Custom Context Class

There are many uses for context and its properties, however occasionally we wish to add some additional methods or attributes.

Here is how you do it in discord.py:

Creating custom context class

• Subclass context and add your features

import typing

from discord.ext import commands

class MyContext(commands.Context):
    def __init__(self, *args: typing.Any, **kwargs: typing.Any):
        super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
        self.test = 123

    async def send_test(self):
        await self.send(f"{self.test}")

Note

You can override any library methods of context if you want.

Overriding get_context

• Make discord.py use your context class by overriding the get_context method in the bot subclass.

import discord
from discord.ext import commands

class MyBot(commands.Bot):
    async def get_context(self, message: discord.Message, *, cls=CustomContext):
        return await super().get_context(message, cls=cls)

• Don't forget to use your custom bot class, not default one

bot = MyBot(".", intents=intents)

Creating example command

@bot.command()
async def foo(ctx: MyContext) -> None:
    await ctx.send_test()

Result

And that's it! You can now use your custom context class.

Note

Custom class context is limited to commands which you commands.Context as a required argument. Meaning that you can't use it with slash commands.

More examples

Tick method

Here, we're adding a method called tick to the context, which, based on the value provided, adds a cross or a checkmark emoji.

Example from discord.py

Storing custom attribute for server

Let's create a simple table to hold a guild secret value.

CREATE TABLE `test`.`secret` (
  `guild_id` BIGINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
  `value` VARCHAR(64) NOT NULL DEFAULT 'nothing',
  PRIMARY KEY (`guild_id`));

After that, let's add two methods in the context: one retrieves the value from this table, the other modifies it.

import aiomysql
import discord
from discord.ext import commands


class MyContext(commands.Context):
    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
        super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)

    async def get_secret_value(self):
        async with aiomysql.connect(...) as connection:
            async with connection.cursor() as cursor:
                await cursor.execute("SELECT value FROM secret WHERE guild_id = %s", (self.guild.id,))
                data = await cursor.fetchone()
                if data is None:
                    await cursor.execute("INSERT INTO secret (guild_id) VALUES (%s)", (self.guild.id,))
                    await connection.commit()
                    return "nothing"
                return data[0]

    async def set_secret_value(self, new_value):
        async with aiomysql.connect(...) as connection:
            async with connection.cursor() as cursor:
                await cursor.execute("UPDATE secret SET value = %s WHERE guild_id = %s", (new_value, self.guild.id))
                await connection.commit()


class MyBot(commands.Bot):
    async def get_context(self, message, *, cls=MyContext):
        return await super().get_context(message, cls=cls)


intents = discord.Intents.default()
intents.message_content = True

bot = MyBot('.', intents=intents)


@bot.command()
async def get(ctx: MyContext):
    secret = await ctx.get_secret_value()
    await ctx.send(f"||{secret}||")


@bot.command()
async def change(ctx: MyContext, new_value: str):
    await ctx.set_secret_value(new_value)
    await ctx.send(f"Secret value changed")

bot.run("token")

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