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Discord Bot Error Handling Best Practices

Proper error handling is crucial for a reliable Discord bot. This guide covers common error scenarios and how to handle them gracefully.

Why Error Handling Matters

  • User Experience: Prevent crashes and show helpful messages
  • Debugging: Log errors for troubleshooting
  • Stability: Keep the bot running even when things go wrong
  • Security: Prevent exposing sensitive information in error messages

Common Error Types

API Errors

Discord API errors have specific codes:

const { DiscordAPIError } = require('discord.js');


try {
  await message.delete();
} catch (error) {
  if (error instanceof DiscordAPIError) {
    switch (error.code) {
      case 10008:
        console.log('Message not found');
        break;
      case 50013:
        console.log('Missing permissions');
        break;
      case 50035:
        console.log('Invalid form body');
        break;
      default:
        console.error('API Error:', error.code, error.message);
    }
  }
}

Permission Errors

Always check permissions before performing actions:

async function deleteMessage(message) {
  const botMember = message.guild.members.me;


  if (!botMember.permissions.has('ManageMessages')) {
    await message.reply('I need the Manage Messages permission!');
    return;
  }


  try {
    await message.delete();
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Failed to delete message:', error);
  }
}

Global Error Handlers

Process-Level Handlers

process.on('unhandledRejection', (error) => {
  console.error('Unhandled promise rejection:', error);
});


process.on('uncaughtException', (error) => {
  console.error('Uncaught exception:', error);
  process.exit(1);
});

Best Practices Summary

  1. Always use try-catch for async operations
  2. Check permissions before actions
  3. Validate user input at multiple levels
  4. Log errors with context information
  5. Show user-friendly messages, log technical details

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