Players
Link your Minecraft chat to Discord
Most server communities live in Discord. Linking the two means people who are not in the game can still talk with those who are, and you see joins, deaths and achievements in a channel.
There are two separate things here, and it helps to keep them apart: a chat bridge, which is a plugin or mod on the server, and alerts and controls for you as owner, which the panel does.
In short
To link Minecraft chat to Discord, create a bot in the Discord Developer Portal with the Message Content and Server Members intents on, add it to your Discord, then install DiscordSRV on Paper or Discord Integration on a modded server. Paste the bot token and the channel ID into its config and restart, and chat flows both ways. For start, crash and restart alerts, use the Discord notifications and the Discord bot of the panel.
Step 1: make a Discord bot for your Minecraft server
The chat bridge talks to Discord through a bot account that you create yourself. It takes five minutes.
- Go to the Discord Developer Portal and create a New Application. Give it your server's name.
- Open Bot in the menu. Switch on Message Content Intent and Server Members Intent; without them the bot cannot read chat.
- Click Reset Token and copy the token. Treat it like a password: anyone with it controls your bot.
- Open OAuth2, tick the scope
bot, give it permission to read and send messages, and open the generated link to add the bot to your Discord.
Step 2: DiscordSRV on a Minecraft plugin server
On Paper, Purpur or Spigot, DiscordSRV is the standard bridge.
- Install DiscordSRV from the catalog in the Plugins tab and restart once, so it creates its settings folder.
- In Discord, switch on Developer Mode (User Settings, Advanced). Right click the channel for the chat and choose Copy Channel ID.
- In Files, open
plugins/DiscordSRV/config.yml. - Paste the token after
BotToken, and put the channel ID in theChannelsline, next toglobal. - Save and restart the server. The bot comes online in Discord and posts that the server started.
Chat typed in the game now shows in the channel, and messages in the channel show in the game. Players can link their Discord and Minecraft accounts with /discord link, which is useful if you want to give Discord roles to linked players.
What DiscordSRV can do beyond chat
DiscordSRV keeps its settings in a few files in plugins/DiscordSRV. Where to look for the extras people ask about:
| What you want | Where to set it |
|---|---|
| Change or turn off join, leave, death and advancement messages | messages.yml |
| Chat in Discord with the head and name of each player | Experiment_WebhookChatMessageDelivery in config.yml |
| The player count in the topic of the channel | The channel topic options in config.yml |
| A channel where staff can use the console | DiscordConsoleChannelId in config.yml |
| Discord roles that follow the ranks of players | synchronization.yml, together with LuckPerms |
| Only players with a linked Discord account may join | linking.yml |
Restart after each change, then test it with a second account or a friend before you tell everyone.
Discord chat on a modded Minecraft server
DiscordSRV is a plugin, so it does not run on Fabric, Forge or NeoForge. There the mod Discord Integration does the same job and supports all three loaders. The steps are alike: a bot token and a channel ID in its config file, found in the config folder after the first start.
Install it in the Mods tab. It only needs to be on the server; players do not need it in their game.
Minecraft server alerts and restarts from the panel in Discord
Separate from the chat bridge, the panel can talk to your Discord itself. In Settings you find two options.
- Discord notifications: a message in a channel of your choice when the server starts, when it crashes and when it is back after a crash, plus alerts on words you pick in the chat or console. You hear about trouble before your players tell you.
- Discord bot: connect our bot to your Discord with a link code. Its commands show whether the server runs and what it uses, who is online, and the last seven days of uptime and players. Restarting is for admins, or for one role you choose.
These work on every server type, also on modded and Bedrock servers, because they do not run inside the game.
Chat bridge, notifications or bot: which does what
| Tool | What it does | Works on |
|---|---|---|
| DiscordSRV or Discord Integration | Chat both ways, joins, deaths and advancements | Paper, Purpur and Spigot, or Fabric, Forge and NeoForge |
| Discord notifications of the panel | Messages when the server starts, crashes or recovers, and alerts on words you pick | Every server type, Bedrock included |
| Discord bot of the panel | Status, who is online, uptime and restarts from Discord | Every server type, Bedrock included |
Most communities use the chat bridge for players and the notifications for the owner. They do not get in each other's way.
If the Discord bot stays offline
- The token is wrong or was reset. Copy a fresh one and paste it again.
- The intents are off. Messages from Discord then never reach the game.
- The channel ID is a server ID or a user ID instead. Copy it again from the channel itself.
The console prints a clear message from DiscordSRV at startup; read that first.
Keep the Discord bot token safe
- The token sits in the config file of the bridge. Anyone who can open Files on your server can read it, so give file access only to people you trust; see give someone access to your server.
- Never paste the token in a Discord channel, a screenshot or a support message.
- If it leaked, click Reset Token in the Discord Developer Portal right away, paste the new token into the config and restart. The old one stops working at once.
Questions from Minecraft server owners
Does DiscordSRV work on a crossplay Minecraft server?
Yes. A crossplay server runs Paper, and messages from Bedrock players go through DiscordSRV like any other chat.
Can I have separate Discord channels for Minecraft chat and for console?
Yes. DiscordSRV has a separate setting for a console channel. Keep that channel private: anyone who can type there can run server commands.
Does the chat bridge cost Minecraft server performance?
Very little. It sends and receives text messages; even on a busy server that is a tiny load compared with the game itself.
Can players join my Minecraft server only after linking Discord?
Yes, with DiscordSRV. Its linking.yml has an option that requires a linked account to play, so only people from your Discord get in.
My Discord bot token leaked. What now?
Reset the token in the Discord Developer Portal at once, paste the new one into the config of the bridge and restart. The old token stops working the moment you reset it.
Is DiscordSRV free?
Yes. DiscordSRV is free, and so is the Discord bot account it uses.
Does a Discord chat bridge work on a Bedrock server?
No. A Bedrock server runs no plugins or mods. The Discord notifications and the Discord bot of the panel do work there, because they run outside the game.
Checked against DiscordSRV on Paper for Minecraft Java 26.2, September 2026. Written by the Cheapest Minecraft Hosting team, first published , updated .