# Discord guide

> Discord inbound needs a long-lived gateway WebSocket — the capability serverless deployments can't self-host. Register your bot and our worker fleet holds the socket for you.

## Prerequisites

- A Discord application with a **bot token** (Developer Portal → Bot).
- A server you can add the bot to.
- An AgentSky API token with write scope.

## Create the bot

In the [Discord Developer Portal](https://discord.com/developers/applications):

![The Developer Portal's Applications page with the New Application button highlighted](/guides/channels/discord/portal-new-application.png)

① **New Application** → add a **Bot** → enable the **Message Content** intent → copy the bot token.

## Register the channel app

The [developer console](/developer/apps/new?platform=discord) runs the same checklist and shows the invite link after create:

![The developer console's new-app checklist for Discord](/guides/channels/discord/register-app.png)

Or over the API:

```bash
curl -s -X POST https://agentsky.dev/api/v1/channels/apps \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AST_TOKEN" -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"platform": "discord", "label": "My bot", "credentials": {"bot_token": "..."}}'
# -> setup: { "invite_url": "https://discord.com/oauth2/authorize?..." }
```

Registration proves the token and returns `setup.invite_url` — open it to add your bot to a server. Within about a minute the worker fleet opens your bot's gateway connection and starts mirroring events.

## Connect

```bash
curl -s -X POST https://agentsky.dev/api/v1/channels/connections \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AST_TOKEN" -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"platform": "discord", "app": "app_...", "destination": {"session": "sess-..."}}'
```

Discord connects synchronously: the call creates a per-agent text channel in your server over REST, greets, binds, and returns `CONNECTED`.

## Capabilities

| threads | reactions | markers | proactive | markdown | modals | ephemeral | streaming |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |

## Troubleshooting

- **Guild messages don't reach the agent** — mention the bot (or DM it). The gateway runs without the privileged MessageContent intent, so untagged guild messages carry no text.
- **Connect fails after registration** — make sure the bot was actually added via `setup.invite_url` and has permission to create channels in the server.
- **Events lag right after registration** — the worker fleet reconciles registered bots periodically; the first connection can take up to about a minute.