Lockdown

What lockdown is

Lockdown is the emergency brake you pull by hand. It stops everyone from sending messages until you unlock.

It works by switching off Send Messages for @everyone in every channel Bastion can edit. Adding reactions, starting public threads and talking in threads are switched off too. Text, announcement, forum, voice and stage channels are all covered. Bastion remembers exactly what it changed, and unlocking puts each channel back the way it was. Channels where @everyone couldn't talk anyway are left alone.

Turn it on

There's nothing to set up. In Discord, run /lockdown start. In the dashboard, open Lockdown and press Lock every channel. Both do the same thing, and either one can undo the other.

The commands

Who can use them

Anything that reaches the whole server needs more than Manage Server, both to start and to undo. Server-wide means every channel, staff powers or the join lock. A moderator role on its own isn't enough for any of them.

The Lockdown page

The Lockdown page in the dashboard shows what's locked right now and has a button for each kind of lock. It's the quickest way to act when you aren't in Discord.

Each row has a label saying Locked or Unlocked, and the top of the page says how long the server has been locked. Every lock asks you to confirm first. Unlocking doesn't.

How the buttons work

The dashboard doesn't touch your server itself. It asks the bot to do it, and the bot answers.

1. You press a button and confirm. It changes to Working on it.
2. The bot checks that you're the server owner or a trusted person, then locks or unlocks.
3. A few seconds later the result appears, such as Locked 42 channels.
4. The request is listed under Recent requests at the bottom of the page as Done or Failed.

• Only the server owner and trusted people see the buttons. That's stricter than the commands, where Administrators can lock too. Other admins can see what's locked.
• Unlocking one thing at a time is only on the dashboard. In Discord, /lockdown end ends everything at once.
• Channels locked one at a time with /lockdown channel are counted on the page, but can only be opened again in Discord.
• If the page says Bastion has not answered yet, the bot is offline or restarting. Use the command in Discord, or try again in a minute.

When to use each one

• Spam is everywhere. Use /lockdown start. Clean up with /purge, then /lockdown end.
• One channel is out of control. Use /lockdown channel there. The other channels carry on. For something milder, try /slowmode.
• Accounts keep pouring in. Use /lockdown joins and choose kick or ban. Everyone who joins is told the server isn't letting people in, then removed. A bot that's added is kicked, never banned, unless the owner or a trusted person added it. Choose off when it's over. Anti-Raid handles most raids on its own by pausing invites.
• You think a staff account is hacked. Use /lockdown roles and then quarantine the account.

Telling members what is going on

Run /lockdown start with announce switched on, or tick the box above Lock every channel in the dashboard. Bastion makes a channel called server-locked at the top of the server and posts one line saying the server is locked and will reopen soon. Everyone can read it. Nobody but Bastion can post, react or start threads in it.

To say more, run /lockdown update with your message, or use the Update for members box on the Lockdown page. Updates are posted as plain text on one line. Mentions, links and formatting in them are switched off, so an update can never ping anyone. You can post one every 10 seconds.

When the channel lock ends, Bastion deletes the server-locked channel. It only ever deletes the channel it made for this lockdown. If you rename that channel or change its topic, Bastion leaves it alone and you can delete it yourself.

Hidden lockdown (Pro)

A normal lockdown leaves every channel readable. A hidden lockdown also takes View Channel away from @everyone in every channel, categories included, so members see only the server-locked channel. Run /lockdown start with hide switched on. It is part of Pro.

• Bastion saves how View Channel was set on each channel before it changes anything. Ending the lockdown puts each one back exactly as it was.
• Channels members couldn't see already are left alone, and stay hidden afterwards.
• You can add hiding to a lockdown that is already running. Run /lockdown start again with hide switched on. What Bastion saved the first time is kept.
• Roles with their own View Channel permission on a channel can still see it. That's usually your staff.
• Bastion doesn't need the Administrator permission for this. Where hiding a channel would hide it from Bastion too, Bastion first gives itself View Channel on that channel, and takes exactly that away again when the lockdown ends. If Bastion already had its own permissions on the channel, they go back to how they were.
• If Bastion can't give itself access to a channel, it leaves that channel visible and tells you how many stayed visible.
• /lockdown channel is switched off while channels are hidden.

Pausing invites

Add pause_invites to /lockdown joins, or tick Also pause invites in the dashboard. Bastion uses Discord's own Pause Invites switch, so nobody can use an invite link at all. It needs the Manage Server permission for this.

Bastion remembers whether invites were paused before. When joins are unlocked it switches them back on only if they were on before. If you had paused them yourself, they stay paused. This is separate from the timed pause Anti-Raid uses, and neither one undoes the other.

Staff power lockdown (Pro)

A normal lockdown stops members talking. It doesn't stop an admin deleting channels. Staff power lockdown covers that gap. It removes the dangerous permissions from every ordinary role below Bastion, including @everyone. Roles above Bastion and roles that belong to bots keep theirs, and the owner is never affected. Bastion remembers what each role had and gives it back when you run /lockdown end.

Dangerous permissions are listed on the Anti-Nuke page. Staff power lockdown is part of Pro.

A lockdown, start to finish

1. 1

   Lock

   Run /lockdown start and give a reason. The reason is saved with the case.

2. 2

   Tell people

   Switch on announce when you lock, then post what's happening with /lockdown update. Members can read it even though they can't talk.

3. 3

   Deal with the cause

   Ban or quarantine whoever is responsible. Clear the mess with /purge.

4. 4

   Unlock

   Run /lockdown end. Check one or two channels to make sure people can talk again.

Things to know

• Roles with their own Send Messages permission on a channel can still talk there. That's usually your staff, which is what you want.
• Anyone with Administrator can always talk. Discord doesn't let any bot block administrators.
• Bastion needs Manage Channels and Manage Roles to lock a channel. Channels it can't edit are skipped.
• Don't change channel permissions by hand during a lockdown. Ending it restores what Bastion saved at the start.
• A lockdown you start doesn't end on its own. Someone has to run /lockdown end or press Unlock everything in the dashboard. That ends every kind at once: the server lock, single channel locks, staff power lockdown and the join lock.
• Two locks that Bastion starts by itself do end on their own. A ping flood lockdown unlocks after 10 minutes, and panic mode puts everything back after 15. If you run /lockdown start or /lockdown roles during either one, the lock becomes yours and stays until you end it.
• During panic mode, /lockdown can be paused for everyone except the owner and trusted people, along with the other moderation commands.
• The join lock also kicks bots that are added while it's on, unless the owner or a trusted person added them. If Bastion can't tell who added a bot, it kicks it. This works even if the Join Gate is switched off.

If you want lockdown to happen automatically when a nuke is detected, that's panic mode. For a flood of pings, it's ping flood lockdown.