How recording works

Someone added Discap to your Discord server, and now it is sitting in your voice call. This page says what it does, who can see it, and every way to get out. It takes about two minutes to read. The full rules live in the Privacy Policy and the Terms of Service; where this page and those documents differ, they win.

What Discap is

Discap is a bot that records Discord voice calls. While it is in a call it writes a transcript, one line per speaker. When the call ends it posts a recap (a short summary, decisions, action items, open questions) together with the full transcript. Members can then ask it questions about past calls with /ask.

What it is not: it does not talk in the call. It is not a moderation bot. It does not flag words, ban anyone, or report anyone to the server, to Discord, or to anybody else. It does not sell recordings or transcripts. Discap may use recordings and transcripts to improve its models, as the Privacy Policy explains; opted-out voices are never used for that.

When it joins

• By default it joins any active voice channel in the server as soon as someone is in it, and it leaves when everyone has left (after about 90 seconds) or when someone stops it. If nobody speaks for a while, it leaves on its own.
• Server admins can limit it to one channel, exclude channels, or turn auto-join off so it only records when someone runs /join (/settings, /automode, /norecord).
• It only captures audio while it is in the channel. Nothing said before it joined is recorded.
• Very short calls (under a minute, or fewer than two spoken lines) get no recap.

How you know it is recording

• Discap is a visible member of the voice channel while it records, and its status says it is recording.
• It posts a red Recording this call card in the voice channel's text chat when it joins. The card names who set it up or who started the recording, and it carries the buttons described below: Stop recording, Discard call, Keep my voice out, Not this call, Not this room again, and Pause 10 min.
• People who join mid-call get a shorter notice in the same chat that says how long the recording has been running.
• If someone in the call asks aloud who or what Discap is, or how to opt out, it answers once in that chat.

Who can see what

• The recap and the transcript post to the server's recaps channel, or to the voice channel's own text chat when no recaps channel is set. Whoever your server lets see that channel can read them. Server admins control that with Discord's own channel permissions, not Discap's.
• /ask answers from that server's recorded calls only, and only for members who can see the recaps channel.
• Audio downloads are off unless a server admin turns them on in /settings. When they are on, members can fetch a call's recording with /audio through a private link that expires after seven days.
• Recap DMs. After a call, people who spoke may get a direct message with a link to the recap. The recording card says so when that is on. Each person can turn those DMs off with the button in the message, and admins can turn them off for the whole server.

Keep your voice out

Run /optout in that server, or press Keep my voice out on the recording card. From then on your voice is not transcribed and does not appear in that server's transcripts, recaps, answers, or stats. It applies to every call in that server, now and later, and only to you. Other servers keep their own setting.

Opting out is deliberate in both directions. Running /optout again does not silently opt you back in. To come back, run /optin or press Opt back in.

Blocking the bot does not stop the recording

Blocking or muting Discap on Discord changes nothing about the recording. Blocking only hides its messages from you. Discord still sends your voice to every member of the channel, and Discap is one of those members. The only thing that keeps your voice out is /optout.

Pause, or leave a moment out

• Press Pause 10 min on the recording card. Anyone in the call can. Nothing said during the pause goes into the transcript or recap. Anyone in the call can press Resume early, and recording picks back up on its own after ten minutes.
• Say "Discap, don't put that in the recap" and your own last 45 seconds stay out of the recap. It only ever applies to the person who says it.

Stop the recording

• Anyone in the call, or a server admin, can stop it: press Stop recording on the card, or run /stop. The recap posts for what was recorded up to that point.
• Some servers limit stopping to admins (the "Who can stop recordings" setting in /settings). The card says so when that is on. You can still step out, see below.
• Discard call ends the call without posting anything. An admin can restore and publish it later.
• Hide this recap, a button on a posted recap, lets an admin (or, where anyone can stop recordings, anyone who can see the recaps channel) withdraw a recap from the server after the fact: the recap and transcript file come down, the call leaves /ask, /history and the stats, and anyone who got the recap by DM sees a note that it was withdrawn. The reply to that button offers Unhide, which posts the same recap again.

Step out of one call

Press Not this call on the recording card, or say "Discap, leave" out loud. Anyone in the call can do either, even in servers where only admins can stop recordings. Discap ends the recording, leaves, and does not come back to that room on its own until the room empties or an hour passes. The part already recorded still gets its recap. This is the exit for "not right now" when you do not want to opt out of every call.

Keep it out of one room

Press Not this room again. Anyone in the call can. Discap leaves the same way and does not join that room on its own for seven days, and it tells the room who asked. Running /join in that room brings it back and lifts the block, and an admin can lift it in /settings.

Disconnecting or kicking it

If someone disconnects Discap from a call, it reads that as "please leave": the part already recorded still gets its recap, and it stops joining that server's calls on its own for a while. Repeated disconnects make it back off for longer. Removing Discap from the server stops all new recording there.

Questions

Inside Discord, /help lists every command and /ask what is Discap? answers from this same information. For anything else, use the Discap support server, the website chat, or support@discap.bot. Feel free to paste this page's link into a call when someone asks what the bot is: discap.bot/how-recording-works.