A custom bot runs the entire Cloudy feature set under your own Discord application: your name, your avatar, your status. Once it is live, the Cloudy bot leaves your server — your members only ever see your bot.
Open the Discord Developer Portal and click New Application. The name you choose here becomes your bot's name.
In the left sidebar open Bot, then click Reset Token and confirm.
Discord shows it exactly once. If you miss it, reset it again — there is no way to view it later.
Still on the Bot page, scroll to Privileged Gateway Intents and switch on both Server Members Intent and Message Content Intent.
Without them your bot cannot see joins or message text, so greetings, verification, leveling, automod and custom commands stay inactive.
Paste the token in the dashboard and save. Cloudy validates it against Discord, then gives you an invite link for your bot.
Your bot token is a full-access credential for that application. Cloudy stores it encrypted and never returns it to any client — not to the dashboard, not to an API response. Only the bot infrastructure can decrypt it, because your bot needs it to sign in.
You can reset the token in the developer portal at any time; if you do, paste the new one under Token & removal.
Switching to the token of a different application after the handover works too: the new bot reposts the role, verification, ticket and custom-game panels. Cloudy is no longer on the server to open existing tickets to it, though — give the new bot Administrator, or add it to the open ticket channels by hand. Tickets opened afterwards include it automatically.
The status card shows where your bot is in its lifecycle:
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| starting… | The connection is being brought up |
| awaiting invite | Token accepted — invite the bot to the server |
| online | Running and handling events |
| intents missing | Connected, but Discord is withholding the privileged intents |
| invalid token | The token was rejected — reset it in the portal and paste the new one |
| stopped | Disabled via the Bot enabled switch |
| error | The connection failed for another reason |
Once your bot is fully ready, the Cloudy bot leaves the server. Until then both are present, and the status card says so explicitly.
That is why intents missing matters: Cloudy deliberately stays on the server while your bot cannot do its job, so your server is never left with a half-working bot.
If Cloudy is removed anyway while the status says intents missing — or you switch an intent off after the handover — your bot stays and takes over in a reduced mode: commands, buttons and scheduled work keep running, while greetings, verification, leveling, automod and custom commands wait for the intents. The status stays intents missing until you enable them; the bot then reconnects with the full feature set on its own.
At the handover your bot takes over what Cloudy had posted. A bot can neither edit another bot's message nor answer its buttons, so:
Name, avatar and banner are changed at Discord and shown here for convenience.
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Bot name | Discord rate-limits how often a bot can be renamed |
| Avatar | PNG, JPEG, GIF or WebP, up to ~1.4 MB |
| Banner | Same formats and limit |
Applied by the bot within about 30 seconds.
| Field | Options |
|---|---|
| Bot enabled | Off disconnects your bot entirely |
| Online status | Online · Idle · Do Not Disturb · Invisible |
| Activity type | Custom · Playing · Watching · Listening · Competing |
| Activity text | Empty means no activity is shown |
Remove custom bot shuts the connection down and takes Cloudy's commands off your application. Your Discord application itself is untouched — you keep it.
What happens next depends on whether the handover already occurred:
| Situation | After removal |
|---|---|
| Cloudy is still on the server | Cloudy takes over again immediately |
| Cloudy has already left | The server has no bot. Use Invite Cloudy to bring it back |
Your server settings and all member data are kept in both cases. Inviting Cloudy back restores everything exactly as it was.
| Symptom | Cause |
|---|---|
| Status stuck on awaiting invite | The bot has not been invited yet — use the invite button |
| Status intents missing | Both privileged intents are not enabled in the developer portal. Enable them and save; the bot reconnects on its own within a minute |
| Status invalid token | The token was reset or mistyped. Reset it in the portal and paste the new one |
| Commands missing in Discord | Registration takes a minute or two after the bot comes online |
| Greetings/leveling/automod silent | Almost always the Message Content or Server Members intent |