Edit Nov 20: This guide is outdated because the play command code changes all the time. I recommend cloning my bot which is on GitHub if you're looking for a music bot with features like saved playlists
If you need a guide on how to set up a bot, please read this
Discord is a popular voice and chat app for gamers and non-gamers who use it to communicate with their friends without paying for a voice server like before.
Almost every big server has a Discord bot, which can be used for managing it, administrative commands like ban and kick, gifs and playing music. So why pay for a music bot when you can create one for free?
No time or energy to read this guide? Just clone my music bot from Github, follow the Prerequisites section, hit npm install and you'll have a working music bot!
This guide assumes you have a basic Discord bot that uses Commando already set up. If the bot does not use discord.js-commando, I highly recommend you to read this guide as Commando makes your life so much easier, and it's required for this guide.
The code for the music command is available here.
Prerequisites
Make sure ffmpeg, python 2.7, and Node(v12 atleast!) are installed.
Obtain a Youtube API key here.
Installing packages
Let's install the packages we're going to work with:
npm:
npm install discordjs/discord.js discordjs/Commando ffmpeg-static node-opus simple-youtube-api ytdl-core
yarn:
yarn add discordjs/discord.js discordjs/Commando ffmpeg-static node-opus simple-youtube-api ytdl-core@latest
Index.js (your main file)
Before we get to play.js, we need to extend the 'Guild' class so we could add a property that will hold our song queue. That will allow the bot to play music at multiple servers at a time.
To do that we'll import 'Structures' at the top of index.js, and use it to extend the 'Guild' class:
// your index.js should look similar to this:
const { CommandoClient } = require('discord.js-commando');
const { Structures } = require('discord.js');
const path = require('path');
const { prefix, token } = require('./config.json');
// It's vital this is before the initiation of the client
Structures.extend('Guild', Guild => {
class MusicGuild extends Guild {
constructor(client, data) {
super(client, data);
this.musicData = {
queue: [],
isPlaying: false,
volume: 1,
songDispatcher: null
};
}
}
return MusicGuild;
});
const client = new CommandoClient({
commandPrefix: prefix,
owner: 'your-discord-user-id',
unknownCommandResponse: false
});
client.registry
.registerDefaultTypes()
.registerGroups([
['music', 'Music Command Group']
])
.registerDefaultGroups()
.registerDefaultCommands()
.registerCommandsIn(path.join(__dirname, 'commands'));
client.once('ready', () => {
console.log('Ready!');
});
client.login(token);
play.js
In your 'commands' folder, create a folder named music and inside it create play.js.
We'll start with importing packages and our Youtube API key:
const { Command } = require('discord.js-commando');
const { MessageEmbed } = require('discord.js');
const Youtube = require('simple-youtube-api');
const ytdl = require('ytdl-core');
const { youtubeAPI } = require('../../config.json');
const youtube = new Youtube(youtubeAPI);
Next we'll declare the 'PlayCommand' class which extends 'Command':
module.exports = class PlayCommand extends Command {
constructor(client) {
super(client, {
name: 'play',
memberName: 'play',
group: 'music', // this means the folder the file is inside
description: 'Play any song or playlist from youtube',
guildOnly: true, // make this command available only in servers not dm's
clientPermissions: ['SPEAK', 'CONNECT'],
args: [
{
key: 'query', // here we name the variable that will hold the input
prompt: 'What song would you like to listen to?', // send this msg if
// the user hasn't provided any arg or if the arg was not a string
type: 'string',
validate: query => query.length > 0 && query.length < 200
}
]
});
}
Every command starts with the run method(the code you want the bot to run when the command is used):
async run(message, { query }) {
// don't let users run this command if they are not in a voice channel
var voiceChannel = message.member.voice.channel;
if (!voiceChannel) return message.say('Join a channel and try again');
Users have 3 options when running this command:
- Run it with a song name
- Run it with a Youtube URL(any kind of URL)
- Run it with a Youtube playlist URL
For example:
!play Darude Sandstorm
!play https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6120QOlsfU (and other url kinds)
!play https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuUrokoVSxlfUJuJB_D8j_wsFR4exaEmy
In order to do that we will write an if statement that checks against regex for any type of a Youtube URL. If the input matches the regex, we will apply different logic than the one we will apply on queries by song names.
