Using the App
After connecting, the left sidebar organizes servers and channels, the center shows chat or the voice stage, and the right side lists members. Connecting to a server and joining a call are separate actions. Short notices disappear on their own, and you can also close them with the × button to reach whatever is underneath.
Channels and categories
People allowed to manage channels can drag channels to reorder them or move them between categories, and drag category headers to reorder the categories themselves. Uncategorized channels and categories share one order, so a loose channel can sit above, below or between categories. While dragging, the destination category gets the same dashed highlight used when moving participants between voice channels: dropping anywhere on its name puts the channel inside that category. Over channels, a line marks the exact position. Collapsed categories also accept the channel. To keep a channel outside every category, use the Uncategorized slots that open above the categories and at the end of the list while dragging; the slot under the pointer is highlighted. Where a loose channel is already there, drop next to it. Servers not yet updated keep uncategorized channels at the top.
In the server bar on the left, drag any server, including the open one, to change the order or to move it into and out of a folder.
Forums
Forums organize conversations into threads. Use search and the sorting control to find discussions by recent activity, newest creation date, or oldest creation date. When there are no threads yet, the forum only invites someone to start the first conversation.
The top field searches threads as you type. While it is focused, Shift + Enter opens a new post and reuses the text as its title. During creation, photos and videos have a dedicated picker that blocks other formats, accepts up to five media items, and shows a compact carousel preview. Focus moves directly to the message without enlarging the search field. The file picker accepts any attachment, including photos and videos, and shows compact cards with their name, format, and size before publishing. When multiple media items are published, the first message keeps the carousel instead of displaying each item separately. Large forums load threads in batches as you approach the end of the list and show skeleton cards during each load.
Authors can rename, close, reopen, or delete their own threads. Closing stops new replies but remains an author action. People allowed to manage channels can pin, lock, unlock, rename, or delete threads; an administrative lock is separate from an author closure. In both states, the composer becomes read-only and explains why in its placeholder without an additional warning.
Voice
Click a voice channel to join the call. Whoever speaks gets a green ring around the avatar. The bottom bar has microphone, headphones/deafen and disconnect. The panel shows average ping and lets you leave only the call.
On Windows, during a call, Monky's thumbnail on the taskbar also shows microphone, deafen and leave call buttons. Hover over the Monky icon to use them without opening the window.
Private channels show a padlock on the corner of their own icon. A voice channel with a user limit shows next to its name how many participants are in it and the maximum; once the room is full, only people allowed to move members get in. If the server has an AFK channel, marked with a moon, anyone idle in a call is moved there with the microphone muted by the server. Nobody joins it on their own; after leaving, the microphone stays muted until you unmute it.
Every voice channel also has persistent chat. Hover the channel row and use the round speech-bubble button beside the three-dot menu to open the stage and right-side chat without joining the call. On the stage, the same button in the top-right corner uses the filled bubble and shows or hides the panel. Drag the chat's left edge to resize it; the chosen width is remembered. Messages, attachments, reactions, polls, mentions, and search remain available even while you are not connected to voice.
Right-click a participant to adjust their individual volume. The setting applies only on this computer and to that device: if the same person is connected from two machines, each one gets its own volume.
The call follows you: switching servers in the left column keeps it running, and the icon of the server hosting it stays marked. Joining a voice channel on another server moves the call there. See Several servers at once.
Camera and screen
On the media bar: Camera, Share Screen and Soundboard. Choose a screen or a specific window; screen-audio availability depends on the platform and source. Check what will be captured before starting.
Under Settings → Voice and Video → Camera, preview blur, color or image virtual backgrounds and physical-screen chroma key. Effects run locally and also apply to the call. Closing the preview does not stop a camera in use; see limitations and precautions in settings.
In the quick preview, selecting Image without a background keeps the panel open and displays an inline warning. Preview stays off and its switch is disabled until you choose an image. This also applies to chroma key with an image replacement; unprocessed video is never published as a fallback.
