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PatchRadar Discord Bot

The Latest Gaming and Software News,
Directly in Your Discord Server

... Supported Games
... News Delivered
Invite to Server

100% Free & No 3rd Party Ads

Track as many products as you want - completely free. We don't limit your subscriptions or hide features behind paywalls. PatchRadar Bot is designed purely to keep you updated, with absolutely no third-party advertisements.

How it works

Add the bot to your server and configure which products you want to track. The bot will automatically post news updates where you want them, whether that is a normal text channel, a thread, or a forum.

Commands

/track product target_channel filter
Subscribe to news for a specific product. Requires the 'Manage Server' permission.
  • product: Search for a product (autocompleted). Pick an entry from the suggestion list rather than pressing Enter on your own text.
  • target_channel: Where the news should appear. Text channels, threads and forum channels are all supported, see 'Where updates can be posted' below.
  • filter: Choose 'Patch Notes Only' or 'All Updates'
  • Note: Before saving, the bot checks that it can actually post at the target. If it cannot, it tells you exactly which permission is missing instead of failing silently later.
/untrack product
Unsubscribe from news for a product. Requires the 'Manage Server' permission.
/tracked
Show all tracked products in this server, with their target channel, posting mode, forum tags and linked ping roles.
/pingroles product
Link up to 5 roles to a tracked product - whenever an update for it is posted, these roles get pinged, so only their members are notified. Pick the roles from a dropdown; deselect all (or use the button) to remove the pings again. Requires the 'Manage Server' permission.
  • product: The tracked product to configure (autocompleted)
  • Note: A role only gets pinged if 'Allow anyone to @mention this role' is enabled in its role settings.

Where updates can be posted

You are not limited to plain text channels. Pick whichever of these fits how your server is organised.

Text channel
Every update is posted as a normal message in that channel. The classic setup.
Thread or forum post
Every update is posted inside that one thread, so all news for a game collects in a single place. Ideal if your server already has a thread or forum post per game.
  • Works with public threads, private threads and announcement threads.
  • An individual post inside a forum counts as a thread, so you can point a subscription straight at your existing 'League Of Legends' post and the news lands in there.
  • Inactive threads that Discord has archived are no problem. Posting an update unarchives the thread automatically and it pops back up in the list.
Forum channel
Every update creates its own new post in the forum, titled with the news headline. Good when you want each patch note to have its own discussion.
  • If the forum has tags, the bot asks which ones to apply so the posts land correctly filed. You can pick up to 5.
  • If the forum is set to require a tag, picking one is mandatory, because Discord rejects untagged posts in that case.
  • Media channels work the same way as forum channels.

Permissions the bot needs

The invite link grants everything automatically. If you added the bot before thread support existed, use the invite link again so the new thread permission gets applied to your server.

What each posting target requires:
  • Text channels: View Channel, Send Messages, Embed Links
  • Threads and forum posts: View Channel, Send Messages in Threads, Embed Links. 'Send Messages' has no effect inside a thread, Discord uses a separate permission for those.
  • Forum channels: View Channel, Send Messages, Embed Links
  • Role pings: a role is only pinged if 'Allow anyone to @mention this role' is enabled for it, or the bot has 'Mention @everyone, @here and All Roles'.
  • Optional: 'Manage Threads' additionally lets the bot post in locked threads and join private threads it was not added to.

Troubleshooting

Something not working as expected? These cover almost everything people run into.

I tracked a product but nothing gets posted

The bot only posts when there is genuinely new news for that product, so a quiet game can stay silent for weeks. Beyond that, check the following:

  • If you picked 'Patch Notes Only', general announcements and articles are skipped. Run /track again for the same product and choose 'All Updates'.
  • Run /tracked to confirm the product is listed and points at the channel you expect.
  • If the bot lost access to the channel after you set it up, for example because channel permissions changed, updates stop arriving. Run /track again for that product and the bot will re-check its permissions and tell you what is wrong.
The bot says it is missing a permission

The message names the exact permission. Grant it to the bot's role, either server wide or just on that channel, then run the command again.

By far the most common one is 'Send Messages in Threads'. Servers that added the bot before thread support was released do not have it yet, because Discord does not apply new permissions to existing installs. Using the invite link again fixes it in a few seconds and changes nothing else about your setup.

Updates do not show up in a thread

Threads have their own rules in Discord:

  • The bot needs 'Send Messages in Threads'. Plain 'Send Messages' does not cover threads.
  • Locked threads are refused, since nobody can post in them. Unlock the thread, or give the bot 'Manage Threads'.
  • For private threads the bot has to be a member. It tries to add itself when you run /track, and if that is not allowed it will ask you to add it manually.
  • Archived threads are not a problem. Posting an update unarchives the thread automatically.
The bot asks me to pick a forum tag

That forum is set up to require a tag on every post. Discord rejects untagged posts in such a forum, so the bot asks up front instead of creating a subscription that could never post. You can select up to 5 tags.

If your forum requires a tag but has none configured, the bot will tell you. Add tags in the forum's channel settings first, then run /track again.

My roles are not getting pinged

Roles are linked per product with /pingroles. If a role is linked but never pinged, open its role settings and enable 'Allow anyone to @mention this role'. Without it Discord silently drops the ping. The bot warns you when you select a role that has this turned off.

I cannot see the commands
  • /track, /untrack and /pingroles require the 'Manage Server' permission by default. Admins can hand them to other roles under Server Settings, then Integrations.
  • /tracked is available to everyone.
  • Right after the bot joins, commands can take a little while to appear. Restarting your Discord client usually makes them show up immediately.
  • The commands only work inside a server, not in direct messages with the bot.
Autocomplete shows no products
  • Type a few characters of the product name and give the list a moment to load.
  • Always click an entry from the suggestions. If you press Enter on text you typed yourself, the bot cannot match it to a product and will ask you to pick a suggestion instead.
  • For /untrack and /pingroles the list only contains products already tracked in this server.
  • If a product you want is missing entirely, let us know and we will look at adding it.
I deleted the channel or thread that was being tracked

Nothing to do. Subscriptions pointing at a deleted channel or thread are removed automatically. Deleting a whole channel also clears the subscriptions of any threads inside it, and removing the bot from the server clears everything it had for that server.

Just run /track again with a new target whenever you are ready.

Support

Still stuck, or got an idea for a new feature? Join our Discord server and ask, it is the fastest way to reach us.

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Prefer email? Write to contact@patchradar.com.