Introducing the Discord Social SDK (#7427)

Author: colinloretz

.gitignore

@@ -3,3 +3,4 @@
 node_modules/
 dist/
 .idea
+xml_output/

docs/Intro.mdx

@@ -3,74 +3,84 @@ showTOC: false
 sidebar_label: Intro
 ---
 
-<Hero title="Build Where the World Plays" subheading="Build social games, experiences, and integrations for millions of users on Discord" />
+<Hero title="Build Where the World Plays" subheading="Create social games, experiences, and integrations for millions of users on Discord" />
 
-## Get Started
+## Build with Discord
 
-Learn more about what apps can do on Discord or jump right into building your own.
+Discord provides a platform for building social experiences, whether you're creating apps within Discord or integrating Discord's features into your game.
 
 <Container>
-  <Card title="Overview of Apps" link="#DOCS_QUICK_START_OVERVIEW_OF_APPS" icon="AppsIcon">
-    Learn more about the different types of apps you can build on Discord and how users can interact with them
+  <Card title="Apps" link="#DOCS_QUICK_START_OVERVIEW_OF_APPS" icon="RobotIcon">
+    Develop apps, bots, and integrations to enhance the Discord experience.
   </Card>
-  <Card title="Build your First Discord App" link="#DOCS_QUICK_START_GETTING_STARTED" icon="RobotIcon">
-    Follow the guide to build a Discord app with interactive features like commands and message components.
+  <Card title="Activities" link="#DOCS_ACTIVITIES_OVERVIEW" icon="ActivitiesIcon">
+    Build multiplayer games and social experiences that run directly in Discord.
   </Card>
-  <Card title="Build a Discord Activity" link="#DOCS_ACTIVITIES_BUILDING_AN_ACTIVITY" icon="GameControllerIcon">
-    Follow the guide to build an Activity in Discord using the Embedded App SDK.
+  <Card title="Discord Social SDK" link="#DOCS_DISCORD_SOCIAL_SDK_OVERVIEW" icon="GameControllerIcon">
+    Add rich social features into your game across desktop, mobile, and console.
   </Card>
 </Container>
 
-## Discover Platform Features
+## Apps: Extend Discord with Custom Integrations
 
-Learn about different features and explore their reference documentation to bring your idea to life.
+Enhance the Discord experience with custom apps, commands, and integrations.
 
 <Container>
-  <Card title="Messaging" link="#DOCS_RESOURCES_MESSAGE" icon="ChatIcon">
-    Send, retrieve, and manage messages in channels where your app has access.
+  <Card title="Apps Overview" link="#DOCS_QUICK_START_OVERVIEW_OF_APPS" icon="RobotIcon">
+    Learn the fundamentals of building Discord apps and commands.
   </Card>
-  <Card title="Message Components" link="#DOCS_INTERACTIONS_OVERVIEW/message-components" icon="SparklesIcon">
-    Add interactive elements like buttons and select menus in messages sent by your app.
+  <Card title="Build Your First Discord App" link="#DOCS_QUICK_START_GETTING_STARTED" icon="WrenchIcon">
+    Create a bot user that plays "rock, paper, scissors" with users.
   </Card>
-  <Card title="Commands" link="#DOCS_INTERACTIONS_OVERVIEW/commands" icon="SlashBoxIcon">
-    Create interactive entry points for your app's features that can be accessed across Discord.
+  <Card title="Slash Commands and Interactions" link="#DOCS_INTERACTIONS_OVERVIEW/message-components" icon="SlashBoxIcon">
+    Create custom commands and interactions for your app.
   </Card>
-  <Card title="Activities" link="#DOCS_ACTIVITIES_OVERVIEW" icon="GameControllerIcon">
-    Build embedded games and social experiences that are launchable in Discord.
+</Container>
+
+## Activities: Build Multiplayer Games in Discord
+
+Use the Embedded App SDK to create real-time games and social experiences that users can launch directly inside Discord.
+
+<Container>
+  <Card title="Activities Overview" link="#DOCS_ACTIVITIES_OVERVIEW" icon="ActivitiesIcon">
+    Discover how Activities work in Discord.
   </Card>
-  <Card title="Monetization" link="#DOCS_MONETIZATION_OVERVIEW" icon="PiggyBankIcon">
-    Integrate native monetization features like subscriptions and one-time purchases.
+  <Card title="Build Your First Activity" link="#DOCS_ACTIVITIES_BUILDING_AN_ACTIVITY" icon="WrenchIcon">
+    Build and test an Activity using the Embedded App SDK.
   </Card>
-  <Card title="Rich Presence" link="#DOCS_RICH_PRESENCE_OVERVIEW" icon="UserIcon">
-    Display actionable data in a user's profile about what they're doing in your game or app.
+  <Card title="Activity Design Patterns" link="#DOCS_ACTIVITIES_DESIGN_PATTERNS" icon="PaintPaletteIcon">
+    Best practices for multiplayer, game design, and player experience.
   </Card>
 </Container>
 
-## Explore the APIs
+## Discord Social SDK: Bring Social Features to Your Game
 
-Learn about some of the different APIs Discord apps have access to.
+Enable rich presence, voice chat, and more to create a seamless social experience for your players and grow your game.
 
