---
id: nextcord
version: "3.2.0"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# nextcord — A Python wrapper for the Discord API forked from discord.py

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 93.2K/mo

## What it is and what it does

Nextcord is a Python library that wraps the Discord API, allowing developers to build Discord bots and applications using async/await syntax. It handles the low-level details of Discord's HTTP and WebSocket protocols, including proper rate limiting and memory optimization, so you can focus on writing bot logic. The library depends on aiohttp for async HTTP requests, audioop-lts for audio handling, and typing_extensions for type hints.

The package is designed for developers building interactive Discord applications—from simple command bots to complex multi-feature applications. It supports slash commands, event listeners, and other modern Discord features through a Pythonic API. Optional dependencies enable voice support (requiring system libraries on Linux) and performance speedups via packages like orjson and aiodns.

Use it for:

- Build a Discord bot with slash commands and event handlers using async/await patterns.
- Create interactive Discord applications that respond to user interactions in real time.
- Implement voice channel features like music playback or voice chat integration.
- Develop moderation or utility bots that interact with Discord guilds and members.
- Prototype Discord integrations quickly without managing raw API calls and rate limits.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Nextcord is an async-ready Python wrapper for the Discord API that lets you build Discord bots and applications using modern async/await syntax with built-in rate limiting and memory optimization.

Yes. Nextcord is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, installs with low friction, and is licensed permissively under MIT. It's a solid choice if you're building Discord bots in Python and need modern async support. The Python 3.12+ requirement is reasonable for a library released in 2021 and actively updated; voice support requires extra system dependencies on Linux but is optional.

## Install

pip install nextcord
uv add nextcord
poetry add nextcord

## Installing nextcord

Before you install: Low friction installation with a pure Python wheel. The package is actively maintained with a recent release and no known vulnerabilities. Requires Python 3.12 or higher; voice support and performance optimizations are available as optional extras.

License in practice: MIT license is permissive, allowing commercial and private use with minimal restrictions—you can use this in proprietary projects without licensing concerns.

Quickstart:

pip install nextcord

import nextcord
from nextcord.ext import commands

bot = commands.Bot()

@bot.slash_command(description="Replies with pong!")
async def ping(interaction: nextcord.Interaction):
    await interaction.send("Pong!", ephemeral=True)

bot.run("your_token_here")

Python 3.12 or higher required. For voice support, libffi-dev and python-dev system packages must be installed on Linux before pip install.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package maintains API compatibility across Discord API changes and how frequently it updates in response to Discord's breaking changes.
- Performance characteristics and memory overhead compared to other Discord API wrappers when handling large numbers of guilds or concurrent connections.
- Completeness of voice support implementation and any known limitations or edge cases.

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 93.2K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

discord bot library python, discord api wrapper async, python discord bot framework, discord.py alternative, async discord client library, discord slash commands python, discord bot development, discord-api, async-framework, bot-development

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