Step 1: Create a Discord application
Open the Discord Developer Portal
Go to discord.com/developers/applications and log in with your Discord account.
Step 2: Configure the bot and enable intents
Enable Privileged Gateway Intents
Scroll down to Privileged Gateway Intents and enable all three:
- Message Content Intent — required. Without this the bot connects but cannot read any messages.
- Server Members Intent — recommended. Needed for user allowlists and name matching.
- Presence Intent — optional.
Step 3: Invite the bot to your server
Select bot permissions
Under Bot Permissions, check:
- View Channels
- Send Messages
- Read Message History
- Embed Links
- Attach Files
Step 4: Connect to hellenicAI Assistants
Go to your instance dashboard
Log in at app.hellenicai.com and open your instance.
Step 5: Pair your Discord account
After connecting the token, you need to pair your personal Discord account. This is a one-time step that authorises your user to interact with the assistant.DM your bot in Discord
Open Discord, find your bot in the member list, right-click it, and click Message. Send any message — for example Copy the 8-character pairing code.
hello or /pair.The bot will reply with a message like this:Pairing must be done via a Direct Message to the bot, not in a server channel. Once paired, the bot will respond to you in any channel it has access to.
Paste the code in your dashboard
Back in the hellenicAI Assistants dashboard, paste the pairing code into the Step 2 input and click Approve.
Each team member who wants to chat with the assistant needs to complete this pairing step once. If you need to link a different account, click Re-pair next to the Paired badge and repeat the process.
Step 6: Test the connection
Send a message in a server channel
Go to any channel in your Discord server that the bot has access to and send a message. No @mention is required — the bot responds to all messages in permitted channels.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| Bot does not respond to anything | Message Content Intent is likely not enabled. Go to the Developer Portal → Bot → Privileged Gateway Intents → enable Message Content Intent → Save Changes |
| Bot says “This channel is not allowed” | This appears in server channels before pairing is complete. Send a DM to the bot first to receive the pairing code, complete Step 5, then try the channel again |
| Bot appears offline after connecting token | The token may be incorrect. Go to the Developer Portal, reset the token, and save it again in the Channels section |
| Pairing code not received | Make sure you are sending the DM to the bot directly (not in a server channel). Right-click the bot user and click Message |
| Pairing code is rejected | The code may have expired or already been used. Send a new DM to get a fresh code and paste it immediately |
| Status shows “Not paired” | Complete Step 5 above to approve your Discord account |
| ”Missing Access” error | Re-invite the bot using the OAuth2 URL Generator with the correct scopes (bot and applications.commands) and permissions |
| Bot responds in some channels but not others | Check that the bot role has View Channels and Send Messages permissions in that specific channel, not just server-wide |
| Token save shows “Connection refused” | Your instance may be restarting. Wait 30 seconds and try again |
