--- title: Discord description: Connect Discord to your existing bot chats, restrict access, and choose which bot answers. sidebar: order: 11 --- The Discord message gateway sends your Discord messages to your existing bot chats and returns their answers to Discord. Discord is the only supported messaging platform. Crumble connects outward to Discord, so you don't need a public webhook endpoint. ## Set up Discord 1. Create an application in the [Discord Developer Portal](https://discord.com/developers/applications). 2. Open **Bot** and create or reset the bot token. 3. Under **Privileged Gateway Intents**, turn on **Message Content Intent**. 4. Configure a server installation with the `bot` OAuth2 scope. 5. Grant **View Channels**, **Send Messages**, and **Read Message History** in the channels you plan to use. 6. Install the application in your Discord server. For threads, also grant **Send Messages in Threads**. Channel permissions can override server permissions. Crumble requests guild, guild-message, direct-message, and message-content events; it doesn't need member or presence intents. Keep the bot token private. Use the bot token, not your Discord account token, application ID, or public key. Discord can require approval for privileged intents on verified applications. See [Discord's Gateway intent documentation](https://docs.discord.com/developers/events/gateway#gateway-intents) and [installation documentation](https://docs.discord.com/developers/quick-start/getting-started#adding-scopes-and-bot-permissions). ## Connect Crumble 1. Open **Settings** > **Message gateways**, and select **Discord**. 2. Next to **Discord bot token**, select **Add**. Paste the token, or select a connected [password manager](/concepts/password-managers) and paste a reference to it. 3. In **Bots**, choose a **Default bot**. Select **Alias** to add an alias. 4. In **Access**, enter your numeric Discord user ID in **Owner Discord user ID**. Select **Channel** for each permitted channel ID, and turn on **Direct messages** if you want them. 5. Turn on the **Discord** switch and select **Save**. The **Discord** row shows the connection status after saving, with pending deliveries and retained failed receipts. **Reset** discards unsaved edits. To stop receiving new messages, turn off the **Discord** switch and select **Save**. ## Owner access The gateway starts disabled. Enter your own Discord user ID and permitted channel IDs before using server channels. Use numeric Discord IDs, not display names or channel names. Discord's **Developer Mode** exposes **Copy User ID** and **Copy Channel ID** in context menus. Only the configured owner can send messages to bots. These messages have the same owner authority as messages in the bot chat, including desktop intent checks. Don't enter another person's ID. Other Discord users can't submit work, even in an allowed channel or through direct messages. Server messages must come from an explicitly allowed channel. Direct messages also require **Direct messages**. An empty owner ID blocks every sender; an empty channel list blocks every server channel. Configurations using the previous sender allowlist are disabled on upgrade. Enter your owner ID and save the configuration before enabling the gateway. Crumble never chooses an owner from that list. Use a dedicated channel when other people share your Discord server. **Every owner message in an allowed channel can reach a Crumble bot, without mentioning the Discord application.** Bot and webhook messages are ignored to prevent message loops. ## Choose a bot Set a default bot for messages without an explicit recipient. Add stable aliases for bots you want to address, such as `researcher` or `writer`. Enter handles without `@`, using letters, numbers, underscores, or hyphens. Aliases and bot names ignore case and normalize equivalent Unicode forms. Aliases must be unique. You can leave the default unset if every message uses an alias or a reply. Messages without a recipient then receive a routing error. | Discord message | Recipient | | ------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------ | | `Summarize today's notes` | The configured default bot. | | `@researcher Summarize today's notes` | The bot mapped to `researcher`, for this message only. | | A reply to a gateway answer | The bot that produced that answer. | | `@writer Rewrite this` as a reply | The bot mapped to `writer`, overriding reply routing. | | A new message after `@writer Rewrite this` | The configured default bot again. | Type the leading `@handle` as ordinary text. A native Discord mention of the application isn't a bot alias. Crumble removes a leading mention of its own Discord application for routing, while preserving it in the transcript. A bot name can also select a bot when it identifies only one bot. Names can contain spaces; the longest matching name wins. A matching alias takes precedence. Prefer aliases for stable routing when you rename bots. Unknown, ambiguous, deleted, or disabled recipients produce a routing error; they don't silently select the default bot. ## Transcript and delivery Your original message, including a routing prefix, enters the selected bot's [continuous chat](/concepts/chats), marked **Sent from Discord** under it. The answer appears in that transcript and returns to the originating Discord channel or direct message as a reply to your message. While the bot works, the channel shows Crumble as typing. Only the answer associated with that Discord request returns to Discord. Messages sent in the web app, automations, and unrelated background activity aren't mirrored. A reply in a shared Discord channel is visible to everyone who can read that channel. The first version accepts text only. Messages with attachments receive an unsupported-attachment response instead of submitting their text alone. Voice, images, and file processing aren't supported, and desktop screenshots a bot shows stay in the web app. Incoming text is limited to 32,000 characters. Long answers are split into multiple Discord messages. Outgoing text doesn't trigger Discord mentions. Retryable submission and delivery failures retry while the gateway is enabled and the owner and destination remain authorized. Retries back off from 5 seconds to 15 minutes and respect longer platform retry delays. Retries stop after 10 failures or 24 hours from receipt. Permanent delivery errors and failed bot executions require a new message. Disabling the gateway or changing its owner or destination access pauses pending deliveries. Restoring access resumes deliveries within the 24-hour window. Failed connection attempts and invalidated sessions back off from 60 seconds to 15 minutes. The backoff resets after five minutes continuously connected. Connection diagnostics alone don't restart a live Discord client; Discord handles transient reconnects. Crumble persists incoming message receipts and outgoing delivery progress. Replayed events reuse their recorded request, and retries keep the original recipient and destination. Reply routing expires 30 days after a receipt finishes. Replying to an older answer then uses the default bot unless you supply a leading alias. Duplicate receipts are removed after 30 days during hourly cleanup. A replay after cleanup can submit again. When a receipt finishes, Crumble clears its stored gateway input and answer. The original message and answer remain in the bot transcript. An hourly cleanup removes expired receipt and reply records. This isn't an exactly-once delivery guarantee: a connection failure can leave uncertainty about whether Discord accepted a message before Crumble recorded it. Discord also doesn't guarantee delivery of every event while a connection is unavailable. If answers stop arriving, check the connection status and error in settings, then check the token, Message Content Intent, owner ID, channel IDs, and channel permissions. After replacing or resetting the token, save the new token in Crumble.