How To Activate Discord Developer Mode and Access Hidden Features

Sometimes, managing Discord settings feels a bit like navigating a maze — especially if you’re trying to get those extra IDs or mess around with untested features. Maybe you’re building a bot, doing API testing, or just want to copy user or message IDs without hassle. Enabling Developer Mode is the first step, and honestly, it’s pretty straightforward once you know where to look. However, if you’re into more advanced stuff like unlocking hidden experimental features, it gets a little more complicated, and that’s where things can feel messy. No shame in that, because sometimes Windows makes it harder than it needs to be to get to these hidden gems. That’s why this guide covers both the basic toggle and the more technical behind-the-scenes tweaks — so you can pick what suits your vibe best.

How to Enable Developer Mode & Unlock Hidden Discord Experiments

Enabling Developer Mode on Discord (PC & Web)

This is the bread and butter for most devs or power users. When active, it reveals a tiny “Copy ID” option when you right-click on servers, channels, users, or messages. It’s super handy for any kind of bot setup or debugging—no more googling IDs or guessing. The basic toggle is safe and works across desktop and web versions, so it’s usually the first thing to try if you’re stuck.

Steps to turn it on:

Open Discord Settings: Fire up Discord on your desktop or browser, then click the gear icon at the bottom-left corner next to your username to access User Settings.
Navigate to Advanced: Scroll through the left sidebar until you find the Advanced section, then click it.
Activate Developer Mode: Flip the toggle labeled Developer Mode to the on position. Done! Now you can right-click anything to copy IDs directly.
Use the new feature: Right-click on servers, channels, users, or messages and pick Copy ID. On some setups, this might require a refresh—sometimes it fails the first time, then magically works after a restart.
Optional: Enable Application Test Mode in the same Advanced tab by entering your application ID if you’re testing monetized apps or SKUs — usually not needed for casual bot work, but hey, some devs want to push those limits.

Why it helps:

Seeing those IDs is essential when wiring up Discord bots or doing API stuff. Without it, you’re running blind, guessing at what’s what. And because of course, Discord has to make it so you can’t just easily copy IDs without digging through menus, activating this mode is a huge time-saver. Sometimes, after toggling it on, a quick restart of Discord might be needed. It’s kinda weird, but on some machines this fails the first time, then works after reboot. Not sure why, but patience is key.

Unlocking Discord’s Hidden Experiments (Desktop App Only)

If the basic Developer Mode isn’t enough and you’re itching to test experimental features, Discord actually has some hidden “labs” you can access — but beware, this involves editing config files and running scripts. This is not officially supported and can be risky, so only go down this route if you’re comfortable poking around in files and dev tools. Because, of course, Discord has to make it needlessly complicated, right?

Steps to activate hidden experiments:

Close Discord completely: Use Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) to kill all Discord processes. No half-measures here.
Open the Discord config folder: Press WIN + R, then type %APPDATA%\Discord and hit Enter. For PTB or Canary versions, use %APPDATA%\DiscordPTB or %APPDATA%\discordcanary.
Edit settings.json: Open it with Notepad++, VSCode, or even Notepad—whatever makes you comfortable. Find the JSON object, and add a line like this (make sure to add a comma if it’s not the last item):

"DANGEROUS_ENABLE_DEVTOOLS_ONLY_ENABLE_IF_YOU_KNOW_WHAT_YOURE_DOING": true

This flag allows opening DevTools with Ctrl + Shift + I, which is normally hidden.

Restart Discord & Open DevTools: Save the changes, run Discord again, then press Ctrl + Shift + I.
Run the unlock script: In the DevTools console, paste the following code:
```
Object.defineProperty( (webpackChunkdiscord_app.push([ [""], {}, (e) => { m = []; for (let c in e.c) m.push(e.c[c]); }, ]), m).find((m) => m?.exports?.default?.isDeveloper !== void 0).exports.default, "isDeveloper", { get: () => true } );
```
This is kind of skirting the line, so don’t run anything unless you understand what’s going on. After executing, refresh Discord or open the User Settings — you should now see an Experiments tab with more options.

Why this is tricky:

This is definitely for the brave, and it’s not guaranteed to work forever since Discord updates can wipe these tweaks. Also, messing with scripts isn’t as safe as just toggling Developer Mode — so make sure to research what each script does before pasting, especially because the internal code can be confusing.

Important notes

These experimental features are not static and might vanish after updates.
Always backup config files before editing, just in case.
Running custom scripts can be risky—stick to trusted sources or understanding every line.

Wrap-up

Getting Developer Mode enabled is a no-brainer for most users, and it unlocks a lot of potential. If diving into hidden experiments sounds tempting but intimidating, honestly, sticking with the basic toggle covers most of what you need. That said, on some setups, the tweaks to access internal features can give a neat edge for advanced testing. Just remember: with great power comes great responsibility. Always keep backups and proceed carefully.

Summary

Enabled Developer Mode through settings for quick ID copying.
Optional: Edited configuration files to access experimental features (risky, so be cautious).
Restarted Discord after tweaks—sometimes needed for changes to take effect.