> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.giveawayx.lol/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Giveaways overview

> How giveaways work: types, entry modes, the life of a giveaway and what makes them reliable.

A giveaway is a prize event that members enter and the bot draws winners from. GiveawayX gives you several ways to run one, and a set of tools to keep it on track from start to finish.

## Types of giveaway

> **[Standard](https://docs.giveawayx.lol/giveaways/creating.md)**
>
> Members enter during a set time, and winners are drawn when it ends. Use `/gcreate` or `/gstart`.

> **[Drop](https://docs.giveawayx.lol/giveaways/drops.md)**
>
> First to claim wins, instantly. Use `/gdrop`.

> **[First or last to type](https://docs.giveawayx.lol/giveaways/drops.md#glast-first-or-last-to-type-wins)**
>
> A chat game where the first or last typer wins. Use `/glast`.

> **[Scheduled](https://docs.giveawayx.lol/giveaways/scheduling.md)**
>
> Prepare now, start later. Use `/gschedule`.

> **[Repeating](https://docs.giveawayx.lol/giveaways/creating.md)**
>
> Run the same giveaway again automatically with the `repeat` option. Tier 1

> **[Sticky](https://docs.giveawayx.lol/giveaways/creating.md)**
>
> The giveaway message is automatically re-sent. Tier 2

## How members enter

**Button entry**

The default. Members press **Enter** on the giveaway message. The button can show how many people joined, and a **participants** button can list who entered.

Available on every tier.

**Reaction entry**

Members react to the message to enter. The default emoji is 🎉 and you can change it.

Tier 1

You can set a server-wide default in `/settings`, and override it for a single giveaway.

## The life of a giveaway

| Stage | What it means |
| - | - |
| **Scheduled** | Created with `/gschedule`. It will be posted at the start time you chose. |
| **Active** | Running. Members can enter until the end time. |
| **Paused** | The countdown is frozen with `/gpause`. Nobody can enter until you `/gresume`. |
| **Ended** | Winners were drawn and the message was updated. |
| **Needs attention** | The bot repeatedly failed to finish it, for example because the channel or message was deleted. Run `/gfix`. |

## Built to finish on time

**1. Checked constantly**

The bot checks for giveaways that are due **every 15 seconds**, so they finish promptly.

**2. Safe through restarts**

Giveaways are stored permanently, not in temporary memory. Even if the bot restarts, nothing is lost.

**3. Temporary problems are retried**

A short Discord outage will not ruin a giveaway. The bot retries, and only gives up on problems that cannot be fixed, such as a deleted channel.

**4. Fixable when stuck**

`/gfix` diagnoses a stuck giveaway and repairs it safely. See [Managing giveaways](https://docs.giveawayx.lol/giveaways/managing.md).

> [!NOTE]
>
> Ended giveaways are cleaned from the bot's records **20 days** after they finish. Your server's giveaway log keeps a separate history of actions.

## The Studio

When you create a giveaway you can open the **Studio**, an interactive panel with a **live preview** where you review and adjust every option before publishing. `/gedit` opens the same panel for a giveaway that is already running.

> [!TIP]
>
> New to all of this? Start with [Quickstart](https://docs.giveawayx.lol/quickstart.md), then browse the [Recipes](https://docs.giveawayx.lol/giveaways/recipes.md).


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