Discord MCP Server for VS Code

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that lets VS Code Copilot (or any MCP-compatible agent) send and receive Discord messages as your own user account — enabling real-time testing of Discord bot commands directly from your editor.

⚠️ Discord ToS Notice: Automating a user account ("self-botting") is against Discord's Terms of Service. This tool is intended strictly for local development/testing of your own bots on your own servers. Do not use it for spam, abuse, or on servers you don't control. Use at your own risk.

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Why a user account?

Many bot commands check server state tied to the command invoker — e.g., message.member.voice.channel to verify the user is in a voice channel before playing audio. A separate bot account cannot satisfy these checks. Messages must originate from your real Discord user to test these commands properly.

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Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ (uses native fetch)
• VS Code with GitHub Copilot (or another MCP host like Claude Desktop / Cursor)
• Your Discord user token (see below)

Obtaining your Discord user token

1. Open Discord in a browser or the desktop app
2. Open Developer Tools (F12 / Ctrl+Shift+I)
3. Go to the Network tab
4. Perform any action in Discord (send a message, switch channels)
5. Find any request to discord.com/api
6. Copy the Authorization header value — that's your user token

Your user token grants full access to your Discord account. Treat it like a password and never commit it to version control.

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Installation

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/masonbesmer/code-discord-mcp.git
cd code-discord-mcp

# 2. Install dependencies
npm install

# 3. Build
npm run build

# 4. Set your Discord user token
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env and set DISCORD_USER_TOKEN=your-token-here

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VS Code Integration

The repository includes .vscode/mcp.json which automatically registers the server with VS Code. The server reads your token from the DISCORD_USER_TOKEN environment variable.

Make sure the variable is set in your shell before launching VS Code:

# macOS / Linux
export DISCORD_USER_TOKEN="your-token-here"
code .

# Windows PowerShell
$env:DISCORD_USER_TOKEN = "your-token-here"
code .

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Available Tools

Tool	Description
send_message	Send a text message to a Discord channel
read_messages	Read recent messages from a channel
wait_for_response	Send a command and wait for a bot response
list_channels	List channels in a guild
list_guilds	List guilds your account is in
delete_message	Delete a message (with confirmation prompt)

Available Resources

Resource	Description
discord://guild/{guildId}/channels	Channel list for a guild
discord://channel/{channelId}/recent	Last 25 messages in a channel

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Example Workflow

1. Open your Discord bot project in VS Code
2. Start a Copilot Chat session in Agent Mode
3. Ask: "Send !help to my #bot-testing channel and show me what my bot responds with"
4. Copilot will:
   • Call list_guilds to find your server
   • Call list_channels to find #bot-testing
   • Call wait_for_response with !help
   • Show you the bot's response inline in the chat

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Development

# Watch mode (recompiles on file changes)
npm run dev

# Run tests
npm test

# Debug with MCP Inspector
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector node dist/index.js

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Security

Concern	Mitigation
Token exposure	Read from env var only; never logged or returned in responses; .env in .gitignore
Discord ToS	Local dev/testing on your own servers only
Rate limiting	Automatic retry after retry_after on HTTP 429; 500ms polling interval
Accidental pings	allowed_mentions: { parse: [] } prevents @everyone/@here pings
Destructive actions	delete_message has destructiveHint: true — VS Code shows a confirmation dialog
Stdout pollution	All diagnostic output goes to stderr; stdout is reserved for MCP JSON-RPC

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Dependencies

Package	Purpose
@modelcontextprotocol/sdk	MCP server framework (stdio transport, tool registration)
zod	Input schema validation
typescript (dev)	TypeScript compiler
@types/node (dev)	Node.js type definitions
vitest (dev)	Test runner

No Discord library needed. All Discord API calls use Node 18+ native fetch.