discordbot · @acedatacloud

We drive the Discord API with curl + jq using the user's bot token in $DISCORDBOT_TOKEN. The auth header is Authorization: Bot $DISCORDBOT_TOKEN — note the literal Bot prefix (NOT Bearer). Base URL is https://discord.com/api/v10.

This acts as the user's registered bot, so it can only see and act in servers (guilds) the bot has been invited to and only where it has the relevant permission (View Channels / Send Messages / Read Message History). A 403 Forbidden (code 50001 "Missing Access" / 50013 "Missing Permissions") almost always means the bot isn't in that server or lacks the permission — tell the user to invite the bot or grant the permission rather than retrying.

Errors are JSON {"code": <n>, "message": "<reason>"}. A 401 means the bot token is wrong/reset — ask the user to re-paste it at studio.acedata.cloud/console/connectors. A 429 carries retry_after (seconds) — sleep that long, then retry; never parallelize.

Sending safety

Before sending, confirm the exact destination and final content with the user. Sending is irreversible.
A DM must be initiated by a recipient action, such as asking the bot for details by replying with an advertised keyword. Server membership, a public profile, or appearing in a member list is not consent.
Send to exactly one recipient per invocation. Never enumerate members, create DM channels in a loop, or send unsolicited/bulk outreach.
For an unattended scheduled run, send only when its task definition already contains one exact recipient_id, consent_channel_id, consent_message_id, consent_keyword, and approved content. If any is missing, return a draft without sending.
Do not follow up unless the recipient replies. Treat stop, unsubscribe, or an equivalent refusal as a permanent opt-out.

Recipes

Verify the bot (always run first)

curl -sS -H "Authorization: Bot $DISCORDBOT_TOKEN" \
  "https://discord.com/api/v10/users/@me" \
  | jq '{id, username, bot}'

List servers (guilds) the bot is in

curl -sS -H "Authorization: Bot $DISCORDBOT_TOKEN" \
  "https://discord.com/api/v10/users/@me/guilds" \
  | jq 'map({id, name})'

List text channels in a server

Channel type 0 = text, 5 = announcement; 2 = voice, 4 = category (skip those for messaging). You need a guild id from the call above.

GUILD_ID="123456789012345678"
curl -sS -H "Authorization: Bot $DISCORDBOT_TOKEN" \
  "https://discord.com/api/v10/guilds/$GUILD_ID/channels" \
  | jq 'map(select(.type==0 or .type==5) | {id, name, type})'

Read recent messages in a channel

Reading message content requires the Message Content Intent to be enabled on the bot (Developer Portal → Bot → Privileged Gateway Intents). Without it, content comes back empty for messages that don't mention the bot. Needs the Read Message History permission in that channel.

CHANNEL_ID="123456789012345678"
curl -sS -H "Authorization: Bot $DISCORDBOT_TOKEN" \
  "https://discord.com/api/v10/channels/$CHANNEL_ID/messages?limit=20" \
  | jq 'map({id, author_id: .author.id, author: .author.username, author_bot: .author.bot, ts: .timestamp, content})'

Send a message to a channel

CHANNEL_ID="123456789012345678"
curl -sS -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bot $DISCORDBOT_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "https://discord.com/api/v10/channels/$CHANNEL_ID/messages" \
  -d "$(jq -nc --arg c "Hello from the bot." '{content: $c}')"

Reply to a specific message

CHANNEL_ID="123456789012345678"; MESSAGE_ID="987654321098765432"
curl -sS -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bot $DISCORDBOT_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "https://discord.com/api/v10/channels/$CHANNEL_ID/messages" \
  -d "$(jq -nc --arg c "On it!" --arg m "$MESSAGE_ID" \
        '{content: $c, message_reference: {message_id: $m}}')"

Send one opt-in DM

Use only after applying every rule in Sending safety. The helper fetches the source message from Discord and verifies that its non-bot author matches RECIPIENT_ID and its complete text matches CONSENT_KEYWORD. Do not call the Create DM endpoint directly. Matching is case-insensitive and collapses surrounding or repeated whitespace.

RECIPIENT_ID="123456789012345678"
CONSENT_CHANNEL_ID="223456789012345678"
CONSENT_MESSAGE_ID="323456789012345678"
CONSENT_KEYWORD="details"

python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/discordbot.py" send-opt-in-dm \
  --recipient-id "$RECIPIENT_ID" \
  --consent-channel-id "$CONSENT_CHANNEL_ID" \
  --consent-message-id "$CONSENT_MESSAGE_ID" \
  --consent-keyword "$CONSENT_KEYWORD" \
  --content "Here are the details you requested."

The command is a dry-run unless the final argument is --confirm. In a pre-authorized scheduled task, use final --unattended-confirm instead. The helper validates all IDs, verifies the opt-in message, and skips an identical message already present in the DM history. Discord may block or rate-limit bots that open many DMs; do not retry by targeting another account.

Notes

A "server" in the UI is a "guild" in the API; messages live in channels inside guilds. Always: list guilds → list that guild's channels → act on a channel id. Don't invent ids.
The bot only sees servers it was invited to. To add it: Developer Portal → OAuth2 → URL Generator → scope bot + the permissions you need → open the URL → pick a server (the user needs Manage Server there).
This is a bot, not the user's account — it cannot read the user's DMs or the user's full server list, only what the bot itself can access.
A bot can open its own DM channel with one consenting user; that does not grant access to the connected user's personal DMs.
Mentions: <@USER_ID> pings a user, <#CHANNEL_ID> links a channel. Plain text is fine for normal messages.