People allowed to watch see a LIVE badge. Click the card to spotlight it or use fullscreen. Clicking the LIVE badge or the screen-share icon next to someone's name asks whether you want to watch and opens the stage on that broadcast; see Watching shared screens.
Adjusting FPS for the encoder
In Quality settings, every resolution, FPS, bitrate, preset, codec, or encoding-method change validates the combination before reapplying a stream. Manual mode keeps your selected codec and encoding method. If the profile is unsupported, the app tests lower frame rates and adjusts FPS only after confirming a compatible combination on this computer — for example, from 4K120 to 4K60. A notice explains the adjustment; resolution, bitrate, camera, and audio remain unchanged.
Existing camera and audio numeric limits still apply; checking screen encoding does not require starting the webcam. The app does not invent encoder bitrate limits. Temporary verification failures do not lower FPS. If no option is compatible, the profile change is not applied: adjust quality or choose another encoder. During a stream, adjustments follow the same validation as manual quality changes; if the change is blocked, the previous profile is kept.
Private screen sharing
In the screen or window picker, enable Private screen share and open Who can watch. The dropdown supports searching and selecting multiple Users or Roles, with user avatars, role colors, and a scrollable list. Selections are summarized in the field; reopen the list to deselect someone. Selecting a user or one of their roles grants access; both are not required. Select at least one: an empty selection blocks starting and never makes the stream public. New streams are public by default.
Everyone else sees no stream, LIVE badge, or screen audio indicator. Administrators do not get automatic access either. The server checks the audience before allowing video or audio; knowing a stream identifier does not grant access. Channel permissions and membership in the same voice call still apply.
The selection stays with the stream across source replacements, reconnects, and quality changes, and identifies the person rather than a single device. Removing or deleting a role immediately revokes subscriptions that depend on it, without stopping microphones or other authorized streams. Granting a role makes the stream visible. Choose the audience before starting; to define a different one, stop the stream and start again.
Who is watching
On clients and servers supporting viewer lists (protocol 30), each screen-share card shows up to two avatars and +N watching for the rest, without repeating the total count. Hover, click, or use the keyboard to open the complete list; Escape closes it. Everyone in the call who can see the stream can inspect its viewers, even without watching. Private streams remain restricted to their authorized audience.
When you are watching, the expanded list says You and X other people are watching. The list counts connections with accepted subscriptions, not merely people allowed to watch, and does not prove attention to the screen. Two connections from the same person appear separately. It refreshes approximately every two seconds; failed requests show an unavailable state rather than a stale count. The local preview is not counted as a viewer.
Sharing a game
On Windows, with a Steam game open and you in a voice channel, Monky shows a shortcut with the game's name above your controls. Share asks for confirmation and streams only the game window, with its audio, to the people in the channel; Stop ends it. The shortcut depends on Suggest sharing my game, in My Profile → Game activity.
If someone in the same call shows the game they are playing, their card offers Ask to watch the match while they are not streaming. They receive the request with Share and Not now, and nothing is streamed unless they accept. The call's server must run a version that supports this request.
Events
When creating or editing an event, you can click or drag up to 5 images at once. Each image goes through the 5:2 cropper and can be browsed, reordered, or removed in the same editor. The first one is the compact cover in lists; the full carousel appears only in event details. The sidebar shortcut reports event status without repeating banners or images. In the list, click any free area of an event card to open its details; the ellipsis menu groups editing, ending, and the remaining management actions.
Start and end are required and displayed together; the time zone remains under secondary options. Advancing with an invalid value shows a toast, highlights the corresponding field, and moves focus to it. Forums can host events, but threads are not offered as location channels. Enabling private visibility scrolls to Who can access without opening the list automatically.
Live Actions
Events are calendar commitments with a date, time, location, and interested members. Live Actions are temporary interactions happening now. Their shortcuts are independent and appear only to people who can view or manage their content.
People with Emit live actions can open Live Actions → Create Live Action and choose:
- Poll, using the native poll flow and always published as a Live Action;
- Form, with short text, long text, number, yes/no switch, single-choice, multiple-choice, dropdown, and 1–5 rating fields. Each question has its own card; choices use radio or checkbox lists. Choices are added or removed as individual rows.
