Installation Guide
Setting up YellowWorm
Two minutes, three permissions, done. This guide covers the install, private channel access, and what the bot can and can't do.
What YellowWorm can and can't do
View channels & read message history
Needed to track activity and backfill 30 days of history
View audit log
To detect kicks, bans, timeouts, and mod actions
Cannot send messages
YellowWorm never posts in your server
Cannot manage channels or roles
Can't create, edit, or delete anything
Cannot ban, kick, or timeout members
No moderation powers at all
No message content stored
Only activity metadata — who posted, when, where
Add YellowWorm to your server
Click Add to Server at the top of this page (or from the servers page). You'll be taken to Discord's standard bot authorization page.
YellowWorm requests only three permissions: View Channels, Read Message History, and View Audit Log. No Administrator. No Manage anything.
Once you authorize, YellowWorm immediately begins backfilling your last 30 days of activity. Your dashboard is usually ready within a couple of minutes.
Open your dashboard
Visit yellowworm.io/servers and click Open Dashboard next to your server. All server managers (users with Manage Server or Administrator permission in Discord) have access by default.
You can also whitelist specific roles under Settings → Access Control if you want to give moderators or staff access without giving them full server manager permissions.
Tracking private channels (optional)
YellowWorm can only see channels its role has access to. Public channels are tracked automatically. For private or members-only channels, you grant access channel by channel — you stay in full control of what gets tracked.
How to grant access to a private channel:
- 1.In Discord, right-click the private channel → Edit Channel
- 2.Go to the Permissions tab
- 3.Click + and search for the YellowWorm role
- 4.Enable View Channel and Read Message History
- 5.Save — YellowWorm will begin tracking that channel immediately
When YellowWorm joins your server, Discord automatically creates a YellowWorm integration role. This role is permanently assigned to the bot and can't be deleted or assigned to members. Adding it to a channel's permissions is the standard, safe way to give a bot access to private areas — the same method used by every major Discord bot.
Servers with verification gates
Many large communities use a verification flow — new members land in a limited entry area, complete a verification step, then gain access to the full server via a Members role or similar.
To track both the public and verified areas: follow Step 3 for each private channel (or category) that verified members can see. YellowWorm will track activity across all of them and correctly attribute it to each member regardless of when they were verified.
You can grant access to an entire category at once — Discord will inherit those permissions to all channels inside it.
Common questions
Does YellowWorm read message content?
No. YellowWorm records who sent a message, in which channel, and when — nothing else. Message text is never stored. Emoji usage is tracked as a count, not the content of the message it appeared in.
Can YellowWorm see DMs?
No. Bots can only receive messages in servers they've been added to. YellowWorm has no access to any DMs.
What happens if I remove YellowWorm?
Tracking stops immediately. Your historical data remains in the database and your dashboard continues to work with the data collected up to that point. You can re-add the bot at any time.
Who can access the dashboard?
By default, anyone with Manage Server or Administrator permission in Discord. You can restrict this further under Settings → Access Control by whitelisting specific roles.
Does YellowWorm need to be in every channel?
No. It only tracks channels it can see. Public channels are covered automatically. Private channels require a manual permission grant — which you can skip entirely if you only care about public activity.