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Discord Bot Setup Guide

Step-by-step guide to create and configure a Discord bot for openab.

1. Create a Discord Application

  1. Go to the Discord Developer Portal
  2. Click New Application
  3. Give it a name (e.g. AgentBroker) and click Create

2. Enable Message Content Intent

  1. In your application, go to the Bot tab (left sidebar)
  2. Scroll down to Privileged Gateway Intents
  3. Enable Message Content Intent
  4. Click Save Changes

3. Get the Bot Token

  1. Still on the Bot tab, click Reset Token
  2. Copy the token — you'll need this for DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN
  3. Keep this token secret. If it leaks, reset it immediately

4. Set Bot Permissions

  1. Go to OAuth2 → URL Generator (left sidebar)
  2. Under Scopes, check bot
  3. Under Bot Permissions, check:
    • Send Messages
    • Send Messages in Threads
    • Create Public Threads
    • Read Message History
    • Add Reactions
    • Manage Messages
  4. Copy the generated URL at the bottom

5. Invite the Bot to Your Server

  1. Open the URL from step 4 in your browser
  2. Select the server you want to add the bot to
  3. Click Authorize

6. Get the Channel ID

  1. In Discord, go to User Settings → Advanced → enable Developer Mode
  2. Right-click the channel where you want the bot to respond
  3. Click Copy Channel ID
  4. Use this ID in allowed_channels in your config

7. Get Your User ID (optional)

  1. Make sure Developer Mode is enabled (see step 6)
  2. Right-click your own username (in a message or the member list)
  3. Click Copy User ID
  4. Use this ID in allowed_users to restrict who can interact with the bot

8. Configure openab

Set the bot token and channel ID:

# Local
export DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN="your-token-from-step-3"

In config.toml:

[discord]
bot_token = "${DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN}"
allowed_channels = ["your-channel-id-from-step-6"]
# allowed_users = ["your-user-id-from-step-7"]  # optional: restrict who can use the bot

Access control behavior

allowed_channels allowed_users Result
empty empty All users, all channels (default)
set empty Only these channels, all users
empty set All channels, only these users
set set AND — must be in allowed channel AND allowed user
  • Empty allowed_users (default) = no user filtering, fully backward compatible
  • Denied users get a 🚫 reaction and no reply

For Kubernetes:

kubectl create secret generic openab-secret \
  --from-literal=discord-bot-token="your-token-from-step-3"

9. Test

In the allowed channel, mention the bot:

@AgentBroker hello

The bot should create a thread and respond. After that, just type in the thread — no @mention needed.

Troubleshooting

  • Bot doesn't respond — check that the channel ID is correct and the bot has permissions in that channel
  • "Sent invalid authentication" — the bot token is wrong or expired, reset it in the Developer Portal
  • "Failed to start agent" — kiro-cli isn't authenticated, run kiro-cli login --use-device-flow inside the container
  • gh commands fail with 401 — the agent needs GitHub CLI authentication. See gh auth device flow guide for how to authenticate in a headless container