A multiple-choice answer may contain several valid, non-duplicated choices. A form belongs to a text channel and accepts one response per person. Forum threads are not publication channels, so they do not offer poll, event, or form creation. Before publishing, the creator can enable Anonymous responses. In this mode, names, avatars, and timestamps are never sent to results screens or CSV; the server keeps the internal association only to prevent a second response and let the participant edit their own submission. This setting cannot change after publishing. While it is open, participants can reopen it and edit their own response. Only its creator or people with Emit live actions can view results and close the action. These controls live in the action card's ellipsis menu instead of the response form; when the form is not anonymous, the results view also identifies participants. The results screen offers Summary, Question, and Individual views. Summary and Question use donut or bar charts when the answer type supports a distribution; the last view reuses the form in read-only mode. Text answers in Summary use an internally scrollable, progressively loaded list. In Question, answers are paginated and can open the corresponding individual submission; repeated values provide a selector for choosing which submission to open. All responses can also be exported as CSV. Closed forms disappear from the list and their data is removed from the server after 30 days.
Polls, forms, and bot actions share the aggregated Live Actions list. Images and carousels appear in details, never in the sidebar. Giveaways remain a bot action, not a native creator type.
Chat
Each text channel has history saved on the server, avatars, timestamps, basic formatting and an anti-flood limit of 10 messages every 5 seconds.
On compatible servers, your messages show Sending, Sent to server, or Failed to send beside their timestamp. Confirmation means the server received the message, not that someone read it. Try again retries the same message without duplicates, including when its earlier acknowledgement was lost. Text, replies, code and attachments remain in the session's outbox when switching channels or reconnecting to the same server and identity. The outbox is kept in memory while the application is open, not in a permanent local message archive.
The default limit is 16,000 characters, configurable under Server settings → General. Turning the switch off removes the character limit, not the 8 MiB packet protection. The counter follows changes without reconnecting. On compatible servers, controls for features that were not negotiated explain that an update is needed.
A message you started but haven't sent stays with the channel you were typing in. Jumping to the voice stage, opening another channel and coming back does not wipe the text — each channel keeps its own draft, which only goes away when you send the message or leave the server.
The + button opens composer actions. Attach file keeps the existing upload flow; Create poll opens a three-step flow for the question, 2–10 answers with an optional emoji each, up to 5 carousel images selectable at once with an animated preview, navigation and reordering, and a duration and/or voter limit. A poll can allow one answer or several. Click an answer to vote and click it again to withdraw; with several answers, each click adds or removes only that one, and with a single answer, clicking another one switches the vote. This works until the poll closes. Each answer shows its vote count on the right, and its bar grows or shrinks with its share. The first reached limit closes the poll, while its message retains the final counts.
Votes are public by default: voters' avatars appear beside the vote count, and hovering over them shows their names. View votes opens the complete list per answer. With Anonymous votes, chosen at creation, nobody sees who voted, not even the creator, and the message shows an Anonymous badge. Polls created before this option show who voted.
The poll creator and people with Manage server can edit an open poll from the message or live action menu, using the same steps as creation. Changing the question resets every vote; changing an answer's text resets only that answer's votes; adding or removing answers and changing emojis or images leaves other votes untouched. Making anonymous votes public also resets every vote, so secret votes are never revealed, and switching to a single answer removes the vote of anyone who chose more than one. A new duration counts from the edit, and a voter limit already reached closes the poll. These effects appear while you edit, and saving asks for confirmation whenever votes would be lost. If votes arrive while you edit, Monky shows the updated effects before discarding any of them.
People with Emit live actions may also highlight the same poll above the channels. The message and live action are two surfaces for one resource: a vote cast from either appears in both without duplication. Without that permission, the switch remains visible with an explanation and the regular poll can still be sent. Images remain visible in the message even when the poll is not a live action.
