The Discord rank card is what leveling looks like: level, XP bar, rank. How it works, what you can customize on Kiai, and how other bots handle it.
The rank card is what leveling looks like on Discord. It's the card /rank posts with a member's level, XP bar, and position on the server leaderboard. It's also the thing members screenshot and put in their bios, which makes it the most visible feature your leveling bot owns.
What's on the card
A standard rank card carries:
- Username and avatar.
- Level and total XP.
- Progress to the next level, the bar that does more motivating than anything else on the card.
- Rank: the member's position on the server leaderboard.
- Voice minutes on bots that track voice (Kiai shows them).
Rank cards are generated per request, so they're always current, and the design language is mostly set by your bot choice. Compare a few /rank outputs from different bots and you'll immediately see the aesthetic spread, from bare stats to decorated poster-style cards.
Why the card matters more than it seems
The leaderboard is for the top ten. The rank card is for everyone else.
95% of your members will never lead a leaderboard, but every one of them has a card, a bar that's partially filled, and a next-level number they can reach tonight. Filling that bar is the smallest complete engagement loop your server owns. The card is where a member privately checks whether the system is working, and where they show off when it is.
Servers that take this seriously do a few things with it:
- Give milestone cards something to show off (color or background changes at thresholds).
- Keep the card honest: visible XP bars, real voice minutes, ranks people verify against
/leaderboard. - Make card sharing low-friction: mention members in level-up messages so cards get posted into #level-ups naturally.
Customization: what's customizable on Kiai
Kiai's card customization (a premium feature, per-card below) covers three layers:
- Background. Swap the default art for your server's identity: your esports logo, study server aesthetic, art community branding.
- Primary color. Controls level number, current XP, rank position, the progress bar fill, and the avatar ring.
- Secondary color. Everything else: XP-to-next-level text, level label, username, the
#on rank.
And one personal layer: opacity, letting a premium member dial how much of the background shows through. Full opacity hides the art; low opacity makes text-first minimalists happy.
Two levels of customization exist by design:
- Server rank card (Server Premium): a background and colors applied to every member. Brand consistency for your whole community.
- Personal rank card (User Premium, a one-time $4.99): a member overrides the server default on their own card, in every server they use Kiai in.
That split is deliberate. Servers want a coherent look; individuals want self-expression. Personal overrides beat server defaults so a member's card is theirs even in a server with its own branding.
How other bots handle card customization
Quick map of where card customization sits across the bots (verify against their current pages):
- MEE6 puts custom rank cards behind premium.
- Amari offers profile colors and backgrounds, premium-limited in places.
- LevelUp includes rank cards in its free tier.
- CakeyBot gates banner images and premium
/rankbanners to paid tiers. - Kiai puts customization in premium ($1.99+/month for servers, $4.99 once for members) but keeps the card itself free for everyone to view.
The pattern: card art is a premium feature almost everywhere, because it's the most visible expression of "your server, branded". What varies is who pays (server, member, or nobody) and whether viewing is free even when styling isn't.
Design tips for server admins
For servers with Server Premium, a few things that separate thoughtful cards from default ones:
- Match the server's identity, not the bot's logo. A study server's card should feel like the study server. Quiet palette, no neon.
- Test on dark mode and light mode. Discord themes change; a card readable in only one theme gets screenshotted badly.
- Choose colors with contrast against your background image. Primary color paints the progress bar; if it disappears into the background, the card's best motivational element is gone.
- Change it once, not weekly. Card churn reads as instability. Seasonal redesigns are fine; monthly redesigns are noise.
Quick answers
Is /rank free on Kiai? Yes, for everyone, no premium required.
Do rank cards show the member's voice time? They do on Kiai, alongside XP and rank.
Can different members see different cards? Yes: personal premium cards override server defaults, server defaults override built-ins.
Does the card show prestige? It shows prestige when you've enabled the prestige system.
Why does my card look different after a server premium change? Personal overrides persist across servers, so a member with their own styling keeps it even if a server's premium lapses.