① What are Locked Channels?

Locked Channels are a tool server managers can use to help put a stop to chaotic situations in chat, such as server raids, or other situations where restricting access to chatting could be helpful. When a channel is locked, only approved moderators are allowed to communicate in it. Locking channels prevents sending messages, creating threads, adding reactions, using commands, joining voice chat, and more.

② Locked Channels permissions

Ostra will only allow you to talk in Locked Channels if you have the Interact in Locked Channels permission, a Moderator Role, a Manager Role, or the Manage Server Discord permission within that server.

Don't know how to grant this permission? Check out our Role Permissions guide.
You can also grant this permission from the Locked Channels dashboard page by adding roles to the "Who can communicate in Locked Channels?" list.

Locking and unlocking channels requires the Lock Channels permission, a Manager Role, or the Manage Server Discord permission.
You can also grant this permission from the Locked Channels dashboard page by adding roles to the "Who can lock channels?" list.
Roles that have the Lock Channels permission are also allowed to communicate in Locked Channels, even without an explicit grant for the permission.

Additionally, locking or unlocking a channel requires you to have permission to use commands in the channel. If you can't see, chat in, or use commands in a channel, you can't lock it.

③ Locking and unlocking channels

Locked Channels can be used either through the /lock and /unlock commands, or from the Locked Channels page of your server's dashboard.

When locking or unlocking, you can target:

• An individual channel
• All channels in a specific category
• All channels not in a category
• All channels in the server

• Message
  A message to send in the channel, explaining the action. If omitted, a default message will be used.
• Duration
  How long the lock should last for, locks are indefinite by default.
• Private Reason
  A staff-only reason for the action, which isn't sent publicly, but is logged to Action History.
• Silent
  Prevents Ostra from sending a public message in the channel after the action is performed.

④ Locking multiple channels

When multiple channels are selected for locking, such as a category or the entire server, the channels will be locked in the order they appear in your Discord server, from top to bottom, one at a time. You can monitor the progress of a longer lock operation like this from the Locked Channels page in your server's dashboard.
If there were channels selected that either the user doesn't have permission to lock, or Ostra doesn't have sufficient permissions for Locked Channels to work in them, they will be ignored and the lock will continue with all other channels that can be locked.
There is a queue for channels that are waiting to be locked or unlocked, and repeated requests to manage the same channel will be rejected.

⑤ How Locked Channels interacts with permission overwrites

The Interact in Locked Channels permission acts as the single source of truth for determining which roles are allowed to communicate in Locked Channels. The exception to this rule is overwrites for individual members, which are not modified by Locked Channels. This framework allows Locked Channels to be usable in most servers without unintended server members retaining permissions by mistake. Here are some examples and how Locked Channels will treat them:

• Moderator role has Interact in Locked Channels, Admin role has Lock Channels, both roles have an allow overwrite for Send Messages in #self-promo, as well as a Content Creator role, @everyone does not have Send Messages, and #self-promo is locked
  @everyone still can't send messages, and loses other permissions (such as Add Reactions), Content Creator loses send messages, Moderator and Admin keep their permissions
• A channel is locked that Moderators aren't allowed to send messages in
  The Moderator role does not gain the ability to send messages during the lock. Interact in Locked Channels does not grant additional permissions when a channel is locked, it only prevents the role from losing its permissions during the lock. This is calculated as the role's effective permissions given both the base and per-channel permissions of itself and the @everyone role. This may result in temporary allow overwrites being created during the lock for these roles.
• A channel is locked, then the Helper role is granted Interact in Locked Channels, and the channel is locked a second time without unlocking first
  The second lock will create allow overwrites for the Helper role if the Helper role was allowed to talk in the channel before the original lock. This is because locking a channel that is already locked considers what the role's permissions would be if the current lock were removed, allowing for quick edits to be made without unlocking. This can be helpful for rapid responses in the middle of a server raid, allowing staff permissions to be corrected after the original lock if Locked Channels was not set up in the server prior to its first use.

