Discord is a fantastic way to connect with your friends or host a community and a bot is a perfect way to add features to your server. Not only will this guided project show you how to get started in creating a bot, but you'll also learn how to power it with an AI chatbot and give it a voice. Finally, you'll host it somewhere so that the bot is online without your computer being on.
 Throughout 2020 and 2021, the easiest way to connect with others is through web conferencing software. Whether it's for school, work, or just hanging out with friends, there's no shortage of options online. One of those options is Discord! Though it was created initially for the video gaming community, Discord has become a fantastic option for all types of users. Along with the ability to voice chat, video call, instant message, and screen share, one of Discord’s key features is the ability to have bots in the channel. Discord bots are extremely flexible in what they can do. Just send a simple command to them, and they could do things like respond to you with information, play sounds in a voice channel, manage your users, and many more!
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There are so many bots out there that have become essential to a great Discord server. In this guided project, we’re going to show you how to set up a basic bot. Then, we’ll show you how to add Watson Assistant – an AI chatbot created by IBM. We’ll also give your bot the option to respond through voice channels. To top it all off, we’ll host it on IBM Code Engine so you don’t have to rely on your computer constantly being on to host your bot.
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Learn by Doing
A guided project is a hands-on tutorial designed to help you learn a particular technology by doing a real project. It includes step-by-step instructions with explanations, examples, and exercises that can be followed and practiced in a lab environment.
Hands-on skills are highly sought out by employers when determining job readiness. Guided projects are interactive, on-demand and will equip you with practical abilities that can be applied on the job!
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A Look at the Project Ahead
Once you have completed this project, you'll be able to:Â
- Create a Discord bot with Discord.js
- Add Watson Assistant to your bot
- Add Watson Text-to-Speech (TTS) to your bot
- Host it for free* on IBM Code Engine
 *A credit card is required but you won't be charged until you reach a certain usage.
What You’ll Need Â
Just a web browser! Though some basic programming knowledge would be nice, it's not required!
Everything else is provided to you via the IBM Skills Network Labs environment, where you will have access to Node.js, IBM Cloud CLI, and Docker which are tools that we offer as part of the IBM Skills Network Labs environment. This platform works best with current versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Safari.
Your Instructors
Aster Wu, IBM
Rohit Arora, IBM