---
title: "Guides to Building and Hosting Bots"
description: "Practical guides for bot developers: keeping a bot online 24/7, moving off Replit or Glitch, slash commands, storing data, TypeScript and Python dependencies."
url: "https://sillydev.co.uk/guides"
updated: "2026-10-07"
---

Guides

# Guides for people who build bots.

The questions that come up between "my bot works on my computer" and "my bot runs all the time", answered properly, with code.

- [Keep a bot online 24/7 Why bots go offline, how to stop them crashing, and where to run one around the clock. Read the guide →](https://sillydev.co.uk/guides/keep-discord-bot-online-24-7)
- [Move off Replit or Glitch Get your bot out, replace the platform-only parts, and run it somewhere that stays on. Read the guide →](https://sillydev.co.uk/guides/move-bot-off-replit-or-glitch)
- [Tokens in environment variables Move your token out of your source into an environment variable, and what to do if it ever leaks. Read the guide →](https://sillydev.co.uk/guides/discord-bot-token-environment-variables)
- [Reduce discord.js memory Measure it, then trim intents and caches, and find leaks, before the bot runs out of memory. Read the guide →](https://sillydev.co.uk/guides/reduce-discord-js-memory)
- [Telegram webhooks vs polling How each way of receiving updates works, what webhooks require, and which one to use. Read the guide →](https://sillydev.co.uk/guides/telegram-webhooks-vs-polling)
- [Slash commands not showing Register them properly, know where they appear, and rule out the invite, permissions and the client. Read the guide →](https://sillydev.co.uk/guides/discord-slash-commands-not-showing)
- [Writing requirements.txt List what your bot imports, under the names pip knows, pinned just enough to install the same way twice. Read the guide →](https://sillydev.co.uk/guides/python-requirements-txt)
- [JSON, SQLite or a database When a JSON file is enough, why SQLite usually wins, and when to reach for MariaDB or PostgreSQL. Read the guide →](https://sillydev.co.uk/guides/bot-data-json-sqlite-or-database)
- [discord.js in TypeScript Compile it, run it with tsx, or let Bun run it as it is, and what each means when you host it. Read the guide →](https://sillydev.co.uk/guides/discord-js-typescript)
- [Bot hosting with an API Restart, redeploy and watch your bot from scripts, CI and other bots, not just a web page. Read the guide →](https://sillydev.co.uk/guides/bot-hosting-with-an-api)

## What these are

Each guide takes one problem bot developers run into and works through it from the start: why it happens, what the options are, and exactly what to change. They are written for Node.js and Python, the two runtimes most bots are built on, with Bun alongside Node where it differs.

For a single error message rather than a whole topic, the error reference is quicker: paste the error in and it finds the page.

Also useful

- [Errors Take a look →](https://sillydev.co.uk/errors)
- [Tools Take a look →](https://sillydev.co.uk/tools)
- [Free Discord Bot Hosting Host it free →](https://sillydev.co.uk/discord-bot-hosting)