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discord-mcp

Quickstart

Quickstart

Section titled “Quickstart”

This guide walks you from zero to “Claude posts in your Discord” in roughly five minutes. You will need:

  • Node.js 20.11+ (run node --version to check)
  • A Discord bot token with the scopes you intend to use
  • Claude Desktop installed (other clients are covered in Client setup)

  1. Install the CLI globally.

    Terminal window
    npm install -g @discord-mcp/cli

    This puts a discord-mcp binary on your $PATH. Use pnpm add -g or yarn global add if you prefer; see Installation for details.

  2. Generate your client config.

    Terminal window
    discord-mcp init --client claude-desktop --token "Bot YOUR.TOKEN.HERE"

    The init subcommand writes a snippet into Claude Desktop’s claude_desktop_config.json, registering discord-mcp as an MCP server with stdio transport. The token is stored in the mcpServers.discord-mcp.env.DISCORD_TOKEN field.

    Your token must include the Bot prefix. Tokens without it are rejected at startup.

  3. Verify the install with doctor.

    Terminal window
    discord-mcp doctor --online

    doctor checks Node version, token format, network reachability, and (with --online) issues a GET /users/@me against Discord. A clean exit code zero means you’re ready.

  4. Restart Claude Desktop.

    Fully quit the app (the menu-bar icon, not just the window) and reopen it. On launch, Claude reads claude_desktop_config.json and spawns the discord-mcp server as a subprocess. You should see “discord-mcp” in the MCP server list under Settings → Developer (or via the slashed-tools indicator in the chat input).

  5. Ask Claude to post a message.

    In a Claude conversation, try:

    “Send ‘hello from Claude’ to channel #general in my discord-mcp test guild.”

    Claude will call tools/list to discover the 192 available tools, pick messages_send, confirm with you, then invoke the tool. The response includes the created message’s ID and timestamp.

What just happened

Section titled “What just happened”
  • discord-mcp init registered the server with Claude Desktop.
  • On launch, Claude spawned discord-mcp over stdio (no port, no daemon).
  • The first tools/list returned 192 tool definitions, each with a four-section description (Purpose / When to use / When NOT to use / Returns).
  • Claude picked messages_send based on your prompt and invoked it via JSON-RPC.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”
  • First tool call — anatomy of a single tool invocation.
  • Client setup — wire up Claude Code, Cursor, or generic clients.
  • Installation — pnpm/yarn/Node version notes and the optional --gateway flag for real-time event subscriptions.