How to set up a Discord welcome message bot

Steps

Make the role and channel
In your server, create a role named Member and a channel named welcome. You can rename both in the template later.
Turn on the Server Members intent
In the Discord Developer Portal, open your application's Bot page and turn on Server Members Intent. Discord only tells a bot about joins with it on.
Start from the welcome template
Open the welcome template in Buildcord. It makes a bot that gives the role, posts the welcome card, sends a private message and posts a goodbye.
Make the card your own
Change the card's color, text and footer on the Embeds page. Use {user.mention} to mention the new member and {server.memberCount} to show how many members there are.
Put the bot's role above Member
Discord only lets a bot give roles below its own. In your server settings, drag the bot's role above Member.
Deploy and test
Paste your token, deploy and join from a test account. The welcome card and the role should arrive within a second or two.

Good to know

Delete the goodbye flow if you'd rather not announce departures.
Add a step that points new members to your rules, or posts a verification button.
If you only need new members to get a role, a verification button does that on the Free plan.

Questions

Why isn't my welcome message sending?

The usual causes are the Server Members intent being off in the Developer Portal, or the bot lacking permission to post in the welcome channel. The bot's logs show which step stopped and why.

Can the welcome message be private?

Yes. The template already sends a private message as well as the public card. Delete the public step to keep only the private one.

How to set up a welcome message in Discord

Steps

Make the role and channel

Turn on the Server Members intent

Start from the welcome template

Make the card your own

Put the bot's role above Member

Deploy and test

Good to know

Questions

More guides

Draw the first flow.