# How seedcord runs your bot

Run and build your bot through Vite, so the same Vite plugins, .env files, and data files work in seedcord dev, codegen, and the production build.

Your bot's source can't run as it is. Your handlers use decorators, which node's own TypeScript support stops on with a parser error. Compiling with `tsc` gets past the decorators. It still leaves a handler unable to import a `.yaml` file, and your translation files never reach `dist` unless you copy them there yourself.

seedcord solves all three by loading your bot through [Vite](https://vite.dev). Vite compiles the decorators, and a Vite plugin can turn the `.yaml` file into code. The translation folder goes into `dist` once you list it under `files`.

Every `seedcord` command loads your bot this way. [`seedcord dev`](https://preview.seedcord.org/guide/tooling/dev/) runs it. [`seedcord codegen`](https://preview.seedcord.org/guide/tooling/codegen/) and [`seedcord commands`](https://preview.seedcord.org/guide/tooling/commands/) import it. `seedcord build` builds it. All of them use the same Vite plugins. A plugin you add for dev also runs in the build unless its `apply` option limits it, so an import that works while you edit works in production too.

## What you get

* **Any Vite plugin.** A plugin you list in `seedcord.config.ts` runs on your bot's code in every command, so a handler can import a `.yaml` file. [Vite plugins](https://preview.seedcord.org/guide/build/vite-plugins/) shows how.
* **`.env` files per environment.** `ENV=staging pnpm build` loads `.env.staging` after `.env`, so its values win. [Environment and config](https://preview.seedcord.org/guide/build/env/) has the order and how to read the values.
* **Data files.** List a folder like `./locales` under `files` and [`readFiles`](https://seedcord.org/docs/packages/utils/latest/functions/read-files) reads it the same way in dev and in a built bot. [Data files](https://preview.seedcord.org/guide/build/data-files/) covers it.
* **Where it runs.** The same build gives you a [Node or Bun server](https://preview.seedcord.org/guide/build/server/), a [Cloudflare Worker](https://preview.seedcord.org/guide/build/workers/), a [package other projects install](https://preview.seedcord.org/guide/build/package/), or [a bot inside your own server](https://preview.seedcord.org/guide/build/embed/). [`seedcord.config.ts`](https://preview.seedcord.org/guide/build/config/) and a `cloudflare.config.ts` beside it decide which.

## Installing Vite

`vite` is a peer dependency of `seedcord`. A bot from `pnpm create seedcord` already has it. pnpm, npm, and Bun install peer dependencies on their own, but Yarn leaves them out, so on Yarn you add it yourself:

```sh
pnpm add -D vite
```

Your bot and the CLI need the same copy of Vite. With two versions installed, TypeScript rejects your Vite plugins' types.