PluralKit/docs/2-user-guide.md

layout	title	permalink	description	nav_order
default	User Guide	/guide	PluralKit's user guide contains a walkthrough of the bot's features, as well as how to use them.	2

User Guide

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Table of Contents

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1. TOC {:toc}

Adding the bot to your server

If you want to use PluralKit on a Discord server, you must first add it to the server in question. For this, you'll need the Manage Server permission on there.

Use this link to add the bot to your server:

https://discordapp.com/oauth2/authorize?client_id=466378653216014359&scope=bot&permissions=536995904

Once you go through the wizard, the bot account will automatically join the server you've chosen. Please ensure the bot has the Read Messages, Send Messages, Manage Messages, Attach Files and Manage Webhooks permission in the channels you want it to work in.

System management

In order to do most things with the PluralKit bot, you'll need to have a system registered with it. A system is a collection of system members that may be used by one or more Discord accounts.

Creating a system

If you do not already have a system registered, use the following command to create one:

pk;system new

Optionally, you can attach a system name, which will be displayed in various information cards, like so:

pk;system new My System Name

Viewing information about a system

To view information about your own system, simply type:

pk;system

To view information about a different system, there are a number of ways to do so. You can either look up a system by @mention, by account ID, or by system ID. For example:

pk;system @Craig#5432
pk;system 466378653216014359
pk;system abcde

System description

If you'd like to add a small blurb to your system information card, you can add a system description. To do so, use the pk;system description command, as follows:

pk;system description This is my system description. Hello. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.

There's a 1000 character length limit on your system description - which is quite a lot!

If you'd like to remove your system description, just type pk;system description without any further parameters.

System avatars

If you'd like your system to have an associated "system avatar", displayed on your system information card, you can add a system avatar. To do so, use the pk;system avatar command. You can either supply it with an direct URL to an image, or attach an image directly. For example.

pk;system avatar http://placebeard.it/512.jpg
pk;system avatar [with attached image]

To clear your avatar, simply type pk;system avatar with no attachment or link.

System tags

Your system tag is a little snippet of text that'll be added to the end of all proxied messages. For example, if you want to proxy a member named James, and your system tag is | The Boys, the final name displayed will be James | The Boys. This is useful for identifying your system in-chat, and some servers may require you use a system tag. Note that emojis are supported! To set one, use the pk;system tag command, like so:

pk;system tag | The Boys
pk;system tag (Test System)
pk;system tag 🛰️

If you want to remove your system tag, just type pk;system tag with no extra parameters.

NB: When proxying, the total webhook username must be 32 characters or below. As such, if you have a long system name, your tag might be enough to bump it over that limit. PluralKit will warn you if you have a member name/tag combination that will bring the combined username above the limit. You can either make the member name or the system tag shorter to solve this.

Adding or removing Discord accounts to the system

If you have multiple Discord accounts you want to use the same system on, you don't need to create multiple systems. Instead, you can link the same system to multiple accounts.

Let's assume the account you want to link to is called @Craig#5432. You'd link it to your current system by running this command from an account that already has access to the system:

pk;link @Craig#5432

PluralKit will require you to confirm the link by clicking on a reaction from the other account.

If you now want to unlink that account, use the following command:

pk;unlink @Craig#5432

You may not remove the only account linked to a system, as that would leave the system inaccessible. Both the pk;link and pk;unlink commands work with account IDs instead of @mentions, too.

Setting a system time zone

PluralKit defaults to showing dates and times in UTC. If you'd like, you can set a system time zone, and as such every date and time displayed in PluralKit (on behalf of your system) will be in the system time zone. To do so, use the pk;system timezone command, like so:

pk;system timezone Europe/Copenhagen
pk;system timezone America/New_York
pk;system timezone DE
pk;system timezone 🇬🇧

You can specify time zones in various ways. In regions with large amounts of time zones (eg. the Americas, Europe, etc), specifying an exact time zone code is the best way. To get your local time zone code, visit this site. You can see the full list here, on Wikipedia (see the column TZ database name). You can also search by country code, either by giving the two-character ISO-3166-1 alpha-2 country code (eg. GB or DE), or just by a country flag emoji.

To clear a time zone, type pk;system timezone without any parameters.

Deleting a system

If you want to delete your own system, simply use the command:

pk;system delete

You will need to verify by typing the system's ID when the bot prompts you to - to prevent accidental deletions.

Member management

In order to do most things related to PluralKit, you need to work with system members.

Most member commands follow the format of pk;member MemberName verb Parameter. Note that if a member's name has multiple words, you'll need to enclose it in "double quotes" throughout the commands below.

Creating a member

You can't do much with PluralKit without having registered members with your system, but doing so is quite simple - just use the pk;member new command followed by the member's name, like so:

pk;member new John
pk;member new Craig Smith

As the one exception to the rule above, if the name consists of multiple words you must not enclose it in double quotes.

