Build A Discord Bot

Building a discord bot can be a cool way to extend the functionality of a discord server. It can welcome a new member, etc amongst a host of others. it is a cool way to automate tasks as an owner of a discord server. The discord bot will be built with discord.js. A node module for interacting with the Discord API.

PREREQUISITE

To Build the discord bot with Discord.js, ensure that node and npm are installed by typing the following command in the terminal.

node -v && npm -v 

This should output into the console

v12.8.1
6.14.4

Other than that install node here and npm here.

PROJECT SETUP

From the terminal, create a directory and open the directory

mkdir discordbot && cd discordbot

Create package.json to keep track of dependencies with:

npm init -y

Install discord.js

npm install discord.js

BOT SETUP

1. Navigate to the developer portal: here
2. Click on the button ‘New Application’ a modal will pop up
3. Enter a name for the bot and click on the create button.
4. On the sidebar beneath the OAuth2, select the Bot
5. Click on the button to copy the token
6. Add the bot to a server with the invite link

https://discord.com/oauth2/authorize?client_id=<clientId>&scope=bot

7. Copy the discord bot’s client Id from the developer portal and replace it in the link. Navigate to the link, choose a preferred server and BINGO!!!!!!

BUILDING THE BOT

In the folder discordbot, create a file called .env in the terminal run the command below to install dotenv

npm install dotenv

In the .env file add the token you copied for the bot

.env file

TOKEN=kahjEQKNRKQ-0E0kdhuiPIS98-19U9U84Q

Create a file called index.js and create commands for the discord bot as well as responses.

const dotenv = require('dotenv');
dotenv.config();

const Discord = require('discord.js');


const client = new Discord.Client();


client.once('ready', () => {
	console.log('Yay I am ready with a bang!');
});
client.on('message', message => {
	if (message.content === 'Heya friend') {
	//respond to the message
	message.channel.send('Hello good friend!');
}
});

client.login(process.env.TOKEN);

To run the code, in the terminal run

node index.js

This code above, creates a new discord client. Once the client is ready, it logs the message, “Yay, I am ready with a bang!” to the terminal.

To test the bot, in the terminal where the bot was installed, type the message “Heya friend”. The bot will respond with “Hello good friend”.
For more documentation on creating a discord bot, Check it out in the discord.js documentation.