How to Connect Discord to OpenClaw

Go to the Discord Developer Portal at discord.com/developers/applications and click 'New Application'. Give it a name (e.g., 'OpenClaw Bot') and click 'Create'. This creates the application wrapper — next you need to create the actual bot. In the left sidebar, click 'Bot'. Click 'Add Bot' and confirm. Discord creates a bot user associated with your application. You will see the bot's username and a 'Token' section. Click 'Reset Token' and then 'Copy' to get your DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN. Store this token securely — it is the password to your bot account and should never be shared or committed to version control. While on the Bot page, configure these important settings: - Enable 'Message Content Intent' under the Privileged Gateway Intents section — this is required for your bot to read message content in servers. Without this, the bot can only see slash commands, not regular messages. - Enable 'Server Members Intent' if you want to track member joins and leaves. - Enable 'Presence Intent' if you need user presence data. Save your changes. Your DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN is ready to use in OpenClaw.

1# Your Discord bot token format:
2# DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN=MTExxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.Gxxxxx.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
3
4# Verify your token works before configuring OpenClaw:
5curl -H "Authorization: Bot YOUR_BOT_TOKEN" \
6  https://discord.com/api/v10/users/@me
7
8# Expected response:
9# {"id": "123456789", "username": "OpenClaw Bot", "bot": true, ...}

Before your bot can interact with a Discord server, it needs to be invited with the correct permissions. Discord uses a URL-based invite system called OAuth2. In the Developer Portal, go to your application > OAuth2 > URL Generator. Under 'Scopes', check: - `bot` — required for all bot functionality - `applications.commands` — required if you want to register slash commands Under 'Bot Permissions', select the permissions your OpenClaw bot needs: - Send Messages - Read Message History - View Channels - Embed Links (for rich message formatting) - Add Reactions (if you want reaction-based interactions) - Manage Messages (optional, for moderation features) Copy the generated URL at the bottom of the page and open it in a browser. Select the server you want to add the bot to and click 'Authorize'. You must have Administrator permissions on that server to invite bots. After authorization, you should see your bot appear in the server's member list (it will show as offline until OpenClaw connects to the Gateway). Note down the server ID (right-click server name > Copy Server ID with Developer Mode enabled) and any channel IDs you want to target.

1# Generate bot invite URL manually (replace YOUR_APPLICATION_ID):
2# https://discord.com/oauth2/authorize?client_id=YOUR_APPLICATION_ID&scope=bot+applications.commands&permissions=68608
3
4# Permission integer 68608 covers:
5# - View Channels (1024)
6# - Send Messages (2048)
7# - Read Message History (65536)
8# - Embed Links (16384)
9# Total: 1024 + 2048 + 65536 + 16384 = 85024 (adjust based on your needs)
10
11# Get channel IDs via Discord API once bot is in the server:
12curl -H "Authorization: Bot YOUR_BOT_TOKEN" \
13  https://discord.com/api/v10/guilds/YOUR_SERVER_ID/channels

Open OpenClaw's config file at `~/.openclaw/config.yaml` and add the Discord integration block under the `integrations` key. This tells OpenClaw how to authenticate with Discord's API and which events to listen for. The `bot_token` field is your DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN from Step 1. The `gateway` section controls which Gateway events OpenClaw subscribes to — these are the Discord events that will trigger OpenClaw processing. The `channels` list (optional) restricts OpenClaw to specific channel IDs; if omitted, the bot will be active in all channels it has access to. The `intents` field must match the Privileged Intents you enabled in the Developer Portal. If you enabled Message Content Intent, include `MESSAGE_CONTENT` here. Mismatched intents are the most common cause of bots that connect successfully but cannot read message text. After saving, run `clawhub reload` to apply the configuration. OpenClaw will attempt to connect to the Discord Gateway and authenticate your bot. Check the OpenClaw log for a confirmation message indicating the bot is connected.

