Guides
Your own Discord app
Give a bot its own name, picture, and slash commands by connecting a Discord application of your own
Every bot runs on either Camel's app or a Discord app of your own. Camel's app needs no setup. Your own app gives the bot its own name, picture, profile, and top-level slash commands everywhere. Both support the same bot features, subject to Discord permissions and intents, and you can switch between them.
Camel's app or your own
| Camel's app | Your own app | |
|---|---|---|
| Who replies | Camel's shared bot, which can use a bot's name and picture in a server | Your app, with its own name and picture everywhere |
| Slash commands | Start with your bot's name, like /mochi roll, so several Camel bots can share a server | Just the command, like /roll, as with any other Discord bot |
| Talking to it | People start a message with its name, or reply to one of its messages | People @mention it, or reply to one of its messages |
| Its profile | One shared look per server, taken from the first bot added there that has a profile; otherwise camel's look | Its own picture, About me, and status |
| Direct messages | People message camel, which passes the message to the Camel bot they used last | People message your app, and only your bot answers |
| Adding it to a server | camel joins a server once. After that, you pick a channel for each bot | Your app joins each server you add it to, with your approval |
| Sharing a server | Camel bots share one Discord member and its look, so each needs a different command name there | It's its own member, so its name and commands never clash with Camel bots |
| Setup and upkeep | Nothing to set up or look after | About 5 minutes on Discord's developer site. If you reset its token there, you paste the new one in camelBot |
Connect your own app
You connect an app in one of three places:
- When you make a bot, choose Your own app. The next step is Connect your Discord app.
- For a bot you have, open its page, then Settings. Next to Discord app, select Change, then Connect another app.
- In the chat, ask camel-builder to use your own Discord app. It shows a card with a token field.
Create an application
In the Discord Developer Portal, click New Application and name it. The name is what your bot is called in Discord.
Copy its bot token
Open Bot in the side menu, click Reset Token, then Copy. Discord shows a token only once, so Reset Token makes a new one and the old one stops working. It may ask for your password or 2FA code.
Paste it in camelBot
Paste the token into the token field. It's checked with Discord as soon as you paste it. Once Discord accepts it, camelBot shows Found and your app's name, and sets up the rest of the app for you.
When you're making a new bot, the last step, Name your bot, shows the app's name and picture as Discord has them. Changes there update the app in Discord too. Select Create followed by the name to finish.
An app you connect stays connected even if you stop partway. Next time, pick it under Or use one you connected before.
What the check may ask you to change
- Requires OAuth2 Code Grant is on. Adding the app to a server won't work until you switch it off on the app's Bot page. Then select paste its token again.
- Message Content is off. If your bot reads ordinary messages, camelBot offers Turn it on. Without it, your app only reads messages that mention it, reply to it, or are DMs.
- The Interactions Endpoint URL points somewhere else. Connecting points it at camelBot instead, so the app's commands come to camelBot. Select Connect anyway, then paste the token again.
Your token stays private
Under the token field, camelBot says "Goes straight to Camel, not into the chat. camel-builder never sees it." When camel-builder needs a token, to connect an app or replace an old one, it shows a card with that same field. Once Discord accepts the token, the card says "Token saved privately. camel-builder never saw it."
Don't paste a bot token into the chat's message box. It's sent like any other message, and the chat keeps it. If you do, reset the token in the Developer Portal and paste the new one into the token field.
Up to 5 apps
Each account can connect up to 5 Discord apps, and one app runs one bot. To free one up, open any bot's Settings and select Change next to its Discord app. Pick an app that no bot uses, select Disconnect followed by its name, then Disconnect again to confirm. Its commands are cleared, and you can connect it again later with its token.
Switch a bot to another app
Open the bot's Settings and select Change next to Discord app. Pick Camel's app or one of your apps, or Connect another app, then select Continue. camelBot lists what will change before anything does:
- On your own app, the bot takes the app's name and follows it from then on. Back on Camel's app, it keeps its name.
- Replies come from the new app.
- Commands change, such as from
/mochi rollto/roll. - The bot keeps its channels. If the new app isn't in one of those servers yet, you add it next.
- If it was on one of your apps, that app stays connected, free for another bot.
Select Switch to followed by the app's name. If the new app isn't in all of the bot's servers, select Add to server for each one.
Name, picture, and profile
On Camel's app, Look in Discord in the bot's Settings sets its display name, picture, banner, and About me. The create flow's Use this name and picture in Discord option is on by default. Use camel's look clears the bot's server profile.
Every bot on Camel's app in a server shares one Discord member. The first bot added there that has a profile supplies its look for all of them. To use a later bot's look, clear the earlier bot's profile or remove that bot from the server. The profile changes how replies look in that server; it doesn't change the app's name in the command picker, Discord's APP tag, or its look in DMs. Changing the display name needs Change Nickname permission.
On your own app, Name and Picture in the bot's Settings change the app in Discord too. Discord allows about two name changes an hour. More profile options has About me and Custom status. Select Save to Discord to update them.
People can @mention your bot or reply to its messages. With Message Content
on, they can also start a message with its name followed by a comma or colon,
such as Pebble, roll.
Member joins and leaves
Welcome and departure workflows need Server Members Intent. Ask camel-builder to enable it for your own app and approve the card. Availability depends on Discord's intent approval; complete a review in the Developer Portal if required. See Member events need Server Members.
Add to Discord in one screen
With your app's client secret, Add to Discord is one Discord screen that picks the server and the channel, as on Camel's app. It's optional. Without it, you pick the channel in camelBot.
To turn it on, open the bot's Settings and find Add to Discord in one screen:
- Open your app's OAuth2 page from the link there. Under Redirects, add the address camelBot shows, and save.
- Copy the app's Client Secret. Reset Secret shows a new one if you need it. Paste it in camelBot and select Turn on.
Without the client secret, Add to Discord opens a dialog. Choose a server. If your app isn't in it yet, select the button that adds it, such as Add Pebble to Dice Goblins. Discord opens in a new tab, and the dialog updates once you approve it there. Then choose a channel.
When Discord stops accepting the token
If you reset the token in the Developer Portal, the bot stops answering and its status says Needs a new token. A notice on its page says it keeps its channels. Select Paste a new token and paste a new token from the app's Bot page.
In Settings, the ⋯ next to your app also has Paste a new token, Update from Discord to read the app's name and picture again, and Open Discord's developer site.
When Discord requires verification or approval for privileged intents such as Message Content and Server Members, you handle that for your own app through Discord's Developer Portal. On Camel's app, member events are available only while Discord allows the shared app's Server Members intent.