First of all check if query is a playlist URL:
if (
query.match(
/^(?!.*\?.*\bv=)https:\/\/www\.youtube\.com\/.*\?.*\blist=.*$/
)
) {
try {
const playlist = await youtube.getPlaylist(query); // get playlist data
const videosObj = await playlist.getVideos(); // songs data object
//const videos = Object.entries(videosObj); // turn the object to array
// iterate through the videos array and make a song object out of each vid
for (let i = 0; i < videosObj.length; i++) {
const video = await videosObj[i].fetch();
const url = `https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=${video.raw.id}`;
const title = video.raw.snippet.title;
let duration = this.formatDuration(video.duration);
const thumbnail = video.thumbnails.high.url;
if (duration == '00:00') duration = 'Live Stream';
const song = {
url,
title,
duration,
thumbnail,
voiceChannel
};
message.guild.musicData.queue.push(song); // if you remember, the queue lives in the guild object so each server has its own queue
}
if (message.guild.musicData.isPlaying == false) { // if nothing is playing
message.guild.musicData.isPlaying = true;
return this.playSong(message.guild.musicData.queue, message); // play the playlist
} else if (message.guild.musicData.isPlaying == true) { // if something is already playing
return message.say(
`Playlist - :musical_note: ${playlist.title} :musical_note: has been added to queue`
);
}
} catch (err) {
console.error(err);
return message.say('Playlist is either private or it does not exist');
}
}
Youtube URL regex:
if (query.match(/^(http(s)?:\/\/)?((w){3}.)?youtu(be|.be)?(\.com)?\/.+/)) {
const url = query; // temp variable
try {
query = query
.replace(/(>|<)/gi, '')
.split(/(vi\/|v=|\/v\/|youtu\.be\/|\/embed\/)/);
const id = query[2].split(/[^0-9a-z_\-]/i)[0];
const video = await youtube.getVideoByID(id);
const title = video.title;
let duration = this.formatDuration(video.duration);
const thumbnail = video.thumbnails.high.url;
if (duration == '00:00') duration = 'Live Stream';
const song = {
url,
title,
duration,
thumbnail,
voiceChannel
};
message.guild.musicData.queue.push(song);
if (
message.guild.musicData.isPlaying == false ||
typeof message.guild.musicData.isPlaying == 'undefined'
) {
message.guild.musicData.isPlaying = true;
return this.playSong(message.guild.musicData.queue, message);
} else if (message.guild.musicData.isPlaying == true) {
return message.say(`${song.title} added to queue`);
}
} catch (err) {
console.error(err);
return message.say('Something went wrong, please try again later');
}
}
If the user has entered a song name as an argument:
try {
// search for the song and get 5 results back
const videos = await youtube.searchVideos(query, 5);
if (videos.length < 5) {
return message.say(
`I had some trouble finding what you were looking for, please try again or be more specific`
);
}
const vidNameArr = [];
// create an array that contains the result titles
for (let i = 0; i < videos.length; i++) {
vidNameArr.push(`${i + 1}: ${videos[i].title}`);
}
vidNameArr.push('exit'); // push 'exit' string as it will be an option
// create and display an embed which will present the user the 5 results
// so he can choose his desired result
const embed = new MessageEmbed()
.setColor('#e9f931')
.setTitle('Choose a song by commenting a number between 1 and 5')
.addField('Song 1', vidNameArr[0])
.addField('Song 2', vidNameArr[1])
.addField('Song 3', vidNameArr[2])
.addField('Song 4', vidNameArr[3])
.addField('Song 5', vidNameArr[4])
.addField('Exit', 'exit'); // user can reply with 'exit' if none matches
var songEmbed = await message.say({ embed });
try {
// wait 1 minute for the user's response
var response = await message.channel.awaitMessages(
msg => (msg.content > 0 && msg.content < 6) || msg.content === 'exit',
{
max: 1,
maxProcessed: 1,
time: 60000,
errors: ['time']
}
);
// assign videoIndex to user's response
var videoIndex = parseInt(response.first().content);
} catch (err) {
console.error(err);
songEmbed.delete();
return message.say(
'Please try again and enter a number between 1 and 5 or exit'
);
}
// if the user responded with 'exit', cancel the command
if (response.first().content === 'exit') return songEmbed.delete();
try {
// get video data from the API
var video = await youtube.getVideoByID(videos[videoIndex - 1].id);
} catch (err) {
console.error(err);
songEmbed.delete();
return message.say(
'An error has occured when trying to get the video ID from youtube'
);
}
const url = `https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=${video.raw.id}`;
const title = video.title;
let duration = this.formatDuration(video.duration);
const thumbnail = video.thumbnails.high.url;
if (duration == '00:00') duration = 'Live Stream';
const song = {
url,
title,
duration,
thumbnail,
voiceChannel
};
message.guild.musicData.queue.push(song);
if (message.guild.musicData.isPlaying == false) {
message.guild.musicData.isPlaying = true;
songEmbed.delete(); // delete the selection embed
this.playSong(message.guild.musicData.queue, message);
} else if (message.guild.musicData.isPlaying == true) {
songEmbed.delete();
// add the song to queue if one is already playing
return message.say(`${song.title} added to queue`);
}
} catch (err) {
// if something went wrong when calling the api:
console.error(err);
if (songEmbed) {
songEmbed.delete();
}
return message.say(
'Something went wrong with searching the video you requested :('
);
}
}
So what's that playSong function we called multiple times above? This function takes the queue and the message object as arguments. When called, it tells the bot to join the user's channel and start playing music!