1# ~/.openclaw/config.yaml
2integrations:
3  discord:
4    bot_token: "YOUR_DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN"
5    intents:
6      - GUILDS
7      - GUILD_MESSAGES
8      - MESSAGE_CONTENT        # Requires Privileged Intent enabled in Dev Portal
9      - GUILD_MEMBERS          # Optional: for member join/leave events
10    gateway:
11      reconnect: true          # Auto-reconnect on disconnect
12      heartbeat_interval: 41250 # Discord default, usually auto-negotiated
13    channels:
14      - "CHANNEL_ID_1"         # Optional: restrict to specific channels
15      - "CHANNEL_ID_2"         # Remove this block to monitor all channels
16    command_prefix: "!"        # Prefix for traditional prefix-based commands
17    slash_commands: true       # Register slash commands on connect

With the bot connected, test both directions: sending a message from OpenClaw to Discord, and verifying OpenClaw receives incoming messages. To test sending, use Discord's REST API directly with a curl command targeting a specific channel ID. This confirms your bot token has permission to post in that channel. The channel ID must be a text channel in a server your bot has joined. To test receiving, go to your Discord server and type a message in a channel the bot can see. Check OpenClaw's log output — if Message Content Intent is configured correctly, the log will show the incoming message event with the message text. If you see the event but the `content` field is empty, your Message Content Intent is not enabled in the Developer Portal (a very common gotcha). Once bidirectional communication works, you can build more complex automation: slash command handlers, message filters, automated responses based on keywords, and workflow triggers.

1# Test sending a message to a Discord channel:
2curl -X POST "https://discord.com/api/v10/channels/YOUR_CHANNEL_ID/messages" \
3  -H "Authorization: Bot YOUR_BOT_TOKEN" \
4  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
5  -d '{"content": "Hello from OpenClaw! Bot is online and connected."}'
6
7# Test sending an embedded message (richer formatting):
8curl -X POST "https://discord.com/api/v10/channels/YOUR_CHANNEL_ID/messages" \
9  -H "Authorization: Bot YOUR_BOT_TOKEN" \
10  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
11  -d '{
12    "embeds": [{
13      "title": "OpenClaw Status",
14      "description": "Integration is working correctly.",
15      "color": 5763719,
16      "footer": {"text": "Powered by OpenClaw"}
17    }]
18  }'
19
20# Test getting recent messages from a channel:
21curl -H "Authorization: Bot YOUR_BOT_TOKEN" \
22  "https://discord.com/api/v10/channels/YOUR_CHANNEL_ID/messages?limit=5"

With send and receive confirmed, configure OpenClaw to act on incoming Discord messages. The most common patterns are: responding to slash commands, triggering workflows on keyword matches, and posting automated notifications. For slash commands, register them with the Discord API first — this tells Discord what commands your bot supports so users see autocomplete. Commands are registered per-guild (faster for testing) or globally (takes up to 1 hour to propagate). After registration, Discord delivers interaction events to your bot when a user runs a slash command. For keyword-based automation, configure OpenClaw workflows with Discord message triggers and content filter conditions. RapidDev recommends starting with a single test command (`/status` or `!ping`) to confirm the full pipeline works before adding complex logic. The config below shows both a prefix command setup and a slash command registration example. The workflow section shows how to route Discord events to OpenClaw's AI response pipeline.

1# Register a slash command with Discord (run once per command):
2curl -X POST "https://discord.com/api/v10/applications/YOUR_APP_ID/guilds/YOUR_SERVER_ID/commands" \
3  -H "Authorization: Bot YOUR_BOT_TOKEN" \
4  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
5  -d '{
6    "name": "ask",
7    "description": "Ask OpenClaw a question",
8    "options": [{
9      "name": "question",
10      "description": "Your question",
11      "type": 3,
12      "required": true
13    }]
14  }'
15
16# ~/.openclaw/config.yaml — workflow example
17workflows:
18  discord-ai-reply:
19    trigger:
20      integration: discord
21      event: message_create
22      conditions:
23        - field: content
24          starts_with: "!"
25        - field: author.bot
26          equals: false
27    actions:
28      - type: ai-response
29        prompt: "You are a helpful assistant in a Discord server. Reply concisely to: {{trigger.content}}"
30      - type: integration-call
31        integration: discord
32        endpoint: /channels/{{trigger.channel_id}}/messages
33        method: POST
34        body:
35          content: "{{ai-response.output}}"
36          message_reference:
37            message_id: "{{trigger.id}}"