I'm sure you've heard of Discord, the all-in-one voice and text chat app, and maybe you're even using it. Well did you know that it is possible to send automated messages in Discord servers directly from JavaScript? It's called Webhooks. Let's see how to easily set one up in order for you to integrate it with your app, or even just have fun sending custom messages.
This works by sending a post request with some JSON data to a unique URL Discord provides when you create your Webhook.

Create the Webhook

Discord provides a feature to create Webhooks, but note that it is only available in server channels, not in direct messages. To create a Webhook, click the cog next to the channel in which you wish to set up your Webhook:

Then head to the Webhooks tab, and hit Create Webhook. You'll then be able to specify the name, which is the name that is used when sending messages if none is specifided in the JSON post request.
You can also adjust the channel, and add a default image. Again, that image can later be customized from the JSON post request.

Then at the bottom, you'll get the unique Webhook URL. Copy it and save it somewhere, as we will use it later.

Setup the JavaScript file

In order to send POST requests to your webhook, you'll have to set up some form of JavaScript environment in which you can execute code. In my case I'll just simply create a local HTML file that I'll name index.html. Inside it I'll create a basic button that executes the JavaScript function sendMessage().
Here's the code:



<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <title>Discord Webhook Tutorial</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <button onclick="sendMessage()">Send</button>
  </body>
</html>

Then I'll add a script tag in which I'll declare the sendMessage function:



<script>
  function sendMessage() {

  }
</script>

Inside of that function I'll create a new XMLHttpRequest, and I'll save the return value in the request variable. The first parameter will be "POST", because we want to do a POST request to the Webhook. The second parameter is your Webhook URL, that you got when creating your Webhook. If you don't have it, go to your Webhook's settings, and copy it from there.

Please note that the URL specified below is the URL referencing my Discord channel, so you need to change it in order for the code to work in your Discord channel.

Your sendMessage function should look like this:



function sendMessage() {
      const request = new XMLHttpRequest();
      request.open("POST", "https://discordapp.com/api/webhooks/676118118082281513/ZS5YcWhurzokBrKX9NgexqtxrJA5Pu2Bo4i7_JsIxC-JIbPBVhSZkcVVukGOro52rnQA");
      // replace the url in the "open" method with yours
}

Then I'll call the setRequestHeader method, and specify the "Content-type" to be "application/json" in order to indicate that what we're sending is JSON data, like so:



request.setRequestHeader('Content-type', 'application/json');

Then, I'll declare a params object, containing the JSON data we want to send to our Webhook:



const params = {
    username: "My Webhook Name",
    avatar_url: "",
    content: "The message to send"
}

If you don't specify a username or avatar, it will default to the one you chose when creating the Webhook. The content attribute can't be empty, otherwise the request will fail.

And then for the last step, we need to send the actual data, like so:



request.send(JSON.stringify(params));

Notice how JSON.stringify is used. It converts our params object to a valid string that can be sent.

Here's the final HTML file in case you want it:



<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <title>Discord Webhook Tutorial</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <button onclick="sendMessage()">Send</button>
  </body>

  <script>
    function sendMessage() {
      const request = new XMLHttpRequest();
      request.open("POST", "https://discordapp.com/api/webhooks/676118118082281513/ZS5YcWhurzokBrKX9NgexqtxrJA5Pu2Bo4i7_JsIxC-JIbPBVhSZkcVVukGOro52rnQA");

      request.setRequestHeader('Content-type', 'application/json');

      const params = {
        username: "My Webhook Name",
        avatar_url: "",
        content: "The message to send"
      }

      request.send(JSON.stringify(params));
    }
  </script>
</html>

And now it's time to test it out! In my case I'll open up Chrome to execute my HTML file, and press the Send button in order to send the message.
And there you go! A message was sent from "My Webhook Name", and it says "The message to send", just like I specified:

If I had specified an avatar URL, it would have replaced the default Discord icon.

And that's basically it! You can now integrate this in your own application, to send automated messages when an event occurs in you app!

In a later tutorial, we'll see how to create embeds, in order to send really cool messages, like this one:

Blog

Send automated Discord messages through Webhooks using JavaScript

Oskar Codes

Create the Webhook

Setup the JavaScript file

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