Discord Skill (Read-Only)

Reads Discord for financial research using opencli, a universal CLI tool that bridges desktop apps and web services to the terminal via Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP).

This skill is read-only. It is designed for financial research: searching trading server discussions, monitoring crypto/market groups, tracking sentiment in financial communities, and reading messages. It does NOT support sending messages, reacting, editing, deleting, or any write operations.

Important: opencli connects to the Discord desktop app via CDP — no bot account or token extraction needed. Just have Discord Desktop running.

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Step 1: Ensure opencli Is Installed and Discord Is Ready

Current environment status:

!`(command -v opencli && opencli discord-app status 2>&1 | head -5 && echo "READY" || echo "SETUP_NEEDED") 2>/dev/null || echo "NOT_INSTALLED"`

If the status above shows READY, skip to Step 2. If NOT_INSTALLED, install first:

# Install opencli globally
npm install -g @jackwener/opencli

If SETUP_NEEDED, guide the user through setup:

Setup

opencli requires Node.js >= 20. It connects to Discord Desktop via CDP (Chrome DevTools Protocol) — no Browser Bridge extension is needed for the Discord adapter. Two things are required:

1. Start Discord with remote debugging enabled:

# macOS
/Applications/Discord.app/Contents/MacOS/Discord --remote-debugging-port=9232 &

# Linux
discord --remote-debugging-port=9232 &

2. Set the CDP endpoint environment variable:

export OPENCLI_CDP_ENDPOINT="http://127.0.0.1:9232"

Add this to your shell profile (.zshrc / .bashrc) so it persists across sessions.

3. Verify connectivity:

opencli discord-app status

Common setup issues

Symptom	Fix
CDP connection refused	Ensure Discord is running with --remote-debugging-port=9232
OPENCLI_CDP_ENDPOINT not set	Run export OPENCLI_CDP_ENDPOINT="http://127.0.0.1:9232"
status shows disconnected	Restart Discord with the CDP flag and retry
Discord not on expected port	Check that no other app is using port 9232, or use a different port

Tip: create a shell alias

alias discord-cdp='/Applications/Discord.app/Contents/MacOS/Discord --remote-debugging-port=9232 &'

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Step 2: Identify What the User Needs

Match the user's request to one of the read commands below, then use the corresponding command from references/commands.md.

User Request	Command	Key Flags
Connection check	opencli discord-app status	—
List servers	opencli discord-app servers	-f json
List channels	opencli discord-app channels	-f json
List online members	opencli discord-app members	-f json
Read recent messages	opencli discord-app read	N (count), -f json
Search messages	opencli discord-app search "QUERY"	-f json

Note: opencli operates on the currently active server and channel in Discord. To read from a different channel, the user must navigate to it in the Discord app first, or use the channels command to identify what's available.

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Step 3: Execute the Command

General pattern

# Use -f json or -f yaml for structured output
opencli discord-app servers -f json
opencli discord-app channels -f json

# Read recent messages from the active channel
opencli discord-app read 50 -f json

# Search for financial topics in the active channel
opencli discord-app search "AAPL earnings" -f json
opencli discord-app search "BTC pump" -f json

Key rules

1. Check connection first — run opencli discord-app status before any other command
2. Use -f json or -f yaml for structured output when processing data programmatically
3. Navigate in Discord first — opencli reads from the currently active server/channel in the Discord app
4. Start with small reads — use opencli discord-app read 20 unless the user asks for more
5. Use search for keywords — opencli discord-app search uses Discord's built-in search (Cmd+F / Ctrl+F)
6. Read-only — opencli also exposes discord-app send and discord-app delete; don't invoke them, and don't send messages, react, edit, delete, or manage server settings.

Output format flag (-f)

Format	Flag	Best for
Table	-f table (default)	Human-readable terminal output
JSON	-f json	Programmatic processing, LLM context
YAML	-f yaml	Structured output, readable
Markdown	-f md	Documentation, reports
CSV	-f csv	Spreadsheet export

Typical workflow for reading a server

# 1. Verify connection
opencli discord-app status

# 2. List servers to confirm you're in the right one
opencli discord-app servers -f json

# 3. List channels in the current server
opencli discord-app channels -f json

# 4. Read recent messages (navigate to target channel in Discord first)
opencli discord-app read 50 -f json

# 5. Search for topics of interest
opencli discord-app search "price target" -f json

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Step 4: Present the Results

Lead with what matters for the user's research question rather than a raw dump. Attribute each message (username, timestamp, content), group search results by theme, and note the bullish or bearish lean and where views are consensus or contrarian. Show server and channel listings as a table of names and types. Keep CDP endpoints and session details private.

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Step 5: Diagnostics

If something isn't working, check:

1. Is Discord running with CDP?

# Check if the port is open
lsof -i :9232

2. Is the environment variable set?

echo $OPENCLI_CDP_ENDPOINT

3. Can opencli connect?

opencli discord-app status

If all checks fail, restart Discord with the CDP flag:

/Applications/Discord.app/Contents/MacOS/Discord --remote-debugging-port=9232 &
export OPENCLI_CDP_ENDPOINT="http://127.0.0.1:9232"
opencli discord-app status

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Error Reference

Error	Cause	Fix
CDP connection refused	Discord not running with CDP or wrong port	Start Discord with --remote-debugging-port=9232
OPENCLI_CDP_ENDPOINT not set	Missing environment variable	export OPENCLI_CDP_ENDPOINT="http://127.0.0.1:9232"
No active channel	Not viewing any channel in Discord	Navigate to a channel in the Discord app
Rate limited	Too many requests	Wait a few minutes, then retry

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Reference Files

• references/commands.md — Complete read command reference with all flags and usage examples

Read the reference file when you need exact command syntax or detailed flag descriptions.