discord-ext-autoreload

A discord.py extension that allows automatic hot-reloading of extensions

When it comes to bot development, reloading extensions at runtime is quite a common practice. However, currently there is no way of automatically hot reloading extensions. This simple extension allows you to conveniently auto-reload extensions.

The features of this extension are:

Easy to setup and use
Proper exceptions handling during auto-reload
Minimal interface matching that of discord.py
Compatible with both discord.py v1.7 and v2.0

Installation

This extension can easily be installed using pip:

pip install discord-ext-autoreload

Usage

The Reloader class is used for setting up automatic reloads.

import discord
from discord.ext import commands, autoreload

bot = commands.Bot(command_prefix="!", intents=discord.Intents.all())
reloader = autoreload.Reloader(ext_directory="cogs")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    reloader.start(bot)
    bot.run()

For discord.py 2.0

In discord.py 2.0 and higher, you would need to call the reloader.start() method in an async context. The most convenient way of doing this is by overriding the Bot.setup_hook() method.

class Bot(commands.Bot):
  async def setup_hook(self) -> None:
      reloader.start(self)

And done! The Reloader class will start watching the provided ext_directory for changes in loaded extensions and as soon as an extension is updated, It will automatically be reloaded.

Stopping the reloader

Sometimes, you might want to stop the reloader. You can use the Reloader.stop() method to easily do so. For example:

@bot.command()
async def togglereload(ctx):
    if reloader.stopped:
        reloader.start(bot)
        await ctx.send("Enabled")
    else:
        reloader.stop()
        await ctx.send("Disabled")

Error Handling

When auto reloading fails for some reason, the error is properly handled and propagated to Reloader.on_error. This function by default logs the error but can be overridden to implement custom functionality.

import traceback

class Reloader(autoreload.Reloader):
    async def on_error(self, extension: str):
        print(f"Extension {extension!r} failed to auto reload")
        traceback.print_exc()

Tracking reloads

When an extension is reloaded, the Reloader.on_reload method is called. This method can be implemented by a subclass to easily track successful automatic reloads.

Excluding extensions from reloading

Sometimes, you want certain extensions to not be subject of automatic reloading. Fortunately, this package allows you to exclude certain extensions by passing the exclude_exts keyword argument in Reloader class.

reloader = Reloader(ext_directory="cogs", exclude_exts=["cogs.some_extension"])