Crafting Your First Discord Bot with Discord.js: A Beginner's Journey

🧭 Getting Started: What You'll Need

🚀 Step 1: Creating Your Bot Identity

1. Go to Discord Developer Portal
2. Click "New Application" and name your bot
3. Navigate to "Bot" > "Add Bot"

⚙️ Setting Up Your Project

Create a new folder and run these commands in your terminal:

pnpm init -y              # Creates package.json
pnpm install discord.js   # Main bot library
pnpm install dotenv       # Keeps secrets safe

📁 File Structure Basics

your-bot/
├── bot.js            # Main bot code
├── commands/         # Slash commands folder
│   └── ping.js       # Example command
├── .env              # Stores your bot token
└── package.json      # Project dependencies

💡 Core Bot Code Explained

Create bot.js with this starter code:

// Load environment variables from .env file
require('dotenv').config();

// Import necessary Discord.js components
const { Client, GatewayIntentBits } = require('discord.js');

// Create our bot client with required permissions
const bot = new Client({
  intents: [
    GatewayIntentBits.Guilds,          // Access server info
    GatewayIntentBits.GuildMessages,   // Read messages
    GatewayIntentBits.MessageContent   // See message content
  ]
});

// Bot startup confirmation
bot.on('ready', () => {
  console.log(`✅ ${bot.user.tag} is online!`);
});

// Basic message response
bot.on('messageCreate', async (message) => {
  if (message.content === '!hello') {
    await message.reply('👋 Hey there!');
  }
});

// Start the bot using our token
bot.login(process.env.DISCORD_TOKEN);

🎨 Creating Your First Slash Command

Make commands/ping.js:

const { SlashCommandBuilder } = require('discord.js');

module.exports = {
  data: new SlashCommandBuilder()
    .setName('ping')         // Command name
    .setDescription('Check bot latency'), // Description
    
  // What happens when command is used
  async execute(interaction) {
    const start = Date.now();
    await interaction.reply('🏓 Pinging...');
    const latency = Date.now() - start;
    
    await interaction.editReply(
      `🏓 Pong! Latency: ${latency}ms`
    );
  }
};

🚀 Deploying Commands

Create deploy-commands.js:

const { REST, Routes } = require('discord.js');
require('dotenv').config();

// List all your commands here
const commands = [
  require('./commands/ping.js').data.toJSON()
];

// Prepare REST client
const rest = new REST({ version: '10' }).setToken(process.env.DISCORD_TOKEN);

// Deployment script
(async () => {
  try {
    console.log('🔄 Deploying commands...');
    
    // Update commands globally
    await rest.put(
      Routes.applicationCommands(process.env.CLIENT_ID),
      { body: commands }
    );
    
    console.log('✅ Commands deployed successfully!');
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('❌ Deployment failed:', error);
  }
})();

🌟 Creative Command Ideas

🎮 Rock-Paper-Scissors Game

// commands/rps.js
const { SlashCommandBuilder } = require('discord.js');
const choices = ['🪨 Rock', '📄 Paper', '✂️ Scissors'];

module.exports = {
  data: new SlashCommandBuilder()
    .setName('rps')
    .setDescription('Play Rock-Paper-Scissors!'),
    
  async execute(interaction) {
    const botChoice = choices[Math.floor(Math.random() * 3)];
    const userChoice = choices[Math.floor(Math.random() * 3)];
    
    await interaction.reply(
      `🤖 ${botChoice} vs ${userChoice} 🧑💻\n` +
      (botChoice === userChoice ? "It's a tie!" : 
      ((botChoice === '🪨 Rock' && userChoice === '✂️ Scissors') ||
       (botChoice === '📄 Paper' && userChoice === '🪨 Rock') ||
       (botChoice === '✂️ Scissors' && userChoice === '📄 Paper')) 
       ? "I win! 😎" : "You win! 🎉")
    );
  }
};

🐱 Random Cat Fact

// commands/catfact.js
const { SlashCommandBuilder } = require('discord.js');
const facts = [
  "Cats can jump 5 times their height!",
  "A group of cats is called a clowder",
  "Cats sleep 12-16 hours daily",
  "Cats have 32 muscles in each ear"
];

module.exports = {
  data: new SlashCommandBuilder()
    .setName('catfact')
    .setDescription('Get a random cat fact'),
    
  async execute(interaction) {
    const fact = facts[Math.floor(Math.random() * facts.length)];
    await interaction.reply(`🐱 Did you know? ${fact}`);
  }
};

🛠️ Hosting Your Bot 24/7

🚨 Common Issues & Fixes

🌈 What's Next?

// Keep your bot running forever
bot.on('disconnect', () => {
  console.log('🔌 Bot disconnected... Reconnecting');
  bot.login(process.env.DISCORD_TOKEN);
});

$\text{BotSuccess} = \frac{\text{Curiosity} \times \text{Practice}}{\text{FearOfFailure}}$