n8n-nodes-discord-bots

n8n community nodes for building Discord bots with:

• Triggering workflows from direct messages, channel messages, message reactions, slash commands, component interactions, and modal submissions.
• Sending bot messages to channels or DMs.
• Registering slash commands.
• Responding to Discord interactions from workflow data.

Requirements

• n8n with community node support
• Node.js 22 or higher (for self-hosted installs)

Install

n8n Community Nodes (recommended)

1. In n8n go to Settings > Community Nodes.
2. Select Install.
3. Enter n8n-nodes-discord-bots.
4. Accept the risk notice and install.

Manual install

In your n8n installation directory:

npm install n8n-nodes-discord-bots

Discord bot setup

1. Create an app in the Discord Developer Portal.
2. Add a bot user under Bot.
3. Enable the following Privileged Gateway Intents:
   • Message Content Intent — required to read message body text
   • Server Members Intent — required only when using role filters
4. Invite the bot to your server using OAuth2 with scopes:
   • bot
   • applications.commands
5. Grant the bot the required permissions:
   • Read Messages / View Channels
   • Send Messages
   • Read Message History
   • Add Reactions (if using reaction events)
6. Create Discord Bot API credentials in n8n:
   • Client ID — from the OAuth2 section of your application
   • Bot Token — from the Bot section of your application

Nodes

Discord Bot Trigger

Listens for Discord events and starts an n8n workflow when they occur.

Supported events

| Event | Description | |-------|-------------| | New Channel Message | Triggered when a message is posted in a guild text channel | | New Direct Message | Triggered when a user sends the bot a DM | | Reaction Added | Triggered when a reaction is added to a message | | Reaction Removed | Triggered when a reaction is removed from a message | | Slash Command | Triggered when a user invokes a registered slash command | | Component Interaction | Triggered when a user clicks a button or uses a select menu | | Modal Submit | Triggered when a user submits a modal form |

Filtering options

| Option | Applies to | Description | |--------|-----------|-------------| | Guild | All except Direct Message | Limit to specific guilds (leave empty for all) | | Channel | Channel Message, Reaction Added/Removed | Limit to specific text channels | | From Role | Channel Message, Reaction Added/Removed | Only trigger for members who have at least one of the selected roles | | Pattern | Channel Message, Direct Message | Filter by message content: Every Message, Equals, Starts With, Contains, Ends With, Regex | | Case Sensitive | Channel Message, Direct Message | Whether the pattern match is case-sensitive (default: false) | | Message ID | Reaction Added/Removed | Only trigger for reactions on a specific message | | Emoji Name | Reaction Added/Removed | Only trigger for a specific emoji (e.g. thumbsup or custom emoji name) | | Slash Command Name | Slash Command | Only trigger for a specific command name | | Custom ID | Component Interaction, Modal Submit | Only trigger for a specific button/select/modal custom ID |

Additional fields

| Field | Default | Description | |-------|---------|-------------| | Auto Acknowledge Interactions | true | Automatically defers the interaction reply so the workflow has time to complete before Discord's 3-second timeout | | Acknowledge as Ephemeral | false | When auto-acknowledging, defers as an ephemeral (user-only visible) response | | Trigger on Bot Messages | false | Whether to trigger when the message author is a bot |

Output payload

Each event type produces a JSON output object. Common fields across all events:

| Field | Description | |-------|-------------| | userId | Discord user ID who caused the event | | userDisplayName | Best available display name (guild display name, then global name, then username) | | userGlobalName | Discord global display name, or null | | userName | Discord username | | userAvatarUrl | Resolved avatar URL for the user | | memberDisplayName | Guild member display name when available, else null | | memberNickname | Guild nickname when available, else null | | memberRoleIds | Guild role IDs for the member when available, else an empty array | | guildId | Guild (server) ID, or null for DMs | | channelId | Channel ID | | createdTimestamp | Unix timestamp (milliseconds) of the event |

Channel Message / Direct Message adds:

| Field | Description | |-------|-------------| | type | channel-message or direct-message | | messageId | Discord message ID | | content | Message text content | | authorIsBot | Whether the author is a bot | | attachments | Array of attachment objects with id, name, contentType, size, url |

Reaction Added / Reaction Removed adds:

| Field | Description | |-------|-------------| | type | reaction-add or reaction-remove | | messageId | ID of the message that was reacted to | | emojiName | Emoji name (Unicode name or custom emoji name) | | emojiId | Custom emoji ID, or null for Unicode emoji | | count | Current total reaction count for that emoji |

Slash Command adds:

| Field | Description | |-------|-------------| | type | slash-command | | interactionId | Interaction ID (required for Respond to Interaction) | | interactionToken | Interaction token (required for Respond to Interaction) | | applicationId | Bot application ID | | commandName | Name of the slash command that was invoked | | commandId | Discord command ID | | options | Array of command option data provided by the user |

