Discord Bot Tutorial #8 - Styling Embeds with Images and Fields (Python Example)

Hi there! This is Mojangcam 😎

In Part #7, we used a Modal to collect input from users. In Part #8, we'll cover Embeds, which make the messages your bot sends look much nicer!

An embed is a card-style message in Discord that neatly shows a title, description, fields, images, and a color. When you build things like server info, profile cards, announcements, or user rankings, it looks way better than plain text. Today I've put together an example you can copy and paste as-is, all the way through field alignment and adding thumbnails and large images!

📌 What You Need

Python 3.8+
discord.py 2.x (for slash commands and the latest embed features)
A Discord bot token & the bot already invited to your server (if you set this up in earlier parts, you're good to go)

cmake

pip install -U discord.py

💡 This series always uses discord.py 2.x. Slash commands won't work on older versions, so update with -U.

📌 Step 1 - Creating a Basic Embed

You build the skeleton of an embed with discord.Embed(), then attach fields and images to it.

Code

embed = discord.Embed(
    title="📊 Server Info",
    description="Here's this server's basic info, neatly organized in an embed!",
    color=discord.Color.blurple(),
)

Let's break it down 💡

title : The bold title at the very top of the embed.
description : The body text under the title.
color : The color of the vertical bar on the left side of the embed. You can use a preset like discord.Color.blurple() (Discord purple) or set it yourself with discord.Color.from_rgb(88, 101, 242).

📌 Step 2 - Adding and Aligning Fields

Use add_field() to add "name : value" items. The inline value decides whether they line up horizontally.

Code

embed.add_field(name="Members", value="120", inline=True)
embed.add_field(name="Channels", value="18", inline=True)
embed.add_field(name="Created", value="2024-03-01", inline=False)

inline=True : Sits side by side horizontally with other inline fields. (Up to 3 per row)
inline=False : Takes up an entire row on its own. Handy as a kind of divider.
An empty string for name / value causes an error, so make sure they're never blank.

📌 Step 3 - Adding a Thumbnail and a Large Image

There are two kinds of images. They show up in different places, so pick the one that fits your use.

Code

embed.set_thumbnail(url="https://picsum.photos/200")   # Small image in the top right
embed.set_image(url="https://picsum.photos/600/200")   # Large image at the bottom (banner)
embed.set_footer(text="Mojangcam Discord Bot")           # Small text at the very bottom

set_thumbnail : A small thumbnail in the top right (for profile or server icons).
set_image : A large banner image at the bottom of the embed.
set_footer : Small gray text at the very bottom (for showing a source or the bot's name).
⚠️ Image URLs show up reliably when they end with an extension like .png or .jpg. URLs without an extension might not display.

📌 Full Code (Copy & Paste OK)

Python

# discord.py 2.x / Python 3.8+
import discord
from discord import app_commands

intents = discord.Intents.default()
client = discord.Client(intents=intents)
tree = app_commands.CommandTree(client)

@client.event
async def on_ready():
    await tree.sync()  # Register slash commands
    print(f"{client.user} is ready!")

@tree.command(name="서버정보", description="Shows server info as an embed")
async def server_info(interaction: discord.Interaction):
    guild = interaction.guild

    embed = discord.Embed(
        title=f"📊 {guild.name} Server Info",
        description="Here's this server's basic info, neatly organized in an embed!",
        color=discord.Color.blurple(),
    )
    embed.add_field(name="Members", value=f"{guild.member_count}", inline=True)
    embed.add_field(name="Channels", value=f"{len(guild.channels)}", inline=True)
    embed.add_field(
        name="Created",
        value=guild.created_at.strftime("%Y-%m-%d"),
        inline=False,
    )

    if guild.icon:  # Use the server icon as the thumbnail if there is one
        embed.set_thumbnail(url=guild.icon.url)
    embed.set_image(url="https://picsum.photos/600/200")
    embed.set_footer(
        text="Mojangcam Discord Bot",
        icon_url=client.user.display_avatar.url,
    )

    await interaction.response.send_message(embed=embed)

client.run("PASTE_YOUR_BOT_TOKEN_HERE")

guild : The server object where the command was run. You can pull the name, member count, and creation date straight from it.
member_count : Automatically gets the number of members in the server.
display_avatar.url : The URL of the bot's profile picture. I used it as the footer icon.

📌 Result

Start the bot and type /서버정보 in your server, and you'll get a nice card with a title + member and channel counts side by side + the creation date on its own row + a thumbnail and banner image!

📌 Common Errors

The image doesn't show up — Cause: The URL has no extension or points to a private (login-required) address. Fix: Use a public image URL that ends with .png or .jpg.
HTTPException: In embeds.0.fields.0.value: This field is required — Cause: value is an empty string. Fix: Put at least one character in the field value.
/서버정보 doesn't appear — Cause: Missing tree.sync() or a sync delay. Fix: Make sure you sync in on_ready. Global sync can take up to an hour, so for testing, guild sync is much faster.
Members shows None and Channels shows 0 (this is where I actually got stuck!) — Symptom: The server name doesn't show either, Members is None, Channels is 0, and only the creation date is correct. Cause: The bot isn't actually in that server. If you only add the app via "User Install", the slash command still shows up, but the bot isn't a member of the server, so it can't access server info (fetch_guild returns 404 Unknown Guild, error code 10004). Fix: In the Developer Portal, go to OAuth2 → URL Generator, check the bot + applications.commands scopes to create an invite link, and use that link to invite the bot to your server. If you can see the bot in the server's member list, you're done! Run /서버정보 again and the member and channel counts will show up correctly.

💬 Wrapping Up

Today we used an Embed to dress up bot messages like cards, with a title, description, color, aligned fields, a thumbnail, and a banner image. Now you can send good-looking info cards instead of plain text! 🙌

In Part #9, we'll combine buttons + embeds to build "embed pagination" that lets you flip through pages. Stay tuned!

📚 Discord Bot Tutorial Series

#5 Button Interactions
#6 Dropdown (Select Menu)
#7 Getting Input with a Modal
#8 Styling Embeds with Images and Fields ← You are here!
#9 Embed Pagination (coming soon)