Pycord

Language: Python

Web

Pycord was created as a community-maintained fork of discord.py to continue its development after discord.py became inactive for some time. It focuses on stability, ease of use, and compatibility with modern Python features, making it a popular choice for creating Discord bots.

Pycord is a Python library for building Discord bots, providing an easy-to-use interface for interacting with Discord’s API. It allows developers to handle events, send messages, create commands, manage servers, and automate workflows within Discord.

Installation

pip: pip install py-cord

conda: conda install -c conda-forge py-cord

Usage

Pycord allows you to define bot commands, listen to events, manage servers and channels, interact with users, and build complex automation for Discord servers. It supports both synchronous and asynchronous programming.

Simple bot responding to /hello

import discord
from discord.ext import commands

bot = commands.Bot(command_prefix='!')

@bot.event
async def on_ready():
    print(f'Logged in as {bot.user}')

@bot.command()
async def hello(ctx):
    await ctx.send('Hello! I am your Pycord bot.')

bot.run('YOUR_BOT_TOKEN')

Creates a bot that responds with a greeting when the user sends the !hello command.

Sending a direct message

user = await bot.fetch_user(USER_ID)
await user.send('Hello! This is a DM.')

Sends a private message to a specific user by their ID.

Using slash commands

from discord import Option

@bot.slash_command(name='greet', description='Greet someone')
async def greet(ctx, name: Option(str, 'Enter a name')):
    await ctx.respond(f'Hello {name}!')

Defines a slash command /greet with an input option 'name' that responds with a greeting.

Handling reactions

@bot.event
async def on_reaction_add(reaction, user):
    if user != bot.user:
        await reaction.message.channel.send(f'{user.name} reacted with {reaction.emoji}')

Replies in the channel whenever a user reacts to a message.

Embeds and rich messages

from discord import Embed
embed = Embed(title='Sample Embed', description='This is an embed', color=0x00ff00)
await ctx.send(embed=embed)

Sends a rich embedded message with a title, description, and color.

Cog for modular commands

from discord.ext import commands

class MyCog(commands.Cog):
    def __init__(self, bot):
        self.bot = bot

    @commands.command()
    async def ping(self, ctx):
        await ctx.send('Pong!')

bot.add_cog(MyCog(bot))

Organizes bot commands into a cog (class) for modularity and cleaner code structure.

Using tasks for periodic events

from discord.ext import tasks

@tasks.loop(minutes=1)
async def periodic_task():
    channel = bot.get_channel(CHANNEL_ID)
    await channel.send('This runs every minute!')

periodic_task.start()

Executes a task every minute and sends a message to a specified channel.

Error Handling

discord.errors.LoginFailure: Ensure your bot token is correct and valid.

discord.errors.Forbidden: Check that your bot has the necessary permissions to perform the action.

discord.errors.HTTPException: Handle network errors, invalid requests, or rate-limiting issues gracefully.

Best Practices

Use cogs to organize commands and events for maintainable bot code.

Leverage asynchronous functions for better performance with multiple events.

Secure your bot token using environment variables.

Monitor your bot and handle exceptions to prevent crashes.

Follow Discord’s API rate limits to avoid bans.

Official Docs Github