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Discord Integration

Pilot connects to your Discord server via a bot, allowing team members to submit tasks directly from Discord channels. Messages in allowed channels are converted to Pilot tasks with interactive confirmation buttons.

Setup

1. Create a Discord Bot

  1. Go to the Discord Developer Portal 
  2. Click New Application → name it (e.g., “Pilot Bot”)
  3. Go to Bot → click Add Bot
  4. Under Privileged Gateway Intents, enable:
    • GUILD_MESSAGES
    • DIRECT_MESSAGES
    • MESSAGE_CONTENT (privileged — required for reading message text)
  5. Copy the Bot Token from the Bot page

The MESSAGE_CONTENT intent is privileged and must be explicitly enabled in the Developer Portal. Without it, Pilot cannot read message content.

2. Invite the Bot to Your Server

  1. Go to OAuth2 → URL Generator
  2. Select scopes: bot, applications.commands
  3. Select bot permissions: Send Messages, Read Message History, Use Slash Commands
  4. Copy the generated URL and open it to invite the bot

3. Configure Pilot

# ~/.pilot/config.yaml
adapters:
  discord:
    enabled: true
    bot_token: "${DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN}"
    allowed_guilds: []       # Guild IDs (empty = all guilds)
    allowed_channels: []     # Channel IDs (empty = all channels)
    command_prefix: "/"

Configuration Reference

FieldTypeDefaultDescription
enabledboolfalseEnable the Discord adapter
bot_tokenstringrequiredDiscord bot token
allowed_guilds[]string[]Guild IDs to allow (empty = all)
allowed_channels[]string[]Channel IDs to allow (empty = all)
command_prefixstring"/"Command prefix (reserved for future use)

How It Works

Pilot connects to Discord via the Gateway WebSocket for real-time message delivery — no polling required. The connection supports automatic reconnection with session resume on disconnect.

Constraints:

  • One pending task per channel (prevents spam)
  • 5-minute task expiry for unconfirmed tasks

Task Flow

  1. User sends a message in an allowed channel
  2. Pilot replies with a task confirmation embed containing Execute (green) and Cancel (red) buttons
  3. User clicks Execute → Pilot dispatches the task
  4. Progress updates edit the original message in-place with a progress bar
  5. On completion, the result is posted with a PR link

Message Formats

PhaseFormat
ConfirmationTask description + Execute / Cancel buttons
Progress⚙️ [██████░░░░] 60% with phase detail
Success✅ Task completed with PR link
Failure❌ Task failed with error summary

Running Pilot with Discord

pilot start --discord --github

This starts the Discord adapter alongside the GitHub adapter for PR creation.

Troubleshooting

Bot Not Responding

  1. Verify the MESSAGE_CONTENT privileged intent is enabled in the Developer Portal
  2. Check that the bot is online in your server’s member list
  3. Confirm the channel is in allowed_channels (or leave empty for all channels)

“Invalid Token” Close Code

  1. Regenerate the bot token in the Developer Portal → Bot → Reset Token
  2. Update DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN in your environment

Messages Not Received

  1. Verify allowed_guilds and allowed_channels lists are correct (or empty for all)
  2. Ensure the bot has Read Message History permission in the channel
  3. Check Pilot logs for gateway connection events

Rate Limits

Discord enforces rate limits. Pilot defaults:

  • 5 messages per second per channel
  • 10 task dispatches per minute

If you see 429 Too Many Requests in logs, reduce concurrent task volume.

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