Is Discord down? Here's what we know about today's service outage

Discord
(Image credit: Discord)

What brought Discord down, and when will it be back up? The chat service is reporting some internal tech issues, but it looks like they're clearing up now.

The Discord server outage was first logged on the official Discord Status page at 11:49 am PST / 2:49 pm EST / 7:49 pm GMT, with the issues apparently rising from a "widespread API outage." Discord intentionally limited the number of users who could log in while it worked to fix the issue, and the service's most recent status message indicates it should be back to functioning normally soon.

"The database is healthy again and our internal error rate has fallen to nominal levels," the service page explained. "We are beginning to raise the login rate limit to allow users to reconnect."

API is short for application programming interface, which is a means of connecting different programs or devices so they can work together. Discord is understandably not jumping to reveal all of the details of how its inner technologies function, but it seems like whatever hiccup emerged in the interface has been ironed out, and now it's just a matter of restoring Discord to its normal operating capacity.

Discord has quickly risen as one of the most popular online text and voice chat services in recent years, with a particular focus on supporting communities in and around video games. It already works with Xbox, and it looks like Discord's planned integration with PlayStation Network isn't far off either.

While you're waiting to get back into your favorite servers, pass some time (and fill out your wishlist) with our guide to new games 2022.

Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.