How to disconnect Discord bot while keeping Python script active (discord.py)

Other Questions Discord bot
1

Goal: Deploy new features while maintaining existing processes

I’m trying to figure out how to gracefully shut down my Discord bot connection while keeping the Python script running. My bot handles several asynchronous tasks that need to complete even after new updates are deployed.

What I’ve attempted:

await bot.close()

This approach disconnects the bot but also terminates my entire Python process. According to the discord.py docs, this behavior is expected.

My setup: Windows 10 running Python 3.9

Is there a method to only close the bot connection without stopping the command prompt or Python interpreter? I need to restart the bot with updated commands while preserving ongoing background tasks.

2

I’ve hit this exact issue with production bots. Here’s what’s happening: bot.close() cleanly shuts down the connection but won’t kill your process unless it’s running the main event loop. Your script is probably tying the bot’s lifecycle to your whole app.

Try setting up a restart mechanism with signal handlers or a management layer that reinitializes the bot while keeping your background tasks alive. What works best for me is running separate coroutines for the bot and background processes, then using a coordinator function to handle restarts. This way the bot shutdown won’t cascade to other async operations that should keep running during updates.

3

try bot.logout() instead of bot.close() - it’ll disconnect without killing the entire process. also consider running your bot in a separate thread from your main script. makes it way easier to restart without messing up other background processes.

4

You need to separate your bot’s lifecycle from your main app. Don’t run the bot directly - wrap it in a function and use asyncio.create_task() to manage it. This way you can control the bot without breaking your main event loop. Here’s what I’ve been using:

async def run_bot():
    await bot.start('your_token')

async def main():
    bot_task = asyncio.create_task(run_bot())
    # Your other async tasks go here
    
    # To restart the bot:
    bot_task.cancel()
    await bot.close()
    bot_task = asyncio.create_task(run_bot())

asyncio.run(main())

With this setup, you can cancel and restart the bot whenever you want while keeping your other background tasks running.