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Discord.js works out of the box with Bun. Let’s write a simple bot. First create a directory and initialize it with bun init.
terminal
mkdir my-bot
cd my-bot
bun init
Now install Discord.js.
terminal
bun add discord.js
Before we go further, we need to go to the Discord developer portal, login/signup, create a new Application, then create a new Bot within that application. Follow the official guide for step-by-step instructions.
Once complete, you’ll be presented with your bot’s private key. Let’s add this to a file called .env.local. Bun automatically reads this file and loads it into process.env.
This is an example token that has already been invalidated.
.env.local
DISCORD_TOKEN=NzkyNzE1NDU0MTk2MDg4ODQy.X-hvzA.Ovy4MCQywSkoMRRclStW4xAYK7I
Be sure to add .env.local to your .gitignore! It is dangerous to check your bot’s private key into version control.
.gitignore
node_modules
.env.local
Now let’s actually write our bot in a new file called bot.ts.
/icons/typescript.svgbot.ts
// import discord.js
import {Client, Events, GatewayIntentBits} from 'discord.js';

// create a new Client instance
const client = new Client({intents: [GatewayIntentBits.Guilds]});

// listen for the client to be ready
client.once(Events.ClientReady, c => {
	console.log(`Ready! Logged in as ${c.user.tag}`);
});

// login with the token from .env.local
client.login(process.env.DISCORD_TOKEN);
Now we can run our bot with bun run. It may take a several seconds for the client to initialize the first time you run the file.
terminal
bun run bot.ts

Ready! Logged in as my-bot#1234
You’re up and running with a bare-bones Discord.js bot! This is a basic guide to setting up your bot with Bun; we recommend the official discord.js docs for complete information on the discord.js API.
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