Hover over a message (or reach its buttons with Tab) to reveal a floating toolbar with Emoji, Reply, Copy message and More options. The three-dot menu displays full action names; Edit message is only available to the author when the server permits editing, and Delete message to the author or moderators. Navigate menus with arrow keys and close them with Escape.
After deleting a message, Undo restores the same message, including its blocks, attachments and reactions, for 60 seconds by default. Switching channels or reconnecting does not cancel the server-controlled time window. Only the person who deleted it can undo; restoring someone else's message still requires moderation permission. Authors cannot reverse a moderator's deletion. Reply references show the restored message again without creating another message or repeating mention notifications.
Use Server settings → Notifications → Deletion undo window (seconds), or the CLI key messageDeleteUndoSeconds, to set 1 to 86,400 seconds. Changes apply only to future deletions. Restoration is no longer possible once the deadline expires. Content is kept in a private temporary server backup during the window and removed in the next periodic cleanup after expiry, together with the attached files: an attachment's old link stops working. This feature requires both client and server to support protocol 27; earlier clients cannot apply restorations.
Ctrl+C copies selected text with its displayed formatting; Ctrl+Shift+C copies the same text without formatting. On macOS, use Cmd instead of Ctrl. Without a selection, the shortcut acts only on the focused message, never the entire conversation. Copy message, both in the toolbar and under More options, defaults to formatted copying, just like Ctrl+C. Those buttons also respect a selection within the message. In the menu, clicking the label, Enter or Space performs that copy; hovering, clicking the arrow or pressing → opens Copy with formatting, Copy Markdown and Copy without formatting. Use ← or Escape to go back and Tab to leave.
Formatted copying provides HTML for rich-text applications and visible text for plain-text destinations, without adding markers such as **. Copy Markdown explicitly copies the original markup. Copy without formatting provides only visible text, without Markdown or HTML. Pasting a formatted copy into Monky restores its editable markup; external HTML is never inserted into the interface. Image-only and sticker-only messages copy the image; other attachments, or Copy without formatting, copy file names without transferring attachments.
The message field previews Markdown as you type and when editing an existing message. Headings, bold, italic, strike, quotes, and code are displayed with formatting; markers appear dimmed around the cursor and disappear elsewhere. Code blocks use the same editor for composition and editing, with a language selector, line numbers and syntax highlighting, without showing the surrounding backticks. The original text is preserved for sending and editing. Reply previews also render formatting, including code and list markers. Numbered lists retain the first number you entered, such as 4. item.
Addresses starting with http://, https:// or www. are recognized as links while typing and become clickable in the sent message. This does not insert markup into the draft, change links created through the form, or apply inside code. Addresses starting with www. open over HTTPS; surrounding punctuation is not included in the link.
Right-click the message field for Cut, Copy, Paste, Paste as plain text and Select all, with their corresponding shortcuts. Unavailable actions are disabled. Right-click a link in the editor for Copy link (its address), Open link in the browser, Edit link using the same form, or Remove link while keeping the text. Removing an automatic link keeps its visible address without linking it again, including after sending; undo restores the link. These menus work when composing and editing messages.
Clicking outside closes the menu, including clicks inside the message field or code editor. Cut, Copy and Copy link display brief confirmation feedback. In the link form, addresses such as www.google.com or example.com automatically use HTTPS when the scheme is omitted; an explicit http:// is preserved.
Formatting options, beside the emoji button, opens an inline toolbar. Bold, italic, and strike are toggles: without a selection, they enable or disable the effect for subsequent typing; with a selection, they change formatting without inserting placeholder text. Ctrl+B and Ctrl+I also work. Dividers group these controls and the lists. Lists and quotes can format existing lines or start in an empty field, with the caret after their marker. The link button opens a non-modal form above the button with Text to display and Address, prefilling the first field from the selection. Errors appear only after attempting to insert; Escape or clicking outside closes the form. Escape collapses the toolbar. The + menu groups attachments and polls. Enter sends or saves; Shift+Enter inserts a line and continues lists. Inside the code editor, Enter inserts a line and Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter on macOS) sends or saves. Blank lines between passages are preserved in sent messages and copied text, just as in the preview.
