discord-bot-template

This github repo is intended for users to quickly and easily setup a discord bot!

Documentation for this repo is a work-in-progress, please pardon any typos. If you catch any mistakes, please file an issue with the specified location that requires correction/improvement.

Please see below for a step-by-step walkthrough of how to setup your discord bot with this framework!

Typescript

If you have experience with typescript and would like to use that, please check out the typescript-converted version of this template, discord-bot by terzhang!

Would ONLY recommend for people ALREADY familiar with typescript.

General Information is included after the instructions for setting up the bot!

Setting up to run the bot!

1. Clone this Repo

Make sure git is installed on your computer. To check if you have git, in the console run

git

If an error shows up, you will need to install git on your computer. See here for instructions: https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Getting-Started-Installing-Git

Otherwise, open up console/command prompt in the directory you wish to clone this project in. run the command

git clone https://github.com/3chospirits/discord-bot-template.git

Now you have all the code in this repo cloned to your computer!!

2. Get Node.js and npm

This bot runs with node.js. You need to have a version of nodejs > 12.x.x to run this bot! You need to make sure you have node.js installed on your computer/server! To check, run

node -v

If the response is v12.x.x you are all good! If not or if you get an error saying node is not found/not a valid command, then see here for installation instructions: https://nodejs.org/en/

Once you have nodejs installed, you should have a working version of npm also installed with it. Check by running

npm -v

3. Installing dependencies

This package relies on a couple of npm packages that requires installation before the bot can run. Make sure you have your console path in the same directory as the package.json file then run the command

npm i

4. Adding your bot's token

Go to https://discordapp.com/developers/applications/me and login with your discord account.

Click on New Application. Name your application anything you want, (but try to make it unique, if too many bots have the same name, discord won't let you use this username)!

Next, click on the Bot text on the left hand side of the developer panel.

Then click on Add Bot and confirm to create your discord bot

Under TOKEN, click on the Copy button.

Now come back to your code and paste the token in the config.js file replacing the place-your-token-here with your bot's token

KEEP YOUR BOT'S TOKEN SAFE!! It is the equivalent as the login information for your bot! Anyone with access to the token has full permission to run anything off of your bot!!!

*If you make a github repo, make sure it is set to private if it includes your token

5. Adding the bot to a server

To add your bot to a discord server, head back to the discord developer panel.

Click on OAuth2 on the left-hand side.

In the Scopes grid of checkboxes, check bot and select any permissions you wish to give to the bot.

Then click on the Copy button next to long url in the scopes box and goto the given link to add the bot to your server

6. Add yourself to bot admin permissions

Go to the config.js and paste your discord user ID and replace the 315850603396071424.

(if you need help finding your user ID, use this tutorial: https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/206346498-Where-can-I-find-my-User-Server-Message-ID-)

This will give you access to all the commands.

In commands marked with adminOnly (eval, ping, reload), only users with their ID added to the admins array will be able to run those commands.

7. Running the bot

In a console in the directory including the project, run

node index.js

If the bot outputs

Commands: Build Success
Events: Build Success
Loading 2 events...
1: message.js loaded!
2: ready.js loaded!
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

   Logged in as YourBotUsername!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

without any additional errors, then CONGRATULATIONS!!

To test if the bot is fully working, go to the server that you added the bot to and type

.ping

If the bot responds with a message, you are all set!!

General Information

This bot utilizes a command, event, and functions handler. This allows for the bot's code to be updated live without the need to restart the bot!

Documentation has been added to most of the files explaining the basic features of the bot.

Dev Commands

Eval

• allows you to execute js code directly from discord chat and gives you with corresponding output
• this command is mostly useful for development and debugging
• Testing
  • run .eval message.channel.send("hello world")! in discord chat

Ping

• checks if the bot is online and if the commands are loading in properly
• gives the latency of the bot and discord's api
• shows uptime of bot since last restart

Reload

• reloads all commands, events, and functions in the three respective folders
• ONLY RELOADS CODE WITHIN THE commands, events, and functions folders
• helpful for development to change code of the bot and test without need to restart the entire bot
• Testing
  • start the bot
  • run .ping in discord chat
  • modify the ping.js file (like add a symbol before the P in msg.edit('Pong...
  • save the ping.js file
  • run .reload in discord chat
  • run .ping in discord chat
  • observe the changes updated change :)

Adding your own code

If you would like to add your own code, I'd suggest you read through each file and the documentation to get somewhat of an understanding of how this framework is structured. (you can ignore the node_modules folder and the package.json and package-lock.json folders)

To add your own command, event or function please see the templates in the templates folder and the corresponding documentation for each.

Hosting

If you are looking for a free host, I would recommend https://glitch.com/

It is extrememly simple to use. Node.js and npm are already pre-installed on their for you, but before you run npm i, make sure to run pnpm-enable

Also, the projects on that site go to sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity. To bypass the sleeping, please follow the instructions here: https://pastebin.com/6R1qUGxN

---

Another great free host is google's compute engine. This WILL require more work than setting up the bot on glitch.com.

It is not recommended for beginners and anyone that do not have a basic understanding of servers and linux terminal commands. The 1 F1-micro instance for google is currently in their Always-Free plan at the time of this documentation writing. You will need to provide google with a credit card to activate your account to get this vps. Google will not charge you anything unless you upgrade to a paid plan and use up your other free trial credits.

Congratulations on reading all the way to the end of the documentation!! I hope you find this package useful to you. If you wish to stay updated on any other coding projects I may open-source, please follow my github!!

Good luck, and have fun coding your discord bot!!