Connect Project Zomboid to Discord
Link Project Zomboid's built-in Discord bot to your server: make the bot, paste its token and the chat channel's name in the Discord tab, and restart.
Project Zomboid has a Discord bot built in. With it switched on, global chat from the game appears in a Discord channel, and what people type in that channel comes back in the game. The panel gives it its own Discord tab, so you never edit the settings file by hand. You need a Discord server where you can add bots. Checked against Build 42.21, October 2026.
Before you start
The settings live in the world's .ini, which the game writes on its first boot. Until then the Discord tab says Start the server once to create its settings. Start the server, wait for Your server is online in the Console, then come back.
Make the bot in Discord
Do these in the Discord Developer Portal, then keep the token handy.
- Create an application, open its Bot page and press Reset Token. Copy the token.
- On the same page, turn on Message Content Intent. Without it the bot can't read what people type in the channel. The game asks Discord for the guild messages and message content intents.
- Under OAuth2, build an invite URL with the
botscope and the Send Messages and Read Message History permissions. Open it to add the bot to your Discord server. - Make a text channel for the chat, such as
server-chat, and note its name exactly as Discord shows it, without the#.
The same four steps open in the panel from New to Discord bots? Open the step-by-step guide.
Fill in the Discord tab
- Open your server's Discord tab.
- Switch Bridge on. The Bot token field stays greyed out until you do.
- Paste the token into Bot token. Its show button lets you check what you pasted. Anyone holding the token controls your bot, so keep it out of chat.
- Type the channel's name into Channel name, without the
#. The game looks the channel up by its name, so it must match what Discord shows. A leading#is removed for you. - Press Save settings in the bar that appears, then restart the server. The bot connects when the server boots.
After the restart, the card shows Last from the console with the most recent Discord line the server printed, so you can see whether it connected or the token was refused.
The game finds the channel by name and uses the first one it finds with that name. Keep the name unique across the servers the bot can see.
If it doesn't connect
- Nothing happens after a restart. Check Bridge on is switched on and saved, that the token isn't empty, and that you restarted rather than only saving.
- The console line mentions the token. Reset the token in the Developer Portal, paste the new one and save.
- The bot is online but silent. Make sure it was invited with the permissions above, that Message Content Intent is on, and that the channel name matches exactly.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to restart every time?
Yes. Changes to the bridge apply on the next boot.
Why does the bot's name change?
The game renames the bot to your server name when it connects.
What are the log and command channels?
The settings file also has DiscordLogChannel and DiscordCommandChannel, found by name the same way. The log channel receives the game's event log. The command channel runs every message posted in it as a server command and posts the reply back. The Discord tab doesn't edit either, so they stay empty unless you add names in the .ini yourself.
Anyone who can post in a command channel can run server commands. Only name a channel that you alone, or your trusted staff, can write in.
Can I turn it off again?
Switch Bridge on off, save and restart.
Was this guide helpful?
Related guides
Zomboid Minimap, Coordinates and Player Dots
Turn on the in-game mini-map, show player coordinates and choose who other players can see on the map of your Project Zomboid server.
Hunger, Thirst and Farming Rates in Zomboid
Slow or speed up hunger, thirst, fatigue and food spoilage, and tune crop growth speed and yield on your Project Zomboid server.
Set Your Project Zomboid Spawn Point
Choose where new Project Zomboid characters start: spawn regions in the Worlds tab, one fixed spawn point, and the respawn switches in Server Settings.
