Discord + Express Bot Template

A ready-to-publish npm package template for a Discord bot that also runs an Express web server. Built for Node 18+ and Discord.js v14.

Features

• Slash-command framework with auto-loader (/ping included)
• Express server with health and root routes
• .env support with safe defaults
• Graceful shutdown
• Dev workflow with nodemon
• Command registration script (guild-scoped for fast iteration)

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18.17+ (required for Discord.js v14)
• npm 9+ (comes with Node)
• A Discord application and bot token (guide)

Creating a Discord bot

1. Create a new application at https://discord.com/developers/applications
2. Add a bot user under the Bot tab
3. Copy the Bot Token into your .env
4. Copy the Application (Client) ID into your .env
5. Get your Guild ID by enabling Developer Mode in Discord → right click your server → "Copy Server ID"

Quick start

1. Clone & install

npm install

2. Configure environment Copy .env.example to .env and fill in your values:

DISCORD_TOKEN=your-bot-token
DISCORD_CLIENT_ID=your-application-client-id
DISCORD_GUILD_ID=your-dev-guild-id
PORT=3000
NODE_ENV=development

3. Register commands (guild)

npm run register:commands

4. Run the bot + server

npm run dev
# or
npm start

Visit http://localhost:3000 to see the web server.

Project structure

.
├── scripts/
│   └── register-commands.js
├── src/
│   ├── bot.js
│   ├── commands/
│   │   └── ping.js
│   ├── index.js
│   └── server.js
├── .env.example
├── .gitignore
├── package.json
└── README.md

Deploy notes

• Update register-commands.js to use global commands once stable (can take up to 1h to propagate).
• Keep your token secret. Never commit .env.
• Add process manager (e.g. PM2) or containerize for production. A simple Dockerfile is included.

License

MIT