Getting Started

⚠️ WARNING!

Discord does not allow Automated User Accounts (Self-Bots/User-Bots)

Read more in Discord Trust & Safety Team's Official Statement...

While this project works for user logins, I do not recommend it as you risk account termination. If you can, use a proper Discord Bot user for this program.

NOTE: This only applies to real User Accounts, not Bot users. This program currently works for either.

Now that that's out of the way...

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How to Run

Depending on your purpose for this program, there are various ways you can run it.

• Simply run the executable file for your platform. (optionally, process managers like pm2 work well for this)

• Run the executable via command prompt. (discord-downloader-go.exe settings2 or similar to run multiple instances sharing a database with separate settings files)

• Run in Docker. (Google it).

  • Mount your settings.json to /root/settings.json
  • Mount a folder named "database" to /root/database
  • Mount your save folders or the parent of your save folders within /root/
    • i.e. X:\My Folder to /root/My Folder

• Install Golang and compile/run the source code yourself. (Google it)

You can either create a settings.json following the examples & variables listed below, or have the program create a default file (if it is missing when you run the program, it will make one, and ask you if you want to enter in basic info for the new file).

Confused? Try looking at the step-by-step list.

• Ensure you follow proper JSON syntax to avoid any unexpected errors.
• Having issues? Try this JSON Validator to ensure it's correctly formatted.

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Getting Started Step-by-Step

1. Download & put executable within it's own folder.
2. Configure Main Settings (or run once to have settings generated). (SEE BELOW)
3. Enter your login credentials in the "credentials" section. (SEE BELOW)
4. Put your Discord User ID as in the "admins" list of the settings. (SEE BELOW)
5. Put a Discord Channel ID for a private channel you have access to into the "adminChannels". (SEE BELOW)
6. Put your desired Discord Channel IDs into th6e "channels" section. (SEE BELOW)
   • I know it can be confusing if you don't have experience with programming or JSON in general, but this was the ideal setup for extensive configuration like this. Just be careful with comma & quote placement and you should be fine. See examples below for help.

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Finding Login Credentials (updated Nov 2023)

• If using a DISCORD BOT APPLICATION ... enter the token into the "token" setting. Remove the lines for "username" and "password" or leave blank (""). To create a Bot User, go to discord.com/developers/applications and create a New Application. Once created, go to Bot and create. The token can be found on the Bot page. To invite to your server(s), go to OAuth2 and check "bot", copy the url, paste into browser and follow prompts for adding to server(s).

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• If using a DISCORD USER ACCOUNT (Self-Bot) WITHOUT 2-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION ... fill out the "username" and "password" settings. Remove the line for "token" or leave blank ("").

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• If using a DISCORD USER ACCOUNT (Self-Bot) WITH 2-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION ... enter the token into the "token" setting. Remove the lines for "username" and "password" or leave blank (""). Your account token can be found by opening the browser console / dev tools / inspect element > Network tab > filter for "country-code" and reload the page if nothing appears. Assuming there is an item that looks like the below screenshot, click it and find "Authorization" within the "Request Headers" section of the Headers tab. The random text is your token. It will often start with "Nz".

If this returns nothing, there are many other files in the Network tab containing the token. Filter the Request Headers for "Nz" and look through different discord.com files in the Network list.

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Setting Up Permissions in Discord

• In order to perform basic downloading functions, the bot will need Read Message permissions in the server(s) of your designated channel(s).
• In order to respond to commands, the bot will need Send Message permissions in the server(s) of your designated channel(s). If executing commands via an Admin Channel, the bot will only need Send Message permissions for that channel, and that permission will not be required for the source channel.
• In order to process history commands, the bot will need Read Message History permissions in the server(s) of your designated channel(s).

Bot Intents for Discord Application Bots

NECESSARY FOR GENUINE DISCORD BOTS!!!

• Go to the Discord Application management page, choose your application, go to the Bot category, and ensure Message Content Intent is enabled.

You should also enable Presence Intent and Server Member Intent to ensure full functionality, but the bot will not function properly whatsoever without Message Content Intent enabled.

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How to Find Discord IDs

ENABLE DISCORD DEVELOPER MODE - Discord User Settings > App Settings > Advanced > Developer Mode

You should now be able to right click on anything and copy the Discord ID!

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Tutorial Video (v1.6.3; Jan 2022)