// this is inside the PlayCommand class
playSong(queue, message) {
let voiceChannel;
queue[0].voiceChannel
.join() // join the user's voice channel
.then(connection => {
const dispatcher = connection
.play(
ytdl(queue[0].url, { // pass the url to .ytdl()
quality: 'highestaudio',
// download part of the song before playing it
// helps reduces stuttering
highWaterMark: 1024 * 1024 * 10
})
)
.on('start', () => {
// the following line is essential to other commands like skip
message.guild.musicData.songDispatcher = dispatcher;
dispatcher.setVolume(message.guild.musicData.volume);
voiceChannel = queue[0].voiceChannel;
// display the current playing song as a nice little embed
const videoEmbed = new MessageEmbed()
.setThumbnail(queue[0].thumbnail) // song thumbnail
.setColor('#e9f931')
.addField('Now Playing:', queue[0].title)
.addField('Duration:', queue[0].duration);
// also display next song title, if there is one in queue
if (queue[1]) videoEmbed.addField('Next Song:', queue[1].title);
message.say(videoEmbed); // send the embed to chat
return queue.shift(); // dequeue the song
})
.on('finish', () => { // this event fires when the song has ended
if (queue.length >= 1) { // if there are more songs in queue
return this.playSong(queue, message); // continue playing
} else { // else if there are no more songs in queue
message.guild.musicData.isPlaying = false;
return voiceChannel.leave(); // leave the voice channel
}
})
.on('error', e => {
message.say('Cannot play song');
message.guild.musicData.queue.length = 0;
message.guild.musicData.isPlaying = false;
message.guild.musicData.nowPlaying = null;
console.error(e);
return voiceChannel.leave();
});
})
.catch(e => {
console.error(e);
return voiceChannel.leave();
});
}
formatDuration function:
formatDuration(durationObj) {
const duration = `${durationObj.hours ? durationObj.hours + ':' : ''}${
durationObj.minutes ? durationObj.minutes : '00'
}:${
durationObj.seconds < 10
? '0' + durationObj.seconds
: durationObj.seconds
? durationObj.seconds
: '00'
}`;
return duration;
}
That's it!
You can check out other music commands on the bot's repo
If you're running into issues, either comment down below or open an issue in the bot's GitHub repository.
I've also written a guide on writing a music quiz(trivia) command, you can check it out here
Latest comments (78)
UnhandledPromiseRejectionWarning: DiscordAPIError: Invalid Form Body
hi sorry to disturb, after install git it able to run , and when trying make it online, it return error as above shown in image. is ti means my discord id in config.json is wrong?
TypeError [CLIENT_MISSING_INTENTS]: Valid intents must be provided for the Client.
also got this error after install master discord.js
Hello Nir, I got a problem at line 90 like these
const playlist = await youtube.getPlaylist(query); // get playlist data
^^^^^
SyntaxError: await is only valid in async function
pls react this pls...
It shouldn't happen unless you copied code over to another bot. If you want this to work perfectly, clone the master-bot repo and follow the instructions on the repo's page. Also this guide is outdated so it will not work well
I cloned your bot and installed the necessary programs. I get this error now, and can't seem to track it down.
An error occurred while running the command: TypeError: Cannot read property 'duration' of undefined
Seems to occur with whichever youtube link I enter, whether a long or short video.
Thoughts appreciated.
Hey, please open an issue in the bot's repo on Github and fill the issue template
github.com/galnir/Master-Bot
Hello, I am a beginner. After basically following your steps and using command !play I have this error and my bot says this:
An error occurred while running the command: TypeError: Cannot read property 'isTriviaRunning' of undefined
You shouldn't ever receive an error like this.
Please contact [my discord id]
This usually happens if you copy code instead of cloning the repository. Make sure you clone it using Git and follow the instructions in the repository
hi nir, whenever i give a command the bot says the same response 3-5 times. Pls helpp
Hey! I'm having a lot of problems with the audio quality ('play' command), is there anything I can do to fix? I know it isn't my internet because this happens with any video and on any network.
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