Discord

Discord is a comprehensive communication platform designed for creating communities, offering voice, video, and text communication channels that enable real-time collaboration, community building, and seamless interaction for teams, gamers, and organizations worldwide.

Power end-to-end data operations for your Discord API with Nexla. Our bi-directional Discord connector is purpose-built for Discord, making it simple to ingest data, sync it across systems, and deliver it anywhere — all with no coding required. Nexla turns API-sourced data into ready-to-use, reusable data products and makes it easy to send data to Discord or any other destination. With comprehensive monitoring, lineage tracking, and access controls, Nexla keeps your Discord workflows fast, secure, and fully governed.

Features

Type: API

SourceDestination

• Seamless API Integration: Connect to any endpoint as source or destination without coding, with automatic data product creation
• Visual Composition & Chaining: Build complex integrations using visual templates, chain API calls, and compose workflows with data validation and filtering
• API Proxy: Expose curated slices of your data securely with a secure and customizable API proxy that validates and transforms data on the fly
• Request optimization with intelligent batching, retry, and caching to minimize API calls and costs

Prerequisites

Before creating a Discord credential, you need to have a Discord account and create a Discord application (bot) in the Discord Developer Portal to obtain OAuth2 credentials (Client ID and optionally Client Secret). The OAuth2 credentials are required to authenticate with the Discord API.

To obtain your OAuth2 credentials, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to your Discord account and navigate to the Discord Developer Portal.

2. Click New Application to create a new Discord application. Provide a name for your application (this will be the name of your bot) and click Create.

3. In your application settings, navigate to the OAuth2 section to view your OAuth2 credentials:

   • Client ID: This is automatically generated and is required for all Discord bot authentication. Copy this value as you will need it for your credential.
   • Client Secret: This is also automatically generated. The Client Secret is only required when using scopes beyond the bot scope. If you're only using the bot scope (which is the default), you may not need the Client Secret. Click Reset Secret if you need to generate a new one, but note that this will invalidate any existing secrets.

4. Navigate to the Bot section to configure your bot:

   • Click Add Bot if you haven't already created a bot for this application.
   • Configure bot settings such as the bot's username and icon.
   • Under Privileged Gateway Intents, enable any intents your bot needs (if applicable).

5. In the OAuth2 > URL Generator section, you can generate an invite URL for your bot. Select the bot scope and the permissions your bot needs (such as Read Messages, Send Messages, View Channels, etc.). The permissions you select here determine what actions your bot can perform in Discord servers.

6. To obtain a channel ID (required for the credential), enable Developer Mode in Discord:

   • Open Discord and go to User Settings > Advanced.
   • Enable Developer Mode.
   • Right-click on any channel in a Discord server and select Copy ID to get the channel ID.

The Client ID is required for all Discord bot authentication. The Client Secret is only required when using scopes beyond the bot scope. The OAuth2 credentials are used to authenticate API requests. Bot permissions control what actions the bot can perform in Discord servers, such as reading messages, sending messages, and managing channels. For detailed information about creating Discord applications, setting up OAuth2 credentials, and configuring bot permissions, refer to the Discord Developer Portal, Discord OAuth2 documentation, and Discord Permissions documentation.

Authenticate

Credentials required

Field	Required	Secret	Description
client_id	Yes	Yes	Discord Client ID
scope	Yes	No	Discord Access Scope
permissions	Yes	No	String representation of bigint permissions value. The default value includes READ_MESSAGE_HISTORY, VIEW_CHANNEL, and SEND_MESSAGES permissions.
client_secret	No	Yes	Only required when using scopes beyond 'bot'
channel_id	Yes	No	Channel ID for use during credentials validation and for the read messages endpoint
Bot Name	Yes	No	Used for the User-Agent header
Bot Version	Yes	No	For use in the User-Agent header
Bot URL	Yes	No	The URL where users go to add your bot to their guild. For use in the User-Agent header

Create a credential in Nexla

1. After selecting the data source/destination type, click the Add Credential tile to open the Add New Credential overlay.

New Credential Overlay – Discord

2. Enter a name for the credential in the Credential Name field and a short, meaningful description in the Credential Description field.

   Discord uses OAuth2 authentication for bot accounts. The credential uses the bot scope by default, which is the most common authentication method for Discord bots. You can also configure additional scopes if needed.

3. Enter your Discord Client ID in the client_id field. This is the Client ID you obtained from your Discord application settings in the Discord Developer Portal. The Client ID is required for all Discord bot authentication.

4. Enter the Discord access scope in the scope field. The default value is bot if not specified. The bot scope is the standard scope for Discord bot authentication. If you need additional scopes beyond bot, you can specify them here, but you will also need to provide a Client Secret.

5. Enter the permissions value in the permissions field. This should be a string representation of a bigint permissions value. The default value is 1115136, which includes READ_MESSAGE_HISTORY, VIEW_CHANNEL, and SEND_MESSAGES permissions. The permissions determine what actions your bot can perform in Discord servers.

