Create App and Bot Account

• Go to the Discordapp.com Application Page​

• Create a New Application, and give it a name

• Click Create a bot account, then Yes, do it

• Visit https://discordapp.com/oauth2/authorize?client_id=APP_ID&scope=bot , replacing APP_ID with the Client/Application ID from the app page, to add the bot to your server (or ask a server admin to do it for you).

• Copy your bot's Token and keep it for later

Pre-requisite software

Install the following through your package manager:

• nodejs (Version 12.X and higher required, see here)

Once you have this all installed, create a folder for your project and install discord.js:

mkdir mybot && cd mybot npm install discord.js

For sound support add npm install opusscript (ez mode) or npm install @discordjs/opus (better performance but requires python 2.7.x and build-essential). BOTH these options require ffmpeg to run on your system, installed through sudo apt-get install ffmpeg.

Example Code

The following is a simple ping/pong bot. Save as a text file (e.g. mybot.js), replacing the string on the last line with the secret bot token you got earlier:

const Discord = require("discord.js");
const client = new Discord.Client();
​
client.on("ready", () => {
  console.log("I am ready!");
});
​
client.on("message", (message) => {
  if (message.content.startsWith("ping")) {
    message.channel.send("pong!");
  }
});
​
client.login("SuperSecretBotTokenHere");

Launching the bot

In your terminal, from inside the folder where mybot.js is located, launch it with:

node mybot.js

If no errors are shown, the bot should join the server(s) you added it to.

Resources

• ​Discord.js Documentation : For the love of all that is (un)holy, read the documentation. Yes, it will be alien at first if you are not used to "developer documentation" but it contains a whole lot of information about each and every feature of the API. Combine this with the examples above to see the API in context.

• ​An Idiot's Guide is another great channel with more material. York's guides are great, and he continues to update them.

• ​Evie.Codes on Youtube: If you prefer video to words, Evie's youtube series (which is good, though no longer maintained with new videos!) gets you started with bots.

• ​An Idiot's Guide Official Server: The official server for An Idiot's Guide. Full of friendly helpful users!

• ​Discord.js Official Server: The official server has a number of competent people to help you, and the development team is there too!