Quickstart

Get Ascend AI answering questions in your Discord server in under five minutes. This page covers install, knowledge base setup, channel whitelisting, plans, promo codes, and the optional game plugins — everything you need without leaving the docs.

Before you begin

You'll need a Discord server where you have either the Manage Server or Administrator permission, plus an Ascend account (sign in with Discord from play-ascend.com/ascend-ai-bot). A short markdown document — even ten lines of server rules or FAQ — is enough for your first install, and you can expand the knowledge base later without re-installing.

1. Install Ascend AI

From your dashboard click Install Ascend AInext to the server you want to add it to. You'll be sent through Discord's standard OAuth consent screen — pick the server, confirm, and you'll land back on the per-server dashboard with the bot live.

What it asks for

Ascend AI uses the minimum permissions to read messages in channels you whitelist and post embedded replies. It does not register slash commands, doesn't request moderation permissions, and won't touch a channel you haven't opted in. The OAuth request maps to three scopes (bot, identify, guilds) and two channel permissions (Embed Links + Stream — bitfield 16896).

https://discord.com/oauth2/authorize
  ?client_id=<ascend_ai_app_id>
  &permissions=16896  # Embed Links + Stream
  &scope=bot+identify+guilds
  &response_type=code

2. Open your server dashboard

After install you land on /ascend-ai-bot/dashboard/<guild_id>. The dashboard groups everything by tab — Overview, Knowledge, Personalization, Plugins, Billing — and remembers the tab you were on across reloads.

• Overview — daily question heatmap, top askers, most-asked topics, plan usage at a glance.
• Knowledge — the markdown docs the bot grounds every reply in. Add, edit, tag, enable/disable, or delete docs here.
• Personalization — voice, whitelist channels, support channel routing, per-user daily limit, minimum question length.
• Plugins — toggle paid game add-ons (VALORANT / Dota 2 / CS2).
• Billing — plan selection, promo-code redemption, invoice history.

3. Add your first knowledge doc

Ascend AI's answers are grounded in the docs you provide. Open the Knowledge tab and click Add document — a side-panel editor opens with three inputs: name, optional tag, and a markdown body. Prefer files? Upload .md / .pdf accepts a markdown file or a text-based PDF and converts it into a document for you. Either way, content is checked by moderation on save and the doc is ready within about a minute — the bot uses it on the next reply.

The meta panel on the right of the Knowledge tab tracks document count, total tokens used, your plan's token cap, and the time of the last save. When tokens approach the cap the meter turns amber; at 100% the Add button is disabled until you trim a doc or upgrade your plan.

What goes in a doc

• Name — short and human (e.g. FAQ, Server rules, Scrim format). Members never see the name, but you'll be reading it in the dashboard.
• Tag — optional free-form label up to 32 characters. Useful for grouping related docs in the table view (e.g. rules, events, onboarding). The bot doesn't use the tag to scope retrieval — it's purely organizational.
• Markdown — the actual content. Headings + short paragraphs work best; the bot retrieves passages rather than whole files. Keep individual docs focused on one topic; split as you grow.
• Enabled — a per-row toggle in the table. Disabling skips a doc without deleting it, which is handy for seasonal content (e.g. a tournament format doc you turn back on before each season).
• Status — ready once a doc is in use, or failedif something went wrong processing it. Saves that would exceed the plan's token cap or that get flagged by content moderation are rejected immediately with an explanation — nothing is stored. Repeated moderation violations temporarily pause KB saves, doubling the pause per strike (capped at 24h) and resetting after a clean week.

4. Whitelist a channel

Ascend AI only reads channels you explicitly add to its whitelist — there's no server-wide listener. Open Personalization → Whitelist channels and pick the channels members should be able to ask in. Anywhere else, the bot stays silent even if someone @mentions it.

The whitelist is per-server, so a member who has the same question in two servers gets a fresh answer in each — based on that server's KB and tone settings. Channels removed from the whitelist immediately stop being read; in- flight replies aren't cancelled but no new ones start.

5. Talk to the bot

Send a message in any whitelisted channel — there's no slash command and no mention required, just write naturally. Ascend AI reads the message, retrieves the most relevant passages from your enabled docs (plus any plugin data, if a plugin is on), and posts an embedded reply within a couple of seconds.

The bot is deliberately picky about what it answers:

• Messages below the minimum question length(set in Personalization) are skipped — this is how the bot ignores noise like "ok", "lol", or single emojis.
• Messages that @-mention another memberare also skipped — the bot won't barge into a conversation between two humans.
• If the bot isn't confident in an answer it either stays quiet or, if you've configured a support channel, nudges the asker there instead of hallucinating.

6. (Optional) Personalize the bot

The Personalization tab covers voice and guardrails:

• Personality — one of direct, casual, professional, or playful. This sets the bot's tone without changing what it knows. Esports orgs usually run direct; creator communities tend to land on casual or playful.
• Whitelist channels — the only channels the bot reads. Required before the bot replies anywhere.
• Support channel— where members get nudged when the bot isn't confident. Whitelisted channels are filtered out of the picker, so you can't accidentally route a question back into the channel it came from.
• Per-user daily limit— caps how many questions one member can ask per day. Useful when a single curious member could otherwise burn your plan's monthly budget.
• Minimum question length — ignore messages shorter than N characters. The default catches one-word noise without blocking real questions.

7. (Optional) Add a game plugin

Plugins extend Ascend AI with live or curated game data. They're billed separately per server, on top of your plan, and you can turn them on or off anytime from the Plugins tab.

With a plugin enabled, members can ask things like "what's my rank?" or "show TenZ's last match"and the bot fetches real data instead of answering from the KB alone. Plugin replies are merged with the grounding from your knowledge base — they don't replace it.

Next steps

You're live. Here's where most teams go next:

• Add a couple more docs (rules, common how-tos, event format) — the bot gets noticeably better with breadth.
• Route low-confidence questions to a support channel so they land where a human can pick them up.
• Enable a game plugin if your community is built around VALORANT, Dota 2, or CS2.
• Got a promo code? Redeem it from the Billing tab — see below.

Plans & pricing

Ascend AI is billed per Discord server. There are no seat fees and no contract — cancel from the Billing tab and the plan ends at the next renewal. All prices are USD per month.

Promo codes

Promo codes are single-use vouchers an Ascend admin assigns to a specific registered user. Codes arrive by email — formatted like XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX — and grant a configured plan + duration (1, 3, 6, 9, or 12 months) plus any plugins bundled with the code.

To redeem one:

1. Open the Billing tab on a server you manage.
2. Find the Promo code section, paste the code from your email, and click Activate promo.
3. The plan activates immediately and runs for the configured window. When it ends, the server drops back to the free tier unless you've also started a paid plan in the meantime.

Switching plans

Plan changes live in the same Billing tab. Each plan card has a button — the one you're on is labelled Current plan, the others show Switch to Growth or similar. Clicking it opens Stripe Checkout to confirm payment.

• Upgrades apply right away. Caps on members, monthly questions, and KB tokens jump immediately; the bot picks up the new ceiling on its next reply.
• Downgradestake effect at your next renewal date so you don't lose value you've already paid for. The dashboard shows "Downgrade scheduled" in the meantime.
• Cancelling stops auto-renewal but leaves the bot fully live until the end of the paid period. Past that point the server reverts to the free tier — your KB stays intact, but reply volume is capped and plugins turn off.
• Invoices live in the Stripe billing portal (opened from the Billing tab) for accounting.

FAQ

Common questions, lifted from the Ascend AI landing page so the answers stay in sync.