community-repo/contributions/research/discordbot

How to Build a Discord Bot

This document is written in response to the first question of request for Joystream's Bounty 13

Getting Started

Go to Discord's bot portal and create a new application, giving it an appropriate name.

Copy and save the Client ID and secret (where the 2 arrows are pointing at), making sure you keep the secret secret.

![Client ID and Secret](images/bot2.jpg)

So far, what you have is a simple application.

You click on the Bot tab under settings to your left, and click on the "add a bot button".

This would take you to your bot homepage. You'll be given a token, which you should take note off and keep safe.

As an aside, never store any keys or tokens on GitHub, ESPECIALLY if the repo is public.

Developing the Bot

While DIscord bots can be built with several different languages - the unofficial Discord API server has channels for at least 19 different languages - I will concentrate on TypeScript.

The Discord TypeScript Server is an ideal source for interacting with other TypeScript developers. as well as a potential source for any technical help one may need. There's also an examples folder of bots built using the Discord TypeScript library.

Installation

Use npm or yarn to install @typeit/discord with discord.js:

npm i @typeit/discord discord.js

Your tsconfig.json should look like this:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "module": "commonjs",
    "target": "es2017",
    "noImplicitAny": false,
    "sourceMap": true,
    "outDir": "build",
    "emitDecoratorMetadata": true,
    "experimentalDecorators": true,
    "importHelpers": true,
    "forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true,
    "lib": [
      "es2017",
      "esnext.asynciterable"
    ],
    "moduleResolution": "node"
  },
  "exclude": [
    "node_modules"
  ]
}

Setup and start building your application

NB: To start your application, you must use the discord.ts's Client and not the client that is provided by discord.js. It works the same as thediscord.js'sClient` (same methods, properties, ...).

You have different parameters in addition to discord.js when you initialize your Client:

• classes (required):
  Indicate the class jacket of your classes containing the @Discord decorator. It accepts a list of classes or of (glob) paths.

• silent (false by default):
  Allows you to disable your event information at startup.

• variablesChar (":" by default):
  Allows you to change the prefix character of a variable.

You must specify the glob path(s) where your decorated classes are

// Use the Client that are provided by @typeit/discord NOT discord.js
import { Client } from "@typeit/discord";

async function start() {
  const client = new Client({
    classes: [
      `${__dirname}/*Discord.ts`, // glob string to load the classes
      `${__dirname}/*Discord.js` // If you compile using "tsc" the file extension change to .js
    ],
    silent: false,
    variablesChar: ":"
  });

  await client.login("YOUR_TOKEN");
}

start();