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Quickstart
Build your first Discord bot with camelBot, try it, publish it, and add it to your server
In a few minutes you will have a bot that camel-builder wrote for you, tried in a private test channel, and running in your Discord server.
You need a Discord account, and the Manage Server permission in the server you want to add the bot to.
Sign in with Discord
Open bots.camelai.com and select Sign in with Discord. Discord asks to share your username, your avatar, and the list of servers you're in. Signing in creates your camelBot account.
Say what your bot should do
The first screen asks What should your bot do? Describe it in your own words, the way you would explain it to a friend. For example:
Post a trivia question when asked, with answer buttons, and keep scoreYou can change anything later. Select Continue.
Choose how your bot appears in Discord
Pick one of two options:
- Camel's app (Recommended). Uses Camel's shared Discord app, with
commands like
/mochi roll. It can show your bot's name and picture in a server. Ready now, with nothing to set up. - Your own app. Replies with its own name and picture, with commands
like
/roll. It takes about 5 minutes on Discord's developer site.
See every difference compares the two side by side. Both support the same bot features, subject to Discord permissions and intents, and you can switch later. For your first bot, Camel's app is the quickest. If you pick your own app, the next step is Connect your Discord app. See Your own Discord app for that step.
Name your bot
camelBot suggests a name and a picture. Change them if you like.
On Camel's app the name is also the bot's command and how people talk to
it, so it uses lowercase letters, numbers, - or _, with 32 characters
or fewer. The names camel, help and settings are taken.
Use this name and picture in Discord is on by default. Camel's app has one look per server: the first bot added there that has a profile. If another bot already supplies that look, yours shares it. Your own app gives your bot a separate identity everywhere. See Name, picture, and profile.
Select Create followed by the name, such as Create quizzy.
Try it in #try-{name}
The chat with camel-builder opens, with your bot's test channel beside it. camel-builder starts from what you described. It writes the bot, checks it, tries it, and tells you how to use it. camel-builder is working… shows under the message box until it's done, with Stop to end it.
Then try the bot yourself in #try-quizzy:
- Type
/to see its commands, then pick one. - Start a message with its name, such as
quizzy, hi. - Press the buttons on its replies.
Only you see this channel, and nothing goes to Discord. To change something, tell camel-builder in the chat, such as "make the questions harder", then try again. See The test channel for everything you can try there.
Publish
After camel-builder saves a change, the chat shows a card that asks Publish @quizzy as version 1? Select Publish v1.
You can also ask camel-builder to publish it. It shows a card with what will happen, and nothing is published until you select Publish.
Add to Discord
Once the bot is published, the chat asks @quizzy is published. Add it to Discord? Select Add to Discord.
Discord's own screen opens in a new tab. Pick the server and the channel there, and approve. The card in the chat shows Waiting for Discord… until the bot is in the channel.
Use it in Discord
Open the channel you picked. On Camel's app, members can:
- Run its commands, such as
/quizzy trivia. - Start a message with its name, such as
quizzy, explain the rules. - Reply to one of its messages.
The replies use Camel's shared app and its look in that server. Discord's APP tag and the app's name in the command picker stay unchanged. In the channel you added it to, the bot sees every message, so it can also answer messages that don't use its name if you built it to. See Which messages a bot sees.
Next steps
Talk as other members, send files and voice messages, and run schedules.
Publish changes, roll back, add channels, and pause or delete a bot.
Give your bot its own name, picture, and commands.
What a bot can see and do in your server.