Hermes Agent + Discord: Run Your Hermes Bot on Discord

What Is a Hermes Discord Bot?

A Hermes Discord bot is a full AI agent that lives in your Discord workspace. Unlike basic Discord bots that respond to slash commands, Hermes understands natural language, holds multi-turn conversations, uses tools (web search, code execution, and more), and maintains memory across sessions.

You can use a Hermes Discord bot as an AI assistant in server channels, add it to DMs for personal use, or run it as a shared resource across your community. The same Hermes instance can simultaneously serve Discord and other channels like Telegram or WhatsApp.

Step 1: Create a Discord Application

Discord bots run as applications registered in the Discord Developer Portal:

1. Go to the Discord Developer Portal and click New Application.
2. Give your application a name (this is your bot's display name) and click Create.
3. In the left sidebar, click Bot.
4. Click Reset Token to generate a bot token and copy it.

Step 2: Enable Message Content Intent

Discord requires explicit opt-in for bots to read message content (as opposed to slash command interactions only). Hermes needs this to read natural language messages:

1. In your application's Bot settings, scroll to Privileged Gateway Intents.
2. Enable Message Content Intent.
3. Save changes.

Without Message Content Intent enabled, your bot will only receive slash command interactions — it won't see regular messages in channels or DMs.

Step 3: Invite the Bot to Your Server

Generate an invite link to add your bot to Discord servers:

1. In the Developer Portal, go to OAuth2 → URL Generator.
2. Under Scopes, check bot.
3. Under Bot Permissions, check Send Messages, Read Message History, and Read Messages / View Channels.
4. Copy the generated URL and open it to invite the bot to your server.

Step 4: Deploy Hermes on OpenClaw Launch

1. Go to openclawlaunch.com/hermes-hosting and start a Hermes deploy.
2. Select Discord as your channel and paste your bot token.
3. Pick your AI model and click Deploy. Your Hermes Discord bot is live in roughly 10 seconds.

Discord dmPolicy: Use "open" with allowFrom

Discord bots are invite-only — they can only appear in servers where a server administrator has explicitly invited them. This is a fundamental difference from Telegram, where any user can search and message your bot publicly.

Because Discord bots are already gated by invite, dmPolicy: "open" with allowFrom: ["*"] is the correct setting for Discord. There is no need for the pairing flow that Telegram requires. Setting dmPolicy: "pairing" for Discord creates a confusing UX where users must DM the bot to get a code, then open the gateway UI to approve it — friction that serves no security purpose on an invite-only platform.

OpenClaw Launch sets the correct Discord policy automatically.

Self-Hosted Hermes + Discord

For self-hosted Hermes, configure Discord under platforms.discord in /opt/data/config.yaml:

# /opt/data/config.yaml
platforms:
  discord:
    token: "your-bot-token-here"
    # Discord bots are invite-only by design — no DM-pairing rule
    # like Telegram. Hermes accepts DMs from any user the bot has
    # been added to or that has a mutual server with it.

Restart the Hermes container after editing config.yaml. See the upstream README for the full Discord schema, including thread/forum settings and intent flags.

Discord vs Telegram for Hermes

What's Next?

• Hermes Agent + Telegram — Deploy Hermes on Telegram with DM pairing security
• Hermes Agent + WhatsApp — Connect Hermes to WhatsApp via QR pairing
• Hermes Agent + Claude — Choose the best model for your Discord bot
• Hermes Agent + MCP — Extend your Discord bot with web search and tool access