Set up Moji Debate Bot

First-time setup

Before you start

Ask these people to help with setup. One person can do both if they have the required access.

• Discord server admin: invite the bot and set up its roles and announcement channel. You need Manage Server and Manage Roles. The bot requests Manage Channels so setup can create and secure its private Command Log; it never requests Administrator. In the announcement channel, allow the bot to view and send messages, embed links and mention everyone.
• CalicoTab tournament admin: get the tournament URL and API token, then enter them in the bot’s private setup form. The steps below show where to find them.

Required setup

1. Invite the bot. The person with Discord access opens Add Moji Debate Bot to Discord, chooses the tournament server, and completes one Discord authorization.
   • Command access: Prepares Bot Manager command permissions; no profile or email access is requested.
   • Standard roles and Command Log: Setup creates or reuses CAP, Tab, Equity, Adjudicator, Debater, and OrgComm roles with no extra Discord permissions, then creates a private read-only #moji-command-log for Bot Managers, so staff do not need to create either beforehand.
2. Activate the server. The server appears as Pending, so operational commands stay unavailable until payment activation.
   • One-time payment: The browser returns to Moji Debate Bot for a one-time 250,000 VND payment hosted by PayOS.
   • Automatic activation: A securely verified payment automatically activates the server. Wait for the activation page to confirm success before continuing; browser redirect parameters alone never activate access.
   • Support fallback: Manual approval by Chu Đức An remains an administrative fallback if you need support.
3. Set the role order. In Server Settings → Roles, place Moji Debate Bot above every role it needs to update.
   See the Discord role order

   

4. Find your API token. Sign in to CalicoTab as an administrator and open Site Home. Select Get API Token / Change Password and copy the token at the top. You do not need to change your password.
   Find Site Home in CalicoTab

   

   See where to copy the API token

   

   

5. Connect the tournament. After payment activation, run /setup bot and enter your tournament URL and API token in the private form. The bot automatically creates and secures its private Command Log. If Site Home lists several tournaments, each tournament has its own URL ending in a different slug; enter the specific URL for the tournament you want to connect. Use the URL of the specific tournament, not Site Home. Never post the token in chat or a support message.
   See the private setup form

   

6. Give staff access. Assign trusted tab staff to Tab. Tab and CAP are the default Bot Manager roles for running staff commands. CAP is assigned automatically to linked Core Adjudicators. Connecting as an Adjudicator or refreshing roles preserves an existing CAP role and its nickname prefix even if the Core Adjudicator checkbox is not selected. To revoke CAP, clear that checkbox and remove the Discord role manually.
7. Choose the announcement channel. Run /config announcement-channel and select its required channel option. When a draw or motion is released in CalicoTab, the bot posts the corresponding release notice in this channel. The saved channel is confirmed privately.
8. Check you are ready. Run /setup status and resolve every Action needed item. Approval, connection, roles, Command Log, announcement channel and Bot Manager commands must be ready. Existing servers may need one reauthorization to grant Manage Channels, followed by /setup bot. Optional settings can wait.

   A server administrator with Manage Server can also check the private Runtime health — this server panel: last successful CalicoTab poll, failures or backoff, running background work, and this server's managed Discord queue pressure. Status does not start a poll, retry messages, or reset inactivity.

   Stale means no successful poll for over two minutes. Taking longer than expected warns about a long-running job, not a confirmed failure. Wait through active work or backoff, avoid repeating message-sending commands, and check again in a minute. If delays persist, contact Support. For authentication failures, check /config show and follow Change tournament credentials if needed.

   Poll history resets after restart; a successful poll does not confirm message delivery. Queue counts exclude sends outside the managed queue. Missing runtime data is shown as unavailable.

   See a ready status reply

   

Ready? Continue to participant onboarding.

Before a long break, check automatic cleanup deadlines. Stuck? See Recovery.

Participant onboarding

Once setup is ready, send participants their CalicoTab Private URLs by email, then help them connect to Discord.

1. Post instructions: run /onboard in the participant channel. It posts immediately and mentions @everyone, with no confirmation. The message includes the participant guide.
2. Let participants connect: they use /connect with the complete Private URL from their email. Never collect these URLs in a public channel.
3. Check coverage: run /link coverage for a private report. Follow up with unlinked participants and review the confirmation buttons before repairing role mismatches.

See the /onboard message

See participant command access settings

Illustrative settings, not interactive controls. Discord’s layout may vary. Discord command-permission help.

Direct Message

Teams
/dm type:team message:<your message>

Send to all linked Debaters across the tournament teams. Each linked Debater receives a separate DM.

Adjudicators
/dm type:adjudicator message:<your message>

Send to all linked Adjudicators.

