Red-DiscordBot is a highly customisable, self-hosted Discord bot framework, offering a wide array of features through its modular 'cogs' (plugins). It supports everything from moderation and utility to music and custom commands. The project maintains an active development cycle with frequent patch releases, often aligning with updates to its core dependencies like discord.py.
pip install -U Red-DiscordBotVerified import paths — ran on the pinned version, not inferred.
Red-DiscordBot is primarily managed via a command-line interface and in-Discord commands. To get started, you first install Red into a virtual environment. Then, you run `redbot-setup <instance_name>` in your terminal, which guides you through creating a bot, setting a prefix, and obtaining the bot token. You then start the bot using `redbot <instance_name>`. The bot provides an invite URL, and once invited to a server, you can interact with it using the configured prefix (e.g., `[p]help`). This example shows a simple 'cog' (plugin) that defines two commands. Save this as `mysimplecog.py` in your cogs directory, then load it in Discord using `[p]load mysimplecog`.
Review the `discord.py` V2 migration guide and Red's cog migration documentation. Update affected cogs to conform to the new API.
Follow the official 'Migrating cogs from Red V2' guide in the Red-DiscordBot documentation.
Consult the Red-DiscordBot documentation for data migration paths if currently using MongoDB.
Ensure JRE 11+ and FFmpeg are installed system-wide. For advanced setups, refer to the Lavalink setup guide in the Red-DiscordBot documentation.
Always create and activate a Python virtual environment (`python -m venv redenv && source redenv/bin/activate` or `redenv\Scripts\activate.bat`) before installing or updating Red-DiscordBot.
Understand the distinction between the host terminal for bot management and Discord chat for bot commands. Ensure the bot has necessary Discord permissions (Read Messages, Send Messages) in channels you intend to use it.