QR Code for Discord

From server settings to a printed invite

1. 1

   Create or open an invite link

   In Discord, right-click the server name or open Server Settings and choose Invite People, then edit the invite's settings. The default link shown there is often set to expire.

2. 2

   Set expiry and uses to match the print run

   Change the expiry to never for anything going on a poster or badge that will be around for a while, and leave the use limit unlimited unless you're deliberately capping how many people can join. A one-time invite printed a hundred times lets in exactly one person.

3. 3

   Copy the invite link and paste it into MakeQR

   Copy the discord.gg link from the invite list and paste it into the web address field. No account details are needed, just the invite URL.

4. 4

   Choose static or dynamic, then download

   A static code is free and fixed to that exact invite. Download SVG for anything printed and PNG for a screen or stream overlay.

Discord already has a QR code, but not for this

Discord's mobile app can show a scannable code on your own profile so another phone can add you as a friend directly, camera to camera. It doesn't produce one for a server invite, and there's no way to export that friend code as an image for print. A server invite code has to be built from the invite link itself, which is what MakeQR encodes.

Vanity invite links aren't available to every server

A short custom invite such as discord.gg/yourname only exists for a Community server with enough boosts; most invite links are a random eight-character code instead. Either form works exactly the same once it's in a QR code, so there's no need to chase a vanity link just to make the code shorter.

Where a server invite code gets used

Gaming communities put one on a stream overlay so viewers can join mid-broadcast. Event organizers add one to a lanyard or badge for a convention's Discord. Study groups print one on a syllabus for the course's server. In every case, the code only needs to survive as long as the invite behind it does.

What the code contains

The pattern encodes the full invite URL exactly as Discord generated it, for example a discord.gg link followed by an eight-character code. Nothing about your account, your server's member list or your own username is in the code, only the address that opens the invite screen.

https://discord.gg/AbCdEfGh

Sizing it for a badge or an overlay

A badge or lanyard code is read from arm's length, so keep it near 25–30 mm and away from the badge's fold line. On a stream overlay, viewers are often reading it off a screen at a distance, sometimes on a phone held up to a monitor or TV, so treat it like a poster: bigger and plainer beats decorative.

Where these invites break

• Printing a link set to expire

  The default invite Discord suggests often expires in a day or a week. A code printed on badges for a multi-day event with that link stops working partway through unless the expiry is set to never before the code is generated.

• Reusing a link with a use limit

  An invite capped at a fixed number of uses stops working once that many people have joined, and the code itself gives no sign why it failed. Set the use limit to unlimited for anything printed at scale.

• Deleting or resetting the invite later

  Regenerating or revoking the invite inside Discord breaks every printed copy of the old code at once. A dynamic MakeQR code sidesteps this by repointing to a fresh invite without reprinting anything.

Real places a Discord invite code shows up

• A Twitch overlay corner during a stream, next to the channel's other socials.
• A convention badge for the event's official Discord.
• A university club's poster on a noticeboard.
• A game's manual insert linking to its community server.