To copy the image, rather than its file name or address, use Copy image in the attachment controls or its right-click menu. Sticker menus also offer this action. In the expanded viewer, use the copy button, the right-click menu on the image, or Ctrl+C (Cmd+C on macOS), with no text selected. The destination receives a PNG image at its original size; animated images are copied as a static frame. Copying supports up to 50 MB and 64 megapixels and reports unavailable images or clipboard access instead of substituting a link.
In the expanded viewer, scroll over the image to zoom in or out. The image and its container grow together instead of zooming inside a fixed crop. Once it exceeds the window, drag to explore the details. Double-click toggles between the initial fit and original size, up to 8× the initial fit; arrow keys navigate attachments and Escape closes the viewer.
Right-click the enlarged image or video for a menu with Copy image (images only) and Download, the same actions as the corner buttons. While the menu is open, the keyboard acts on it: Escape closes just the menu, and clicking outside it doesn't close the viewer either.
If copying or downloading fails, the error notice appears in front of the viewer, which stays open. A window opened over it, such as the notice that the server was shut down, is also visible and receives the keyboard: the first Escape closes the window and the second, the viewer.
Reply keeps a reference to the original message with its author and preview. Replies support text, attachments, code and stickers; public bot messages can also receive replies. Cancel with the × in the composer or Escape. The reference stays with the channel draft. Clicking the preview jumps to the original, loading a history window if needed; Back to latest messages returns to recent conversation. Previews reflect edits and show Message deleted when the original is deleted, without retaining its content. Private bot messages cannot be referenced.
Mentions
Typing @ lists only members who can read the current channel, including offline members: pick someone to insert @nickname. Suggestions follow role and channel privacy changes. The server also checks manually typed mentions; members without access do not receive an unread mention. Whoever is mentioned gets the highlight on the message, the channel badge and the mention sound.
A mention takes the whole nickname: @Lucas does not ping someone called "Lu", and an @ inside an email address, a web address or a code snippet mentions no one.
The first entry on the list is @everyone (or @todos — both tokens work in any language), which notifies everybody who can see that channel. Private channels stay private: people without access are not notified.
Server admins can turn this off under Server settings → Notifications → Allow everyone mention, or through the CLI with allowEveryoneMention. It is on by default.
Bots and miniapps
Type / in a text channel to discover available commands. Bots can reply privately, publish polls or open miniapps in the voice stage. Use bots explains permissions, preferences and consent without requiring programming.
Code blocks
Formatting options → Send a code block and triple backticks create a code block inside the draft without sending. Search and filter languages by name or alias (such as js or ps1), edit or collapse a block, and interleave text and multiple replies in the desired order. Each block can be removed. Pasted Markdown fences also become editable blocks. Everything is sent together; a failed send preserves the blocks for retry.
Older servers retain the code dialog, but confirming it inserts code into the draft rather than sending immediately.
The editor and sent message show syntax highlighting and line numbers. In the editor, Tab indents, Shift+Tab outdents, Esc focuses the language selector, and Ctrl+Enter sends the composition. Copy copies only the code, without line numbers or controls. The counter includes the compatibility text's fences. References are validated by the server and show Message deleted when their source is deleted.
For image- or sticker-only messages, Copy message and Ctrl+C without a selection copy the image instead of its file name. Messages containing text still offer that text; Copy image remains available separately.
Emojis and stickers
The smiley button next to the message field opens a picker with Emojis and Stickers tabs. In the emoji category bar at the bottom, the clock icon takes you to Recent.
The Recent clock also appears in the reaction picker's category bar. Both share the last 32 distinct emojis selected on this device, newest first, even after restarting the app. Navigating categories or searching does not change the list; selecting an emoji again moves it to the front. Stickers are not included.
Emojis holds the full catalog, split by category and searchable (try heart, party, cake…). Clicking an emoji inserts it at the cursor, so you can mix emoji and text in the same message.
