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Installation

Development Version Warning

rustycord is currently in heavy development and is NOT ready for production use.

  • 🚨 Breaking changes occur frequently
  • 🚨 APIs are unstable and will change
  • 🚨 Features are incomplete
  • 🚨 Not suitable for production bots

Only use for learning, experimentation, and development. Do not deploy bots using this library to production environments.

Development Status

This library is actively being developed. While basic functionality works, many features are missing or incomplete. Check the GitHub repository for the latest status.

Prerequisites

Before installing rustycord, make sure you have:

Installing Rust

If you don't have Rust installed, you can install it using rustup:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
source ~/.cargo/env

Verify your installation:

rustc --version
cargo --version

Creating a New Project

Create a new Rust project for your Discord bot:

cargo new my-discord-bot
cd my-discord-bot

Adding rustycord Dependency

Add rustycord and required dependencies to your Cargo.toml:

[package]
name = "my-discord-bot"
version = "0.1.0"
edition = "2021"

[dependencies]
rustycord = "0.1.0"
tokio = { version = "1.40", features = ["full"] }
async-trait = "0.1"
log = "0.4"

Setting Up Your Discord Bot

1. Create a Discord Application

  1. Go to the Discord Developer Portal
  2. Click "New Application"
  3. Give your application a name
  4. Navigate to the "Bot" section
  5. Click "Add Bot"
  6. Copy your bot token (keep this secret!)

2. Configure Bot Permissions

In the "Bot" section of your application:

  1. Enable the following Privileged Gateway Intents:
  2. Message Content Intent (if you need to read message content)
  3. Server Members Intent (if you need member information)

  4. Presence Intent (if you need presence information)

  5. In the "OAuth2" > "URL Generator" section:

  6. Select "bot" scope

  7. Select required permissions:

    • Send Messages
    • Read Message History
    • Use Slash Commands (if needed)

  8. Use the generated URL to invite your bot to a server

3. Set Up Environment Variables

Create a .env file in your project root:

DISCORD_TOKEN=your_bot_token_here

Add .env to your .gitignore:

.env
target/
Cargo.lock

Verifying Installation

Create a simple test bot in src/main.rs:

use rustycord::{Bot, Client, logger};

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    // Load environment variables
    dotenv::dotenv().ok();

    // Initialize logging
    logger::setup_logger(logger::LogLevel::Info)?;

    // Get bot token
    let token = std::env::var("DISCORD_TOKEN")
        .expect("DISCORD_TOKEN environment variable not set");

    // Create client and bot
    println!("Creating Discord client...");
    let client = Client::new(&token).await?;

    println!("Starting bot...");
    let bot = Bot::new(client);
    bot.start().await?;

    Ok(())
}

Add the dotenv dependency to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
# ... existing dependencies
dotenv = "0.15"

Run your bot:

cargo run

You should see log output indicating your bot has connected to Discord!

Next Steps

Now that you have rustycord installed and a basic bot running:

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Bot token is invalid: 

Error: HTTP error: 401 Unauthorized
- Verify your bot token is correct - Make sure there are no extra spaces in your .env file

Permission denied: 

Error: Missing Access
- Check that your bot has the required permissions in the Discord server - Verify the bot is properly invited to the server

Connection timeout: 

Error: Connection timeout
- Check your internet connection - Verify Discord's status at discordstatus.com

Getting Help

If you encounter issues:

  1. Check the troubleshooting guide
  2. Search GitHub Issues
  3. Create a new issue with:
  4. Your Rust version (rustc --version)
  5. Your operating system
  6. Complete error messages
  7. Minimal reproduction code