# Role Hierarchy

> The vertical order of roles in server settings. No member — bot or human — can assign, remove or moderate a role positioned at or above their own highest role.

- Canonical: https://discordtools.blog/glossary/role-hierarchy
- Group: Platform
- See also: https://discordtools.blog/glossary/permission-overwrite, https://discordtools.blog/glossary/timeout
- Updated: 2026-08-31
- Publication: The Index, an independent site not affiliated with Discord Inc.

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Hierarchy is checked independently of permissions. A bot with Manage Roles will still fail to
assign a role sitting above its own, and the API returns a Missing Permissions error that says
nothing about position — which is why this is the most misdiagnosed failure on the platform.

The fix is always the same: move the bot’s integration role above every role it manages.