Looking up member info

To view information about a member, there are a couple ways to do it. Either you can address a member by their name (if they're in your own system), or by their 5-character member ID, like so:

pk;member John
pk;member qazws

Member IDs are the only way to address a member in another system, and you can find it in various places - for example the system's member list, or on a message info card gotten by reacting to messages with a question mark.

Listing system members

To list all the members in a system, use the pk;system list command. This will show a paginated list of all member names in the system. You can either run it on your own system, or another - like so:

pk;system list
pk;system @Craig#5432 list
pk;system qazws list

If you want a more detailed list, with fields such as pronouns and description, add the word full to the end of the command, like so:

pk;system list full
pk;system @Craig#5432 list full
pk;system qazws list full

Member renaming

If you want to change the name of a member, you can use the pk;member rename command, like so:

pk;member John rename Joanne
pk;member "Craig Smith" rename "Craig Johnson"

Member display names

Normally, when proxying a member, the name displayed in the proxied message will be the member's name. However, in some cases you may want to display a different name. For example, you may want to include a member's pronouns inside the proxied name, indicate a subsystem, include emojis or symbols that don't play nice with the command syntax, or just in general show a different name from the member's "canonical" name.

In such cases you can set the member's display name. Which will, well, display that name instead. You can set a display name using the pk;member displayname command, like so:

pk;member John displayname Jonathan
pk;member Robert displayname Bob (he/him)

To remove a display name, just use the same command with no last parameter, eg:

pk;member John displayname

This will remove the display name, and thus the member will be proxied with their canonical name.

Member server display names

If you'd like to set a display name (as above), but only for a specific server, you can set the member's server display name. This functions just like global display names, but only in the same server you set them in. For example:

pk;member John servername AdminJohn

The server name applies to the same server you run the command in, so naturally this command doesn't function in DMs (as you cannot proxy in DMs).

Member description

In the same way as a system can have a description, so can a member. You can set a description using the pk;member description command, like so:

pk;member John description John is a very cool person, and you should give him hugs.

As with system descriptions, the member description has a 1000 character length limit. To clear a member description, use the command with no additional parameters (eg. pk;member John description).

Member color

A system member can have an associated color value. This color is not displayed as a name color on proxied messages due to a Discord limitation, but it's shown in member cards, and it can be used in third-party apps, too. To set a member color, use the pk;member color command with a hexadecimal color code, like so:

pk;member John color #ff0000
pk;member John color #87ceeb

To clear a member color, use the command with no color code argument (eg. pk;member John color).

Member avatar

If you want your member to have an associated avatar to display on the member information card and on proxied messages, you can set the member avatar. To do so, use the pk;member avatar command. You can either supply it with an direct URL to an image, or attach an image directly. For example.

pk;member John avatar http://placebeard.it/512.jpg
pk;member "Craig Johnson" avatar   (with an attached image)

To preview the current avatar (if one is set), use the command with no arguments:

pk;member John avatar

To clear your avatar, use the subcommand avatar clear (eg. pk;member John avatar clear).

Member pronouns

If you want to list a member's preferred pronouns, you can use the pronouns field on a member profile. This is a free text field, so you can put whatever you'd like in there (with a 100 character limit), like so:

pk;member John pronouns he/him
pk;member "Craig Johnson" pronouns anything goes, really
pk;member Skyler pronouns xe/xir or they/them

To remove a member's pronouns, use the command with no pronoun argument (eg. pk;member John pronouns).

Member birthdate

If you want to list a member's birthdate on their information card, you can set their birthdate through PluralKit using the pk;member birthdate command. Please use ISO-8601 format (YYYY-MM-DD) for best results, like so:

pk;member John birthdate 1996-07-24
pk;member "Craig Johnson" birthdate 2004-02-28

You can also set a birthdate without a year, either in MM-DD format or Month Day format, like so:

pk;member John birthdate 07-24
pk;member "Craig Johnson" birthdate Feb 28

To clear a birthdate, use the command with no birthday argument (eg. pk;member John birthdate).

Deleting members

If you want to delete a member, use the pk;member delete command, like so:

pk;member John delete

You'll need to confirm the deletion by replying with the member's ID when the bot asks you to - this is to avoid accidental deletion.

Proxying

Proxying is probably the most important part of PluralKit. This allows you to essentially speak "as" the member, with the proper name and avatar displayed on the message. To do so, you must at least have created a member.

Setting up proxy tags

You'll need to register a set of proxy tags, which are prefixes and/or suffixes you "enclose" the real message in, as a signal to PluralKit to indicate which member to proxy as. Common proxy tags include [square brackets], {curly braces} or A:letter prefixes.

