Discord TTL is a simple-to-selfhost Discord bot that protects privacy by deleting server messages older than a configurable TTL (time to live). TTLs can be configured for an entire server and/or specific channels. Individuals can also configure their own TTLs to override the default server or channel settings.

Setting up Discord TTL via the setup script comes with auto-updates so that hosters can get all of the latest features automatically upon new GitHub releases. For those that wish to stay on a static version, auto-updates can be opted out of by adding a --skip-auto-updater flag to the setup script. An architecture diagram for the auto-updater can be found below.

There is currently no officially-maintained public Discord TTL bot. You can find a live (but private) version of this bot running at https://discord.gg/ayu. If you would like to self-host Discord TTL, follow the steps below:

To get started, you'll need a server to host the bot on. If you already have one, that's great! Do note that the setup script in this tutorial only works on Debian/Ubuntu & MacOS, but it is possible to get Discord TTL running on any OS so long as you can install Docker.

If you do not have a server, a common & cheap option for self-hosting 24/7 is to purchase a VPS (virtual private server). You can find VPS providers all over the internet, each with their own pricings and server locations. GalaxyGate's Standard 1GB is a perfectly-capable USA-hosted option that might be within budget for most ($3/month), but any provider will work just as well.

The last option for self-hosting would be locally on a PC. This option is not advised since it would cause your Discord TTL instance to go offline every time your PC is shut down or sleeping, but it is the cheapest option if you are not concerned with 100% availability.

Navigate to a suitable location to keep Discord TTL's files within. The home directory is a safe option:

cd ~

Then, clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/ayubun/discord-ttl

After cloning, navigate to the newly-created discord-ttl directory:

cd discord-ttl

Lastly, run the setup.sh script. As mentioned earlier, this will install auto-updates.

./setup.sh

If you wish to opt out of the auto updates, run this command to setup instead of the one above:

./setup.sh --skip-auto-updater

You will need a Discord bot token from the Discord Developers portal in order to run Discord TTL. If you don't know how to get one, check out Discord.js's bot token guide.

Once you get a bot token, add it to the .env file created from the setup script on the line that says DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN= by using your preferred text editor. If you are operating entirely from the command line and you are not sure how to edit files, nano is a safe option. How-To Geek's nano guide might serve as a helpful starting point.

Once the .env is saved with the bot token, you can start Discord TTL with docker compose:

docker compose up -d

To create an invite link for your newly-hosted Discord TTL instance, check out Discord.js's bot invite links guide.