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Middleware & After Hooks

Middleware wraps the entire dispatch pipeline, letting you run logic before (or around) every interaction. After hooks run once per command execution, regardless of success or error.

Middleware

Section titled “Middleware”

Register middleware with commands:use(). Each middleware receives the interaction and a next function. Call next() to continue the pipeline; omit it to short-circuit.

commandsManager:use(function(interaction: any, next: () -> ())
    print(`Interaction received: {(interaction :: any).data.name or "component"}`)
    next()
end)

Middleware runs in registration order, before guards, cooldowns, and execute.

Short-circuiting

Section titled “Short-circuiting”

Omitting next() stops the pipeline entirely - guards, cooldowns, and execute all skip.

commandsManager:use(function(interaction: any, next: () -> ())
    local anyInteraction = interaction :: any


    if isBanned(anyInteraction.user.id) then
        anyInteraction:messageAsync({ content = "You are banned.", flags = 64 }):poll()
        return -- don't call next()
    end


    next()
end)

Async middleware

Section titled “Async middleware”

Middleware runs in a coroutine, so you can yield inside it. Call next() after your async work completes.

commandsManager:use(function(interaction: any, next: () -> ())
    local anyInteraction = interaction :: any


    -- fetch something before the command runs
    local data = fetchUserData(anyInteraction.user.id):await()
    (anyInteraction :: any).userData = data


    next()
end)

Middleware applies to all interaction types

Section titled “Middleware applies to all interaction types”

The same middleware list runs for slash commands, component interactions, modal submissions, and autocomplete. Gate on the interaction type if needed:

commandsManager:use(function(interaction: any, next: () -> ())
    local anyInteraction = interaction :: any


    if anyInteraction.data and anyInteraction.data.name then
        -- only for slash commands
        logCommand(anyInteraction.data.name)
    end


    next()
end)

After hooks

Section titled “After hooks”

Register a global after hook with commands:after(). It fires after execute completes (or errors), making it suitable for logging, metrics, or cleanup.

local classes = require("../../luau_packages/classes")


commandsManager:after(function(interaction: classes.TypesCommand)
    local anyInteraction = interaction :: any
    local name = anyInteraction.data and anyInteraction.data.name or "unknown"


    print(`Command '{name}' finished`)
end)

Multiple after hooks run in registration order. Errors in individual hooks are logged as warnings and do not affect other hooks.

Per-command after hooks

Section titled “Per-command after hooks”

Set afterExecute on a command definition to run logic specific to that command, before the global after hooks.

local classes = require("../../luau_packages/classes")


return {
    command = ...,


    afterExecute = function(interaction: classes.TypesCommand)
        recordUsage(interaction.user.id)
    end,


    execute = function(interaction: classes.TypesCommand)
        interaction:messageAsync({ content = "Done!" }):await()
    end,
}

Execution order

Section titled “Execution order”

For a slash command, the full pipeline runs in this order:

  1. Middleware chain (in registration order, calling next())
  2. Permission checks (userPermissions, clientPermissions)
  3. Guards
  4. Cooldown check
  5. Concurrency acquire
  6. Transforms
  7. execute (or subcommand execute)
  8. Concurrency release
  9. afterExecute (per-command)
  10. After hooks (global, in registration order)

References

Section titled “References”