An AI FAQ bot reads the questions members type in your Discord and answers them from documents you wrote: your schedule, your setup guide, your returns policy, your rules. When the documents don't cover a question, it says so and points the member to a person. That is the whole job.
This guide walks through the setup with Ascend AI, from adding it to a server to handing the hard questions to your mods. It takes one sitting. Every setting below is named the way the dashboard names it, and the Ascend AI docs cover each one in more detail.
What do you need before you start?
Three things. A Discord server where you have Manage Server or Administrator. An Ascend account, which you get by signing in with Discord. And a first draft of the answers: the questions your members keep asking, each with the answer you keep typing. Ten lines is enough to start.
You also need a plan for the server. Ascend AI answers once the server has one, and there is no free trial. Community is $9 a month or $90 a year. Pro is $20 a month or $200 a year. Enterprise starts from $149 a month, billed annually. Each plan covers one server, and you can pay monthly or yearly.
Step 1: How do you add the bot to your server?
Open the Ascend AI dashboard and sign in with Discord. It lists the servers you manage. Pick one without Ascend AI and Discord shows its own consent screen with that server already chosen. Authorize, and you land on that server's dashboard with the bot in place.
The standard install asks for four permissions: View Channels, Send Messages, Embed Links and Read Message History. That is what it needs to read a question and post the reply. It does not ask for Administrator. Modules that act in your server, such as moderation or roles, ask for more later through a second consent screen, and only if you switch them on.
After you add it, the dashboard opens on Billing so you can pick a plan. Do that first; nothing answers until it's done.
Step 2: What goes in the knowledge base?
The knowledge base is the bot's only source for your server's facts. Open Knowledge base and choose Add document: a Name, an optional Tag, and the Content in Markdown. If your answers already live in a file, Upload a Markdown, text or PDF file and it becomes a document. A new or edited document is used from the next message.
A few habits make the answers sharper:
- One topic per document. The bot looks up the passages that match a question rather than reading whole files, so a document called "Refunds" beats one called "Everything".
- Write the answer the way you'd say it. Headings and short paragraphs. Members never see a document's name or tag; those are for you.
- Switch documents off instead of deleting them. A seasonal policy or last month's event rules can be turned off and brought back later.
- Don't fear edits. Every edit, delete and restore keeps the version before it, and you can restore one from the document's menu.
Reference channels: let it read #rules and #faq
Some answers already live in channels. On the same page you can pick up to ten reference channels, such as #rules or #announcements. The bot reads their topic, pins and recent messages, refreshed every few minutes, and they don't count toward your document limits. If you post a change in a reference channel, the bot can answer from it without anyone editing a document.
Step 3: Which channels should it answer in?
It only reads channels you turn on; there is no server-wide listener. Open Channels and, under Where it answers, give each channel a mode:
- Answers: it answers questions as they are asked. Suits a help channel.
- Mentions: it answers only when someone mentions it. Suits a busy general channel.
- Ambient: it picks out real questions without a mention. On the Pro plan.
- Off: it stays out of that channel.
Members don't need a command to ask. They type in plain language, and replying to one of its answers asks a follow-up. It skips filler like "ok" or "lol", skips messages that mention another member so it doesn't join a conversation between people, and ignores anything shorter than Shortest question it answers.
Step 4: What happens when it doesn't know?
This is the setting that decides whether members trust it. When your documents don't cover a question, Ascend AI says so rather than guess, and points the member to your Support channel if you set one. Set two channels on Channels:
- Support channel: where it sends members when a question needs a person.
- Mod channel: where it posts notices for your staff, such as questions it handed over and warnings as the server nears its monthly questions.
Then close the loop. Switch on Learn from mod answers in Modules: when a mod answers a question the bot couldn't, it asks your admins whether to save that answer to the knowledge base. Nothing is saved without an admin saying yes. And read Conversations now and then: it keeps each question, the reply, and how it got there, so the gaps in your docs are easy to spot.
Step 5: How strict should it be, and how should it sound?
On Knowledge base, choose how strictly it sticks to your documents. Strict answers only from your documents, reference channels and game data, and says it doesn't have anything else. Focused is the default and adds simple assistant replies. Balanced adds light general help, and Open answers from general knowledge too while still preferring your documents. For policies, prices and anything a member might quote back to you, Strict is the safe choice.
On Persona, pick a Voice: Direct, Casual (the default), Professional or Playful. It changes the phrasing, never what it knows.
On Channels, two limits are worth setting on day one. Who can ask limits asking to the roles you tick (leave them all unticked and anyone can ask). Questions per member per day keeps one member from using up the server's questions.
Can you manage it from Discord instead of the dashboard?
Mostly, yes. Admins can mention Ascend AI and say what they want in plain words: "add this to the docs", "answer in #support too", "be stricter about sticking to the docs". Knowledge base by chat and Settings by chat are on from the start, and each module you switch on adds its own requests.
Only the server owner and members with Administrator or Manage Server get these tools, and the check is made in code on every message. Switching modules on, billing and the conversations log stay in the dashboard. The manage-by-chat docs list what it can change.
What does it cost to run?
One plan per server, not per seat or per message. Each plan includes a monthly number of questions. The bot warns your mod channel as you get close and again at the limit. A question pack is $5 for 1,000 more questions, and it lasts 90 days. You can add one instead of changing plan.
Cancelling is on Billing: the subscription ends at the close of the current period, and you can resume it before then.
A setup checklist
- Add Ascend AI from the dashboard and approve the four permissions.
- Pick a plan on Billing.
- Write five to ten short documents from the questions you answer most.
- Add #rules or #faq as reference channels.
- Turn on one channel in Answers mode.
- Set the Support channel and the Mod channel.
- Switch on Learn from mod answers.
- Read Conversations after a day and fill the gaps.
Questions
Is there a free trial?
No. Ascend AI answers once the server has a plan. Community is $9 a month or $90 a year, and you can cancel any time; the subscription runs to the end of the period you paid for.
Do members need to learn a command?
No. Members type their question in plain language in a channel you turned on. Slash commands exist for staff tools and modules, not for asking.
What file types can the knowledge base take?
Paste Markdown into a document, or upload a Markdown, text or PDF file and it becomes a document. You can also pick channels such as #rules for it to read as live knowledge.
Will it answer questions my docs don't cover?
On the Strict setting, no: it says it doesn't have that and points the member to your support channel if you set one. Looser settings add simple or general help, still preferring your documents.
Does it need Administrator?
No. The standard install asks for View Channels, Send Messages, Embed Links and Read Message History. Modules that act in your server ask for more through a second consent screen when you switch them on.