Component Interaction (button / select menu) adds:

| Field | Description | |-------|-------------| | type | component-interaction | | interactionId | Interaction ID (required for Respond to Interaction) | | interactionToken | Interaction token (required for Respond to Interaction) | | applicationId | Bot application ID | | customId | Custom ID set on the button or select menu | | componentType | Discord component type number | | values | Array of selected values (select menus only; empty for buttons) | | messageId | ID of the message that contained the component |

Modal Submit adds:

| Field | Description | |-------|-------------| | type | modal-submit | | interactionId | Interaction ID (required for Respond to Interaction) | | interactionToken | Interaction token (required for Respond to Interaction) | | applicationId | Bot application ID | | customId | Custom ID set on the modal | | fields | Array of { customId, value } objects for each submitted form field |

Discord Bot

Performs actions on a Discord bot. Requires Discord Bot API credentials.

Operation: Send Message

Sends a message to a guild channel or a user DM.

| Parameter | Description | |-----------|-------------| | Target Type | Channel or User DM | | Guild | Used to load available channels (channel target only) | | Channel | Target text channel (channel target only) | | User ID | Target user's Discord ID (DM target only) | | Content | Plain text message body (optional if embeds or components are provided) | | Embeds JSON | JSON array of Discord embed objects | | Components JSON | JSON array of action row objects containing buttons or select menus |

Output: { operation, channelId, messageId, content }

Operation: Register Slash Command

Registers or updates a slash command for the bot. Can be guild-scoped (instant) or global (up to 1 hour to propagate).

| Parameter | Description | |-----------|-------------| | Guild ID | Guild to register under. Leave empty to register as a global command. | | Command Name | The slash command name (lowercase, no spaces) | | Command Description | Short description shown in Discord | | Command Options JSON | JSON array of command option objects |

Output: { operation, commandId, commandName, scope, guildId }

Operation: Respond to Interaction

Sends a response to a Discord slash command, button, select menu, or modal interaction. Must be called within 15 minutes of the interaction (3 seconds if not auto-acknowledged by the trigger).

| Parameter | Description | |-----------|-------------| | Interaction ID | {{$json.interactionId}} from the trigger output | | Interaction Token | {{$json.interactionToken}} from the trigger output | | Content | Plain text response body | | Embeds JSON | JSON array of embed objects | | Components JSON | JSON array of action row component objects | | Ephemeral | When true, the response is only visible to the user who triggered the interaction |

Output: { operation, interactionId, responded: true }

Typical workflow patterns

Slash command bot

1. Run Discord Bot → Register Slash Command once on deploy (or in a setup workflow).
2. Add Discord Bot Trigger with event Slash Command. Set Auto Acknowledge Interactions to true.
3. Branch on {{$json.commandName}} to handle different commands.
4. Use Discord Bot → Respond to Interaction:
   • interactionId: {{$json.interactionId}}
   • interactionToken: {{$json.interactionToken}}

DM auto-responder

1. Discord Bot Trigger with event New Direct Message.
2. Add AI or business logic nodes.
3. Discord Bot → Send Message with target User DM and userId set to {{$json.userId}}.

Button / select menu interaction handler

1. Send a message with Discord Bot → Send Message including a Components JSON with action row buttons.
2. Discord Bot Trigger with event Component Interaction. Set Custom ID to match the button's custom_id.
3. Use Discord Bot → Respond to Interaction with the result content.
   • Use Ephemeral if the response should be private.

Modal form submission

1. Respond to a slash command or button interaction by sending a modal using the Discord API (outside this node, via HTTP Request).
2. Discord Bot Trigger with event Modal Submit. Set Custom ID to match the modal's custom_id.
3. Access submitted values via {{$json.fields}} — array of { customId, value }.
4. Use Discord Bot → Respond to Interaction to acknowledge.

Reaction-based automation

1. Discord Bot Trigger with event Reaction Added.
2. Optionally set Message ID and Emoji Name to narrow the filter.
3. Execute workflow logic based on emojiName, userId, and channelId.

Development

npm install
npm run build   # compile TypeScript + copy icons
npm run lint    # run ESLint checks
npm run dev     # watch mode for TypeScript

Notes

• One Discord WebSocket connection is maintained per unique bot token. All n8n workflows that share the same credentials (same token) reuse that single connection — no matter how many trigger or action nodes reference it. To run a second independent bot, create a second Discord application and a second set of Discord Bot API credentials with its own token.
• Discord interaction responses must be sent within 3 seconds of receipt. Enable Auto Acknowledge Interactions on the trigger so the workflow has up to 15 minutes to respond via Respond to Interaction.
• Guild-scoped slash commands register instantly. Global commands can take up to 1 hour to appear in Discord.
• The Message Content Intent must be enabled in the Discord Developer Portal for the bot to receive message text in channel and DM events.
• npm publishing can be automated via GitHub Actions by pushing a version tag (for example v1.0.5).