Discord

Discord API Skill

Overview

The Discord API allows you to build bots, automate servers, and manage webhooks. This skill focuses on the discord.js library for bot integration.

Installation

npm install discord.js
pip install discord.py

Authentication

Bots authenticate using a Bot Token provided in the Authorization: Bot <token> header (handled automatically by the SDK).

Core Concepts

• Guild: A Discord server.
• Intents: WebSocket subscription flags defining what events the bot receives.
• Slash Commands: Application commands registered to Discord.

Common Workflows

1. Initialize Client with Intents.
2. Login using client.login(TOKEN).
3. Listen to interactionCreate to handle Slash Commands.

Error Handling

Handle DiscordAPIError. Code 50013 indicates 'Missing Permissions'. Code 10008 indicates 'Unknown Message'.

Security

Never commit your Bot Token. If leaked, Discord will automatically reset it, crashing your application.

Rate Limits

Global rate limits are 50 requests per second. Route-specific limits exist (e.g., renaming channels is highly restricted).

Best Practices

Always use Slash Commands (interactionCreate) rather than parsing text messages (messageCreate). Text message intent is restricted.

Troubleshooting

If your bot stops receiving events, verify that the required Privileged Intents (like Guild Members) are enabled in the Discord Developer Portal.

References

• API Reference

Why use this skill

Use this when your agent works with discord — structured patterns beat pasted docs and prevent common hallucinations.

AI pitfalls

• Using outdated SDK or API versions from training data
• Inventing environment variable names
• Omitting error handling and retry logic

Production checklist

• Secrets in environment variables, not source code
• Error handling and logging in place
• Rate limits and timeouts configured

Related skills

• express — integrates with
• fastapi — integrates with

Last Verified: 2026-07-02