Adding the bobble bot to your Discord server
This is what makes the right character light up when someone talks.
Your players' voices go through Discord, not through the show. So the show needs something in the Discord call telling it who's speaking. That something is the bot.
Without it everything still works — you just don't get the glow.
This is not the same as sharing the show in Discord. That's about your players watching the show. This is about the show hearing them.
Before you start#
| A stream | on the website, under Setup — Create your stream. The bot attaches to it, so it has to exist first |
| Your Discord account linked | Account → Discord → Link Discord. This is how a voice is matched to a character |
| Permission on the server | Discord only lets you add a bot to a server you can manage |
Adding it#
- On the website, go to Account.
- Find the Voice bot card and press Add bot to my server.
- Discord's own dialog opens. Pick your server from its list and confirm.
- You come back to Account, which now says the bot was added.
- Choose the voice channel your group actually talks in, from the dropdown.
That's the whole thing. You never open Discord's developer settings, there's no token to create, nothing to copy, and Developer Mode stays off. The application is ours; you're only saying which server and which channel.
Why it asks for a channel#
Speaking is detected in the channel you choose. A server usually has several, and the bot only listens to one — so if your group moves to a different voice channel for a session, the glow follows the channel you picked here, not the people.
What the bot can and cannot do#
| It can | It cannot |
|---|---|
| See the channels on your server | Speak. It has no permission to, at all |
| Join the voice channel you picked | Read your messages |
| Tell that somebody is talking | Hear what you said |
It asks for two permissions and no more: see a channel, and connect to one. There is deliberately no Speak permission — the bot is there to listen for who, never to say anything.
Your players don't do any of this#
They join the voice call the way they always do. Nothing is asked of them and nothing is installed.
Troubleshooting#
"Create a stream first, then add the bot to it"#
You haven't got a stream yet. Website → Setup → Create your stream, then come back to Account.
"That link expired. Start the install again."#
The install link is short-lived, so a tab left open for a while can hand out one that's already stale. Press Add bot to my server again.
"Discord refused the install"#
Usually a permissions problem on the server rather than anything at our end — Discord will only add a bot to a server you can manage. Try again on a server you own, or ask its owner to do it.
The channel dropdown is empty#
Two possibilities: the server genuinely has no voice channels, or the bot is in the server but can't see them. Check the bot's role can view the channel you want.
Stage channels aren't offered — only ordinary voice channels are.
The bot is in my server but nobody lights up#
Work through these in order:
- Is the right voice channel chosen? Account → Voice bot. Speaking is only detected in that one.
- Is your Discord account linked? Account → Discord. Voices are matched to characters by Discord identity — an unlinked account is a voice we can't attach to anybody.
- Are the people talking actually in that channel? Not another one on the same server.
"This portal has no Discord application configured"#
That's ours, not yours. Tell us — see Getting help.
I want the bot out#
Remove it from your server in Discord, the same way you'd remove any other bot. Nothing needs undoing on our side.