Discord

GolemBot connects to Discord via the Gateway WebSocket — no public URL required. The bot responds to DMs and server channel messages.

Prerequisites

• A Discord account
• Node.js ≥ 18
• A Discord application with a Bot user

Install the SDK

npm install discord.js

Create a Bot

1. Go to the Discord Developer Portal and click New Application.
2. Under Bot, click Add Bot. Copy the Bot Token — you'll need it for golem.yaml.
3. Under Privileged Gateway Intents, enable Message Content Intent (required for the bot to read message text).
4. Under OAuth2 → URL Generator, select the bot scope and the following permissions:
   • Read Messages/View Channels
   • Send Messages
   • Read Message History
5. Copy the generated URL, paste it in your browser, and invite the bot to your server.

Configure golem.yaml

name: my-assistant
engine: claude-code

channels:
  discord:
    botToken: ${DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN}
    botName: my-assistant  # optional — see below

Set environment variables before running:

export DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN=your-token-here
golembot gateway

botName field

botName is optional. Discord uses internal user IDs (<@12345678>) in message content rather than names. The adapter detects @mentions natively via these tokens — mention detection works correctly even without botName.

When botName is set, the adapter additionally replaces the <@userId> token with @botName before passing text to the engine, so the engine sees a human-readable mention. Set it to the same value as name in golem.yaml.

How It Works

Chat type	Behavior
DM	Always responds
Server channel @mention (@YourBot message)	Detects mention, responds
Server channel message without @mention	Depends on groupPolicy (default: ignored)

Each DM conversation and each server channel maintains its own session context.

Message Format

Discord natively supports Markdown — no conversion needed. GolemBot sends the AI response as-is and Discord renders bold, italic, code blocks, links, and other Markdown formatting automatically.

Message Limits

Discord messages are split at 2,000 characters per chunk if the response is longer.

Group Chat

Discord server channels are treated as group chats. Configure the response policy via groupChat in golem.yaml:

groupChat:
  groupPolicy: mention-only  # mention-only (default) | smart | always
  historyLimit: 20
  maxTurns: 10

See the Channel Overview for full details.