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Managing Tickets

This guide covers the ticket lifecycle and management features in Rustmail.

Ticket Lifecycle

1. Creation

A ticket is created when:

  • A user sends a direct message to the bot
  • Staff uses /new_thread to initiate contact
  • (Optional) A user creates a channel in a designated category

When created:

  • A channel is created in the inbox category
  • The user receives the welcome_message
  • Staff can see the new channel

2. Active Conversation

During the ticket:

  • User messages appear in the ticket channel
  • Staff respond with /reply or !reply
  • Messages are tracked with unique IDs
  • Edit and delete history is preserved

3. Closure

Tickets are closed when:

  • Staff uses /close
  • A scheduled closure triggers
  • The user leaves the server (if close_on_leave is enabled)

On closure:

  • The user receives the close_message (unless silent)
  • The channel is archived or deleted
  • Records are preserved in the database

Creating Tickets

User-Initiated

Users open tickets by sending a DM to the bot:

  1. User finds the bot in the server member list
  2. User sends a direct message
  3. Bot creates a ticket channel
  4. Bot sends welcome_message to the user

Staff-Initiated

Staff can create tickets for users:

/new_thread user:@Username
!new_thread 123456789012345678

Useful for:

  • Proactive outreach
  • Following up on issues
  • Contacting users who can't DM

Channel Creation (Optional)

If enabled in configuration:

[thread]
create_ticket_by_create_channel = true

Staff can create a channel in the inbox category to start a ticket. The channel name should be the user's ID.

Responding to Tickets

Standard Reply

/reply content:Hello, how can I help you today?
!reply Hello, how can I help you today?

The message is sent to the user's DMs and logged in the ticket channel.

Anonymous Reply

Hide your identity from the user:

/reply content:This is from the staff team. anonymous:true
!anonreply This is from the staff team.

Anonymous messages show a generic staff label instead of your username.

Attachments

Slash command:

/reply content:Here's the document you requested. attachment:<file>

Text command: Upload the file with your message:

!reply Here's the document you requested.
[Attached file]

Editing and Deleting Messages

Message IDs

Each message has a unique ID shown in the footer. Use this ID for edit and delete operations.

Editing

/edit message_id:42 new_content:Updated message text
!edit 42 Updated message text

Edits are:

  • Reflected in the user's DMs
  • Logged (if show_log_on_edit is enabled)
  • Tracked in the database

Deleting

/delete message_id:42
!delete 42

Deletions:

  • Remove the message from user's DMs (if possible)
  • Log the deletion (if show_log_on_delete is enabled)
  • Mark the record as deleted in database

Closing Tickets

Immediate Close

/close
!close

The user receives close_message and the ticket is archived.

Silent Close

/close silent:true
!close -s

No message is sent to the user.

Scheduled Close

Schedule automatic closure:

/close time:2h
!close 2h

Supported formats: 30m, 2h, 1d, 1d12h

Cancel Scheduled Close

/close cancel:true
!close -c

Force Close

For orphaned tickets (user left the server):

/force_close
!force_close

Staff Assignment

Claiming a Ticket

/take
!take

Marks you as the assigned staff member.

Releasing Assignment

/release
!release

Removes your assignment.

Adding/Removing Staff Access

Grant specific staff access:

/add_staff user:@StaffMember
!add_staff 123456789012345678

Remove access:

/remove_staff user:@StaffMember
!remove_staff 123456789012345678

Reminders and Alerts

Setting Reminders

Get pinged after a delay:

/add_reminder time:2h content:Check if user responded
!add_reminder 2h Check if user responded

Removing Reminders

/remove_reminder reminder_id:5
!remove_reminder 5

Alerts

Get notified on the next user response:

/alert
!alert

Cancel an alert:

/alert cancel:true
!alert cancel

Category Selection

You can configure Rustmail to ask users to choose a category before their ticket is opened. This allows you to route tickets directly to specialized teams (e.g., Support, Billing, Escalations).

Managing Categories

Staff can manage categories using the /category or !category command:

  • !category create <discord_id> <name> | <description> | <emoji> - Create a new category
  • !category list - View existing categories
  • !category on / off - Enable or disable the category prompt globally
  • !category timeout <seconds> - Change how long the bot waits for the user to make a choice before routing to the default inbox category.

When the category prompt is enabled, the bot will hold the user's initial messages in a queue and present them with interactive buttons. Once a category is selected (or the timeout expires), all queued messages are forwarded to the newly created ticket channel.

Moving Tickets

Relocate a ticket to a different category:

/move_thread category:Escalated
!move_thread Escalated

Useful for:

  • Escalation workflows
  • Department routing
  • Priority categorization

Ticket Information

User ID

/id
!id

Displays the ticket user's Discord ID.

Logs

/logs
!logs

View the ticket's history and activity log.

Message Recovery

If the bot goes offline, users may send messages that aren't immediately processed. Rustmail automatically recovers these messages when restarting.

Manual recovery:

/recover
!recover

Configuration Options

Key settings affecting ticket behavior:

Option Description
welcome_message Sent when ticket opens
close_message Sent when ticket closes
time_to_close_thread Default scheduled close time
close_on_leave Auto-close when user leaves server
embedded_message Display messages as embeds
block_quote Use block quotes for messages

See Configuration Reference for all options.