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Overview

This guide will walk you through integrating the Discord Social SDK into an Unreal Engine project. By the end, you’ll have a project that can:
  • Authenticate users with Discord
  • Set up logging and status monitoring
  • Start the SDK and establish a connection
  • Request the number of Discord friends the player has
  • Set the player’s rich presence for your game

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Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:
  • Unreal Engine 5.1 or later
  • A Discord application created in the Developer Portal

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Step 1: Create your Discord application

  1. Go to the Discord Developer Portal and click New Application.
  2. Give your application a name and click Create.
  3. Copy your Application ID — you’ll need it in your code.

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Step 2: Configure OAuth2 redirect URIs

  1. In your application settings, click OAuth2 in the sidebar.
  2. Under Redirects, add http://127.0.0.1/callback.
  3. Click Save Changes.

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Step 3: Download the Social SDK for Unreal Engine

  1. In your application settings, click Downloads under the Discord Social SDK section in the sidebar.
  2. Select the latest version from the dropdown and download the SDK for Unreal Engine.

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Step 4: Project setup

  1. Create a new project in Unreal Engine.
  2. In your project’s Plugins directory, create a folder called DiscordSocialSDK.
  3. Extract the SDK archive into the DiscordSocialSDK folder.
  4. Add DiscordSocialSDK to your project’s PublicDependencyModuleNames in your .Build.cs file:
PublicDependencyModuleNames.AddRange(new string[] {
    "Core",
    "CoreUObject",
    "Engine",
    "DiscordSocialSDK"
});
  1. Restart Unreal Editor to load the plugin.

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Step 5: Initialize the SDK

Create a component or subsystem to manage the Discord client. Add the following initialization code: 
#include "discordpp.h"

// Replace with your Discord Application ID
const uint64_t APPLICATION_ID = 123456789012345678;

// Create the client
TSharedPtr<discordpp::Client> DiscordClient = MakeShared<discordpp::Client>();

// Set up logging
DiscordClient->AddLogCallback([](auto message, auto severity) {
    UE_LOG(LogTemp, Log, TEXT("Discord SDK: %s"), UTF8_TO_TCHAR(message.c_str()));
}, discordpp::LoggingSeverity::Info);

// Monitor connection status
DiscordClient->SetStatusChangedCallback(
    [this](discordpp::Client::Status status,
           discordpp::Client::Error error,
           int32_t errorDetail) {
        UE_LOG(LogTemp, Log, TEXT("Discord status: %s"),
               UTF8_TO_TCHAR(discordpp::Client::StatusToString(status).c_str()));

        if (status == discordpp::Client::Status::Ready) {
            UE_LOG(LogTemp, Log, TEXT("Discord SDK ready!"));
            OnDiscordReady();
        }
    });

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Step 6: Run callbacks

Call RunCallbacks from your game’s tick function: 
void UDiscordSubsystem::Tick(float DeltaTime)
{
    discordpp::RunCallbacks();
}

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Step 7: Account linking with Discord

This guide uses Client::GetDefaultPresenceScopes, which requests the openid and sdk.social_layer_presence scopes. These enable core features like account linking, friends list, and rich presence.If your game also needs lobbies, voice chat, or direct messaging, use Client::GetDefaultCommunicationScopes instead. See the OAuth2 scopes guide for details.
void StartOAuthFlow()
{
    auto codeVerifier = DiscordClient->CreateAuthorizationCodeVerifier();

    discordpp::AuthorizationArgs args{};
    args.SetClientId(APPLICATION_ID);
    args.SetScopes(discordpp::Client::GetDefaultPresenceScopes());
    args.SetCodeChallenge(codeVerifier.Challenge());

    DiscordClient->Authorize(args,
        [this, codeVerifier](auto result, auto code, auto redirectUri) {
            if (!result.Successful()) {
                UE_LOG(LogTemp, Error, TEXT("Auth error: %s"),
                       UTF8_TO_TCHAR(result.Error().c_str()));
                return;
            }

            DiscordClient->GetToken(APPLICATION_ID, code,
                codeVerifier.Verifier(), redirectUri,
                [this](discordpp::ClientResult result,
                       std::string accessToken,
                       std::string refreshToken,
                       discordpp::AuthorizationTokenType tokenType,
                       int32_t expiresIn,
                       std::string scope) {

                    DiscordClient->UpdateToken(
                        discordpp::AuthorizationTokenType::Bearer,
                        accessToken,
                        [this](discordpp::ClientResult result) {
                            if (result.Successful()) {
                                DiscordClient->Connect();
                            }
                        });
                });
        });
}

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Step 8: Access relationships and set rich presence

When the client is ready, retrieve friends and set rich presence: 
void OnDiscordReady()
{
    // Get friend count
    auto relationships = DiscordClient->GetRelationships();
    UE_LOG(LogTemp, Log, TEXT("Friend count: %d"), relationships.size());

    // Set rich presence
    discordpp::Activity activity;
    activity.SetType(discordpp::ActivityTypes::Playing);
    activity.SetState("In Competitive Match");
    activity.SetDetails("Rank: Diamond II");

    DiscordClient->UpdateRichPresence(activity,
        [](discordpp::ClientResult result) {
            if (result.Successful()) {
                UE_LOG(LogTemp, Log, TEXT("Rich presence updated!"));
            }
        });
}

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Next steps

Creating a unified friends list

Build a unified friends list combining Discord and game-specific friendships.

Setting rich presence

Customize your game’s rich presence to show advanced information and game invites.

Managing lobbies

Bring players together in a shared lobby with text chat and voice communication.

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Change log

DateChanges
March 17, 2025Initial release

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