How to Contribute

So, you'd like to contribute to discord-api-types but don't know where to start or what to do? Here are some of the things you need to keep in mind before opening a pull request!

Before you begin

We recommend you contribute either through locally editing the files on your desktop (which means also installing npm dependencies as this will ensure not only a consistent code style, but also that the deno types stay in sync automatically) or through a service like GitHub Codespaces.

Still can't figure it out?

No problem! We await you with open hands in our Discord Server in the #developing-djs channel.

Install npm dependencies first

One of the most crucial steps is installing npm dependencies via npm ci. This ensures that linting can be done, and it also sets up the git hooks for building the deno types and automatically formatting/linting the code when you commit it.

If you forget to install npm dependencies, or are doing the contributions through other means (like directly from GitHub web), you might see a comment like this one being sent as a review to your pull request:

The easiest way to solve this is to run the build:deno script (yarn build:deno) and pushing the results.

Figure out if the update you want to contribute respects our rules about documentation

danger

We will not document client-only / client related types. If you plan on contributing, make sure the types you want to document can be used by bots and are intended for usage by bots. This is a hard rule that will never change.

Not every single update to the API is valid to be documented here. Our main stance for documentation is that properties must be known and documented on Discord's API Documentation repository, must be mentioned in an open pull request, must have received the green light to be used, or must be present in the stable OpenAPI specification.

With that aside, there are times where documentation for certain types is not approved/merged by Discord on the grounds that it isn't helpful for bots (or similar), but it would actually benefit bot developers to have it documented (one good example is the UserFlags SPAMMER flag). As such, if you think your update should still be merged, please propose it and we will be handled on a case by case basis. If approved, your update will be documented with an @unstable tag. It will also not be subject to the same versioning rules as the rest of the types.

Figure out what API versions need to receive the update

discord-api-types has multiple API versions in the repository, some of which may be considered deprecated or discontinued as we keep them till the version is completely dead before removing them. This is a good time to figure out which API versions need to be updated, and you can use the table below to guide you.

You can also check Discord's API versioning table if you want to be 1000% sure.

API Version	Should receive updates
10	Yes
9	Yes
8	No
7	No
6	No

If the version you want to contribute to is not listed above (for instance if a new API version rolls out) or if the version you want to contribute to is for a different part of the API (for instance voice), feel free to submit it and we will review it accordingly.

Figure out where exactly are the files you need to modify to make the update

The file structure might seem confusing at first, especially if it's your first time contributing, but we're here to guide you through it.

When you clone the repository for the first time, you'll see a folder structure like this (we've not mentioned some tooling specific files like .eslintrc.json to keep the structure clean). We've highlighted the important folders and files you need to keep in mind when contributing.

├── deno
├── gateway
├── node_modules (once you ran `npm ci`)
├── payloads
├── rest
├── rpc
├── scripts
├── tests
├── utils
├── voice
├── website
├── globals.ts
├── v6.ts
├── v8.ts
├── v9.ts
├── v10.ts
└── package.json

deno

This folder stores the deno compatible typings for Discord's API.

danger

This folder should not be manually modified. Any manual changes will be overwritten by the build:deno script.

Any changes that need to be done to this folder need to be done through the scripts/deno.mjs file.

gateway

This folder holds types that are strictly received from Discord's gateway. It stores the gateway version the types are for, the intents and opcodes, and any data that can be received/sent through the gateway.

Each file in the folder represents a gateway version. It references types from the versioned payloads folder unless the payloads come only through the gateway. There is also a common.ts file which represents shared types across all versions, as well as an index.ts file that exports the recommended gateway version's types.

info

Types created here must start with the Gateway prefix (for instance GatewayGuildCreateDispatchData which is an extension of the APIGuild type with extra fields received only through the gateway).

payloads

This folder holds the bulk of type definitions for Discord's APIs. Each API version receives its own folder. Inside of each folder there is always an index.ts file that exports every type available in that version, as well as the common types that can be found in payloads/common.ts. At the root of the payloads folder is also an index.ts file which exports the recommended API version's types.

Inside of each versioned folder, the files are defined from the structure in Discord's API Documentation, under the Resources category. Depending on the complexity of the resource, you may opt for splitting it up into multiple files. If you want to do so, please create a folder named _{resource_name} where the resource_name is the same name as the resource you're splitting up (a good example is the _interactions folder which stores all the types for interactions in a neater structure), and create a {resource_name}.ts file which exports everything from that folder). If you feel like you need to split it up even more, just repeat the same structure of creating an _{file_name} folder and exporting everything from it in the {file_name}.ts file (you can see an example here).

info

Types created here must start with the API prefix (for instance APIUser), except for enums, which should have a normal name (for instance UserFlags).

rest

This folder holds all the types that are related to Discord's REST API. Just like payloads, it is split into folders that have an index.ts file, from the structure in Discord's API Documentation, under the Resources category.

info

Types created here must start with the REST prefix (for instance RESTGetAPIUserResult) unless they are objects or enums (for instance Routes).

They must also follow the following structure: REST{http_method}{type_name}{Query|(JSON|FormData)Body|Result}, where:

• http_method is the PascalCase HTTP method name (for instance Get, Post, and so on)
• type_name is the actual name of the type it returns (for instance APIUser)
• Query|(JSON|FormData)Body|Result should be used depending on what the route takes or returns
  • If a route doesn't take in any parameters, be it query, JSON or FormData, it shouldn't define any of those types
  • A route should always define a Result type, and should reference an API* type unless the data returned is only received through a REST call
  • If a route returns a 204 No Content response, it should define a Result type with never as its value (this does not account for errors)

This structure should be followed whenever possible, however that might not always be doable. Specifically, types for OAuth2 may not follow the structure exactly, but should aim to follow it as much as possible.

rpc

This folder holds types that are strictly related to Discord's RPC API. Just like gateway, each RPC API version receives its own file.

info

Types created here must start with the RPC prefix (for instance RPCErrorCodes).

scripts

This folder holds the module's scripts that empower our Continuous Integration / Deployment pipelines, as well as other miscellaneous scripts we might need. There's really not much to say about these really...

tests

This folder holds tests for certain complex types that the module might have, and is especially useful for validating unions.

info

Files created here must end in .test-d.ts, as otherwise they will not be picked up by tsd.

utils

This folder holds certain utility functions which can be used while working with some complicated types (for instance for more complicated unions). Each API version gets its own file with utility functions, but a folder can be created if a lot of methods are created.

info

The internals.ts file stores types that are strictly used inside the module to help build out our strict types. These types should never be exported from the module.

voice

This folder holds types that are strictly related to Discord's Voice API. It follows the same folder structure as gateway.

info

Types in this folder must start with the Voice prefix (for instance VoiceOpcodes).

website

This folder holds...well...this very site you are reading this page from! For the most part, you do not need to alter its contents, except if you're contributing a new API version to the module.

To add the new version to this very website, edit the docusaurus.config.js file, and in the plugins array, for the docusaurus-plugin-typedoc-api plugin, you need to add an entry similar to the ones already present.

globals.ts

This file stores types that are present regardless of the API version you use.

v*.ts

These files export everything from the previously mentioned folders that match the version the file is named after. It serves as the entry point for importing types from the module (for example by importing discord-api-types/v10).

package.json

This is the entry point of the package for npm. You won't need to edit this file unless you're adding a new API version, in which case you should follow the same structure as seen in the exports field.