Discord Bot Architect

Patterns

Discord.js v14 Foundation

Modern Discord bot setup with Discord.js v14 and slash commands

When to use: ['Building Discord bots with JavaScript/TypeScript', 'Need full gateway connection with events', 'Building bots with complex interactions']

```javascript
// src/index.js
const { Client, Collection, GatewayIntentBits, Events } = require('discord.js');
const fs = require('node:fs');
const path = require('node:path');
require('dotenv').config();

// Create client with minimal required intents
const client = new Client({
  intents: [
    GatewayIntentBits.Guilds,
    // Add only what you need:
    // GatewayIntentBits.GuildMessages,
    // GatewayIntentBits.MessageContent,  // PRIVILEGED - avoid if possible
  ]
});

// Load commands
client.commands = new Collection();
const commandsPath = path.join(__dirname, 'commands');
const commandFiles = fs.readdirSync(commandsPath).filter(f => f.endsWith('.js'));

for (const file of commandFiles) {
  const filePath = path.join(commandsPath, file);
  const command = require(filePath);
  if ('data' in command && 'execute' in command) {
    client.commands.set(command.data.name, command);
  }
}

// Load events
const eventsPath = path.join(__dirname, 'events');
const eventFiles = fs.readdirSync(eventsPath).filter(f => f.endsWith('.js'));

for (const file of eventFiles) {
  const filePath = path.join(eventsPath, file);
  const event = require(filePath);
  if (event.once) {
    client.once(event.name, (...args) => event.execute(...args));
  } else {
    client.on(event.name, (...args) => event.execute(...args));
  }
}

client.login(process.env.DISCORD_TOKEN);

// src/commands/ping.js
const { SlashCommandBuilder } = require('discord.js');

module.exports = {
  data: new SlashCommandBuilder()
    .setName('ping')
    .setDescription('Replies with Pong!'),

  async execute(interaction) {
    const sent = await interaction.reply({
      content: 'Pinging...',
      fetchReply: true
    });

    const latency = sent.createdTimestamp - interaction.createdTimestamp;
    await interaction.editReply(`Pong! Latency: ${latency}ms`);
  }
};

// src/events/interactionCreate.js
const { Events } = require('discord.js');

module.exports = {
  name: Event

Pycord Bot Foundation

Discord bot with Pycord (Python) and application commands

When to use: ['Building Discord bots with Python', 'Prefer async/await patterns', 'Need good slash command support']

```python
# main.py
import os
import discord
from discord.ext import commands
from dotenv import load_dotenv

load_dotenv()

# Configure intents - only enable what you need
intents = discord.Intents.default()
# intents.message_content = True  # PRIVILEGED - avoid if possible
# intents.members = True          # PRIVILEGED

bot = commands.Bot(
    command_prefix="!",  # Legacy, prefer slash commands
    intents=intents
)

@bot.event
async def on_ready():
    print(f"Logged in as {bot.user}")
    # Sync commands (do this carefully - see sharp edges)
    # await bot.sync_commands()

# Slash command
@bot.slash_command(name="ping", description="Check bot latency")
async def ping(ctx: discord.ApplicationContext):
    latency = round(bot.latency * 1000)
    await ctx.respond(f"Pong! Latency: {latency}ms")

# Slash command with options
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