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botflarev0.1.1

Getting started

This guide makes a bot with one /ping command. The bot gets commands over the Discord Gateway, so it runs on your computer with no public URL.

You need Node.js 22.18 or later, which runs TypeScript files, and a Discord account.

Create the Discord application

Section titled “Create the Discord application”

  1. Open the Discord Developer Portal and create an application.

  2. On the General Information page, copy the application ID and the public key.

  3. On the Bot page, reset the token and copy it. Keep the token secret: anyone who has it can act as your bot.

  4. On the Installation page, add the applications.commands and bot scopes to Guild Install. Open the install link and add the bot to a test server.

  5. Copy the ID of the test server. To see IDs, turn on Developer Mode in the Discord settings, under Advanced. Then right-click the server and select Copy Server ID.

Create the Worker

Section titled “Create the Worker”

  1. Create a Worker project, then install botflare:

    Terminal window
    npm create cloudflare@latest my-bot
    cd my-bot
    npm install botflare

    When the tool asks, pick a Hello World Worker in TypeScript.

  2. Replace src/index.ts with this code:

    import { bot, command } from 'botflare';
    import { gateway } from 'botflare/gateway';
    

    const ping = command({ name: 'ping', description: 'Check that the bot answers' }, (c) =>
      c.reply('pong'),
    );
    

    const app = bot({ commands: [ping], gateway: 'GATEWAY' });
    

    export const Gateway = gateway({ intents: ['Guilds'], bot: app, events: {} });
    

    export default app;

    gateway() makes a Durable Object class. A Durable Object is a Cloudflare object that keeps state and can keep a connection open. This one holds the connection to the Discord Gateway.

  3. Add the Durable Object to wrangler.jsonc, next to the settings that are already there:

    {
      "durable_objects": { "bindings": [{ "name": "GATEWAY", "class_name": "Gateway" }] },
      "migrations": [{ "tag": "v1", "new_sqlite_classes": ["Gateway"] }],
    }

    The binding name, GATEWAY, must match gateway: 'GATEWAY' in bot().

  4. Put the values from the Developer Portal in a .dev.vars file. Do not commit this file.

    Terminal window
    DISCORD_TOKEN=your bot token
    DISCORD_PUBLIC_KEY=your public key
    DISCORD_APPLICATION_ID=your application id
    DISCORD_GUILD_ID=your test server id

Run the bot

Section titled “Run the bot”

  1. Send the commands to Discord:

    Terminal window
    npx botflare sync src/index.ts

    botflare sync reads .dev.vars. With DISCORD_GUILD_ID, the commands go to your test server only and show at once.

  2. Start the Worker:

    Terminal window
    npx wrangler dev

  3. Open the local URL once, such as http://localhost:8787. The page says gateway started, and the bot shows as online.

  4. Type /ping in your test server. The bot answers pong.

If you change a command name, a description or an option, run npx botflare sync src/index.ts again.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”