> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://bettertickets.gg/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Quickstart

> Invite better tickets, create your first ticket category, configure its roles and channels, and send the panel - live in five steps, explained end to end.

This walks through setting up a single ticket category from scratch, end to end - inviting the bot, creating the category, configuring the minimum needed for it to work, and testing it. Applications follow the exact same shape (create, then edit, then send the panel) - see [Applications](/docs/applications/overview) once you're comfortable with how tickets work, most of what you learn here carries straight over.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Invite the bot">
    Invite better tickets to your server with the **Manage Server** permission. Most setup commands (`/ticket create`, `/ticket edit`, `/config`) check for this permission specifically, so an account without it won't be able to follow the rest of this guide even if they're otherwise trusted in your server.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create a category">
    Run `/ticket create id:support` to create a category named `support`. This just registers the category - it doesn't create anything visible yet, and members can't use it until you finish the next two steps. The `id` you pick here (`support`) is the identifier you'll type into every other ticket command for this category, including `/ticket edit category:support` and `/open category:support`, so it's worth picking something short and obvious rather than renaming later (you can't - only delete and recreate).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Configure it">
    Run `/ticket edit category:support` to open the interactive settings menu - a message in Discord with a dropdown to switch between five pages (General, Roles, Channels, Voice channels, Questions) and buttons/toggles for each setting, not a list of flags to type out. Two things are functionally required before the category is usable at all:

    * **Roles page → Staff roles** - without at least one staff role set, nobody except a server admin can claim, close, or otherwise manage tickets in this category.
    * **Channels page → Open category** - a Discord category (channel folder) new ticket channels get created inside. Without this set, there's nowhere for `/open` to actually put a new ticket channel.

    Everything else on the settings menu - welcome message, questions, voice channels, auto-close - is optional and can be left at its defaults for now. See [Ticket settings](/docs/tickets/settings) for what every single field does when you're ready to go further.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Send the panel">
    Run `/ticket send channel:#support` to post the category's panel to a channel - the message with the button members actually click to open a ticket. This is a separate step from configuring the category on purpose: you can send the same panel to more than one channel, or re-send it later, without redoing any of the settings from step 3.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Try it">
    Click the button on the panel you just sent (or run `/open category:support` directly) to open a test ticket. You should land in a new private channel inside the open category you set. From a staff account, run `/claim` inside that channel to take ownership of it, then `/close` when you're done testing - this generates a real transcript, so it's a good way to confirm your transcript channel (if you set one) is working too.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Ticket settings" icon="settings" href="/docs/tickets/settings">
    Every page in the `/ticket edit` menu, explained field by field.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Jail" icon="shield" href="/docs/tickets/jail">
    Link a category to the jail system and start jailing members.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Applications" icon="file-text" href="/docs/applications/overview">
    Set up staff applications the same way - create, edit, send.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Variables" icon="braces" href="/docs/variables">
    Customize channel names and messages with dynamic text.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>