The Discord modmail bot that turns DMs into cases.
Members DM the bot. Arkanis opens a real case channel in the Support Inbox and adds the member to it. Staff and the member continue the conversation in the channel directly, not via a proxied DM thread. Pro feature.
What is a Discord modmail bot?
A Discord modmail bot lets members reach staff by DMing the bot, instead of pinging a busy support role or DMing individual staff directly. Classic modmail bots proxy messages between a member DM thread and a staff thread, with no shared surface.
Arkanis takes a different approach. A member DM opens a real case channel under the Support Inbox category, and the bot adds the member to that channel with read and write access. Staff and the member continue the conversation in the channel directly. Staff have a ?note prefix for internal-only entries the member cannot see. Identity context, strike history, prior cases, audit trail, and capability-based permissions are all attached.
What Arkanis does as a Discord modmail bot.
Modmail rebuilt around the case workflow, not the thread-relay pattern.
Member DMs open a real case channel
A member DMs the Arkanis bot and picks a server. The bot opens a case channel under the Support Inbox category, names it MM-<id>-<username>, and grants the member read and write access. Pro feature.
Member and staff share the case channel
Both the member and the configured support role are added to the channel. Staff posts are visible to the member natively; the member can read and reply in the channel without a separate DM thread. There is no message-proxy layer between them.
Staff-only notes via the ?note prefix
When staff need to discuss something privately without the member seeing it, posting a message with a leading "?note " makes it staff-only and marks it as such in the transcript. The member never sees ?note entries.
Identity context attached to the case
If the member has linked Steam, Xbox, or a game-server ID, the case surfaces it. Prior strikes and prior cases for the same identity are one click away. Staff are not handling a DM blind.
Same workflow as button-driven cases
Modmail cases and button-panel cases share data shape, dashboard surface, capability gating, transcripts, and audit trail. tickets_manage is the same capability whether the case started from a button or a DM.
Audit log for the case lifecycle
Every open, claim, message-action, transcript, and close is audited with actor identity, reason text, and timestamp. The audit log is the dispute-resolution surface, not a debug tool.
Open-case limit per member
Tickets settings ship a max_open_per_user cap (default 3). A member already at the cap on other cases cannot open a new modmail until one of theirs closes. Limits concurrency rather than rate-limiting individual DMs.
Free plan still has cases
You do not need Pro to handle support cases. The free plan covers one case panel with three buttons, claim, close, transcripts, audit log, and identity context. Pro adds modmail-from-DMs as an additional entry point and unlimited panels.
What separates Arkanis from a typical modmail bot.
Four things that matter for serious staff teams.
Real case channel, not a proxied DM thread
Classic modmail bots proxy messages between a member DM thread and a staff thread. Arkanis opens a real channel inside your server and adds the member to it. Staff and member converse there directly. Staff role color, server context, and Discord-native UI all come along for free.
Identity is part of the workflow
A modmail case in Arkanis is not just an anonymous text channel. The member identity, their linked accounts, their strike history, and their prior cases are visible alongside the case. Staff respond with context, not blind.
Capability gating applies to modmail
Modmail is not a separate permission tree. tickets_manage gates claim and close on Free and Pro alike, whether the case started from a button panel or from a DM. tickets_configure gates panel setup.
Free is genuinely useful
Cases themselves are free, including claim, close, transcripts, audit, and identity context. Pro adds DMs as a second entry point (alongside button panels) and removes the one-panel cap. You get a real support workflow without paying.
Modmail is a Pro feature.
Member-DM modmail entry sits on Pro at £7.99 per month (or £79.99 per year). The underlying case workflow, audit trail, and identity context are free; modmail just adds DMs as another way for members to open a case.
Common questions
What is a Discord modmail bot?+
A Discord modmail bot lets members reach staff by DMing the bot, instead of pinging a busy support role or DMing staff directly. Classic modmail bots proxy messages between a member DM thread and a staff thread. Arkanis takes a different approach: a member DM opens a real case channel in the Support Inbox category, and the bot adds the member to that channel. Staff and the member continue the conversation in the channel directly. There is no DM-thread relay layer.
How is Arkanis different from a typical modmail bot?+
Two main differences. First, the case is a real channel inside your server, not a proxied DM thread. The member is added to that channel and converses with staff there directly. Second, identity context follows the member into the case: linked Steam, Xbox, or game-server IDs, prior strikes, prior cases. Staff are never handling a DM blind.
Do staff replies get proxied back to the member as DMs?+
No. The case channel is shared. The member is added with read and write access, so staff posts in the channel are visible to the member natively in Discord. There is no DM-thread relay layer. Staff can use a leading ?note prefix on any message to make it staff-only; the member never sees ?note entries.
Is modmail free or Pro?+
Modmail cases from member DMs are a Pro feature. The case workflow itself (Support Inbox, claim, transcript) is available on Free with one panel; Pro removes the panel limit and adds modmail-from-DMs as the entry point.
Can members message the bot directly?+
Yes, that is the entry point. On Pro, a member DMs the bot, picks a server from a dropdown, and Arkanis opens a case channel in the Support Inbox category. The member is added to that channel with read and write access and is pinged to continue the conversation there. If the member keeps DMing the bot instead of using the channel, those DMs are relayed into the case channel as attributed embeds.
What happens if multiple staff respond to the same case?+
Modmail cases support claiming: the first staff member to claim signals ownership, and other staff see the claim in the case channel header and in the audit log. Claim is gated by the tickets_manage capability, which is free.
Try it on your own server.
The free plan covers cases via button panels. Pro adds member-DM modmail on top.
See also: Moderation bot · Ticket bot · Pterodactyl bot · RCON bot