add-channel-discord

Add Discord Channel

This skill installs the Discord channel plugin and registers a Discord chat.

If the plugin is already installed (check plugins/channels/discord/), skip to "Register a Chat" below.

Preflight

Before installing, verify NanoTars is set up:

[ -d node_modules ] && echo "DEPS: ok" || echo "DEPS: missing"
docker image inspect nanoclaw-agent:latest &>/dev/null && echo "IMAGE: ok" || echo "IMAGE: not built"
if grep -q "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY\|CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN" .env 2>/dev/null || [ -f "$HOME/.claude/.credentials.json" ]; then echo "AUTH: ok"; else echo "AUTH: missing"; fi

If any check fails, tell the user to run /nanotars-setup first and stop.

Prerequisites

1. Create a Discord Bot

Tell the user:

I need you to create a Discord bot:

1. Go to the Discord Developer Portal
2. Click New Application, give it a name
3. Go to Bot in the left sidebar
4. Click Reset Token and copy the bot token
5. Under Privileged Gateway Intents, enable:
   • Message Content Intent (required to read message text)
   • Server Members Intent (optional, for display names)
6. Go to OAuth2 > URL Generator:
   • Scopes: bot
   • Bot Permissions: Send Messages, Read Message History, View Channels
7. Copy the generated URL and open it to invite the bot to your server

Wait for the user to provide the bot token.

Note on DMs: You must share at least one server with the bot before you can DM it directly.

Install

1. Install discord.js (per-plugin dependency):

   cd plugins/channels/discord && npm install && cd -
   

   The plugin has its own package.json — dependencies are isolated from the core.

2. Check if plugin files exist:

   [ -d plugins/channels/discord ] && echo "PLUGIN_EXISTS" || echo "NEED_PLUGIN"
   

3. If needed, copy channel plugin files into place:

   mkdir -p plugins/channels/discord
   cp -r ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/files/* plugins/channels/discord/
   

4. Add bot token to .env (get from user, never echo full token):

   echo "DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN=user_provided_token" >> .env
   

5. Rebuild and restart:

   npm run build
   nanotars restart 2>/dev/null
   

6. Verify the bot connected:

   sleep 3 && grep -i 'discord.*connected' logs/nanotars.log | tail -1
   

Register a Chat

Use the cross-channel pairing-code flow (same primitive that backs WhatsApp + Telegram):

1. From your main chat (any registered channel), type /register-group <folder>. The host emits a 4-digit code.
2. From the Discord chat you want to register, send the 4-digit code as a normal message. The host's inbound interceptor consumes the code and atomically wires the entity-model rows.

Manually finding a channel ID (only if needed for documentation / scripted setup):

• Discord User Settings > Advanced > Developer Mode → enable
• Right-click the channel/DM → Copy Channel ID
• Format as dc:CHANNEL_ID

For the first-ever main chat (when no other channel is registered), use nanotars pair-main from the install host instead — it issues a code that the channel plugin's inbound interceptor will consume to bootstrap the main group.

Verify

• Check logs: tail -20 logs/nanotars.log | grep -i discord
• Send a test message and confirm the agent responds

Troubleshooting

• Bot not connecting: Check DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN in .env
• Bot online but not reading messages: Enable Message Content Intent in Discord Developer Portal > Bot > Privileged Gateway Intents
• Messages not received: Run /list-groups from your main chat to confirm the Discord chat is registered. Don't reach into the SQLite schema directly — the entity-model migration will silently break inline SQL.
• No response in group channel: Check trigger pattern matches or set requiresTrigger: false
• Bot can't send messages: Ensure bot has Send Messages permission in the channel

Uninstall

Use /nanotars-remove-plugin for a guided removal — it stops the service, removes the plugin directory, cleans up channel data, and removes registered-group entries via the proper IPC primitives. Manual steps if needed:

1. nanotars stop

2. From your main chat (before stopping), run /delete-group <folder> for each Discord-wired group you want to remove. Skip this if you want the agent_group rows preserved for re-wiring to a different channel.

3. rm -rf plugins/channels/discord/

4. Remove DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN from .env

5. nanotars restart

6. Restart NanoTars — group folders and message history are preserved.