Discord Bots checklist for MUDs

Verify that the Discord bot token and any API keys are stored in environment variables or a secure vault, not hardcoded in the source code.

Ensure Discord webhook URLs are stored server-side and are never transmitted to the MUD client or exposed via game commands.

Confirm the bot's Discord permissions are limited to the specific channels required; remove 'Administrator' or 'Manage Server' permissions.

Test that all messages sent from Discord to the MUD are stripped of control characters and telnet escape sequences to prevent command injection.

Configure the MUD's listening port to only accept connections from the specific IP address hosting the bridge service.

Verify that public game channels (e.g., OOC, Gossip) map to the correct Discord channels and do not leak into private channels.

Confirm that the 'Immortal' or 'Staff' in-game channels are routed to a private, role-restricted Discord channel with no public access.

Implement a parser to strip ANSI color codes from MUD output and replace them with Discord markdown or code blocks for readability.

Verify the bot is programmed to ignore messages sent by its own Discord user ID to prevent recursive message loops.

Check that the bridge does not leak player IP addresses or real-world account data into the Discord chat interface.

Implement a message queue to ensure the bot does not exceed Discord's API limit of 50 requests per second across all channels.

Configure the bridge to batch high-frequency game events (like combat deaths) into a single Discord embed to reduce notification spam.

Test the bot's ability to reconnect to both the Discord API and the MUD Telnet/GMCP port after a network interruption.

Set explicit keep-alive and timeout intervals on the MUD-to-Bridge socket to prevent 'zombie' connections.

Verify that the bridge service does not leak memory when processing high-volume text streams over a 24-hour period.

Provide a game command (e.g., 'discord toggle') that allows players to opt-out of having their in-game chat relayed to Discord.

Ensure that the Discord bot respects the same word-filtering rules as the in-game engine to maintain community standards.

Validate that Discord-to-MUD messages include the user's Discord nickname and a unique identifier to prevent impersonation.

Confirm that 'In-Character' (IC) channels are excluded from the bridge if the game community mandates strict immersion.

Verify that a '!help' command exists on Discord to list available MUD interactions and status commands.

Deploy the bridge using a process manager like PM2 or Systemd to ensure automatic restarts on failure or system reboot.

Configure a specific webhook to alert staff on Discord if the MUD server process goes offline or becomes unreachable.

Set up log rotation for the bridge service to prevent local disk space exhaustion from high-volume chat logging.

Expose a simple HTTP health check endpoint on the bridge service for external monitoring tools.

Document the JSON or YAML configuration schema for the bridge so future admins can modify channel IDs without code changes.