DEV Community

joespaf
joespaf

Posted on

Building a Bot With Discord.js

#discord #javascript

A quick guide on how to build and launch a Discord bot with Discord.js

By the end of this guide, you will have a Discord bot which will be able to respond to text commands, as well as an idea of how to implement more complicated and interesting features.

Prerequisites

  • A machine with Node.js installed
  • Some familiarity with JavaScript and Node.js
  • A Discord account with 2FA enabled
  • A Discord server in which you have admin privileges
  1. Create your application in the Developer Portal
  2. Go to https://discord.com/developers/applications and log in.
  3. Click New Application, give it a name, and hit Create.
  4. In the sidebar, select Bot and then Add Bot.

  5. Under TOKEN, click Copy—you’ll need this in a sec.
    Keep your token secret. Never commit it to a public repo!

  6. Set up your project files
    In your discord-bot directory, create the following files:

  7. config.json

  8. index.js

Create a config.json with your bot token and a command prefix:

{
  "token": "YOUR_BOT_TOKEN_HERE",
  "prefix": "!"
}
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
  1. Install and import Discord.js Run: 
npm install discord.js
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Then, in index.js, bring in Discord.js and your config:

const { Client, Intents } = require('discord.js');
const { token, prefix } = require('./config.json');
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
  1. Initialize your client In index.js, set up a client that listens for messages: 
const client = new Client({
  intents: [Intents.FLAGS.GUILDS, Intents.FLAGS.GUILD_MESSAGES]
});

client.once('ready', () => {
  console.log(`Logged in as ${client.user.tag}`);
});
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

This logs a confirmation when your bot comes online.

  1. Handle text commands Add a messageCreate listener to parse and respond to commands: 
client.on('messageCreate', message => {
  if (!message.content.startsWith(prefix) || message.author.bot) return;

  const args = message.content
    .slice(prefix.length)
    .trim()
    .split(/ +/);
  const command = args.shift().toLowerCase();

  if (command === 'ping') {
    message.channel.send('Pong!');
  } else if (command === 'say') {
    const text = args.join(' ');
    if (!text) return message.reply('You need to tell me what to say!');
    message.channel.send(text);
  }
});
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode
  1. Log in and run your bot At the bottom of index.js, add: 
client.login(token);
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Then, in your terminal start your bot:

node index.js
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

You should see Logged in as YourBotName in your terminal.

  1. Invite your bot to your server
  2. Back in the Developer Portal, go to OAuth2 → URL Generator.
  3. Under SCOPES (the first section), check bot.
  4. Under BOT PERMISSIONS (the second), select the permissions your bot needs. For the above code, we should only need the "Send Messages" permission.
  5. Copy the generated URL, open it in your browser, and choose your server. Your bot will appear in your server’s member list.

Congratulations! You've now created a Discord bot!

Top comments (0)