Add Discord rich presence to your server

Discord rich presence shows your server's name, player count, and a custom image right in Discord when someone is playing on your server. It's free advertising - every player's friends see it. This lesson sets up the full integration from Discord developer portal to Lua script.

You'll build: A Discord rich presence integration showing player count, server name, and a custom image in players' Discord profiles.
Time: ~25 minutes
You need: A Discord application at discord.com/developers, a FiveM server with OneSync, and basic Lua knowledge.
You'll learn: Creating a Discord application, uploading rich presence art, connecting FiveM to Discord via SetDiscordRichPresence, and displaying live player counts and server info.

BEFORE YOU START

Build it

Create a Discord application

You have a Client ID and uploaded art assets.

Go to https://discord.com/developers/applications → New Application. Name it after your server.

Go to Rich Presence → Art Assets. Upload images (512x512 minimum):

server_logo - your server's logo
server_large - a hero image or screenshot

Copy your Client ID (18-digit number) from the General Information page.

Set up the resource

A resource that talks to Discord.

code

resources/qu_discord_rpc/
fxmanifest.lua
client.lua

code

fx_version 'cerulean'
game 'gta5'
client_script 'client.lua'

Set the Discord app ID and presence

Discord shows the small icon and server name.

code

local appId = 'YOUR_DISCORD_CLIENT_ID'  -- 18-digit number

Citizen.CreateThread(function()
-- Set the Discord application ID once
SetDiscordAppId(appId)

while true do
    -- Update presence every 15 seconds
    SetRichPresence('Playing on My Cool Server')

    -- Small image = your logo
    SetDiscordRichPresenceAssetSmall('server_logo')
    SetDiscordRichPresenceAssetSmallText('My Cool Server')

    Citizen.Wait(15000)
end
end)

Add live player count and join button

Discord shows how many players are online.

code

local appId = 'YOUR_DISCORD_CLIENT_ID'

local playerCount = 0

-- The server pushes the authoritative count to us
RegisterNetEvent('qu_discord:playerCount', function(count)
playerCount = count
end)

CreateThread(function()
SetDiscordAppId(appId)

while true do
    -- Ask the server for the current count
    TriggerServerEvent('qu_discord:getPlayerCount')

    SetRichPresence('Players online: ' .. playerCount)

    -- Large image = hero/screenshot
    SetDiscordRichPresenceAsset('server_large')
    SetDiscordRichPresenceAssetText('Join now at cfx.re/join/xxxxx')

    -- Add a Join button
    SetDiscordRichPresenceAction(0, 'Join', 'fivem://connect/localhost:30120')
    SetDiscordRichPresenceAction(1, 'Discord', 'https://discord.gg/yourserver')

    Wait(15000)
end
end)

The count must come from the server. GetNumPlayerIndices() is a client native that only sees locally-scoped players, so it is never the real total. Count players server-side with #GetPlayers() and push that number back to the client:

code

RegisterNetEvent('qu_discord:getPlayerCount', function()
local src = source
-- #GetPlayers() is the server-authoritative count of everyone online
TriggerClientEvent('qu_discord:playerCount', src, #GetPlayers())
end)

Add server_script 'server.lua' to your fxmanifest.lua so the server file loads.

Keep reading the full lesson

Still ahead in this lesson

Common failures