KeyError in Discord bot while trying to access user ID: '892547163729485267'

Other Questions Discord bot
1

I’m developing a Discord economy bot by following a tutorial, but I’m encountering an error when users attempt to check their balance:

Exception raised: KeyError: ‘892547163729485267’
In “economy.py”, line 18, while executing check_balance
coins = player_info[str(member.id)][“coins”]

Here’s the problematic code segment:

@bot.command()
async def check_balance(ctx):
    await initialize_account(ctx.author)
    member = ctx.author
    player_info = await retrieve_economy_data()
    
    coins = player_info[str(member.id)]["coins"]
    savings = player_info[str(member.id)]["savings"]
    
    embed = discord.Embed(title=f"{ctx.author.name}'s Wallet", color=discord.Color.green())
    embed.add_field(name="Coins", value=coins)
    embed.add_field(name="Savings", value=savings)
    await ctx.send(embed=embed)

async def initialize_account(member):
    player_info = await retrieve_economy_data()
    
    if str(member.id) in player_info:
        return False
    else:
        player_info[str(member.id)] = {}
        player_info[str(member.id)]["coins"] = 0
        player_info[str(member.id)]["savings"] = 0

The bot crashes every time someone tries to use the balance command. I suspect there might be a problem with the way I’m managing the user data, but I can’t identify the exact issue. Any suggestions on how to resolve this?

2

looks like your initialize_account function isnt actually saving the data back to wherever you store it. you’re modifying player_info locally but not persisting it, so when check_balance runs the user still doesn’t exist in the saved data. make sure initialize_account writes the updated player_info back to your file/database after creating the new user entry.

3

The issue is that your initialize_account function creates the user data but never saves it permanently. You’re modifying the player_info dictionary in memory, but when check_balance calls retrieve_economy_data() again, it’s loading the original data from storage without your changes. You need to add a save operation at the end of initialize_account - something like await save_economy_data(player_info) or whatever your save function is called. Also consider adding error handling in check_balance as a backup, maybe wrap the coin access in a try-except block that calls initialize_account if the KeyError occurs.

4

I’ve run into this exact problem before when working on my own Discord bot. The root cause is that you’re calling retrieve_economy_data() twice - once in initialize_account and again in check_balance. When you modify the dictionary in initialize_account, those changes only exist in that local copy, but check_balance fetches a fresh copy from your data source which doesn’t include the new user data. You need to either return the modified player_info from initialize_account and reuse it, or make sure initialize_account actually commits the changes to your storage before returning. I’d recommend restructuring so that initialize_account returns the updated data dictionary, then use that same dictionary in check_balance instead of calling retrieve_economy_data() again.