# Reaction Roles

> A message where adding a reaction, or clicking a button, grants a role. The standard self-service way members pick colours, pronouns, ping preferences and channel access.

- Canonical: https://discordtools.blog/glossary/reaction-roles
- Group: Roles
- See also: https://discordtools.blog/glossary/self-roles, https://discordtools.blog/glossary/role-hierarchy
- Updated: 2026-08-31
- Publication: The Index, an independent site not affiliated with Discord Inc.

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Button-based role menus have largely replaced true reaction roles: buttons survive a message
being re-sent, cannot be triggered by an emoji being removed by someone else, and do not
require the bot to track a reaction it may have missed while offline.

The most common failure is not the bot at all — it is role hierarchy. The bot cannot grant a
role positioned above its own.

**Vetox** covers reaction roles, self-roles, colour roles and button menus on the free tier.