Configure discord-mcp

discord-mcp receives its runtime settings through environment variables in your MCP client configuration. Start with the smallest safe configuration, verify it, then add controls for the behavior you need.

Start with a safe baseline

Set the bot token and leave the remaining controls at their defaults:

DISCORD_TOKEN=your-discord-bot-token

This starts the server with REST-only transport, info logging, retry, circuit breaking, and audit logging enabled. Destructive tools stay in dry-run mode until you explicitly opt in.

Caution

Setting MCP_DRY_RUN=false enables execution only for the 29 confirmation-gated tools. Each call still needs __confirm: true; this is intentionally a two-key safety check.

Add controls by intent

Limit access Set a default guild or allow only the tool categories your agent needs.

Control writes Understand dry-run mode and make deliberate production changes.

Observe traffic Export traces to an OTLP collector or inspect spans locally.

Tune reliability Adjust retry, timeout, circuit breaker, and concurrency limits.

Record mutations Choose the audit sink and file location that fit your operations.

Verify before using an agent

Run the online doctor after the client has started the server:

discord-mcp doctor --online

It reports missing or invalid schema-backed environment variables. Use the environment variable reference for the exact accepted values and defaults. MCP_DRY_RUN is intentionally not part of that schema validation, so verify that value byte-for-byte before enabling writes.