hildibrand/GUIDE.md

Hildibrand Administrator and User Guide

Note from the developer/designer

Hi there, I'm Wyatt/Arnkell. Thank you for reading this guide and using my Discord bot, Hildibrand. I hope you enjoy your time with it.

This guide is intended for both Discord servers adminisrators and Discord bot developers.

If you have any trouble with operation of this bot, please do not hesitate to reach out on Discord (wymiller) or email: wyatt@wyattjmiller.com

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Introduction

Hildibrand is a Discord trivia buzzer bot. It creates a shared buzzer in a text channel, plays a buzzer sound in voice, identifies the first participant to buzz, and can mute the other participants so the winner can answer.

Before you begin

Give the bot the following permissions in every text and voice channel where it will be used:

Permission	Why it is needed
View Channel	See the channel in which a session is started
Send Messages	Post the buzzer and command results
Connect	Join the host's voice channel
Speak	Play the buzzer sound
Mute Members	Mute and unmute trivia participants

Members also need permission to use application commands in the chosen text channel.

Important

Do not grant Hildibrand the full Administrator permission. The channel and voice permissions listed above are sufficient.

Quick start for a trivia host

1. Join the voice channel where the trivia game will take place.
2. In the text channel where you want the buzzer to appear, run /start.
3. Wait for Hildibrand to join voice and post The buzzer is ready!.
4. Ask players to join the same voice channel and use the BUZZ! button in the bot's message.
5. After a player answers, select Reset to begin the next question.
6. At the end of the game, run /stop.

The member who runs /start becomes the session host. Only that member can reset, lock, unlock, or stop the session. Discord server administrators do not automatically override the session host and cannot do so. In other words, no one has the power to overrule the session host.

What happens when someone buzzes

To buzz, a player must be in the voice channel in which the session was started. The first accepted button press does all of the following:

1. Locks the buzzer so later presses cannot win.
2. Names the winning player in the buzzer message.
3. Plays the buzzer sound in the voice channel.
4. Server-mutes the other human participants currently in that channel.

Hildibrand does not mute the session host or winning player itself. Bots are not muted. Any pre-existing server mute still applies, however: Hildibrand leaves it alone and will not later remove that moderator-applied mute.

Players receive a private Discord response that only they can see if they try to use a stale or locked buzzer, or if they are not in the session's voice channel.

Controls and commands

The controls in the buzzer message and their slash-command equivalents have the same effect. A button's confirmation or error response is visible only to the member who selected it.

Control	Command	Result
Reset	/reset	Clears the previous winner, opens the buzzer, and unmutes members muted by Hildibrand. Use this between questions.
Lock	/lock	Closes the buzzer and mutes everyone currently in the voice channel except the host and the current winner, if there is one.
Unlock	/unlock	Opens the buzzer and unmutes members muted by Hildibrand, but keeps the previous winner's name in the message.
—	/stop	Unmutes members muted by Hildibrand, disconnects the bot from voice, ends the session, and disables the old controls.

/start creates a session in the voice channel occupied by the person who runs the command. The buzzer message is posted in the text channel where the command was run.

Note

Use Reset for a new question because it clears the recorded winner. Use Unlock when you want to reopen the same question without clearing the name of the player who previously buzzed.

Note

The host can select Lock before anyone buzzes, for example while reading a question. Select Unlock or Reset when players should be allowed to buzz.

Ending a session safely

Always run /stop before the bot is shut down or restarted. This lets Hildibrand unmute the members it muted and disconnect cleanly.

If Hildebrand reports that it could not unmute one or more participants, fix its Mute Members permission or role position and run /stop again. The session is not stopped until its tracked members have been unmuted.

Session state exists only in the running bot's memory. If the bot crashes or is restarted during a locked round, an administrator may need to manually remove server mutes in Discord. After a restart, old buzzer buttons are no longer active; start a new session with /start.

Operational limits

• A running Hildibrand instance supports only one active session in total, even if the bot has been added to multiple Discord servers.
• A session remains tied to the voice channel selected at /start. Moving the host or the bot does not move the session.
• Hildibrand mutes the people present when a player buzzes or the host selects Lock. It does not continuously mute people who join the channel later.
• Control of an active session cannot be transferred to another member. The original host must stop it, or the bot operator must restart the bot and an administrator must clean up any remaining server mutes.

Troubleshooting

Slash commands do not appear

• Confirm that the bot was installed with the applications.commands scope.
• Confirm that the member can use application commands in the text channel.
• Confirm that the bot is online. If it has just been installed or restarted, allow Discord time to display its globally registered commands.

/start says you must be in a voice channel

Join the intended voice channel before running /start. The bot selects the session channel from the host's current voice connection.

The bot cannot join or play the sound

Check View Channel, Connect, and Speak for the bot in that voice channel. Channel-specific permission overrides can deny access even when the bot's server role allows it.

The bot cannot post or update the buzzer

Check View Channel and Send Messages for the bot in the text channel. Do not delete the active buzzer message while a session is running.

Some players are not muted or unmuted

Check all of the following:

• The bot has Mute Members in the voice channel.
• The Hildibrand role is above each affected player's highest role.
• The affected account is not the server owner.
• The player is in the session's original voice channel.

Hildibrand intentionally does not unmute a member who was already server-muted before Hildibrand tried to mute them.

A player cannot buzz

The player must be in the session's voice channel. Also check whether the buzzer is locked, the displayed message belongs to an old session, or another player has already buzzed.

A command says another session is active

Only one session can run on a bot instance. Ask the current session host to run /stop. If no usable session exists after a bot failure, contact the bot operator to restart the instance and manually clear any remaining server mutes.

A host is no longer available

There is no host-transfer command. Ask the original host to run /stop. If that is impossible, the bot operator must restart Hildibrand; afterward, a Discord administrator should manually unmute anyone left server-muted and a new host can run /start.

Recommended administrator checklist

Before an event:

• Confirm that the bot is online and slash commands are visible.
• Confirm the bot's text and voice channel permissions.
• Move the bot role above participant roles, without granting Administrator.
• Test /start, one buzz, /reset, and /stop with a volunteer.

After an event:

• Confirm that the host ran /stop.
• Confirm that the bot left voice.
• Confirm that no participant remains server-muted unexpectedly.