Discord Permission Calculator

Discord stores permissions as a single integer where each bit is one permission. Send Messages is bit 11 (value 2048), Manage Channels is bit 4 (value 16), Administrator is bit 3 (value 8). A role with several permissions holds the sum of those values, so 2048 + 16 = 2064 means Send Messages plus Manage Channels and nothing else.

Because there are now more than 53 permission bits, the value exceeds what a JavaScript number can represent exactly. Discord returns it as a string in the API for that reason, and any code that parses it must use BigInt. Parsing a permission integer with parseInt is a real and common bug that silently drops the high bits - which is to say, the newer permissions.

Checking a permission is a bitwise AND: `(perms & BigInt(1) << BigInt(11)) !== BigInt(0)` tells you whether Send Messages is set. Adding one is a bitwise OR, and removing one is an AND with the complement.

Bit 3, Administrator, bypasses every other permission check and every channel overwrite in the server. A role with Administrator can do anything regardless of what the rest of its bitfield says or what any channel denies. There is no way to grant Administrator and then carve out exceptions.

This is the single most common permission mistake in server setup: granting Administrator to a convenience role because assembling the right combination of bits felt tedious. If you want a moderator who cannot delete channels, you must not give Administrator - you have to build the bitfield explicitly.

The one thing Administrator does not bypass is role hierarchy. A member still cannot modify a role positioned above their own highest role, and cannot ban or kick someone whose top role outranks theirs. Hierarchy is enforced separately from the bitfield.

Channel overwrites are stored as two separate bitfields per role or member: one for explicit allows and one for explicit denies. A permission not present in either is inherited from the role's server-level value.

Resolution order is: start from @everyone's server permissions, apply @everyone's channel overwrite, then apply the union of all the member's role overwrites (denies first, then allows), then apply the member-specific overwrite last. A member-level allow therefore beats a role-level deny, which is the mechanism for granting one person access to a channel their role cannot see.

Each permission is one bit. Create Instant Invite is bit 0, Kick Members is bit 1, Ban Members is bit 2, and so on. The integer you see is the result of combining all selected bits with bitwise OR. The formula is permission integer = (1 << bitNumber) for each selected permission, all ORed together.

For example, sending messages (bit 11) and reading message history (bit 16) gives you integer 67584, which is 2^11 + 2^16.

A basic bot that only sends messages needs Send Messages, Embed Links, Attach Files, Read Message History and Use Application Commands. A moderation bot adds Kick, Ban, Manage Messages and Manage Roles on top. Avoid granting Administrator unless your bot genuinely needs full control.