role for new members and a verified role once they pass, with optional questions and an auto-kick for anyone who never verifies.
• XP & Leveling: level roles awarded as members level up.
• Security: a quarantine role used by anti-raid.

The Roles page is part of the Free plan, which has 30+ features and no expiry. Paid plans are per server and add things like a custom bot profile (Starter) and AI moderation (Pro); see peakbot.pro for current plans. Setup details are in the PeakBot wiki.

Where PeakBot is not the right pick: if you only need to give one role to a handful of people, Discord's own settings are enough and you do not need any bot. PeakBot also has no music or economy features, so if your server needs those you will want another bot alongside it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why can't I see the Create Role button?

You need the Manage Roles or Administrator permission. Ask the server owner or an admin to give you a role that has it.

Why can't I give someone a role I can see?

You can only assign roles below your own highest role, and you cannot change roles for someone whose highest role is equal to or above yours. Ask an admin to move your role up, or move the target role down.

How do I add a role to everyone in Discord at once?

If you just want everyone to have a permission, edit the @everyone role. For an actual named role, use Manage Members > Add Members on small servers, or a bot with auto roles so every new member gets it on join.

Can Discord do reaction roles without a bot?

Not as reactions on a message. Community servers can use Onboarding to let members pick roles from questions, which covers many of the same uses. For roles picked from a message in a channel, you need a bot.

Why is a member's name the wrong colour?

Their name takes the colour of their highest coloured role. Move the colour role you want shown higher in the role list, or remove the colour from roles that should not affect names.

Do PeakBot's auto roles and self-assign roles cost money?

No. The Roles page, including auto roles, self-assign and if/then rules, is on the Free plan, which has no time limit.