NOTE Locked Channels will preserve changes made to permission overwrites manually during the lock. This means changing the permissions for a role, such as giving @everyone an allow overwrite for Add Reactions, or taking away an allow overwrite another role had will result in those changes being persisted after the channel is unlocked.

⑥ Ostra's required permissions for Locked Channels

For Locked Channels to work, Ostra needs certain permissions in each channel desired to be managed. For servers that have given Ostra Administrator permissions, this section is of no concern and Locked Channels will work in all channels. For those who have chosen to restrict Ostra's permissions, there are two configurations that will work:

• Full Grant
  This option allows Ostra to manage all permissions in the chosen channel, including those that aren't necessary for Locked Channels. It is the easier option to configure, but grants Ostra unnecessary permissions, which could be less desirable for security-conscious server admins.
  To configure Full Grant, create the following permission overwrites as allow overwrites for Ostra in each of the desired channels:
  • View Channel
  • Connect (Voice and Stage Channels only)
  • Manage Permissions
• Restricted Grant
  This option only allows Ostra to manage the necessary permissions for Locked Channels, but requires a more complex setup process. Once configured correctly, it will function identically to a Full Grant setup.
  To configure Restricted Grant, begin by ensuring Ostra has a role with Manage Roles granted server-wide, not in a specific channel or category. This will allow Ostra to modify permission overwrites in all channels in a more restricted way than a Full Grant.
  Next, create the following permission overwrites as allow overwrites for Ostra in each of the desired channels:
  • View Channel
  • Connect (Voice and Stage Channels only)
  These permissions ensure Ostra is allowed to manage permission overwrites in these channels. Next, you'll need to decide the permissions Ostra should be allowed to manage.
  This step differs between channels in categories and uncategorized channels.
  For channels in a category, the following permissions need to be accessible to Ostra in the category containing the channel you want to set up Locked Channels in. This can either be in the form of server-wide permissions, or allow overwrites in the category itself. Granting allow overwrites in the channel won't work.
  For uncategorized channels, the following permissions need to be accessible to Ostra server-wide.
  The required permissions depend on the types of channels Ostra needs to be able to manage with Locked Channels. All permissions listed apply to all channel types unless otherwise stated:
  • Send Messages
  • Add Reactions
  • Use Application Commands
  • Use External Apps
  • Connect (Voice and Stage Channels only)
  • Use Activities (excluding Stage Channels)
  • Send Messages in Threads (excluding Voice and Stage Channels)
  • Create Public Threads (Announcement and Text Channels only)
  • Create Private Threads (Text Channels only)

  NOTE For categories containing Voice or Stage Channels, this means Ostra needs to have Connect both in the channels' category, as well as in the channels themselves.

  As an example, this means for categories with no Voice or Stage Channels, Ostra does not need Connect permissions in the category.

TIP If you're unsure if Ostra's permissions are configured correctly, check the Locked Channels page in your server's dashboard. If there's any missing permissions preventing Locked Channels from being usable in a channel, a warning will be displayed, and you can review the missing permissions from there.

⑦ Why does locking take longer without the Manage Channels permission?

Discord offers two methods for bots to manage permissions in a channel. The option which only requires the Manage Roles permission only allows bots to update the permissions one role at a time for each channel. The other option which requires both Manage Roles and Manage Channels permissions allows bots to update the permissions for multiple roles at once for each channel.
Because Locked Channels may modify overwrites for multiple roles in each channel, if Ostra has the Manage Channels permission, it will use the faster option for improved performance. If Ostra does not have the Manage Channels permission, Locked Channels will still work, but all lock and unlock operations will take longer to complete. If this matters to you is entirely your choice, and no other functionality is affected.
If you'd like to grant Ostra Manage Channel allow overwrites in specific channels to enable faster performance in them, you may do so as well.

⑧ How does Locked Channels work with Forum and Media channels?

When a Forum or Media channel is locked, server members will be unable to create new threads, or talk in existing threads. However, Ostra will never send a public message in Forum and Media channels after locking or unlocking, since Locked Channels does not create threads in these channels.