How to Get Your Discord.py Bot to React to Its Own Messages

Discover how to enable your Discord bot to react to its own messages in Discord.py using simple code adjustments and best practices.
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This video is based on the question stackoverflow.com/q/65647155/ asked by the user 'Skel' ( stackoverflow.com/u/14974100/ ) and on the answer stackoverflow.com/a/65647296/ provided by the user 'Maxsc' ( stackoverflow.com/u/13995036/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

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How to Get Your Discord.py Bot to React to Its Own Messages

In the world of Discord bots created with Python, you may encounter a situation where you want your bot to react to its own messages. While it seems straightforward, many developers experience challenges when attempting to implement this feature. If you've tried using commands and still found yourself facing errors, don't worry! In this guide, we will explore how to successfully have your bot react to its own messages.

The Problem

You might be writing a command that sends an embed message and you want your bot to react to that same message. This can be a common situation when creating interactive Discord bots, but it can quickly become frustrating if it doesn't work as expected.

For example, you might have a code snippet where you send a message and then attempt to add a reaction to your own message. However, you encounter an error, such as:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

This indicates that while you're trying to reference a message, you're not using the correct variable for your bot's message.

Understanding the Solution

To address this issue, you’ll need to make a small change to your code. Instead of trying to use the command message (ctx.message.add_reaction(reaction)), you should be reacting directly to the message your bot sent using the variable that holds that message.

Let’s break down the solution step by step.

Step-by-Step Solution

Send the Message and Store It
First, when you send the message, you need to store it in a variable. This allows you to reference the message for subsequent commands, like adding a reaction.

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Add a Reaction to the Sent Message
Instead of using ctx.message.add_reaction(reaction), use the variable sent that contains the message you just sent. Here’s how to do it:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Final Code Example

Here’s how your complete command might look after these adjustments:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Important Tips

Always Store Your Message: Whenever you send a message from your bot, make sure to store the returned message object. This gives you control over that specific message.

Check Your Emojis: Make sure that the emoji you want to use is correctly specified. You can use custom Discord emojis by their IDs as well.

Stay Updated: The Discord API and libraries like Discord.py are evolving. Always refer to the latest documentation for additional features or changes.

Conclusion

Having your Discord.py bot react to its own messages is a simple task once you understand how to correctly reference the message object. By following the steps outlined above, you can manipulate message reactions seamlessly and improve user interaction in your Discord server. Happy coding!