Can a Discord bot execute its own slash commands programmatically?

Other Questions Discord bot
1

I’m working on a Discord bot and I need to figure out how to make it execute one of its own slash commands programmatically. Specifically, I want the bot to trigger a slash command that it registered during the on_ready event.

Here’s my bot setup:

import discord
from discord import app_commands

class MyBot(discord.Client):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__(intents=discord.Intents.all())
        self.commands_synced = False

    async def on_ready(self):
        await self.wait_until_ready()
        if not self.commands_synced:
            await command_tree.sync(guild=discord.Object(id=1234567890123456789))
            self.commands_synced = True
        
        target_channel_id = 9876543210987654321
        target_channel = self.get_channel(target_channel_id)
        if target_channel:
            await target_channel.purge(limit=1)
            # I want to programmatically run the /welcome command here
        
        print(f"Bot is ready: {self.user}")

class WelcomeView(discord.ui.View):
    def __init__(self):
        super().__init__(timeout=None)
    
    @discord.ui.button(label="Accept", style=discord.ButtonStyle.primary, custom_id="accept_btn")
    async def accept_terms(self, interaction: discord.Interaction, button: discord.ui.Button):
        member_role = interaction.guild.get_role(1111111111111111111)
        if member_role not in interaction.user.roles:
            await interaction.user.add_roles(member_role)
            await interaction.response.send_message(f"Welcome! You now have {member_role.mention}!", ephemeral=True)
        else:
            await interaction.response.send_message(f"You already have {member_role.mention}!", ephemeral=True)

bot = MyBot()
command_tree = app_commands.CommandTree(bot)

@command_tree.command(guild=discord.Object(id=1234567890123456789), name='welcome', description='Display welcome message')
async def welcome_command(interaction: discord.Interaction):
    required_role_id = 2222222222222222222
    required_role = discord.utils.get(interaction.guild.roles, id=required_role_id)
    
    if required_role in interaction.user.roles:
        welcome_embed = discord.Embed(
            title="🎉 Welcome to the Server! 🎉",
            description="Please read and accept our terms to continue.",
            color=discord.Color.green()
        )
        await interaction.response.send_message(embed=welcome_embed, view=WelcomeView())
    else:
        await interaction.response.send_message("Access denied.", ephemeral=True)

bot.run('YOUR_TOKEN')

I need the bot to automatically execute the /welcome slash command in the on_ready method after clearing the channel. Is this possible and how would I implement it?

2

nah you can’t trigger slash commands directly like that. slash commands need an interaction object from discord which your bot doesn’t have when running code internally. just extract the welcome logic into a regular function and call it from both places - works way better than trying to fake interactions

3

It is not possible for your bot to execute its own slash commands programmatically. Slash commands are designed for user interaction within Discord, not to be invoked directly by the bot itself. Instead, create a separate function containing the logic for your welcome message. This way, you can call it both from the slash command and during the on_ready event.

For example:

async def send_welcome_message(channel, guild):
    welcome_embed = discord.Embed(
        title="🎉 Welcome to the Server! 🎉",
        description="Please read and accept our terms to continue.",
        color=discord.Color.green()
    )
    await channel.send(embed=welcome_embed, view=WelcomeView())

@command_tree.command(guild=discord.Object(id=1234567890123456789), name='welcome', description='Display welcome message')
async def welcome_command(interaction: discord.Interaction):
    # Your permission checks here
    await send_welcome_message(interaction.channel, interaction.guild)
    await interaction.response.send_message("Welcome message sent!", ephemeral=True)

Then in your on_ready method, simply call await send_welcome_message(target_channel, target_channel.guild) instead of trying to invoke the slash command.

4

The problem is that slash commands need an interaction context - they only work when a user actually triggers them through Discord’s interface. You can’t just call them programmatically like regular functions.

Don’t try to execute slash commands from your code. Instead, pull out the actual logic into a separate function. Create a function that handles creating and posting the welcome message, then call it from both your slash command AND your on_ready event.

This way your slash command just handles user stuff and permissions, while the real work happens in a reusable function you can call anywhere. Much cleaner and easier to maintain.