   The permissions value is a numeric representation of Discord bot permissions. The default value (1115136) includes the most commonly needed permissions for reading and sending messages. You can calculate custom permission values using Discord's permission calculator or by combining permission flags. The permissions you specify here determine what actions your bot can perform when it's added to Discord servers. For detailed information about Discord bot permissions and how to calculate permission values, see the Discord Permissions documentation.

6. Enter the channel ID in the channel_id field. This is the unique identifier for a Discord channel. The channel ID is used during credentials validation and for the read messages endpoint. You can obtain a channel ID by enabling Developer Mode in Discord and right-clicking on a channel to copy its ID.

7. Enter the bot name in the Bot Name field. This is used for the User-Agent header in API requests. The default value is DiscordBot if not specified.

8. Enter the bot version in the Bot Version field. This is used in the User-Agent header in API requests. The default value is 1.0 if not specified.

9. Enter the bot URL in the Bot URL field. This is the URL where users go to add your bot to their guild (server). This is also used in the User-Agent header in API requests.

10. Optionally, enter a Client Secret in the client_secret field if you are using scopes beyond the bot scope. The Client Secret is only required when using additional scopes beyond bot. If you are only using the bot scope, you can leave this field empty.

11. Click the Authorize button to begin the OAuth2 authorization flow. This will redirect you to Discord's authorization page where you will be asked to authorize the bot and grant permissions to access Discord servers and channels.

    During the OAuth2 authorization flow, you will be redirected to Discord's authorization page. You must sign in with a Discord account that has permission to add bots to Discord servers. After signing in, you will be asked to select a server (guild) where you want to add the bot and grant the permissions you specified. The permissions you configured determine what actions the bot can perform. Once you grant permissions, you will be redirected back to Nexla, and the authorization will be completed automatically.

12. After completing the OAuth2 authorization flow, Nexla will automatically obtain and store the access token and refresh token needed to authenticate API requests. The access token is used to authenticate each API request, and the refresh token is used to obtain new access tokens when the current access token expires.

    OAuth2 access tokens expire after a certain period for security reasons. Nexla automatically refreshes expired access tokens using the refresh token, so you typically do not need to re-authorize unless you revoke access or the refresh token expires. The access token is sent in the Authorization header with the Bearer prefix for all API requests to the Discord API. The bot must have the appropriate permissions in the Discord server to perform the actions you want to use. For detailed information about OAuth2 authentication, token management, and bot permissions, see the Discord OAuth2 documentation.

13. Click the Save button at the bottom of the overlay. The newly added credential will now appear in a tile on the Authenticate screen during data source/destination creation.

Use as a data source

To create a new data flow, navigate to the Integrate section, and click the New Data Flow button. Select the Discord connector tile, then select the credential that will be used to connect to the Discord bot, and click Next; or, create a new Discord credential for use in this flow.

Endpoint templates

Nexla provides pre-built templates that can be used to rapidly configure data sources to ingest data from common Discord endpoints. Select the endpoint from which this source will fetch data from the Endpoint pulldown menu. Available endpoint templates are listed in the expandable boxes below. Click on an endpoint to see more information about it and how to configure your data source for this endpoint.

Get Channel Messages

Retrieve an array of messages. Requires the VIEW_CHANNEL, READ_MESSAGE_HISTORY, and CONNECT permissions.

• Optionally, enter the number of messages to fetch in the Fetch how many messages? field. This is the limit value for message pagination. The default value is 1000 if not specified. The maximum number of messages that can be retrieved per request is 100.
• Optionally, enter a snowflake timestamp in the Fetch messages before and after field. This must be formatted as a snowflake timestamp. When specified, the endpoint will fetch messages before and after this timestamp. You can leave this empty if you don't need to filter by timestamp.
• Optionally, enter a snowflake timestamp in the Fetch messages before field. This must be formatted as a snowflake timestamp. When specified, the endpoint will fetch messages before this timestamp. You can leave this empty if you don't need to filter by timestamp.
• Optionally, enter a snowflake timestamp in the Fetch messages after field. This must be formatted as a snowflake timestamp. When specified, the endpoint will fetch messages after this timestamp. You can leave this empty if you don't need to filter by timestamp.
• The endpoint uses GET requests to https://discord.com/api/v10/channels/{channel_id}/messages where {channel_id} is the channel ID you configured in your credential. The endpoint URL is automatically constructed based on the Discord API base URL and the channel ID from your credential.
• The endpoint does not use pagination (iteration.type: static.url) and returns a single response. The response data path is $, which extracts the entire response array.

This endpoint retrieves messages from a Discord channel. The endpoint requires the VIEW_CHANNEL, READ_MESSAGE_HISTORY, and CONNECT permissions for the bot in the Discord server. The channel ID is automatically retrieved from your credential configuration. You can optionally filter messages by timestamp using snowflake timestamps. Snowflake timestamps are Discord's unique identifier format that includes timestamp information. You can use the before, after, or around parameters to filter messages by time. The endpoint supports a maximum of 100 messages per request. For detailed information about snowflake timestamps, message pagination, and the API response format, see the Discord API documentation and Discord Snowflakes documentation.

