A Discord anti-nuke bot watches the server audit log for bursts of destructive actions (mass bans, kicks, channel or role deletions), and when one account crosses a limit inside a short window it times out, kicks or bans that account and posts an alert. It cannot undo the first few actions, but it turns a "lost the whole server in ninety seconds" event into "lost two channels and one admin got timed out". This guide explains what nuking is, how detection works, which limits to set, and what to do afterwards.
What a server nuke is
A nuke is when an account with elevated permissions uses them to destroy the server as fast as possible: delete every channel, delete every role, ban every member, rename what is left. It takes seconds with a script. The attacker is almost never a stranger. It is a staff member who got phished, a disgruntled moderator, a bot with more permissions than it needed, or an alt that was trusted with Administrator months ago and forgotten.
That last point matters for defence. Verification and anti-spam protect against people who are outside or at the bottom of the hierarchy. Anti-nuke protects against people who are already at the top.
How detection works
Discord does not tell a bot "user X just deleted a channel". It emits a channel-deleted event with no author. To find out who did it, the bot reads the server audit log, which records the executor for each administrative action. This is why every anti-nuke bot needs the View Audit Log permission and why the audit log is the detection source, not a guess.
Noxyr's anti-nuke tracks four action types through the audit log:
- Channel deletions
- Role deletions
- Member bans
- Member kicks
Each action is attributed to its executor and counted inside a rolling window. When the same executor crosses the configured number of actions inside the window, the bot applies the configured punishment and logs what happened. Actions by the server owner are never counted, and actions performed by bot accounts are not counted either; more on that limitation below.
Setting the limits
Noxyr's defaults are 3 destructive actions in 30 seconds, with a 60-minute timeout as the response. You can change all of it with /security antinuke or from the Security page of the dashboard:
- max_actions: how many tracked actions one account may perform inside the window before the bot reacts. Three is a sensible floor; a real admin reorganising categories might delete two channels quickly, and you do not want to time them out for it.
- window_seconds: the length of the window. Nukes are fast, so 30 to 60 seconds catches them while leaving room for normal admin work.
- action: Timeout, Kick, Ban, or Log only. Timeout is the safest default because it is reversible and strips the ability to keep acting. Ban is the strongest but a false positive on a co-owner is painful.
- timeout_minutes: how long the timeout lasts when that is the action.
Start with "Log only" for a day if you are nervous. You will see exactly what would have triggered, without the bot touching anyone.
Trusted users and roles
Some accounts legitimately delete things in bulk: a co-owner rebuilding the channel layout, a bot you use for temporary voice channels. /security trust exempts a user or a role from anti-nuke; /security untrust removes the exemption. Keep the list short. Every trusted account is an account whose compromise cannot be stopped by the bot, so the honest rule is: trust the people you would give the server to, and nobody else.
A note on bot accounts: Noxyr does not count actions by other bots. That is deliberate (bots routinely create and delete channels as part of normal features), but it means a malicious or compromised bot is outside anti-nuke's reach. Audit which bots have Manage Channels, Manage Roles or Ban Members, and remove what they do not need. The raid protection playbook has a permission checklist.
What happens when it triggers
- The executor gets the configured punishment: timed out, kicked or banned.
- An alert embed goes to your log channel with the executor, the action type, the count inside the window and the response applied.
- The window resets, so a second burst from a different account is tracked separately.
Set the log channel before you rely on any of this. Without one the bot still acts, but you have no record to explain a timeout or to reconstruct what was deleted. Security settings and a walkthrough are in the security docs and the tutorial.
Recovery: what anti-nuke cannot do
No anti-nuke bot restores your server. By the time the limit is crossed, the actions before it have already happened, and Discord offers no undelete for channels or roles. Recovery is your job, and it is much easier if you prepared:
- Keep a server template. Server Settings lets you generate a template of your channel and role structure. Refresh it after big layout changes. It will not restore messages, but it gets the skeleton back in a minute.
- Export what matters elsewhere. Ticket transcripts, invoices and reviews stored outside Discord survive a nuke. Noxyr keeps its transcripts and invoice records in its own database and lets you back up invoices.
- Unban in bulk. If members were banned, the ban list can be cleared from Server Settings. Tedious but doable.
- Rotate access. Remove Administrator from every role that does not strictly need it, and require 2FA for moderation actions in Safety Setup.
Picking an anti-nuke bot
Dedicated security bots (Wick, Beemo, Security Bot) go deeper: some track more action types, add join-raid heuristics, or offer partial rollback for premium subscribers. If security is the only thing you need from a bot and you are willing to pay, they are worth a look; our security bot comparison covers them fairly. Noxyr's advantage is that anti-nuke, anti-spam, verification and the log channel are all free and configured from the same dashboard as your tickets and store, so there is one fewer bot with dangerous permissions in the server. The security bot page lists exactly what is included.
Common questions
Is anti-nuke on by default? Noxyr's security module is on, but anti-nuke itself starts disabled so the bot never moderates admins by surprise. Enable it with /security antinuke enabled:True or from the dashboard.
Will it time out my co-owner for cleaning up channels? Only if they cross the limit inside the window. Add them with /security trust if they regularly do bulk work.
Does the bot need Administrator? It needs View Audit Log to detect executors and Moderate Members, Kick or Ban to respond. Administrator is the simplest way to guarantee it can act on the offending account; the bot's role must also sit above the roles it needs to act on.
Can anti-nuke restore deleted channels? No, and neither can Discord. Keep a server template and treat anti-nuke as damage limitation.
What about the server owner? The owner is never actioned. If the owner account is compromised, contact Discord support; no bot can help there.