How to Connect Openclaw to Discord

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Quick Start

Connecting Openclaw to Discord lets you run an AI agent in your servers. This guide walks you through creating a bot, configuring your gateway, and controlling channel access.

For more messaging options, check out our guide on Connect Slack Openclaw or Google Chat Openclaw.

Create a Discord Bot

Go to the Discord Developer Portal and click New Application.
Name your application (e.g., Openclaw).
Click Bot on the left sidebar and set the Username to your agent name.
Click Reset Token to generate your Bot Token. Copy and secure it immediately.
Scroll to Privileged Gateway Intents and enable Message Content Intent. Enable Server Members Intent if you need user resolution.

Configure Openclaw

Set your Discord token and enable the channel:

openclaw config set channels.discord.token '"YOUR_BOT_TOKEN"' --json
openclaw config set channels.discord.enabled true --json

Alternatively, use the environment variable:

export DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN="your-token-here"

Restart Gateway

Apply changes by restarting:

openclaw gateway restart

Channel Permissions

Control which servers and channels your bot responds in. Add this to your ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json:

{
  "channels": {
    "discord": {
      "guilds": {
        "YOUR_SERVER_ID": {
          "channels": {
            "general": { "allow": true, "requireMention": false }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Set requireMention to true if you want the bot to only respond when @mentioned.

Test Your Bot

Send a message in an allowed channel:

@YourBotName hello

The bot should reply within seconds. Check logs with openclaw logs if it does not respond.

Troubleshooting

Bot offline: Verify your token is correct and the gateway is running.
No responses: Check that Message Content Intent is enabled in the Discord Developer Portal.
Permission errors: Ensure the bot has Send Messages and Read Message History permissions in your Discord channel.
Wrong server: Double-check the YOUR_SERVER_ID in your config matches your Discord server.

Need help with other platforms? See Telegram Openclaw.