--- title: "How to make a private channel in Discord" description: "Switch on Private Channel in Discord and add the roles that may see it, or name the channel and roles to Bond and it sets the permissions." canonical_url: "https://www.bondbot.gg/use-cases/private-channels" last_updated: "2026-10-05" --- # How to make a private channel in Discord In Discord you switch on Private Channel when you create the channel, or under Edit Channel, Permissions, and add the roles that may see it. With Bond you name the channel and the roles in one message, and it creates the channel, hides it from everyone else and checks who can see it afterwards. Verified 2026-10-01 on a test server, build db45a16. ## In Discord, without a bot For one channel, Discord's own switch is quick. 1. Press **+** next to a category, or right-click the channel list and choose **Create Channel**. Type the name. 2. Switch on **Private Channel** and press **Next**. 3. Pick the roles and members who may see the channel, then press **Create Channel**. To make a channel you already have private: 1. Right-click the channel and choose **Edit Channel**, then **Permissions**. 2. Switch on **Private Channel**. 3. Press **Add members or roles** and pick who may see it. The switch denies @everyone **View Channel** and allows it for each role you add. A whole category works the same way under **Edit Category**, and the channels synced to it follow. - Anyone with the **Administrator** permission sees every channel, private or not, and so does the server owner. - Bots are hidden from a private channel like everyone else, so add a bot's role if it should work there. - On a voice channel, check **Connect** as well as **View Channel** for the roles you add. ## With Bond, in one message A real run, recorded on a test server: what was asked, what Bond asked you to approve, what it did, and what members saw afterwards. In #admin-chat: > **You:** @Bond Make a private #staff-chat that only Mods and Admins can see. > **Create #staff-chat** > for @You > Text channel at the top level. Topic: "Private staff chat for Mods and Admins." > Always allow stops asking about new channels · Expires in 10 minutes > > Buttons: Allow, Always allow, Deny. Pressed: Allow. > **Update permissions for @Bond on #staff-chat** > for @You > Allows **View Channel**. For @Bond on #staff-chat. > Always allow stops asking about channel permission changes · Expires in 20 minutes > > Buttons: Allow, Always allow, Deny. Pressed: Allow. > **Update permissions for @Mods on #staff-chat** > for @You > Allows **View Channel**. For @Mods on #staff-chat. > Always allow stops asking about channel permission changes · Expires in 20 minutes > > Buttons: Allow, Always allow, Deny. Pressed: Allow. > **Update permissions for @Admins on #staff-chat** > for @You > Allows **View Channel**. For @Admins on #staff-chat. > Always allow stops asking about channel permission changes · Expires in 20 minutes > > Buttons: Allow, Always allow, Deny. Pressed: Allow. > **Update permissions for @everyone on #staff-chat** > for @You > Denies **View Channel**. For @everyone on #staff-chat. > Always allow stops asking about channel permission changes · Expires in 20 minutes > > Buttons: Allow, Always allow, Deny. Pressed: Allow. What Bond did: - List channels - List roles - Create channel - Set channel permissions - Check channel access > **Bond:** Created **#staff-chat** as a private text channel. Mods and Admins can see it; @everyone cannot. Access was verified. The channel list afterwards: - #staff-chat (new) Who can see and post where: - staff-chat: Private to Mods and Admins Light tier · 1 message · 45 seconds · 78K tokens Recorded on a Bond test server on the Light tier, the tier every free plan runs on. Server, channel and member IDs are placeholders, the test bot is shown as Bond, and the steps where Bond loads its own tools or pages through a long result are left out. The test server has no plan limits, so the plan limits a step reports are left out. The test server had a Mods role and an Admins role with no permissions of their own, made for the test. Bond raised five cards, and the recording pressed Allow on each and never Always allow: one to create #staff-chat, one to let Bond's own role see it, one each to let Mods and Admins see it, and the last to hide it from @everyone. Bond put the channel at the top level, outside any category. It then checked the result before it replied: the two roles can see the channel and @everyone cannot. ## The permissions it takes Bond checks every step against your own Discord permissions and role position before it acts, and what it reads back is only what you can already see. ### What you need - List channels: Nothing extra - List roles: Nothing extra - Create channel: Manage Channels - Set channel permissions: Manage Roles in that channel - Check channel access: Manage Roles ### What Bond needs - **Manage Channels** to create the channel. - **Manage Roles** to set who can see it. Discord only lets a bot set permissions that the bot holds itself. - Its own role allowed in the channel. Hiding a channel from @everyone hides it from Bond too, so Bond lets its own role see the channel and shows you that step. Without it Bond could not manage the channel later. Nobody else gains anything from that step. Bond never needs Administrator for this. ## What to watch for - Bond creates the channel first and hides it afterwards. In this run the card that hid it from @everyone came last, so the new, empty channel was visible to everyone until then. Post nothing in it until Bond says it is private. - Each permission change is its own card. Always allow on one stops Bond asking about that kind of change, except when a change would open up a place Bond has just made private. That one always asks. - Say where the channel should go. Bond put this one outside any category because the request named none. - A channel inside a category stops following the category once it has permissions of its own. Later changes to the category no longer reach it until you sync it again. - Use the names your roles really have. Bond works with the roles that exist and asks when it cannot tell which ones you mean. ## Questions people ask ### Can admins see private channels? Yes. Anyone with the Administrator permission, and the server owner, sees every channel whatever its permissions say. If a role should not see a private channel, it must not have Administrator. ### How do I add someone to a private channel later? In Discord, open Edit Channel, Permissions and press Add members or roles. With Bond, ask it to let a role or a member into the channel, and it shows you the change before it makes it. ### Can I make a whole category private? Yes. Switch on Private Category when you create it, or under Edit Category, Permissions. Channels synced to the category follow it. Bond creates a private category with its permissions already in place, so it is never visible to everyone. ### Can members see that a private channel exists? No. A channel a member cannot view does not appear in their channel list at all. If someone mentions the channel in a message, Discord shows them that they have no access to it, and they cannot open it. ### Is it free? Yes. Every tool works on the free plan. The run above shows how many tokens it used from the weekly allowance. A free account gets 600K tokens a week. ## Read next - [How to make a verification system in Discord](https://www.bondbot.gg/use-cases/verification-system): New members only see your verify and rules channels until they press Verify, which gives them the Verified role and the rest of the server. - [How to set up a Discord server](https://www.bondbot.gg/use-cases/set-up-a-server): Describe the server you want and Bond builds the categories, channels, roles and permissions to match, in one pass. - [Set up an announcement channel](https://www.bondbot.gg/use-cases/announcement-channel): A channel only staff can post in, published so other servers can follow it, with the posts pinned where people will find them. - [Discord permissions: role hierarchy and overwrites](https://www.bondbot.gg/blog/discord-permissions-explained-role-hierarchy-and-overwrites): Why your bot can't assign that role, how channel overwrites beat server permissions, and how to debug it in five minutes.