A custom Discord bot name and avatar come from the bot's application in Discord's Developer Portal, not from any hosting platform: you set the name on the General Information tab and the avatar on the Bot tab, and both update everywhere the bot posts within a few minutes. A hosted platform like Noxyr can run its feature set under that identity, but the identity itself is always yours to set, because it belongs to the application, not to whoever is running the code behind it.
What makes up a Discord bot's identity
A bot account has more to it than a single "name" field. Discord splits it across a few places in the Developer Portal, and mixing them up is the most common reason someone can't find the setting they're after.
- Application name. Set on the General Information tab. This is what shows in the OAuth2 invite screen and in the app directory, and it usually matches the bot's username.
- Bot username. Set on the Bot tab. This is the name members actually see next to every message, in the member list and in DMs. It can differ from the application name, but there's rarely a reason to let it.
- Avatar. Also on the Bot tab. The image shown everywhere the username appears.
- Banner. An optional wide image shown when someone opens the bot's profile card, the same way a user banner works.
- About Me. A short description field, also shown on the profile card. Good for a one-line summary of what the bot does or a link to its site.
How to change your Discord bot's name
- 1. Open the Developer Portal. Go to discord.com/developers/applications and select the application.
- 2. Rename the application. On General Information, edit the Name field and save.
- 3. Rename the bot account. Open the Bot tab and edit the Username field the same way. This is the one members see, so make sure it matches what you actually want to show up in chat.
The new name appears in new messages and in the member list within a minute or two. Discord throttles how often you can rename a bot account, so treat it as a setting you get right once rather than something to tweak repeatedly in a short window.
How to change your Discord bot's avatar
- 1. Open the Bot tab for the application in the Developer Portal.
- 2. Click the current avatar image and upload a replacement (PNG, JPG or GIF, square works best).
- 3. Save changes. The new avatar rolls out to every server the bot is in, without needing to reinvite it or touch anything on the servers themselves.
Because messages, panels and DMs pull the current username and avatar live, a rename or a new avatar shows up on everything the bot has already sent, not just future messages. The one exception is a message sent through a webhook, which freezes the name and avatar it had at send time.
Banner and About Me
Both live on the same Bot tab, under the avatar. The banner is a wide background image behind the profile card; About Me is plain text under the name. Neither one is required, and neither affects how the bot behaves. They're worth setting once if your bot is meant to look like a real product rather than a default gray silhouette, but skip them if you'd rather spend the five minutes elsewhere.
Discord bot status: online, idle, dnd
Status is separate from name and avatar entirely, and it isn't set in the Developer Portal, it's set by the bot's code every time it logs in. Discord gives a bot the same status choices a user account has:
- Online - green dot, the default for a bot that's actively running.
- Idle - the crescent-moon icon, usually used to signal a lighter-duty or maintenance state without going fully offline.
- Do Not Disturb (dnd) - red dot, sometimes used to mean "not currently taking commands."
- Invisible - shows as offline to everyone, while the bot's code still runs behind the scenes.
On top of the status dot, a bot can also carry a short custom status line, the same kind of text you'd set on your own Discord profile, shown next to its name wherever it appears online. That text is independent of the status color.
How Noxyr Custom Bot handles identity and status
Custom Bot runs Noxyr's full feature set under an identity you control, so the name, avatar, banner and About Me are exactly what you set on your own application in the Developer Portal, the same steps as above. Noxyr never touches those; it only ever logs in with the token you paste in.
What Noxyr's dashboard does add is a status picker for that identity. On the Custom Bot page for your server you choose a presence of online, idle or dnd and type a custom status line up to 128 characters, and it's applied as a real Discord custom status, not a "Playing" activity. Leave the text blank and it falls back to a default line crediting Noxyr. Saving restarts the bot on its hosting node to apply the change, so the dashboard limits status saves to about once every 30 seconds.
Invisible isn't one of the options there. If a custom bot isn't running, the dashboard shows that directly as offline or suspended rather than as a status the bot chose for itself.
Setting up a custom bot itself, from the Top.gg vote to pasting your token, is covered step by step in the Custom Bot setup guide and in the Custom Bots documentation.
Common questions
Do I need to reinvite my bot after changing its name or avatar? No. Both update in place across every server the bot is already in.
Why does my bot's avatar look wrong in an old message? Regular bot messages always show the current name and avatar. If the message came from a webhook instead of the bot account directly, it keeps whatever name and avatar it had when it was sent.
Can a bot's status be "invisible"? Yes, it's one of Discord's four standard presence states, though Noxyr's Custom Bot dashboard only offers online, idle and dnd.
Is a bot's custom status the same as an activity like "Playing"? No. A custom status is a plain line of text next to the presence dot. An activity ("Playing X", "Watching Y") is a different, separate field that some bots set instead.
Does changing the avatar cost anything? No. Application name, avatar, banner and About Me are all free settings in Discord's own Developer Portal, whether or not you're using a hosting platform like Noxyr.
Ready to put your own name and avatar on a fully featured bot? Add Noxyr free, or head straight to Custom Bot to set one up.