How to create a Discord Bot

So you’re finally ready to create your first Discord bot from scratch, but how does one go about doing that? Before you can even begin developing and optimizing your bot, you still have to take a few extra steps beforehand. You’ll need to set up an application project with the Discord platform and create a listing for your bot so it can be invited to other servers. This guide will walk you through the steps required to list your bot with Discord and how to bring it over to your own server for testing purposes.

What are Discord bots?

Although Discord is an incredible platofrm for group chats, it works best with a little help—that’s where bots come into play. Discord bots are AI tools perform various moderation and administrative tasks. There’s no shortage of off-the-shelf Discord bots that you can easily install on your server. That said, if you’re unable to find the perfect bot to fit your needs, you can create your own.

How to set up a Discord application project for your new bot

The first part of this whole process involves logging into the Discord Developer Portal and working on creating a listing for your new bot. You’ll add a new application, an icon, and even a description for your bot if you plan to go public. To get started adding your bot to Discord, you can do the following:

1. Visit the official Discord Developer Portal then log in with your account credentials.
2. Tap on the New Application button in the upper right corner.
3. Give your new Discord application any name you want, then press the Create button.
4. Tap the App Icon section to upload a unique image that’ll make your bot easily identifiable.
5. Now you can type a short description of what your bot does and add a few tags for search purposes.
   • To add a tag, you just type in a word and then hit the enter key. Add up to 5 different tags to make it easier for others to find your bot when going public.
6. If needed, you can add a link to the Terms of Service and Private Policy URL sections.
   • If you’re making a bot to be used privately on your own server between family and friends, you can likely skip this part.
7. Tap the Save Changes button at the bottom to finish up here.

How to add your new bot to your Discord application project

After creating the application project where the bot will be stored, it’s time to actually add the bot to the project itself. You’ll get a unique code that allows your bot to communicate with the Discord platform. Thus, you’ll be able to then host the bot on Discord, which will enable you to invite it to your own server later. To get started adding your bot to your application project, you can do the following:

1. Tap the hamburger menu in the upper left, then go to the Bot section.
2. Under Build-A Bot, tap the Add Bot button to continue.
3. Read the short description that pops up and hit Yes, do it! to add your bot.
4. Under the Token section, copy and paste that number somewhere safe where it won’t get lost.
   • If you ever lose access to the token, you’ll need to hit the Reset Token button to get a different one. Once you do that, you’d have to use the new code to log in before you can update your bot on the Discord platform.

How to invite your new bot to your Discord server

With the new Discord bot listing created, it’s time to invite the bot to your server so you can use it for yourself. Before starting with that, you’ll need to ensure the Manage Server permission box is checked on your Discord account. We have the steps in another guide under the How to enable bots on your Discord server section if needed. Once that’s taken care of, you can invite the bot to your Discord server by doing the following:

1. Tap the hamburger menu in the upper left of the Developer Portal, then select OAuth2.
2. Now you want to go to the URL Generator subsection.
3. Under Scopes, scroll down as needed and check the bot box to continue.
4. Scroll down to the Boot Permissions section, then check all the permission boxes that your bot will use.
5. Once the appropriate permissions are set, scroll to the bottom under the Generated URL section.
6. Hit the Copy button to add the Discord bot URL to your clipboard for the next step.
7. Open a new tab in your web browser, paste that URL, then go to the authorization page for your bot.
   • You may have to log into your Discord account again to add your new bot, so do that here if needed.
8. Under the Add to Server drop-down menu, select the server for your account, then hit the Continue button.
9. You should now see all the permissions you set earlier that your bot uses to work correctly.
10. If everything checks out, hit the Authorize button to invite and add your Discord bot to the selected server.
11. Hit the I am human box, solve the CAPTCHA image test, then you should see the Authorized page afterward.
12. Head over to your Discord server, and you should notice a welcome message for your new bot.

The real work can begin now that you’ve created a bot listing on Discord, got the unique token, and invited it to your server. You’ll be setting up a few parameters in the process and telling your bot what you want it to do. The bot will stay offline until your code is aligned correctly and synced with the Discord platform. Once you get past the long initial setup and coding phase, you can finally share your new bot with everyone on your server.

Gamer’s Delight

Although you can find a Discord server that caters to just about any niche, the platform has a strong gamer community. If your gaming is limited whatever is available on a console or PC, it’s time to expand your horizons. Amazon has thousands of incredible games that you can play anywhere. Check out our list of the best Android games to get you started.