Individuals
/dm type:individual message:<your message>

Select up to 25 human server members using the member picker. They do not need to be linked to CalicoTab.

Requires a configured Bot Manager role. Replace <your message> with your message, then review the private preview and recipient count. Select Send DMs to send or Cancel to discard. Nothing is sent before confirmation; the preview expires after five minutes.

The bot sends one DM per person and reports delivery failures privately. If delivery is blocked, ask the recipient to allow direct messages from server members, then retry.

Check-in

Open attendance in the announcement channel after participants are linked and active in CalicoTab.

Choose the attendance rule first: one representative per team (rep) or every team member (all). Adjudicators are always counted individually.

• Choose the time: replace each <HH:MM> placeholder with your start or end time. Use start-time:now to start after confirmation.
• Keep the window valid: it must last 5 minutes to 12 hours and may cross midnight.
• Check the timezone: times use CalicoTab’s timezone or your timezone override.
• Review and confirm: check the exact date, time and mode privately, then select Open Check-in Window. The public card appears in the announcement channel at the start time.

Debaters and Adjudicators: check in together
/checkin start start-time:<HH:MM> end-time:<HH:MM> mode:rep

• Debaters: choose mode:rep for one active representative per team, or mode:all for every active team member.
• Adjudicators: each checks in individually using the same card, in either mode.
• Reports: preview and confirm the window. The bot reports missing teams and Adjudicators at midpoint and closing.

Optional: ask Adjudicators to check in again
/checkin adjudicator

• When to use: when you need a fresh Adjudicator availability check for the round.
• Immediate reset: marks active Adjudicators as checked out and posts a separate card with ✅ Check In and ↩️ Check Out, without a preview.
• Debaters: their check-ins are unchanged.

Close either check-in early

/checkin close
Ends active participant and Adjudicator cards immediately. At the scheduled participant end, the bot closes them automatically.

• Closed card: its buttons no longer work. Participants should use the newest card posted by the bot.
• No buttons: when Participant Self Check-in is disabled in CalicoTab, the bot posts a notice without buttons. Enable that CalicoTab setting if participants should respond through Discord.
• Mentions: opening notices mention @everyone. Midpoint and final reports do not mention anyone.

Missing check-ins

Check live CalicoTab attendance before releasing the draw.

• Who is missing? Check Adjudicators, one representative per team, or every team member.
• Where should the report go? Use visibility:hidden for a private report. Use visibility:public to post immediately in the current channel and mention @everyone. Start with a private report when checking readiness.
• Which team rule? Use mode:rep when one representative checks in, or mode:all when every team member checks in. An active check-in supplies the default.

/missing visibility:<visibility> type:adjudicators

List Adjudicators who have not checked in, counting Adjudicators individually without requiring a mode parameter.

/missing visibility:<visibility> type:teams mode:rep

List teams with no active representative checked in.

/missing visibility:<visibility> type:teams mode:all

List teams with at least one active member missing. The report shows progress such as 0/3, 1/3, or 2/3.

Draw release

When the Tab Team publishes the draw in CalicoTab, the bot automatically posts it in the announcement channel and DMs linked participants. Discord commands cannot publish or change the CalicoTab draw.

CalicoTab may make a draw public in two steps:

• Team release: teams, sides, and rooms become public. Adjudicator assignments stay private.
• Full release: Adjudicator assignments also become public. The bot then sends updated DMs to Debaters and Adjudicators.

After Full release, Adjudicator allocation changes are checked every three minutes. Only affected linked Adjudicators receive a Draw Update DM.

/draw

Immediately repost the latest public draw to the configured announcement channel if the automatic announcement did not appear. There is no confirmation; the command result is private.

Motion release

Publish the current round’s motions in CalicoTab. The bot automatically posts them in your announcement channel, including any info slides with extra context. For long motions, participants can use View Public Motions to read the full text.

/motion

Immediately repost the current round’s latest public motion to the configured announcement channel if the automatic post did not appear. There is no confirmation; the result is private. This command cannot publish or edit a motion in CalicoTab.

/debate start time:<HH:MM>

Preview the current round's start time privately, check its date and timezone, then confirm to post in the configured announcement channel. Replace the time placeholder with the intended time.

See the preview and round-start announcement

Moji Debate BotAPPToday at 5:29 PM

Round-start preview
Timezone: Asia/Ho_Chi_Minh (GMT+7)
Source: override
Interpreted: Wednesday, 9 September 2026 5:44 PM (in 15 minutes)
Rounds: Round 1

Nothing has been posted publicly yet.

Post AnnouncementCancel

Only you can see this

Review the date and timezone. Post Announcement publishes to the configured announcement channel; Cancel publishes nothing. This example shows a reader in GMT+7.

