> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://gamelauncher.cloud/help/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://gamelauncher.cloud/help/extensions/discord-bot.md).

# Discord Bot

The **Game Launcher Cloud Discord Bot** publishes a live counter into your own Discord server, so your community can see how many people are online without leaving Discord.

The number comes straight from your launcher: every copy sends a heartbeat, so the counter reflects who is actually there right now.

## Two ways to show it

|                      | **A channel name** (default)        | **A message**                                   |
| -------------------- | ----------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- |
| Where it shows       | Your server sidebar, always visible | Inside a text channel                           |
| How it looks         | `Online Users: 104`                 | An embed with the app icon and a live timestamp |
| How often it updates | Every 6 minutes                     | Every minute                                    |

The default creates a voice channel for you, named after the counter, that nobody can join. It is there to be read, not talked in.

{% hint style="info" %}
The channel name mode updates every 6 minutes because Discord only allows two channel renames per channel every ten minutes. If you want the number as fresh as possible, use the message mode instead.
{% endhint %}

## What it can show

| Metric                      | What it counts                                             |
| --------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Online users (launcher)** | People with your launcher open, playing or not             |
| **Online users (app)**      | People who are on this app in the launcher, playing or not |
| **Playing now**             | People actually running the app                            |
| **Total users**             | Everyone who has ever opened this launcher                 |

{% hint style="info" %}
**Online users (app)** counts people who are on that app in the launcher, whether or not they have launched it. Two apps in the same launcher get different numbers.

Players running a launcher built before this existed only count while they are actually playing, because their launcher does not report which app they are on. That corrects itself as they update, and it never applies to a launcher with a single app.

**Total users** is only available for a launcher, and is recalculated every 15 minutes.
{% endhint %}

## Setup

### 1. Connect Discord

1. Open your launcher and go to **Integrations > Discord Bot**
2. Click **Connect Discord** and approve the request

We read the list of servers you administer, and nothing else. No Discord token is stored.

Your connection is remembered, so you will not be asked to connect again on your next visit. The server list itself is only cached for 15 minutes; when it expires the page offers a **Refresh servers** button, which is instant because Discord already has your approval.

### 2. Add the bot to your server

1. Pick a server from the dropdown
2. If the bot is not in it yet, click **Add the bot** and confirm on Discord
3. Back in the dashboard, click **I added it**

The bot asks for four permissions, which is everything it needs and nothing more. None of them let it read what anybody says:

* Manage Channels, to create and rename the counter's channel
* View Channel
* Send Messages
* Embed Links

### 3. Publish the counter

1. Choose whether to count the whole launcher or one app
2. Choose the metric
3. Choose how it shows: a channel name or a message
4. Leave **Create one for me** selected to let the bot make its own channel, or pick an existing one
5. Choose the **language** your server reads it in
6. Optionally set a heading that replaces the launcher or app name
7. Click **Publish counter**

A preview next to the form shows exactly what will land in your server as you change the options. The counter appears immediately.

## Language

The counter is written in whichever of the platform's twelve languages you pick, so `Online Users: 104` can just as easily be `Usuarios online: 104` or `オンラインユーザー: 104`.

This is a property of the counter, not of your account: one channel name is read by your whole server, so it follows your community rather than the language your own dashboard happens to be in. New counters start on your dashboard language as a guess, and you can change it any time.

A custom heading overrides the label entirely, in whatever words you type.

## Managing counters

Each counter has three controls:

* **Update now**: refreshes without waiting for the next cycle
* **Pause**: stops updating, leaving what is already there
* **Delete**: removes the counter and cleans up after itself

Deleting is tidy on purpose. A channel the bot created is deleted with the counter; a channel that was already yours simply gets its original name back, and any message the bot posted is removed.

A launcher can publish up to **5 counters**, one per channel.

## When something breaks

If a server admin changes something on the Discord side, the counter says so in the dashboard instead of stopping silently:

| What you see                         | What happened                                                       |
| ------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| The bot cannot update this channel   | The bot lost access to the channel or the permission it needs there |
| That channel no longer exists        | The channel was deleted, pick another one                           |
| The message was deleted              | Someone deleted it, a new one is posted on the next update          |
| Discord is throttling this channel   | A temporary rate limit, it retries on its own                       |
| The bot could not create the channel | The bot is missing Manage Channels                                  |

A counter that keeps failing is retried every ten minutes instead of every minute, so a channel the bot was removed from stops costing requests.

## Privacy

The counter publishes a number and nothing else. No player names, no account details, and no information about individual sessions ever reaches Discord.

Your Discord account is used only to list the servers you administer. We remember which account you connected, so you are not asked again on every visit, but no access token or refresh token is ever kept.


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