i could be completely stupid here but is there a way to "link" BetterChat with the existing permission groups? or something related to permissions?

They are the same thing. This plugin utilizes the Oxide groups, just provides chat styling and such for each. You can configured them via command or config directly per the docs.

so how would i set it up? [i have existing ranks] how would i pretty much link them? i haven't used this plugin before ngl

Merged post

do i just make the groups have the same name as the perms group or do i just i genuinely have 0 idea