There is no official API for the ASA tribe log. The only thing that works on official servers is reading the log from a running game client and posting it to a Discord webhook — here's how to do that reliably.
Every ARK tribe has had the same morning: you log in, open the Tribe Log, and find forty red lines from 3 AM. The log knew you were being raided; nobody else did. Getting that log into Discord — in real time — is the single biggest quality-of-life upgrade for a PvP tribe, and on official servers it is also the hardest to set up, because Studio Wildcard gives you no way to read it from the outside.
Why there is no tribe log API on official servers
On unofficial servers, admins can install server-side plugins that push tribe events to a Discord webhook. Official servers run stock code: no plugins, no RCON access for players, no web hooks. The tribe log exists only inside the game client, rendered as text in the Tribe Manager (the L menu → LOG tab).
That leaves exactly one approach that works on official: a game client stays logged in with the Tribe Log open, software reads the text on screen, and posts new lines to Discord. Every tool that claims to work on official servers — LogBot+, stream-based bots, and ours — does this in some form. The differences are in how reliably they read the text, how they avoid duplicates, and whether you can still use the PC.
What you need
- A Windows PC that can keep ARK running. Low settings and a 15–30 fps cap are fine — it only has to draw text. Many tribes use an old PC, a laptop, or the main PC with the game behind other windows.
- A character on the server, in your tribe, with the Tribe Manager open on the LOG tab.
- A Discord channel and a webhook for it (Channel → Edit → Integrations → Webhooks → New). No Discord bot needed.
- ASA Tribe Log Bot — the desktop app that does the reading and posting.
Setup in four steps
- Run the game in Windowed Fullscreen with HUD scale 100%, open Tribe Manager → LOG and leave it open.
- Paste the webhook into the app and press Test — a green message appears in your channel.
- Select the log area: the screen dims, you drag a box around the log text, and the app previews every line it can read.
- Start. New lines appear in Discord within seconds as colour-coded embeds with a picture of the log.
The full walkthrough with screenshots is in the setup guide.
Can I keep using the PC?
Yes. The app captures the game window through Windows Graphics Capture, so your browser, Discord or work can sit on top of ARK. The one rule is never minimize the game — Windows stops drawing minimized windows, so there is nothing to read. A second monitor or a $5 HDMI dummy plug makes it completely invisible; see running the bot on a second PC or dummy plug.
Why OCR bots post duplicates — and how to avoid it
Screen-reading is noisy: a digit read as 8 one frame and 3 the next looks like two different lines. Naive bots post both. Worse, a raid produces ten identical "Your Tek Turret was destroyed!" lines in the same second, and a naive duplicate filter drops nine of them. ASA Tribe Log Bot compares whole frames against each other instead of comparing lines to a memory: new lines are whatever appears above the previous frame's content. Identical lines are counted correctly (you see ×10), misreads are not re-posted.
Turning log lines into alerts
Posting the log is step one; waking people up is the point. Route serious events (structures destroyed, tribemates killed, sensors) to a separate #raid-alerts channel, @mention a role when, say, three of them happen within five minutes, and let the bot join a voice channel and play a siren. Details in raid alerts for ARK Ascended.
Questions
▸Does this break ARK's rules?
Reading the screen is passive — nothing is injected into the game and no input is sent. The optional auto-reconnect feature presses keys like a macro; it is off by default.
▸Do I need to keep a character logged in?
Yes. The tribe log only renders inside a client that is in your tribe. Tribes usually keep an alt or a second account online for this.
▸Does it work on console?
The reading happens on a Windows PC. Console-only tribes need one PC member (or a cheap PC) to host it.