hikari

What it is and what it does

Hikari is a Discord bot framework built on asyncio that abstracts Discord's v10 REST and Gateway APIs into a type-annotated Python interface. It offers two primary bot implementations: GatewayBot for real-time event streaming via Discord's gateway, and RESTBot for interaction-only servers that receive slash commands and button interactions through webhooks. Both support customizable timeouts, proxy configuration, and event filtering via intents.

The framework is designed for developers who want explicit, statically-typed Discord interactions without a heavy command framework built in. It ships with four runtime dependencies (aiohttp, attrs, colorlog, multidict) and supports Python 3.10 through 3.14. The package is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, and is used in production bots. Third-party command frameworks can be layered on top for rapid bot development.

Use it for:

• Build a gateway-connected Discord bot that listens to message events and responds to mentions or commands.
• Create a REST-only bot that handles slash commands and button interactions via Discord's interaction webhooks.
• Integrate Discord API calls into a web dashboard or backend service using RESTApp for token-scoped REST access.
• Develop a type-safe bot with explicit intent configuration to control which events the bot receives.
• Use as a foundation for a custom command framework by layering business logic on top of event listeners.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Hikari is an async Discord bot framework for Python that provides type-safe bindings to Discord's REST and Gateway APIs, supporting both gateway-connected bots and REST-only interactions.

Yes. Hikari is a stable, actively maintained Discord framework with low install friction, no security vulnerabilities, and permissive licensing. It's suitable for both simple bots and complex applications. Choose it if you want explicit type safety and control over event handling; pair it with a third-party command framework (lightbulb, tanjun, crescent, arc) if you need rapid command scaffolding.

Install

hikari on PyPI

pip install hikari

uv add hikari

poetry add hikari

Installing hikari

Before you install

Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel distribution. The package is actively maintained with recent commits and a stable release cycle, supporting current Python versions (3.10–3.14).

License in practice

Licensed under MIT (permissive), allowing free use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart

pip install hikari

import hikari

bot = hikari.GatewayBot(token="YOUR_TOKEN")

@bot.listen()
async def ping(event: hikari.MessageCreateEvent) -> None:
    if bot.get_me().id in event.message.user_mentions_ids:
        await event.message.respond("Pong!")

bot.run()

Requires Python 3.10 or later; Discord bot token and appropriate gateway intents must be configured.

Verify before relying

• Performance characteristics and latency under high-volume event loads.
• Compatibility with third-party command frameworks (lightbulb, tanjun, crescent, arc) beyond documentation references.
• Resource consumption patterns for long-running bots at scale.

Package facts

Evidence: hikari-2.5.0-py3-none-any.whl

Tags

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