Once the selected endpoint template has been configured, click the Test button to the right of the endpoint selection menu to retrieve a sample of the data that will be fetched. Sample data will be displayed in the Endpoint Test Result panel on the right, allowing you to verify that the source is configured correctly before saving.

Manual configuration

Discord data sources can also be manually configured to ingest data from any valid Discord API endpoint not covered by the pre-built templates. Select the Advanced tab at the top of the configuration screen, and follow the instructions in Connect to Any API to configure the API method, endpoint URL, date/time and lookup macros, path to data, metadata, and request headers. Discord API endpoints typically follow the pattern https://discord.com/api/v10/{endpoint_path} and return data in JSON format.

Requests require OAuth2 authentication via the Authorization: Bearer {token} header, which is handled automatically by your credential configuration. Discord API requests also require a User-Agent header in the format {bot_name} ({bot_url}, {bot_version}), which is automatically included based on your credential configuration. The bot must have the appropriate permissions in the Discord server to access the endpoint. For detailed information about Discord API endpoints, authentication, and available APIs, see the Discord API documentation.

Once all of the relevant settings have been configured, click the Create button in the upper right corner of the screen to save and create the new Discord data source. Nexla will now begin ingesting data from the configured endpoint and will organize any data that it finds into one or more Nexsets.

Use as a destination

Click the + icon on the Nexset that will be sent to the Discord destination, and select the Send to Destination option from the menu. Select the Discord connector from the list of available destination connectors, then select the credential that will be used to connect to the Discord bot, and click Next; or, create a new Discord credential for use in this flow.

Endpoint templates

Nexla provides pre-built templates that can be used to rapidly configure destinations to send data to common Discord endpoints. Select the endpoint to which data will be sent from the Endpoint pulldown menu. Then, click on the template in the list below to expand it, and follow the instructions to configure additional endpoint settings.

Create Message

Post a message to a text channel. Requires SEND_MESSAGES permission.

• This endpoint automatically posts messages to a Discord text channel using data from your Nexset. No additional configuration is required beyond selecting this endpoint template.
• The endpoint uses POST requests to https://discord.com/api/v10/channels/{channel_id}/messages where {channel_id} is the channel ID you configured in your credential. The endpoint URL is automatically constructed based on the Discord API base URL and the channel ID from your credential.
• The endpoint sends data from your Nexset as the request body in JSON format. The request body is automatically formatted according to the schema fields and data mapping you configure. Each record in your Nexset will be sent as a JSON object containing the message data to post.
• Batch mode is enabled by default for this endpoint (batch.mode: true), with a maximum of 1000 records per batch. When batch mode is enabled, multiple records from your Nexset can be combined into a single API request. The endpoint uses a body transformation function to combine multiple messages into a single message content.
• This endpoint does not automatically create a data source to track the responses received from the Discord API after each call.

The request body must be properly formatted JSON that matches the Discord API specification for creating messages. The endpoint requires OAuth2 authentication via the Authorization: Bearer {token} header, which is handled automatically by your credential configuration. The Content-Type: application/json header is automatically included in requests. Discord API requests also require a User-Agent header in the format {bot_name} ({bot_url}, {bot_version}), which is automatically included based on your credential configuration. This endpoint requires the SEND_MESSAGES permission for the bot in the Discord server. Batch mode is enabled by default (batch.mode: true), which allows multiple messages to be combined efficiently. The channel ID is automatically retrieved from your credential configuration. For detailed information about creating messages, including required fields, field names, and request formats, see the Discord API documentation.

Manual configuration

Discord destinations can also be manually configured to send data to any valid Discord API endpoint not covered by the pre-built templates. Select the Advanced tab at the top of the configuration screen, and follow the instructions in Connect to Any API to configure the API method, data format, endpoint URL, request headers, attribute exclusions, record batching, and response webhooks. Discord API endpoints typically follow the pattern https://discord.com/api/v10/{endpoint_path} and use JSON format for request bodies.

Requests require OAuth2 authentication via the Authorization: Bearer {token} header, which is handled automatically by your credential configuration. Discord API requests also require a User-Agent header in the format {bot_name} ({bot_url}, {bot_version}), which is automatically included based on your credential configuration. The bot must have the appropriate permissions in the Discord server to perform the actions you want to use. For detailed information about Discord API endpoints, authentication, and available APIs, see the Discord API documentation.

Save & activate

Once all endpoint settings have been configured, click the Done button in the upper right corner of the screen to save and create the destination. To send the data to the configured Discord endpoint, open the destination resource menu, and select Activate.

The Nexset data will not be sent to the Discord endpoint until the destination is activated. Destinations can be activated immediately or at a later time, providing full control over data movement.