A simple open source repo for learning Discord bot development. It includes guides, examples, and small projects to help beginners start making Discord bots. Started by @shellmonbhai and maintained by @UIU-Developers-Hub.
Welcome to Discord-Bot-Development-Guide. This repo is made for students and new developers who want to learn how Discord bots work and how to build them step by step.
Here you will find easy examples, useful commands, bot features, and clean project structures. The goal is to make learning simple and fun without making things confusing.
You can build moderation bots, music bots, utility bots, AI bots, and many other cool projects from here. Anyone can learn, practice, and also contribute to the repo.
Discord keeps getting more popular. As servers grow, it gets harder to manage everything by hand. Tasks like banning users who break the rules or replying to common requests can take a lot of time. That's why automation becomes so useful.
A Discord bot is a program that acts a lot like a regular user. It can watch for events, respond to commands, and handle tasks on its own. Bots can be used for almost anything. In fact, there are nearly unlimited ways to use them. You can see plenty of examples on top.gg.
For example, imagine you're running a new Discord server. A new member joins for the first time. You might be excited and send them a welcome message yourself. Maybe you point them to a few channels or ask them to introduce themselves. The new member feels welcome and joins the conversation. If they enjoy the community, they may invite their friends too.
As time goes on, your server gets bigger. At some point, it becomes difficult to personally greet every new member. Still, you probably want each person to feel noticed when they join. This is where a bot can help. It can automatically welcome new members the moment they join. You can also decide how the bot should behave in different situations and what messages it should send. That's just one simple example. Bots can do much more than welcome users. Once you learn how to build them, you'll find all kinds of ways to make your server more helpful, fun, and easier to manage.
Note: Discord bots can work with voice features too, but this guide focuses only on text-based features.We'll discuss voice features later.
Creating a Discord bot comes down to two main steps:
- Create a bot account on Discord and add it to your server.
- Write code that uses Discord's API and tells the bot how to behave.
How to Make a Discord Bot in the Developer Portal
Before you start writing any Python code, there are a few things you need to set up in Discord first:
- A Discord account
- An application
- A bot
- A server (guild)
You'll learn what each of these does in the next sections. Once everything is ready, you'll connect them together and add your bot to your server. To get started, open the Discord Developer Portal. That's where you'll create and manage your Discord applications and bots.
1. Creating a Discord Account
First, you will see a login page. You can log in if you already have an account. If not, you need to make a new one. Click the Register button under Login. Then fill in your details.
Important: You must verify your email before you go next.
After that, you will be redirected to the Developer Portal home page. That is where you create your application.
2. Creating an Application
An application lets you use Discord’s API. It also gives you things like auth tokens and permissions. To start, click New Application.
Next, you will see a box to name your application. Pick a name you like. Then click Create.
Congrats. You just made a Discord application.
Keep in mind, not every program that uses Discord needs a bot. All tools that use Discord API start with an application. Bots are just one part of it. Since this guide is about bots, click the Bot tab on the left side menu.
3. Creating a Bot
A bot is a user that can listen to things on Discord and react on its own. To make your code work in Discord, you need to create a bot user. Click Add Bot.
Note: This step used to be required earlier, but in the current Discord update, the bot is created automatically when you create an application.
4. Adding a Bot to a Guild
A bot cannot join a server like a normal user. You cannot invite it the usual way. Instead, you use something called OAuth2 to add it. Simple idea: OAuth2 just helps Discord safely give your bot access. To continue, go back to the Developer Portal. Then click the OAuth2 tab on the left menu.
From this page, you will see the OAuth2 URL Generator. This tool makes a special link. That link lets Discord know your bot is allowed to join and act in a server. Here, you want to give your bot access. Scroll down. Under SCOPES, tick bot. Then under BOT PERMISSIONS, select Administrator.
Now Discord makes a special link for your bot. It includes the scope and permissions you picked. Quick note: We used Administrator here just for learning. In real use, try to give only the permissions you really need. Click Copy next to the link. Then paste it in your browser. After that, choose your server (guild) from the list.
Click Authorize, and that’s it.
Note: You may see a reCAPTCHA first. If it shows up, just complete it to prove you are human. Now go back to your server (guild). You will see your bot is added there.
5. Privileged Gateway Intents
Now follow these steps: a) In the left menu, click Bot. b) Scroll down to the section called Privileged Gateway Intents. c) You will see a few toggle options like:
-
Presence Intent
-
Server Members Intent
-
Message Content Intent d) Turn ON the options you need. Most common setup is:
-
Turn ON Server Members Intent (so your bot can see when people join or leave)
-
Turn ON Message Content Intent (so your bot can read messages and respond)
-
Presence Intent is optional, only if you need status info
e) After that, scroll down a bit.
f) Click the green Save Changes button at the bottom right.
Done. Your bot settings are now updated.
In short, you have made:
- An application that lets your bot connect to Discord API
- A bot user that can talk and react inside your server
- A server (guild) where you and your bot can stay and work
- A Discord account that you used to set it all up
- Turned ON the needed Privileged Gateway Intents
Now you know the basic setup for a Discord bot using the Developer Portal. Next part is the fun one, you start building the bot with Python.