OpenDrone Discord

Configuration as code for the OpenDrone Discord server.

Part	What it is
server.json + discord_config.py	Channels, roles, permissions, onboarding, welcome screen, AutoMod and guild settings, planned and applied from Git
texts.py	Posts the bot-owned texts: #rules, #welcome, the Server Guide resource pages and one hub message per repository
bot/	Cloudflare Worker: pull request and issue threads, #git-feed, KiCad collision guard, commands, linked roles. See bot/README.md

Change the server

flowchart LR
  E[edit server.json] --> P[plan] --> R[review the diff] --> A[apply --yes] --> S[snapshot] --> W[write] --> B[read back: no diff]

Loading

python3 discord_config.py plan          # diff against the live server, writes nothing
python3 discord_config.py apply --yes   # snapshot, apply, read back
python3 discord_config.py restore snapshots/<file>.json [--yes]

The token comes from OPENDRONE_DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN in the environment, then in INCUTEC_CREDENTIALS_FILE (default ~/.config/incutec/credentials.env). Python 3.10+, standard library only.

Rule	Effect
Only listed things are managed	Channels, roles, prompts, options, tags and AutoMod rules not in server.json are reported as unmanaged and left alone
Nothing is deleted	A channel leaves server.json or moves to archive; a person deletes it in the UI
Snapshot and read back	Every apply --yes saves snapshots/ (git-ignored) first and fails if the server still differs afterwards
Lockout guard	Refuses a plan that hides a channel from admin or the bot, lets an onboarding option hand out a staff or privileged role, or breaks Discord's onboarding minimum (7 default channels, 5 writable)

Layout

flowchart LR
  subgraph Start
    s1["#welcome, #rules, #announcements"]
  end
  subgraph Community
    c1["#gen-chat, #introduce-yourself, #flying, #off-topic, #builds, #proposals"]
  end
  subgraph Support
    h1["help (forum)"]
  end
  subgraph Development
    d1["#git-feed (GitHub feed role), alpha-testing (testers)"]
  end
  subgraph Hardware
    hw["one channel per product line"]
  end
  subgraph Software
    sw["#fc-betaflight, #esc-am32, #rx-expresslrs, #opendrone-web"]
  end
  subgraph Voice
    v1["general, troubleshooting, dev-call, community-call"]
  end
  subgraph Staff
    st["#web-support, #web-support-admin, #chatfpv, #mod-log"]
  end
  Start --> Community --> Support --> Development --> Hardware --> Software --> Voice --> Staff

Loading

What a member sees	How
Start, Community, help, Voice	Onboarding defaults
A product or firmware channel	Picking it in onboarding or Channels & Roles
#git-feed	Picking GitHub feed, which gives the GitHub feed role
alpha-testing	beta tester, given by an admin with an alpha board
Staff	admin, Support, the bots

Four read-only channels (#how-to-contribute, #product-lifecycle, #buying-and-support, #licence-and-ai) are the Server Guide resource pages and are not in the sidebar.

Support

Three systems meet in this server. Each question has one door:

Question	Door	Answered by	Visible to
Order, payment, shipping, warranty, returns, anything private	Ticket at opendrone.be/support	The team, in a #web-support post; ChatFPV drafts some replies	The customer and Support
A board that does not work	#help forum	Community and team	Everyone
Design of a board	Its product channel	Community	Its followers

flowchart LR
  C[Customer] -->|opendrone.be/support| T[Storefront Worker]
  T -->|one post per ticket, pings Support| WS["#web-support"]
  T -->|name, email, Shopify link| WA["#web-support-admin"]
  T -->|POST /v1/draft| F[ChatFPV Worker]
  F -->|draft| WS
  S[Support role] -->|reply, ✅| WS
  WS -->|polled| T
  F -->|/ask tests, alerts| CF["#chatfpv"]

Loading

Channel	Owner	Access profile
#web-support	Storefront Worker (OpenDrone-Web README, "Support tickets")	tickets: admin, Support, and the OpenDrone Support bot with the permissions that README lists
#web-support-admin	Storefront Worker	ticket-meta: admin and Support read, the bot writes
#chatfpv	ChatFPV Worker, which also uses the OpenDrone Support application	chatfpv: staff and the bot; ChatFPV's test channel and alert target

The storefront's SUPPORT_MOD_ROLE_ID is the Support role: its members get pinged on a new ticket and approve held replies and AI drafts with ✅. Give the role to whoever answers tickets.

Access profiles in server.json: open (everyone reads and writes), open-answered (open plus an explicit OpenDrone Support bot overwrite: view, read history, send, send in threads, create public threads, add reactions, create private threads, manage threads; used on #gen-chat and the Hardware and Software channels, where ChatFPV opens a private draft thread per proposed reply, posts the approved answer, and archives and locks the draft thread; the bot role itself has no Administrator), readonly (admin and the bot post), staff, testers, early-birds and feed (hidden except for their roles). No profile uses Newbie or Member: onboarding is the gate, and the region answer gives Member.

Onboarding and roles

Prompt	Gives
Where are you from? (required)	Region role and Member
What do you fly?	The role of the same name
Follow OpenDrone development	FC follower ... Web-Tools follower and their channels; GitHub feed; #proposals
Which firmware do you use?	Betaflight user, AM32 user, ExpressLRS user and their channels

Role	Given by
Contributor	Linked role: 1 or more merged PRs in OpenDrone-hw
Maintainer	Linked role: member of the GitHub team core
Verified Owner	Linked role: an order on opendrone.be (the storefront does not report it yet)
Verified Builder	The bot's Approve build command
Early Bird	The bot, for a paid OpenDrone preorder placed before 2026-12-15, one Discord account per order (bot/README.md, "Early Bird"); opens #early-birds
Support	Moderators; the only managed role with permissions
Betaflight, AM32, ExpressLRS	By hand, for those projects' maintainers

server.json keys

Key	Holds
guard	protected_roles, gating_roles, must_see, protected_channels, unassignable_roles
profiles	Named overwrite sets: {role: {allow: [...], deny: [...]}} with Discord flag names
roles[]	name, renamed_from, color, hoist, mentionable, permissions
categories[]	name, access, optional id, channels[]; list order is sidebar order
channels[]	name, optional id, type, topic, access, slowmode, forum (tags, default_reaction, layout, sort, require_tag)
archive	A category and the channels moved into it
onboarding	mode, default_channels, prompts[] (options[], renamed_from, retired_options[])
welcome_screen, automod[], guild	As Discord names them

Roles are referenced by name, channels by id, Category/name or a unique name. An unknown key, role, permission or emoji stops the run before any write.

Bot-owned texts (texts.py)

Each subcommand is a dry run without --yes and edits its message in place when the text changed; nothing is reposted or pinned twice.

Command	Posts
python3 texts.py resources	#welcome and the four resource pages; texts are RESOURCES in texts.py
python3 texts.py rules --rules-file <md>	#rules, pinned
python3 texts.py hubs	One pinned hub per public repository in its product channel: link, description, lifecycle, releases

Discord UI only

Task	Where
Server Guide: welcome sign, to-dos, resource pages	Server Settings > Onboarding > Server Guide
Linked role requirements	Server Settings > Roles > the role > Links
Delete a channel that left server.json	Right-click > Delete Channel
Command visibility for Approve build and /promote	Server Settings > Integrations > OpenDrone Dev

The bot application OpenDrone Dev (id 1553826696673759344) is used by both the scripts and the Worker. It holds Administrator because the config tool can only grant permissions the bot itself has.

Validation

python3 -m unittest discover -s tests
cd bot && npm ci && npm test && npx tsc --noEmit

Licence

MIT