To set a proxy tag, use the pk;member proxy command on the member in question. You'll need to provide a "proxy example", containing the word text. For example, if you want square brackets, the proxy example must be [text]. If you want a letter prefix, make it something like A:text. For example:

pk;member John proxy [text]
pk;member "Craig Johnson" proxy {text}
pk;member John proxy J:text

You can have any proxy tags you want, including one containing emojis.

You can now type a message enclosed in your proxy tags, and it'll be deleted by PluralKit and reposted with the appropriate member name and avatar (if set).

NB: If you want <angle brackets> as proxy tags, there is currently a bug where custom server emojis will (wrongly) be interpreted as proxying with that member (see issue #37). The current workaround is to use different proxy tags.

Using multiple distinct proxy tag pairs

If you'd like to proxy a member in multiple ways (for example, a name or a nickname, uppercase and lowercase variants, etc), you can add multiple tag pairs. When proxying, you may then use any of the tags to proxy for that specific member.

To add a proxy tag to a member, use the pk;member proxy add command: pk;member John proxy add {text} pk;member Craig proxy add C:text

To remove a proxy tag from a member, use the pk;member proxy remove command: pk;member John proxy remove {text} pk;member Craig proxy remove C:text

Keeping your proxy tags

If you'd like your proxied messages to include the proxy tags, you can enable the "keep proxy tags" option for a given member, like so:

pk;member John keepproxy on

Turning the option off is similar - replace "on" with "off" in the command. The default value for every member is off. When proxying a member with multiple proxy tags, the proxy tag used to trigger a given proxy will be included.

The practical effect of this is:

• Keep proxy tags on: [Message goes here] -> [Message goes here]
• Keep proxy tags off: [Message goes here] -> Message goes here

Querying message information

If you want information about a proxied message (eg. for moderation reasons), you can query the message for its sender account, system, member, etc.

Either you can react to the message itself with the ❔ or ❓ emoji, which will DM you information about the message in question, or you can use the pk;message command followed by the message's ID.

Pinging a specific user

If you'd like to "ping" the account behind a proxied message without having to query the message and ping them yourself, you can react to the message with the 🔔 or ❗ emoji, and PluralKit will ping the relevant member and account in the same channel on your behalf with a link to the message you reacted to.

Disabling proxying on a per-server basis

If you need to disable proxying messages for your system entirely in a specific server (for example, if you'd like to use a different proxy bot there), you can type pk;system proxy on/off to do that.

Deleting messages

Since the messages will be posted by PluralKit's webhook, there's no way to delete the message as you would a normal user message. To delete a PluralKit-proxied message, you can react to it with the ❌ emoji. Note that this only works if the message has been sent from your own account.

Autoproxying

The bot's autoproxy feature allows you to have messages be proxied without directly including the proxy tags. Autoproxy can be set up in various ways. There are three autoproxy modes currently implemented:

To see your system's current autoproxy settings, simply use the command: pk;autoproxy

To disable autoproxying for the current server, use the command: pk;autoproxy off

(hint: pk;autoproxy can be shortened to pk;ap in all related commands)

Front mode

This autoproxy mode will proxy messages as the current first fronter of the system. If you register a switch with Alice and Bob, messages without proxy tags will be autoproxied as Alice. To enable front-mode autoproxying for a given server, use the following command:

pk;autoproxy front

Latch mode

This autoproxy mode will essentially "continue" previous proxy tags. If you proxy a message with Alice's proxy tags, messages posted afterwards will be proxied as Alice. Proxying again with someone else's proxy tags, say, Bob, will cause messages from then on to be proxied as Bob. In other words, it means proxy tags become "sticky". This will carry over across all channels in the same server.

To enable latch-mode autoproxying for a given server, use the following command:

pk;autoproxy latch

Member mode

This autoproxy mode will autoproxy for a specific selected member, irrelevant of past proxies or fronters.

To enable member-mode autoproxying for a given server, use the following command, where <member> is a member name (in "quotes" if multiple words) or 5-letter ID:

pk;autoproxy <member>

Managing switches

PluralKit allows you to log member switches through the bot. Essentially, this means you can mark one or more members as the current fronter(s) for the duration until the next switch. You can then view the list of switches and fronters over time, and get statistics over which members have fronted for how long.

Logging switches

To log a switch, use the pk;switch command with one or more members. For example:

pk;switch John
pk;switch "Craig Johnson" John

Note that the order of members are preserved (this is useful for indicating who's "more" at front, if applicable). If you want to specify a member with multiple words in their name, remember to encase the name in "double quotes".