 <Container>
-  <Card title="HTTP API" link="#DOCS_REFERENCE/http-api">
-    Fetch information about and modify core Discord resources like channels, servers, users, and messages.
+  <Card title="Discord Social SDK Overview" link="#DOCS_DISCORD_SOCIAL_SDK_OVERVIEW" icon="GameControllerIcon">
+    Explore rich presence, relationships, voice chat, and more.
+  </Card>
+  <Card title="Build with the Discord Social SDK" link="#DOCS_DISCORD_SOCIAL_SDK_GETTING_STARTED" icon="WrenchIcon">
+    Start here for a step-by-step guide to adding social features to your game.
   </Card>
-  <Card title="Gateway API" link="#DOCS_REFERENCE/gateway-websocket-api" >
-    Receive and send realtime events over a WebSocket connection for things happening in Discord.
+  <Card title="Design Guidelines" link="#DOCS_DISCORD_SOCIAL_SDK_DESIGN_GUIDELINES" icon="PaintPaletteIcon">
+    Best practices for integrating Discord Social SDK features into your game.
   </Card>
 </Container>
 
 ## Find Support
 
-Reach out to the community or developer support to get support and stay updated about API changes.
+Connect with the developer community, report issues, and stay updated with API changes.
 
 <Container>
-  <Card title="Discord Developer Server" link="https://discord.gg/discord-developers" icon="ClydeIcon">
-   Join our community for support, API announcements, and events hosted by Discord staff.
+  <Card title="Join the Developer Discord" link="https://discord.gg/discord-developers" icon="ClydeIcon">
+    Get support, API announcements, and participate in developer events.
   </Card>
-  <Card title="Find us on GitHub" link="https://github.com/discord/discord-api-docs" icon="ForumIcon">
-    Visit us on GitHub to report API bugs, provide platform feature requests, or to suggest updates to the documentation.
+  <Card title="Report Issues on GitHub" link="https://github.com/discord/discord-api-docs" icon="BugIcon">
+    Submit API bugs, feature requests, or contribute to the documentation.
   </Card>
-  <Card title="Developer Help Center" link="https://support-dev.discord.com" icon="UnknownGameIcon">
-    Find articles on common topics and questions, or reach directly out to the developer support team.
+  <Card title="Visit the Developer Help Center" link="https://support-dev.discord.com" icon="CircleQuestionIcon">
+    Find articles, FAQs, and reach out to Discord's developer support team.
   </Card>
-</Container>
+</Container>

docs/activities/Overview.mdx

@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ sidebar_label: Overview
 
 Under the hood, Activities are single page web apps hosted in an iframe and use the [Embedded App SDK](#DOCS_ACTIVITIES_OVERVIEW/embedded-app-sdk) to communicate with Discord clients. This page focuses on how Activities are launched and built, but you can explore real-world Activities by reading some of our [developer case studies](https://discord.com/build#case-studies), or by trying a few out in Discord. You can also jump right into building using some of the resources below.
 
-
 <Container>
   <Card title="Build Your First Discord Activity" link="#DOCS_ACTIVITIES_BUILDING_AN_ACTIVITY">
     Follow the guide to build your first Activity using the Embedded App SDK.

docs/change_log/2025-03-17-introducing-the-discord-social-sdk.md

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+---
+title: "Introducing the Discord Social SDK"
+date: "2025-03-17"
+topics:
+- "Discord Social SDK"
+---
+
+Developers can now use the Discord Social SDK to build social features into their games, enabling friends lists, cross-platform messaging, voice and more for all players — with or without a Discord account.
+
+Discord Social SDK offers features that enhance connectivity and player engagement, including:
+
+- Account Linking
+- Provisional Accounts
+- Rich Presence
+- Deeplink Game Invites
+
+Additionally, available in a closed beta to support in-game communications:
+
+- Cross-Platform Messaging
+- Linked Channels
+- Voice Chat
+
+Developers can request expanded access to these available features via the closed beta. 
+
+#### Discord Social SDK Developer Resources
+
+New resources are available in the Developer Portal to help you get started with the Discord Social SDK:
+
+- [Getting Started Guides](#DOCS_DISCORD_SOCIAL_SDK_GETTING_STARTED) for C++, Unity and Unreal Engine.
+- [Development Guides](#DOCS_DISCORD_SOCIAL_SDK_DEVELOPMENT_GUIDES) for building your game's social features.
+- [Design Guidelines](#DOCS_DISCORD_SOCIAL_SDK_DESIGN_GUIDELINES) for designing your game's social features.
+- [SDK Reference](http://discord.com/developers/docs/social-sdk/index.html) is now available.
+- The Discord Social SDK binaries are available for download in the Developer Portal after enabling the Discord Social SDK for your application.
+
+To learn more about building with the Discord Social SDK, check out the [Discord Social SDK Overview](#DOCS_DISCORD_SOCIAL_SDK_OVERVIEW).

docs/developer_tools/Game_SDK.mdx

@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
+
+
 # Game SDK
 
+> warn
+> **The Game SDK has been archived.**<br />We recommend using the [Discord Social SDK](#DOCS_DISCORD_SOCIAL_SDK_OVERVIEW) for new projects. <br />Existing projects using the Game SDK will continue to work, but we encourage you to migrate to the [Discord Social SDK](#DOCS_DISCORD_SOCIAL_SDK_OVERVIEW) for new features and updates.
+
 Welcome to the documentation for the Discord Game SDK! We're glad you made it. The Game SDK helps you develop your 3rd party game or app, and integrate it with Discord.
 
 ---