Gateway Intents

Gateway Intents are filters that determine which events and data your bot receives from Discord. Properly configuring intents optimizes performance and ensures your bot has access to the data it needs.

What are Gateway Intents?

Intents allow you to specify which Discord events your bot should receive. By selecting specific intents, you can:

1. Reduce data transfer - Only receive events you need
2. Optimize performance - Less data means faster processing
3. Comply with Discord - Some data requires explicit permission

Intent Categories

Discord intents fall into three categories:

Standard Intents

Available to all bots without special permission:

• Guild Moderation
• Guild Emojis and Stickers
• Guild Webhooks
• Guild Invites
• Guild Voice States
• Guild Messages
• Guild Message Reactions
• Guild Message Typing
• Direct Messages
• Direct Message Reactions
• Direct Message Typing
• Scheduled Events

Privileged Intents

Require explicit enabling in the Discord Developer Portal:

• Guild Members - Access to member join/leave events and member lists
• Message Content - Access to message content (required for reading messages!)
• Guild Presences - Access to member presence/status information

Verification Required

Bots in 100+ servers must go through Discord verification to use privileged intents. Plan ahead if you expect rapid growth!

Message Poll Intents

For handling poll-related events:

• Guild Message Polls
• Direct Message Polls

Enabling Privileged Intents

To use privileged intents:

1. Go to Discord Developer Portal
2. Select your application
3. Navigate to the “Bot” section
4. Scroll to “Privileged Gateway Intents”
5. Enable the intents you need
6. Save changes

Required for Most Bots

Without the Message Content intent, your bot cannot read message content in most situations. Make sure to enable it!

Using Intents in DiSky

Default Intents

For most bots, use default intents:

define new bot named "MyBot":
    token: "YOUR_TOKEN"
    intents: default intents

Default intents include:

• Guild messages
• Direct messages
• Guild message reactions
• Guild voice states
• And other common intents

Specific Intents

Specify exactly which intents you need:

define new bot named "MyBot":
    token: "YOUR_TOKEN"
    intents: guild members, message content, guild messages

All Intents

Enable all available intents:

define new bot named "MyBot":
    token: "YOUR_TOKEN"
    intents: all intents

Caution

Using all intents uses more bandwidth and memory. Only enable what you need.

Combining Intents

You can combine multiple intents:

define new bot named "MyBot":
    token: "YOUR_TOKEN"
    intents: default intents, guild members, message content, guild presences

Common Intent Combinations

Basic Message Bot

intents: guild messages, message content

Member Management Bot

intents: guild members, guild messages, message content

Voice-Enabled Bot

intents: default intents, guild voice states

Full-Featured Bot

intents: all intents

Intent Requirements

Some DiSky features require specific intents:

Feature	Required Intent
Read message content	Message Content (privileged)
Access member list	Guild Members (privileged)
Member join/leave events	Guild Members (privileged)
Member status/presence	Guild Presences (privileged)
Voice state updates	Guild Voice States
Emoji/sticker updates	Guild Emojis and Stickers
Scheduled events	Scheduled Events

Best Practices

1. Start with default intents - Good for most bots
2. Add privileged intents as needed - Enable in Developer Portal first
3. Don’t use all intents unnecessarily - Only enable what you need
4. Plan for growth - Consider verification requirements for 100+ servers
5. Test thoroughly - Ensure your bot has all required intents

Troubleshooting

”CloseCode 4014” or “Disallowed intents” Error

This means you’re using intents in code that aren’t enabled in the Developer Portal.

Solution: Enable the required privileged intents in the Discord Developer Portal.

Bot Can’t Read Messages

You’re missing the Message Content intent.

Solution:

1. Enable it in the Developer Portal
2. Add it to your bot configuration:

   intents: default intents, message content

Member Events Not Firing

You’re missing the Guild Members intent.

Solution:

1. Enable it in the Developer Portal
2. Add it to your bot configuration:

   intents: default intents, guild members

Example Configurations

Minimal Bot (Commands Only)

define new bot named "MyBot":
    token: "YOUR_TOKEN"
    intents: guild messages
    policy: none
    cache flags: none

Standard Bot (Messages + Members)

define new bot named "MyBot":
    token: "YOUR_TOKEN"
    intents: default intents, guild members, message content
    policy: all
    cache flags: default flags

Advanced Bot (Full Features)

define new bot named "MyBot":
    token: "YOUR_TOKEN"
    intents: all intents
    policy: all
    cache flags: all

Visual Guide

graph TD
    A[Discord Intents] --> B[Privileged Intents]
    A --> C[Standard Intents]
    A --> D[Message Poll Intents]

    B --> E[Guild Members]
    B --> F[Message Content]
    B --> G[Guild Presences]

    C --> H[Guild Moderation]
    C --> I[Guild Emojis/Stickers]
    C --> J[Guild Voice States]
    C --> K[Guild Messages]
    C --> L[Scheduled Events]

    D --> M[Guild Message Polls]
    D --> N[Direct Message Polls]

Tip

When in doubt, start with default intents and add privileged intents as needed. Most bots work great with this approach!

Next Steps

• Configure Cache Policy & Flags
• Learn about Bot Configuration
• Set up Multiple Bots