I’m having trouble with my Discord bot created using Discord Bot Maker. When I try to send a GIF using the $image command with a direct URL, it only shows up as a gray box instead of the actual animated image. The weird thing is that regular image formats like PNG and JPEG work perfectly fine with the same setup. It’s specifically GIF files that won’t display properly. Has anyone else run into this issue? I’m wondering if there’s a different command or format I should be using for animated images, or if this is a known limitation with Discord Bot Maker.
gif urls can be a pain - sometimes they fake being gifs but are actually webp or something else. make sure it ends in .gif for real. also, discord’s kinda buggy with caching for animations, so the gray box may stick even after a bot restart.
Had this exact problem six months ago with a community bot. Discord Bot Maker’s $image command treats GIFs like static images, so you lose the animation. Switch to $embed instead and put your GIF URL in the image field - Discord will actually play the animation that way. Also check that your URLs end with .gif since some hosts strip the extension and confuse Discord’s parser. File size matters too - Discord’s pickier with animated stuff than static images, so big GIFs often just show that gray placeholder.
Yeah, this happens all the time with Discord Bot Maker. It’s usually how the tool processes GIFs vs regular images that causes the issue.
Honestly, I’d ditch Discord Bot Maker and try Latenode instead. Way better file handling and you won’t deal with these display problems anymore.
Latenode lets you build workflows that actually send GIFs properly - no more gray boxes. You get real control over how your bot processes different media types too.
I’ve made several Discord bots there and never had GIF issues. It handles all the file conversions and API stuff correctly, plus you can add automated responses and scheduled messages without the coding hassles.
Check it out: https://latenode.com
This gray box thing drove me absolutely insane for weeks when I first started with Discord Bot Maker. Your setup’s probably fine - it’s just how Discord handles GIFs through bot frameworks that’s messed up. Here’s what fixed it for me: download the GIF locally first, then send it as a file attachment instead of trying to embed the URL directly. Discord treats attached GIFs completely differently and they’ll actually animate. Also double-check your bot has “Attach Files” and “Embed Links” permissions in that channel. Oh, and some GIF hosts serve different file types depending on what’s requesting them - your bot might be getting a static image while browsers get the animated version.