Discord companion bot

The Discord companion is an optional add-on (sold / downloaded separately from the main NovaDocs package). It lives next to your install in addons/novadocs-discord.

It connects to your live NovaDocs URL and answers support questions with the best matching published article. It never needs database access — only your site’s public search API.

What it does

/docs <query> — search your docs and return the best article (+ related links)
Support channel auto-reply — when someone asks a question in the configured channel, the bot searches and replies
@mention — @Bot how do I install? works anywhere in the support server
No match — asks them to wait for a human, and still links to the docs home

Requirements

Node.js 20+ (or Docker)
A running NovaDocs site (Docker, VPS, or Vercel)
A Discord application + bot user

1. Create the Discord bot

Open the Discord Developer Portal → New Application
Bot → Add Bot → copy the Token
Enable Message Content Intent (Bot → Privileged Gateway Intents)
OAuth2 → URL Generator
- Scopes: bot, applications.commands
- Permissions: Send Messages, Embed Links, Read Message History, Use Slash Commands
Invite the bot to your support server with that URL
Copy:
- Application Client ID
- Server (Guild) ID (Developer Mode → right-click server → Copy Server ID)
- Optional: support channel ID (right-click channel → Copy Channel ID)

2. Configure

From the add-on folder:

bash

cd addons/novadocs-discord
cp .env.example .env

Variable	Required	Description
`DISCORD_TOKEN`	yes	Bot token
`DISCORD_CLIENT_ID`	yes	Application client ID
`DISCORD_GUILD_ID`	yes	Support server ID
`DISCORD_SUPPORT_CHANNEL_ID`	no	If set, auto-answers questions in this channel
`NOVADOCS_URL`	yes	Reachable NovaDocs URL (`http://127.0.0.1:3000` locally, or your live `https://…` URL)
`NOVADOCS_PROJECT_SLUG`	no	Limit search to one project (e.g. `guide`)
`AUTO_REPLY`	no	`true` / `false` (default true)
`MAX_RESULTS`	no	1–5 matches (default 3)
`COOLDOWN_SECONDS`	no	Per-user cooldown in the channel (default 20)

3. Run

npm install
npm start

Slash commands register automatically on startup. To register only:

bash

npm run register

Important

Make sure NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL on the NovaDocs site matches the public URL you put in NOVADOCS_URL, so article links open correctly.

tip

Put the bot in #support / #help only (DISCORD_SUPPORT_CHANNEL_ID) so it does not chatter elsewhere. Use /docs when you want an explicit search.

Setting up webhooks — channel embeds when articles publish (different from this bot)
Full README inside the add-on package: addons/novadocs-discord/README.md