Switching out

If you want to log a switch with no members, you can log a switch-out as follows:

pk;switch out

Moving switches

If you want to log a switch that happened further back in time, you can log a switch and then move it back in time, using the pk;switch move command. You can either specify a time either in relative terms (X days/hours/minutes/seconds ago) or in absolute terms (this date, at this time). Absolute times will be interpreted in the system time zone. For example:

pk;switch move 1h
pk;switch move 4d12h
pk;switch move 2 PM
pk;switch move May 8th 4:30 PM

Note that you can't move a switch before the previous switch, to avoid breaking consistency. Here's a rough ASCII-art illustration of this:

       YOU CAN NOT               YOU CAN
        MOVE HERE               MOVE HERE       CURRENT SWITCH                 
            v                       v               START                   NOW
[===========================]       |                 v                      v
                             [=== PREVIOUS SWITCH ===]|                      |
                             \________________________[=== CURRENT SWITCH ===]
                                                      
----- TIME AXIS ---->

Delete switches

If you'd like to delete the most recent switch, use the pk;switch delete command. You'll need to confirm the deletion by clicking a reaction.

If you'd like to clear your system's entire switch history, use the pk;switch delete all command. This isn't reversible!

Querying fronter

To see the current fronter in a system, use the pk;system fronter command. You can use this on your current system, or on other systems. For example:

pk;system fronter
pk;system @Craig#5432 fronter
pk;system qazws fronter

Querying front history

To look at the front history of a system (currently limited to the last 10 switches). use the pk;system fronthistory command, for example:

pk;system fronthistory
pk;system @Craig#5432 fronthistory
pk;system qazws fronthistory

Querying front percentage

To look at the per-member breakdown of the front over a given time period, use the pk;system frontpercent command. If you don't provide a time period, it'll default to 30 days. For example:

pk;system frontpercent
pk;system @Craig#5432 frontpercent 7d
pk;system qazws frontpercent 100d12h

Note that in cases of switches with multiple members, each involved member will have the full length of the switch counted towards it. This means that the percentages may add up to over 100%.

Privacy

There are various reasons you may not want information about your system or your members to be public. As such, there are a few controls to manage which information is publicly accessible or not.

System privacy

At the moment, there are four aspects of system privacy that can be configured.

• System description
• Current fronter
• Front history
• Member list

Each of these can be set to public or private. When set to public, anyone who queries your system (by account or system ID, or through the API), will see this information. When set to private, the information will only be shown when you yourself query the information. The cards will still be displayed in the channel the commands are run in, so it's still your responsibility not to pull up information in servers where you don't want it displayed.

To update your system privacy settings, use the following commands:

pk;system privacy <subject> <level>

where <subject> is either description, fronter, fronthistory or list, corresponding to the options above, and level is either public or private.

For example:

pk;system privacy description private
pk;system privacy fronthistory public
pk;system privacy list private

When the member list is private, other users will not be able to view the full member list of your system, but they can still query individual members given their 5-letter ID. If current fronter is private, but front history isn't, someone can still see the current fronter by looking at the history (this combination doesn't make much sense).

Member privacy

There is also an option to mark a specific member as private, using the command:

pk;member <name> private

A private member will not be displayed in member lists (even if the member list is public), and will show only limited information if looked up by others - namely name, display name and avatar. Other information, such as description, pronouns and birthday will be hidden.

All of this can only be accessed using the member's 5-letter ID, which is exposed when proxying. So, if you want to keep a member absolutely private, it's recommended you don't proxy with it publicly - that way the ID isn't exposed.

An example of a private member is cmpuv - try looking it up and see what's shown, as well as the corresponding system list (pk;system exmpl list).

Moderation commands

Log channel

If you want to log every proxied message to a separate channel for moderation purposes, you can use the pk;log command with the channel name. This requires you to have the Manage Server permission on the server. For example:

pk;log #proxy-log

To disable logging, use the pk;log command with no channel name.

Importing and exporting data

If you're a user of another proxy bot (eg. Tupperbox), or you want to import a saved system backup, you can use the importing and exporting commands.

Importing from Tupperbox

If you're a user of the other proxying bot Tupperbox, you can import system and member information from there. This is a fairly simple process:

1. Export your data from Tupperbox:

tul!export

2. Copy the URL for the data file (or download it)
3. Import your data into PluralKit:

pk;import https://link/to/the/data/file.json

(alternatively, run pk;import by itself and attach the .json file)

Note that while Tupperbox supports features such as multiple proxies per member, per-member system tags, and member groups, PluralKit does not. PluralKit will warn you when you're importing a Tupperbox file that makes use of such features, as they will not carry over.

Importing from PluralKit

If you have an exported file from PluralKit, you can import system, member and switch information from there like so:

1. Export your data from PluralKit:

pk;export

2. Copy the URL for the data file (or download it)
3. Import your data into PluralKit:

pk;import https://link/to/the/data/file.json

(alternatively, run pk;import by itself and attach the .json file)

Exporting your PluralKit data

To export all the data associated with your system, run the pk;export command. This will send you a JSON file containing your system, member, and switch information.