Moji Debate BotAPPToday at 5:29 PM

🧠 Prep time for Round 1 ends in 15 minutes
⏰ The round starts at 5:44 PM (GMT+7).

Posted after you confirm /debate start time:<HH:MM>. Discord updates the relative countdown automatically.

/event start minutes:<minutes> name:<name>

Use for an upcoming event start countdown, such as name:Break Announcement or name:Award Ceremony. Displays ⏳ **Name** starts in MM:SS.

/event end minutes:<minutes> name:<name>

Use for a deadline countdown. Displays ⏳ **Name** ends in MM:SS.

Ballots & feedback

After the round, check missing ballots, schedule reminders, then follow up. Chairs must be linked and able to receive DMs; ballot checks use current public rounds.

/ballots status

First, privately find rooms that still need a ballot and resolve unlinked Chairs.

/ballots start time:<HH:MM>

Next, replace the time placeholder with the intended reminder time. Review the private date, timezone and rounds, then confirm Schedule Reminder. This replaces the previous schedule; nothing is sent immediately. At the chosen time, the bot checks the selected rounds and DMs each linked Chair whose room still has no ballot record.

/ballots remind

Remind linked Chairs of still-missing rooms in the last confirmed schedule; delivery results remain private without requiring a second confirmation. Wait for an active delivery to finish before retrying or replacing its schedule. A partial retry skips confirmed successful room reminders and retries pending or known failed deliveries, including after restart. Uncertain outcomes are not automatically resent: check receipt with the Chair before confirming a new schedule. After a completed batch, another invocation sends a fresh reminder. A timeout does not mean no DMs were delivered; an overdue or interrupted schedule does not send late automatically after restart.

/feedback status visibility:hidden

• Check privately: review tournament-wide missing feedback with visibility:hidden. No DMs are sent.
• Publish report: use visibility:public to post the report in the channel and mention @everyone. No preview is shown.

/feedback remind

• Send reminder DMs: send direct messages to linked Debaters and Adjudicators with missing feedback across the tournament.
• Delivery results: privately check sent and failed DM counts, plus missing Teams or Adjudicators without usable links.

Schedule & timezone

Publish round times in CalicoTab, then choose the Discord channel where staff should share the schedule.

/schedule

• Edit first: change rounds and times in CalicoTab. The bot only displays that schedule in Discord.
• Preview and post: review the latest schedule privately, then confirm to post it in the current channel. The bot mentions @everyone only after confirmation.
• Round timing: use /debate start time:<HH:MM> for the round-start announcement.

/timezone zone:<IANA timezone>

A configured Bot Manager saves the timezone for staff-entered check-in, round-start and ballot reminder times immediately; the result is private. If your event uses Vietnam time (GMT+7), run /timezone zone:Asia/Ho_Chi_Minh. To use CalicoTab's timezone again, run /timezone zone:api. This does not change CalicoTab's schedule.

Veto

For debate formats with motion preference and vetoes (such as Asian Parliamentary or Australs), the bot runs interactive motion voting directly in Discord.

When motions are published in CalicoTab, the bot automatically posts the ⚔️ Motion Release & Veto card to your announcement channel.

• Team debater authorization: any linked debater on the assigned team can click Submit Team Veto in the announcement channel or directly inside /room to privately rank motions and cast their team's veto. Teams should agree on their ranking before clicking Submit Team Veto.
• Private voting steps: debaters privately select their 🥇 1st Choice and ❌ Veto motion. The remaining motion becomes their 🥈 2nd Choice.
• Check room status: participants and adjudicators can click 📋 My Room Status on the announcement card or run /room to privately check whether each team in their room has locked in preferences or is still deciding.
• Parallel preliminary rooms: each debate room resolves independently as soon as both teams submit (or upon timeout). The central card updates first; linked debaters and adjudicators then receive the result through the managed DM queue, so it may arrive shortly afterward.

/config command-log mode:<on|off>

Enable or disable the private Command Log. It defaults to on and records successful Bot Manager commands plus meaningful automation transitions. Existing messages and unresolved deliveries remain when logging is off. The log never includes raw options, tokens, Private URLs, meeting links, or DM content.

/config veto enabled:true duration:<minutes>

• Enable and countdown: enable motion veto and set the voting duration (1–15 minutes, default 5 minutes). Requires Manage Server.
• Flexible configuration: staff can set either option individually or both together (for example, /config veto enabled:true).
• When disabled: motions use standard announcements without voting.

/veto status

Privately check tournament-wide motion veto progress for the current public round, including which rooms are finalized, which teams have locked in their preferences, and which teams are still deciding. No DMs are sent.

/veto start

Immediately start or recover an active interactive veto session for the current public round if the automatic post did not appear. There is no confirmation; the result appears in the configured announcement channel immediately.