How to restore Discord members

You can restore Discord members only if they approved a restore tool before you lost them. Discord has no button that puts people back in a server. A tool like VaultCord adds a member back by using the permission that member already gave it, which Discord calls the guilds.join scope. Members who never approved it, or who removed it, cannot be added.

This is for an owner whose server was nuked, deleted, or banned, or who is moving to a new server. The limit that matters most: the members have to verify before the loss. A member list cannot be built afterward.

Can you restore Discord members?

Yes, but only members who gave a restore tool permission to add them. Discord’s developer documentation says an app can add a user to a server “provided you have a valid oauth2 access token for the user with the guilds.join scope.” That token exists only after the member approved the app’s authorization screen.

So a member restore is not a backup of your member list. It is a list of people who said yes in advance. A backup bot that never shows that screen, such as Xenon, says it cannot add members back. The difference is covered in Discord backup bot.

Adds a user to the guild, provided you have a valid oauth2 access token for the user with the guilds.join scope.

If your members ask whether that permission is safe to accept, Should you accept the “Join servers for you” permission? explains what it allows.

Who can be restored

A member is added back when they verified with VaultCord, still authorize it, and Discord allows the join. VaultCord reports everyone else as skipped, with the reason.

Discord’s cap is on the Discord Account Caps, Server Caps, and More page: 100 servers on a base account and 200 with Nitro.

Get members to verify first

Post the VaultCord verify link in your server now, while it still exists. Each member who opens it approves Discord’s screen once, and from then on they are on the list.

Verification also gives them the server’s verified role, so you can make the rest of the server visible only to that role. Discord verification level explains how that differs from Discord’s own verification level setting, which controls who can type, not who can be added back.

Back up the server at the same time. A member restore puts people back. A server backup puts the channels and roles back. After a nuke you usually need both.

Run the member restore

Restore the members into a server where the VaultCord bot is already present. Discord’s documentation says the bot must be a member of the server with the Create Invite permission.

1. Invite the VaultCord bot to the target server. In a new server, give it a role above the roles it will hand out.
2. If you are restoring into the same server after a nuke, unban the real members first. Banned members are skipped.
3. In the dashboard, open Pull Members and choose the target server.
4. Under Select role(s) to give, pick the roles returning members should get. If you pick none, they get the server’s verified role.
5. Leave the member count blank to add everyone, or type a number.
6. For a large server, set a Join Delay between members. The dashboard says it greatly reduces the chance of the server being limited.
7. Tick Prevent duplicate members if you do not want the same person processed twice.
8. Press Start Pulling. Progress is on the Pulls page, and VaultCord emails the totals when it finishes.

Premium and Plus can also save each member’s roles and apply them in the new server. Free gives the roles you choose in step 4.

How long a restore takes

A restore takes as long as Discord lets it. VaultCord adds members one at a time, and when Discord rate-limits the adds, the pull pauses for 60 seconds and continues. The plan sets the wait between pulls, not the speed of one pull.

Prices and limits are the monthly amounts on the upgrade page, read November 8, 2026. Only one pull runs per server at a time.

Where people get stuck

• The bot is not in the server. The pull stops. Invite the bot to the target server, then start again.
• The bot is missing permissions. If most adds fail with Missing Permissions, the pull stops. Give the bot Create Invite, Manage Roles, and a role above the ones it assigns.
• Discord limited the server’s invites. After too many joins, Discord can limit invites on a server. VaultCord stops the pull and emails you. The email says to wait 24 to 48 hours or pull into a different server.
• The banned list. Restoring into a nuked server without unbanning first leaves those members out.
• Expecting the whole old member count. The count that matters is the verified count. Everyone else needs an invite.

If something happens that this page does not describe, ask on VaultCord help.

Frequently asked questions

Can I restore Discord members without a bot?

Not automatically. Without a tool the members approved, the only way back is an invite they choose to accept.

Can I restore members to a brand new server?

Yes. Invite the VaultCord bot to the new server, then pull. The verified list is not tied to the old server, so a deleted server does not delete the list. If your server was nuked, start with Discord server nuked? What to do next.

Why were some members skipped?

The result email lists each reason: already in the server, banned or blacklisted, deauthorized, terminated by Discord, or at the 100 server cap without Nitro.

Does a member restore bring back messages?

No. Messages come from a server backup. Premium and Plus back up up to 350 of the latest messages per channel. Free does not back up messages.

Is VaultCord the only member restore bot?

No. RestoreCord also adds verified members back. VaultCord vs RestoreCord compares the two, including the public claims about RestoreCord’s handling of member IP addresses.

Sources and verification

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