OpenClaw Discord Bot Setup

💡 What is a Discord bot?

New to bots? Here's the short version before we get into the setup.

⚡ What can OpenClaw do in Discord?

Once connected, your bot can do everything OpenClaw can do — from inside Discord.

🛠️ Step-by-step setup

Takes about 15 minutes. You'll need a Discord account and OpenClaw already installed.

1. Go to the Discord Developer Portal

   Open discord.com/developers/applications and log in with your Discord account. This is Discord's free developer dashboard — no credit card needed.

2. Create a new application

   Click New Application in the top right. Give it a name — this becomes the bot's display name in your server (you can change it later). Click Create.

3. Add a bot to the application

   In the left sidebar, click Bot. Then click Add Bot → Yes, do it!. Your application now has a bot account attached to it.

   On this page you can also:

   • Upload a profile picture for the bot
   • Toggle Public Bot off if you want to be the only one who can add it to servers
4. Enable required Privileged Gateway Intents

   Still on the Bot page, scroll down to Privileged Gateway Intents and enable:

   • Message Content Intent — lets the bot read message text (required for OpenClaw to understand what you're saying)
   • Server Members Intent — optional, needed if you want the bot to see member info

   Click Save Changes.

   ⚠️

   Message Content Intent is required

   Without this, your bot will receive messages but won't be able to read what they say. OpenClaw will not be able to respond.

5. Copy your bot token

   On the Bot page, click Reset Token → confirm → then click Copy. This is your bot's password — treat it like one.

   🚨

   Never share your bot token

   Anyone with your token can control your bot. Never post it on GitHub, in a Discord message, or anywhere public. If it leaks, click Reset Token immediately to invalidate it.

6. Invite the bot to your server

   In the left sidebar, go to OAuth2 → URL Generator. Under Scopes, check bot. Under Bot Permissions, check:

   • Read Messages / View Channels
   • Send Messages
   • Read Message History
   • Use Slash Commands (optional but recommended)

   Copy the generated URL at the bottom of the page, open it in your browser, select your server, and click Authorize. Your bot will appear in your server's member list.

7. Add the token to openclaw.json

   Open your openclaw.json file and add the Discord section:

   openclaw.json Copy

   {
     "channels": {
       "discord": {
         "enabled": true,
         "token": "YOUR_BOT_TOKEN_HERE",
         "prefix": "!",           // optional command prefix
         "allowed_channels": [],    // empty = all channels
         "allowed_users": [],       // empty = all users
         "respond_to_mentions": true, // @bot triggers a response
         "respond_to_dms": true      // bot responds to direct messages
       }
     }
   }

   Replace YOUR_BOT_TOKEN_HERE with the token you copied in Step 5.

8. Restart OpenClaw and test it

   Save openclaw.json and restart OpenClaw. Your bot should now show as Online in your Discord server. Send it a message by mentioning it:

   @YourBot hello, are you there?

   If it replies, you're done. If not, check the troubleshooting section below.

⚙️ Configuration options

Fine-tune how your bot behaves using these openclaw.json settings.

🔒 Restrict the bot to one channel or user

If you're running the bot on a shared server, you probably don't want everyone talking to your personal AI agent. Here's how to lock it down.

To find a channel ID: right-click the channel in Discord → Copy Channel ID (you may need to enable Developer Mode in Discord Settings → Advanced first).

{
  "channels": {
    "discord": {
      "enabled": true,
      "token": "YOUR_BOT_TOKEN",
      "allowed_channels": ["1234567890123456789"], // only this channel
      "allowed_users": ["9876543210987654321"],    // only you
      "respond_to_dms": true
    }
  }
}

💬 Example prompts to try

Once your bot is online, mention it or DM it with any of these to get started.

🔧 Common problems & fixes

• The bot shows as Offline in my server ▾

  The bot only shows as Online while OpenClaw is running. Check that:

  • OpenClaw is actually running on your machine
  • The token in openclaw.json matches the one in the Developer Portal exactly
  • You saved openclaw.json and restarted OpenClaw after adding the Discord config
  • The enabled field is set to true
• The bot is online but doesn't respond to messages ▾
  • Check that Message Content Intent is enabled in the Developer Portal under Bot → Privileged Gateway Intents
  • Make sure you're @mentioning the bot or messaging it in an allowed channel
  • If you set allowed_channels, confirm you're in one of those channels
  • If you set allowed_users, confirm your Discord user ID is in the list
• "Invalid token" error in OpenClaw logs ▾

  The token in your openclaw.json doesn't match your bot's current token. This happens if:

  • You copied it incorrectly (watch for extra spaces)
  • You clicked Reset Token in the Developer Portal after setting it up
  • The token has special characters that need to be quoted in JSON

  Go to the Developer Portal → Bot → Reset Token → copy the new token and paste it into openclaw.json, then restart OpenClaw.

• Bot responds in the wrong channel or to everyone ▾

  Set the allowed_channels and allowed_users fields to restrict who and where the bot responds. See the Restrict to one channel section above for the exact config. Remember to use the numeric channel and user IDs, not the names.

• Long responses get cut off or split weirdly ▾

  Discord has a 2000 character limit per message. OpenClaw automatically splits long responses into multiple messages, but if the split feels awkward you can ask your agent to be more concise, or add this to your AGENTS.md:

  AGENTS.md Copy

  When responding in Discord, keep replies under 1800 characters.
  If a response needs to be longer, summarize and offer to continue.

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