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Discord Bot Deployment Guide

Deploy your Discord bot to keep it running 24/7 in production.

Hosting Options

Free Tier Platforms

Replit

  • Easy setup with web IDE
  • Free tier available
  • Good for small bots
  • Auto-sleeps on inactivity

Railway

  • 500 hours free per month
  • Easy GitHub integration
  • Supports Docker
  • Automatic deployments

Render

  • Free tier with limitations
  • Auto-deploy from Git
  • Sleeps after inactivity
  • Great for testing

DigitalOcean

  • $5/month droplet
  • Full control
  • Reliable uptime
  • Scalable

AWS EC2

  • Flexible pricing
  • Enterprise-grade
  • Many configuration options
  • Free tier for 12 months

Basic Deployment Steps

1. Prepare Your Bot

Terminal window
# Add start script to package.json
{
  "scripts": {
    "start": "node index.js"
  }
}


# Create .gitignore
node_modules/
.env
*.log

2. Environment Variables

Never commit secrets! Use environment variables:

// Load from .env in development
require('dotenv').config();


// Access in code
const token = process.env.DISCORD_TOKEN;
const dbUrl = process.env.DATABASE_URL;

3. Process Management

Use PM2 to keep bot running:

Terminal window
npm install -g pm2


# Start bot
pm2 start index.js --name discord-bot


# Auto-restart on reboot
pm2 startup
pm2 save


# Monitor
pm2 monit


# View logs
pm2 logs discord-bot

Docker Deployment

Create Dockerfile:

FROM node:18-alpine


WORKDIR /app


COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm ci --only=production


COPY . .


CMD ["node", "index.js"]

Create docker-compose.yml:

version: '3.8'
services:
  bot:
    build: .
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - DISCORD_TOKEN=${DISCORD_TOKEN}
      - DATABASE_URL=${DATABASE_URL}
    volumes:
      - ./data:/app/data

Run:

Terminal window
docker-compose up -d

Health Checks

Add a simple HTTP server for health monitoring:

const express = require('express');
const app = express();


app.get('/health', (req, res) => {
  res.json({
    status: 'healthy',
    uptime: process.uptime(),
    botReady: client.isReady()
  });
});


app.listen(3000);

Logging

Implement proper logging:

const winston = require('winston');


const logger = winston.createLogger({
  level: 'info',
  format: winston.format.json(),
  transports: [
    new winston.transports.File({ filename: 'error.log', level: 'error' }),
    new winston.transports.File({ filename: 'combined.log' })
  ]
});


if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production') {
  logger.add(new winston.transports.Console({
    format: winston.format.simple()
  }));
}

Monitoring

Basic Uptime Monitoring

Use services like:

  • UptimeRobot (free)
  • Pingdom
  • StatusCake

Application Monitoring

Consider:

  • Sentry for error tracking
  • Datadog for metrics
  • New Relic for APM

Scaling Considerations

Sharding for large bots (2500+ servers):

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


const manager = new ShardingManager('./bot.js', {
  token: process.env.DISCORD_TOKEN,
  totalShards: 'auto'
});


manager.spawn();

Backup Strategy

  • Regular database backups
  • Store backups off-site
  • Test restore procedures
  • Keep configuration in version control

Security Checklist

  • ✅ Never commit tokens or secrets
  • ✅ Use environment variables
  • ✅ Keep dependencies updated
  • ✅ Implement rate limiting
  • ✅ Validate all user input
  • ✅ Use HTTPS for webhooks
  • ✅ Regular security audits

Common Deployment Issues

Bot goes offline

  • Check process manager logs
  • Verify network connectivity
  • Check rate limits
  • Monitor resource usage

High memory usage

  • Review event listeners
  • Check for memory leaks
  • Implement proper cleanup
  • Consider sharding

Slow response times

  • Add caching layer
  • Optimize database queries
  • Use connection pooling
  • Profile slow operations