Setting up a Discord Bot Application

Regardless of if you've purchased a utility Discord Bot through Southnode, or if you've created your own wonderous bot to do very specific things, there is a process to get the bot registered with Discord so that it will interface with the Discord environment. Following the steps below will get you up and running nice and quick!

First, lets get ourselves a Discord Application!

1. Head over to https://discord.com/developers and login with your Discord account
   
   
2. At the top right of the screen, you'll see the "New Application" button. Click that - give your application a name you'll remember (This isn't your bot's name within Discord, rather this is just a name so that you and/or your team members can remember which bot is which).
   
   
   
3. In the description field that will be front and centre of the screen, we suggest you write what the bot is for, or where it's hosted. Essentially any applicable information about the bot that you may wish to know on a glance (such as if it's hosted through Southnode - nudge nudge wink wink) - just in case you get multiple bots, and need to distinguish between them. Click "Save Changes" down at the bottom of the screen once you're done.
   
   
   
4. In the left hand side menu, click on "Bot", and once there, on the far right side of the screen, click the "Add Bot" button - it'll prompt you to let you know once this is done, there's no going back (Hi Skynet!). Click "Yes, do it!"
   
   
   
   
   
5. On this next screen you can give your bot a name - this is the one that will appear on Discord itself as opposed to the application name. Also remember to give your bot a fancy icon - this will be their avatar in Discord!
   
   
6. Deselect the "Public Bot" option - this is your bot, nobody else's
   
   
7. Select the "Presence Intent" and "Server Members Intent" options. Discord requires these to be on for what most bots are doing. Once you're done, click "Save Changes" down the bottom of the screen.
   
8. Underneath your bot's username, click the "Copy" button to copy your bot token - we'll need that later.
   
   
9. On the left of the screen, click the "OAuth2" menu, and in the "Scopes" section, click the checkbox next to "bot". Click the "Copy" button below, and paste that into your browser. This will give your bot permission to enter your server with the appropriate permissions - you may need to login again. Once you've selected your server, and proven you're not a bot yourself, your bot should now join your server!

You can now follow on with any other information regarding bot setup, such as our Game Server Query Bot, a hosted SquadJS Discord Bot, or our OWI x Patreon Whitelist Discord Bot