--- title: "Deploy muse" description: "Self-hosted Discord music bot with Spotify, YouTube and persistent cache" category: "Bots" url: https://railway.com/deploy/muse-1 --- # Deploy muse Self-hosted Discord music bot with Spotify, YouTube and persistent cache **[Deploy muse on Railway](https://railway.com/template/muse-1)** - **Creator:** INAPP - **Category:** Bots ## Template content ### muse - **Source:** https://github.com/INAPP-Mobile/muse - **Health check:** /health - **Public domain:** Yes ## Documentation # Deploy and Host [![Deploy on Railway](https://railway.app/button.svg)](https://railway.com/deploy/muse-1) ![Muse Discord Music Bot](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/INAPP-Mobile/muse/master/template-icon.svg) Muse is a **highly-opinionated midwestern self-hosted Discord music bot that doesn't suck**. Built for small to medium-sized Discord servers, it supports livestreams, seeking, local caching, Spotify conversion, and multi-guild support — all from a single Railway service with a persistent volume. ## About Hosting The template deploys a single service built from a Dockerfile based on the official `ghcr.io/museofficial/muse` image: - **muse** — Discord music bot (TypeScript) with a built-in health-check sidecar on `PORT=8080` Railway provides compute, TLS at the edge, a public URL, and a persistent volume at `/data` for bot cache, configuration, and database. The health sidecar exposes `/health` so Railway can monitor liveness even though the bot itself has no HTTP interface. ## Why Deploy - **Zero-config Discord bot** — set your tokens and deploy; no manual server setup - **Persistent storage** — bot cache, config, and database survive restarts on a Railway volume - **Health monitoring** — built-in health sidecar means Railway can detect and restart a stuck bot - **Multi-guild support** — one Muse instance serves multiple Discord servers - **Spotify integration** — optional Spotify API keys enable automatic playlist/artist/album conversion - **Livestreams & seeking** — full playback control including YouTube livestreams - **No vote-to-skip** — this is anarchy, not a democracy ## Common Use Cases - **Friend group server** — music bot for your Discord community without paying for premium bots - **Multi-server host** — one deployment serves multiple guilds with isolated configs - **Self-hosted alternative** — replace paid Discord music bots (Rythm, Groovy alternatives) - **Development/testing** — run a bot instance for testing Discord integrations ## Dependencies for Muse ### Deployment Dependencies | Dependency | Required | Description | |------------|----------|-------------| | Discord bot token | Yes | From [Discord Developer Portal](https://discord.com/developers/applications) | | Discord client ID | Yes | Application ID from Developer Portal | | Discord client secret | No | Used for optional OAuth2 invite link generation | | YouTube API key | Yes | From [Google Cloud Console](https://console.developers.google.com/) | | Spotify client ID | No | Enables Spotify URL conversion | | Spotify client secret | No | Enables Spotify URL conversion | ## Quick Start 1. **Create a Discord application** at https://discord.com/developers/applications 2. **Get your bot token** from the Bot section of your application 3. **Get your client ID and secret** from the OAuth2 section 4. **Get a YouTube API key** from https://console.developers.google.com/ (enable YouTube Data API v3) 5. **Click Deploy on Railway** and fill in the required tokens 6. **Wait for provisioning** (~2-3 minutes for first build) 7. **Invite the bot** to your Discord server using the OAuth2 URL generator (scopes: `bot`, `applications.commands`; permissions: Connect, Speak, Send Messages) 8. **Use `/play `** in a voice channel to start playing music ## Architecture ``` ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Railway Service │ │ │ │ ┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Health Side │ │ Muse Bot │ │ │ │ car (Node) │ │ (TypeScript/Bot) │ │ │ │ PORT 8080 │ │ No HTTP interface │ │ │ │ /health │ │ Long-running process │ │ │ └──────┬───────┘ └──────────────────────┘ │ │ │ │ │ ┌──────┴──────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Persistent Volume (/data) │ │ │ │ - Bot cache │ │ │ │ - Configuration │ │ │ │ - SQLite database │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ``` ## Features - **Livestreams** — play YouTube livestreams in your voice channel - **Seeking** — skip to any position in a track - **Local caching** — downloaded media cached on the persistent volume - **No vote-to-skip** — skip immediately, no democracy - **Spotify conversion** — auto-converts Spotify playlists, artists, albums, and songs - **Favorite queries** — users can save favorite searches for reuse - **Multi-guild** — one instance supports multiple Discord servers - **Volume controls** — configurable volume with optional ducking when people speak - **SponsorBlock** — optionally skip sponsored segments (enable with `ENABLE_SPONSORBLOCK=true`) ## Environment Variables | Variable | Required | Default | Description | |----------|----------|---------|-------------| | `DISCORD_TOKEN` | Yes | — | Discord bot token | | `DISCORD_CLIENT_ID` | Yes | — | Discord application client ID | | `DISCORD_CLIENT_SECRET` | Yes | — | Discord application client secret | | `YOUTUBE_API_KEY` | Yes | — | YouTube Data API v3 key | | `SPOTIFY_CLIENT_ID` | No | — | Spotify API client ID | | `SPOTIFY_CLIENT_SECRET` | No | — | Spotify API client secret | | `BOT_STATUS` | No | `online` | Bot status (online/dnd/idle/invisible) | | `BOT_ACTIVITY_TYPE` | No | `LISTENING` | Activity type (PLAYING/STREAMING/LISTENING/WATCHING/COMPETING) | | `BOT_ACTIVITY` | No | `music 🎵` | Activity text shown in sidebar | | `DATA_DIR` | No | `/data` | Data directory for cache and config | | `TZ` | No | `UTC` | Container timezone (IANA) | | `CACHE_LIMIT` | No | `2GB` | Max disk cache size | | `YT_DLP_AUTO_UPDATE` | No | `true` | Auto-update yt-dlp on startup | | `ENABLE_SPONSORBLOCK` | No | `false` | Skip sponsored segments | | `PORT` | No | `8080` | Health sidecar port | ## Bot Commands Once deployed and invited to your server, use these slash commands: - `/play ` — play a song or add to queue - `/skip` — skip the current track - `/stop` — stop playback and clear queue - `/queue` — view the current queue - `/nowplaying` — see what's currently playing - `/volume <0-100>` — set playback volume - `/config set-reduce-vol-when-voice true/false` — toggle volume ducking - `/favorites add ` — save a favorite search - `/favorites play ` — play a saved favorite ## Volume & Ducking Muse supports configurable volume with optional ducking (lowering music volume when someone speaks): ``` /config set-reduce-vol-when-voice true /config set-reduce-vol-when-voice-target 20 ``` The target (0-100) sets the volume level when voice activity is detected. Default is 20. ## Spotify Integration To enable Spotify URL conversion (playlists, artists, albums), set these variables: ``` SPOTIFY_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id SPOTIFY_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret ``` Get credentials at https://developer.spotify.com/dashboard by creating an app. ## Registering Commands By default, Muse registers commands per-guild (instant). For bot-wide registration (takes up to 1 hour to propagate): ``` REGISTER_COMMANDS_ON_BOT=true ``` ## Updating To update Muse, redeploy on Railway. The build pulls the pinned image version. To update yt-dlp without a full rebuild, set `YT_DLP_AUTO_UPDATE=true` (default). ## Troubleshooting - **Bot doesn't respond**: Check `DISCORD_TOKEN` is correct and bot has required permissions - **No audio**: Ensure bot has Connect and Speak permissions in the voice channel - **YouTube errors**: Verify `YOUTUBE_API_KEY` is valid and YouTube Data API v3 is enabled - **Spotify not working**: Check `SPOTIFY_CLIENT_ID` and `SPOTIFY_CLIENT_SECRET` are set correctly - **Health check fails**: The bot may be crashing on startup — check logs in Railway dashboard ## Similar templates - [Telegram JavaScript Bot](https://railway.com/deploy/5lRkWa) — A template for Telegram bot in JavaScript using grammY - [Cobalt Tools [Updated Aug ’26]](https://railway.com/deploy/cobalt) — Cobalt Tools [Aug ’26] (Media Downloader, Converter & Automation) Self Host - [Telegram Gateway](https://railway.com/deploy/railway-telegram-gateway) — Multi-bot Telegram webhook gateway with real-time WebSocket event streaming Open this page in a browser: https://railway.com/deploy/muse-1