Is it possible to build a Discord bot using Next.js?

[ValentinaP]

I'm a Next.js developer and I want to build a Discord bot. Can I use Next.js API routes to handle Discord interactions, or do I need a separate backend? What are the limitations compared to a dedicated Node.js bot framework like discord.js?

 

[GaleGaytan]

You can definitely use Next.js API routes to handle Discord interactions, and it's a good idea if you're already familiar with Next.js. The Discord API is just a regular API, so you can use Next.js to create endpoints that interact with it. However, you might run into some limitations, like having to handle webhooks and potentially long-running tasks, which can be tricky with Next.js. A dedicated Node.js bot framework like discord.js might be more straightforward for certain tasks, but if you're comfortable with Next.js, you can make it work. You just need to consider how you'll handle things like bot authentication and message processing.

 

[Jouri]

Not really in the way people expect, Next.js is meant for web apps, while a Discord bot needs a long-running backend process to stay connected to Discord’s gateway, which Next.js doesn’t handle well (especially on serverless setups). You can use Next.js alongside a bot (like for a dashboard or API routes), but the actual bot should run separately using something like Node.js with discord.js. I’ve tried mixing them before, and it’s much cleaner to keep the bot and Next.js app as two separate parts.