Stickers is where you pick a folder on your computer, the same way you do for the soundboard — either from the picker itself or in Settings › Stickers. Every .png, .gif, .webp, .jpg, .apng or .avif image up to 8 MB becomes a sticker; animated GIFs stay animated. Files over the limit show up dimmed, with the reason, instead of disappearing from the list. Clicking a sticker sends it right away as its own message, and everyone sees it as a fixed-size square.
The folder is re-read every time the picker opens, so adding or deleting files while the app is running just works. If you need to, the reload button (next to Change Folder) forces a fresh read.
Got a sticker from someone else? Hover over it and click the save button to copy it into your own folder.
The folder stays on your machine: the image is uploaded to the server when you use the sticker, like any other attachment. That is why sending a sticker requires the Attach files permission.
Soundboard
The modal and sidebar show each playing sound, elapsed/total time and Stop sound playback. Opening the modal does not play anything; closing it does not interrupt normal playback. Stopping your own sound also notifies the call; stopping someone else's sound only silences local playback.
In the grid or list, open an audio file's vertical three-dot button to access Edit, Rename audio and Delete audio. Edit opens the trim and fade editor. In the list, the button is at the far right, after the shortcut. The menu supports keyboard navigation and closes with Esc or an outside click without starting playback. Renaming and deletion change the actual file in your operating system folder; deletion is permanent and requires confirmation. Favorites and shortcuts follow the change. Existing names are never overwritten. If an old folder is unauthorized, select it again using Change folder.
The editor displays the actual audio waveform: drag the upper handles to set the trim start/end and the lower handles to adjust fade-in/fade-out. Times are displayed alongside; no numeric entry is needed. With the keyboard, use arrows for 0.01 s steps, Shift for 0.1 s and Alt for a single sample. Home/End move to the limits and Esc cancels a drag. Shortening a selection proportionally reduces fades that no longer fit, with a notice. Each handle pair stays aligned; handles only separate vertically when they are too close together, so neither covers the other.
The Edited result · Only for you player plays the final segment with trim and fades applied, using the soundboard output, volume and limiter without broadcasting to the call. Use Play/Pause, Back to start, Stop and the position slider; a cursor follows playback on the waveform. Pausing keeps the position; returning to the start does not resume paused audio. Changing trim/fades resets the player so it cannot play a stale edit, and closing the editor releases playback. Changing the copy name does not interrupt audio. Only saving actions remain in the footer. Save new audio preserves the original and creates a 24-bit PCM WAV at 48 kHz, keeping mono/stereo. Overwrite original requires confirmation and retains the name, format, favorites and shortcuts. WAV requires no extra tool; for other formats, prepare FFmpeg in Settings › Bot tools. Without it, overwrite is blocked with an explanation, but saving a new WAV remains available. Replacement happens only after generating and validating the result; an external change to the original prevents overwrite. Re-encoding compressed formats may introduce slight padding at the beginning/end of the audio.
The editor does not normalize or add other effects. .mp3, .wav, .ogg, .m4a, .aac and .webm inputs depend on decoder support, in mono or stereo. The editor imposes no artificial file-size or duration caps: files larger than 3 MiB or longer than 120 seconds can be opened, played and saved. Actual capacity depends on available memory and the file format (WAV RIFF uses 32-bit sizes). The limit for sending soundboard clips to a call remains separate and does not restrict local editing. Unsupported formats and write failures display an error.
Monky prepares a local soundboard folder automatically. Under Settings › Soundboard, check its path or choose another folder containing .mp3, .wav or .ogg; existing folder selections are preserved. In the call, play sounds from the soundboard button. Volume and local mute live in the same settings. The host can disable the soundboard for the whole server and, under Server Settings › Roles, grant the Use soundboard permission only to the desired roles.
Use stars and the All/Favorites filter together with search to find sounds, with favorites first and alphabetical order within each group, without changing the shortcuts assigned to sounds. Starring does not play the sound. The same ordering applies to Home's saved-server list.