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A tripwire is a decoy text channel where regular members should not post. A message in the armed channel becomes high-confidence automation evidence. Thea can remove the message and place it in your private AutoMod log channel for review. The tripwire is intentionally conservative:
  • It can quarantine a message.
  • It cannot kick or ban a member by itself.
  • It ignores staff, bots, and webhooks.
  • It does not process messages that already existed when you armed it.

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Before you start

You need:
  • AutoMod enabled.
  • A Discord text channel that regular members can see or reach as part of your decoy design.
  • Manage Messages for Thea in that channel.
  • A private AutoMod log channel if you want quarantined messages and review buttons.
Do not use a normal conversation channel as the tripwire. Any unexpected regular-member message in a healthy, armed tripwire is treated as suspicious.

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Arm the channel

1

Select the channel

Open Settings → Scam defense → Tripwire channel, choose the decoy text channel, and click Save.
2

Add the topic marker

In Discord, edit that channel and add this exact marker to its topic:
The marker is case-sensitive. The channel name does not arm the tripwire.
3

Grant Manage Messages

Check the channel’s permission overrides and confirm Thea can manage messages there. A deny on the channel overrides a permission granted by the server role.
4

Check the effective policy

Open Settings → Scam defense. The Effective scam policy card must show automated enforcement as effective. If it says observe only, the card explains the active plan, provider, rollout, or safety gate.
Both the saved channel ID and the topic marker must match. This two-part setup prevents an accidental dropdown selection from silently turning a busy channel into a decoy. There is no customer-facing Beta features switch for the tripwire. If Effective scam policy names a staged-rollout gate, contact Thea support with the server name. Changing the channel setup will not remove an operator rollout gate.

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Test the tripwire

  1. Wait up to 30 seconds after saving the dashboard setting.
  2. Use a regular test account.
  3. Confirm the account has none of these permissions: Manage Messages, Manage Server, or Moderate Members.
  4. Confirm its roles and the channel are not listed under Settings → AutoMod → Exemptions.
  5. Send a new message in the armed channel.
When enforcement is effective, Thea removes the message and reposts it to the AutoMod log channel with review controls. The tripwire itself never times out, kicks, or bans the account.

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Troubleshooting

If the checks pass but no finding is created, record the channel name, test time, and server name before contacting support. Those details let support locate the metadata-only pipeline result without needing the message body.

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Disable the tripwire

Open Settings → Scam defense → Tripwire channel, select Tripwire disabled, and save. You can also remove the topic marker as an immediate second safety measure.