Discord bot connection issue: Token not recognized

Other Questions Discord bot
1

Hey everyone! I’m struggling to get my Discord bot connected. I’ve set up my project like this:

import os
import discord
from dotenv import load_dotenv

load_dotenv()
BOT_SECRET = os.getenv(DISCORD_KEY)

bot = discord.Client()

@bot.event
async def on_startup():
    print(f'{bot.user} is now online!')

bot.run(BOT_SECRET)

I’ve got a separate .env file with DISCORD_KEY = 'my_secret_token' in it. Both files are in the same folder.

But when I run it, I get this error:

NameError: name 'DISCORD_KEY' is not defined

What am I doing wrong? I thought I had everything set up correctly, but it’s not working. Any ideas on how to fix this? Thanks in advance for any help!

2

hey mate, i’ve run into this before. quick fix: change os.getenv(DISCORD_KEY) to os.getenv('DISCORD_KEY'). the env variable name needs quotes. also, make sure ur .env file is named exactly ‘.env’ (no quotes). hope this helps!

3

I encountered a similar issue when setting up my Discord bot. The problem lies in how you’re accessing the environment variable. Instead of os.getenv(DISCORD_KEY), you should use os.getenv(‘DISCORD_KEY’). The key needs to be a string.

Additionally, ensure your .env file is in the correct directory and that you’ve installed the python-dotenv package. If you’re still having trouble, try printing os.getenv(‘DISCORD_KEY’) to verify it’s not returning None.

Lastly, double-check your bot token on the Discord Developer Portal. Sometimes, regenerating the token can resolve connection issues.

4

I’ve been through this exact headache before, trust me. One thing that often gets overlooked is the intents setup. Make sure you’re initializing your bot with the correct intents. Try modifying your code like this:

intents = discord.Intents.default()
intents.message_content = True
bot = discord.Client(intents=intents)

This explicitly enables the message content intent, which is crucial for most bot functionalities. Also, double-check that you’ve enabled the necessary intents in the Discord Developer Portal for your bot. It’s a common pitfall that can cause connection issues even if your token is correct.

If that doesn’t solve it, try hardcoding your token temporarily (just for testing, don’t leave it in your code!) to rule out any .env file issues. And remember, always keep your token secret!