Node.js and Discord bots

Applies to Debian 12/13, Ubuntu 22.04/24.04, AlmaLinux 9 and Rocky Linux 9. In the end your bot runs as a service, starts at boot, comes back after crashes and writes its logs to the journal.

1. Install Node.js

Use an LTS version of Node.js. Which one is current is listed on https://nodejs.org. Libraries such as discord.js state their minimum version in their documentation.

From the distribution's packages

Easiest, but often older:

Debian and Ubuntu:

apt install -y nodejs npm

On AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux, dnf module list nodejs shows the available versions. Install one of them like this, here 22:

dnf module install -y nodejs:22/common

From the official NodeSource repository (Debian and Ubuntu)

For a current LTS version on Debian and Ubuntu. Set NODE_MAJOR to the major version you want:

apt install -y ca-certificates curl gpg
install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/gpgkey/nodesource-repo.gpg.key | gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.gpg
NODE_MAJOR=26
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.gpg] https://deb.nodesource.com/node_$NODE_MAJOR.x nodistro main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nodesource.list
apt update
apt install -y nodejs

NodeSource already includes npm. If the distribution's nodejs is installed, remove it first with apt remove nodejs npm.

Check

node -v
npm -v

2. User and folder for the bot

The bot runs as its own user, not as root:

useradd --system --create-home --home-dir /opt/bot --shell /usr/sbin/nologin bot

Put your code in /opt/bot/app, for example via Git or SFTP, and install the dependencies as bot:

sudo -u bot git clone https://example.com/your/bot.git /opt/bot/app
cd /opt/bot/app
sudo -u bot npm ci --omit=dev

npm ci needs a package-lock.json. Without one, use npm install --omit=dev.

3. Put the token in an env file

The bot token doesn't belong in your code or your Git repo. Put it in a file only root can read; systemd hands it to the bot at start.

install -d -m 0750 /etc/bot
nano /etc/bot/bot.env

DISCORD_TOKEN=your-token-from-the-discord-developer-portal
NODE_ENV=production

chmod 600 /etc/bot/bot.env

In your code, read the token with process.env.DISCORD_TOKEN, for example with discord.js:

client.login(process.env.DISCORD_TOKEN);

4. systemd service

nano /etc/systemd/system/bot.service

[Unit]
Description=Discord bot
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=bot
WorkingDirectory=/opt/bot/app
EnvironmentFile=/etc/bot/bot.env
ExecStart=/usr/bin/node index.js
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5
NoNewPrivileges=true
ProtectSystem=full
ProtectHome=true

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Replace index.js with your bot's entry file. To start with npm start: ExecStart=/usr/bin/npm start. command -v node shows where node lives.

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable --now bot

Check that it runs

systemctl status bot

active (running), and the bot shows as online in your Discord server. The logs:

journalctl -u bot -f

-f follows new lines live; Ctrl+C stops the display (not the bot). The last 100 lines: journalctl -u bot -n 100.

Update the bot

cd /opt/bot/app
sudo -u bot git pull
sudo -u bot npm ci --omit=dev
systemctl restart bot

New token? Edit /etc/bot/bot.env and run systemctl restart bot.

Alternative: pm2

pm2 is a process manager for Node.js. It's handy if you run many Node apps; for a single bot, systemd is enough.

npm install -g pm2

As your user (not root), in the bot's folder:

pm2 start index.js --name bot
pm2 save
pm2 startup systemd

pm2 startup prints a line beginning with sudo env PATH=…. Run it once so pm2 starts at boot. Logs: pm2 logs bot, status: pm2 status.

With pm2, pass the token via an ecosystem.config.js or via node --env-file=.env index.js. The .env then goes into .gitignore. Use either systemd or pm2 for a given bot, not both.

Common errors

What next

• Secure your server.
• A database or web UI in containers: Docker.
• Help: ticket.