Start here

Make your first bot

From nothing to a bot that answers !ping and /roll, in about ten minutes. You'll need the Roar desktop app or roarnode.com/app, and a computer you can install Node.js on.

#1. Make the bot's account

1. Open the Developer pageIn Roar, open User Settings → Developer (it's under Advanced) and press New Bot.
2. Name itGive it a name like Dice Bot and a short description. You can change the picture and the description later with Edit.
3. Copy the tokenRoar shows the bot's token once. Copy it somewhere safe, like a password manager. If you lose it, press Reset Token for a new one.

#2. Add it to a server

Use a server where you're an admin. A test server of your own is perfect.

1. Copy the Application IDOn the Developer page, press Copy ID next to your bot.
2. Add the botOpen the server's Server Settings → Bots, paste the ID under Add a bot, press Look Up, then Add to Server. You need the Manage Server permission.

The bot shows up in the member list, offline until its program runs.

#3. Install Node.js

Roar.js runs on Node.js 22 or newer. Download the LTS version for your computer and install it. Then open a terminal (on Windows, PowerShell from the Start menu) and check it worked:

node --version

It should print v22 or higher.

#4. Set up the project

Make a folder for your bot and install Roar.js into it:

mkdir dice-bot
cd dice-bot
npm init -y
npm pkg set type=module
npm install https://bots.roarnode.com/roar.js.tgz

npm pkg set type=module lets you use import, which every example here does.

#5. Write the bot

Make a file called bot.js in the folder (any text editor works; VS Code autocompletes Roar.js) and paste this in:

import { Bot } from "roar.js";

const bot = new Bot({ token: process.env.ROAR_TOKEN });

bot.on("ready", () => console.log(`${bot.user.username} is online!`));

// Messages: answer !ping
bot.on("message", async (msg) => {
  if (msg.content === "!ping") await msg.reply("Pong! 🏓");
});

// A slash command with an option: /roll sides: 20
bot.command({
  name: "roll",
  description: "Roll a die",
  options: [{ name: "sides", description: "How many sides (6 if you leave it out)", type: "integer" }],
}, async (i) => {
  const sides = i.options.sides ?? 6;
  const n = 1 + Math.floor(Math.random() * sides);
  await i.reply(`🎲 ${i.user.displayName} rolled **${n}** out of ${sides}`);
});

bot.start();

#6. Run it

The bot reads its token from the ROAR_TOKEN environment variable, so it never sits in your code. Put your token in place of paste-your-token-here:

$env:ROAR_TOKEN = "paste-your-token-here"
node bot.js

ROAR_TOKEN="paste-your-token-here" node bot.js

You should see Dice Bot is online!, and the bot turns green in the member list. Now try it:

• Type !ping in a channel. The bot answers Pong! 🏓.
• Type /roll in the Roar desktop app, pick it from the list, and add sides: 20 if you like.

To stop the bot, press Ctrl+C in the terminal. After changing bot.js, stop it and run it again.

#When something's wrong

#Keep it online

The bot is online while node bot.js runs. Close the terminal and it goes offline. To keep it up all the time, run it on a computer that stays on: a spare PC, a Raspberry Pi, or a small cloud server. Then use a tool that restarts it if it stops, such as pm2:

npm install -g pm2
pm2 start bot.js --name dice-bot
pm2 save

Set ROAR_TOKEN on that computer the same way first.

#What next?