Forge Your Community

Hey Forgers! Sarah here, and today I'm incredibly excited to pull back the curtain on something we've been hammering away at: Anvil, our new Discord bot.

In the world of online communities, a good Discord bot is like the perfect toolkit for a blacksmith – essential for shaping your server, maintaining order, and fostering engagement. But let's be honest, those monthly subscription fees for premium bot features can really start to add up. Many small communities, passion projects, and even growing servers find themselves constrained by these recurring costs.

That's where Anvil comes in.

Anvil: Powerful Features, Unbeatable Freedom

We set out to build Anvil with a clear vision: provide robust, essential Discord management tools that you fully control, without the recurring price tag. Forget about "premium" features locked behind a paywall; Anvil is designed to be self-hosted, giving you complete ownership and the freedom to manage your community on your own terms.

Here’s a sneak peek at what Anvil already brings to your server:

Custom Welcome Messages: Make every new member feel at home with personalized greetings that can include their username and server name. Set it up once, and Anvil handles the rest.
New User Image Restriction: A critical tool for combating raid accounts and spam. Temporarily prevent new members from posting images or attachments until they've proven they're not malicious actors. You define the duration and the message they receive.
Banned Words Filter: Keep your conversations clean and safe. Anvil automatically deletes messages containing words or phrases you've deemed inappropriate, ensuring a positive environment for everyone.
Custom Embed Sender (NEW!): This is a game-changer for announcements and beautiful, structured messages. Want to post a fancy update, a server event, or a new rule notice? Anvil's dashboard now includes an intuitive interface where you can craft rich Discord embeds with titles, descriptions, authors, images, custom colors (with a handy color picker!), and footers, then send them to any channel. No more clunky markdown or external embed builders!
Intuitive Web Dashboard: All of Anvil's features are easily configured through a sleek, user-friendly web interface. No need to remember complex commands or delve into configuration files. Just point, click, and manage.

The Self-Hosted Advantage: Beyond Just Cost Savings

While saving money is a huge win, the benefits of a self-hosted bot like Anvil go much deeper:

True Ownership & Control: Your data stays with you. You control when and how the bot runs. There's no third-party service to go down or change its terms of service.
Uninterrupted Service: As long as your server is running, Anvil is running. You won't face service interruptions from a bot provider.

Our Vision for the Future: A Community-Driven Forge

Anvil isn't just a bot; it's a philosophy. We believe that powerful tools for community management should be accessible to everyone, not just those who can afford a subscription. Our goal is to continue expanding Anvil's features, guided by the needs of its users – the self-hosting community.

We envision a future where Anvil includes:

Advanced Moderation Commands: !kick, !ban, !mute, !warn, !purge – giving your human moderators precise control.
Detailed Audit Logging: A transparent record of all key server events and moderation actions.
Reaction Roles: Empowering your members to self-assign roles for notifications, access to channels, or simply to express themselves.
And much, much more! We're just getting started, and your input will shape its growth.

Get Ready to Forge Your Future

We'll be releasing Anvil for wider testing soon, along with clear documentation on how to get it up and running on your own server. If you've been looking for a powerful, solution to elevate your Discord community, keep a close eye on Sarah's Forge.

The age of expensive bot subscriptions is over. It's time to take control, build amazing communities, and let Anvil do the heavy lifting.

Stay tuned for more updates, and happy forging!

— Sarah