This Steam Deck guide covers Steamcord, an awesome new Decky Loader plugin that puts Discord right inside Gaming Mode on the Steam Deck and the Steam Machine. Voice chat, DMs and even screen sharing now sit in the Quick Access Menu, so there’s no need to jump into Desktop Mode or keep a phone propped up next to you just to talk to your friends while you play.
I’ve been using it to chat with the boys while playing on my Deck, and honestly, it’s one of the best ways I’ve found to get Discord working on Valve’s hardware. Here’s what it does, how I installed it, and a few things worth knowing before you set it up.
What Steamcord actually is
Steamcord is a free, open-source plugin for Decky Loader, built for Steam Deck, Bazzite and SteamOS. Its developer describes it simply as Discord voice chat, DMs and screen sharing inside Steam’s Game Mode, and that’s exactly how it feels to use.
The clever part is how it works under the hood. Rather than squeezing a web page into a hidden browser, Steamcord quietly runs Vesktop, a real native Discord client, in the background and drives it for you. Because of that, your microphone and call audio work natively, just like the desktop Discord app. The plugin installs and launches Vesktop on its own the first time it runs, keeps you logged in across reboots, and never needs a desktop window while you’re in Gaming Mode.
It started life inspired by an older plugin called Deckcord, but the developer says the codebase has since been largely rewritten and goes its own way. It’s also being updated at a fast pace, with version 1.42.1 landing on GitHub on 19 October.
Steam Deck guide: how to install Steamcord
Steamcord isn’t on the Decky store yet, so it’s a manual install through Decky’s developer options. You do need Decky Loader set up on your Deck or Steam Machine first. Once that’s sorted, this is the route I took:
- Switch to Desktop Mode and open the Steamcord GitHub page in a browser.
- Head to the releases section on the right, scroll to the bottom of the latest release, and download the Steamcord.zip file. It lands in your Downloads folder, which you can check in Dolphin.
- Return to Gaming Mode and open Decky Loader from the Quick Access Menu.
- In Decky’s settings, turn on Developer Mode under General, then open the Developer section.
- Choose to install a plugin from a zip file, browse to Downloads, and select the Steamcord zip. Decky installs it for you.
If you’d rather skip Desktop Mode altogether, the developer also lists an install-from-URL option in the same Developer menu, pointing at the latest release: https://github.com/Necrosiak/Steamcord/releases/latest/download/Steamcord.zip. Either way, Steamcord then shows up in your Decky plugin list.
Signing in to Discord in Gaming Mode
Open Steamcord from Decky and it asks for your Discord login. You can enter your details, but there’s a nicer option too: a QR code login. On your phone, go to Discord, then Settings, then Scan QR Code, and point it at the code in the panel. That saves a lot of fiddling with the on-screen keyboard.
Discord sometimes throws a CAPTCHA at the login page, which can leave the QR code refreshing endlessly. Steamcord spots that and mirrors the login page in Gaming Mode so you can clear the challenge with the controller, using the D-pad to move the pointer and A to click. Once you’re in, you stay signed in.
What you can do once it’s running
This is where it really shines. From the Quick Access Menu I can check my DMs, reply to them, and jump into voice chat, all without leaving Gaming Mode. The panel is split into Voice, Text and Settings tabs, with a Servers and DMs switch underneath. Here are the highlights:
- Voice chat: join voice channels, see who’s speaking, set a volume for each person, mute someone locally, and use one-tap mute, deafen and disconnect controls.
- Game and Discord balance: a slider mixes game audio against your call in your headset, a lot like party chat on PlayStation.
- Text chat: read and reply to server channels and private conversations, with the Steam keyboard popping up automatically and image attachments showing as thumbnails.
- Screen sharing: share your screen to a voice channel with Go Live, including in Gaming Mode, and optionally send your game audio along with your voice.
- Notifications: incoming DM calls and pings show up as native Steam notifications, and they respect your Discord status.
- Controller shortcut: bind any button combo to mute toggle or push-to-talk, and it keeps working in-game with the Quick Access Menu closed, including on the Deck’s built-in controls.
There’s also a soundboard, Steam screenshot sharing straight into a chat, and an expanded full-screen view for friends, servers and calls. The developer is upfront that the expanded view is still a proof of concept, so expect a few rough edges there.
A few things to keep in mind
Because it’s a manual install, updates need a little attention. Decky’s built-in updater can overwrite existing plugin files but can’t add new top-level ones, so some releases have to be installed again from the URL. The release notes flag when that’s the case. If you like keeping manually installed plugins current, our look at the Decky Direct Updater plugin is worth a read.
Some newer features, like the in-game voice overlays, are still changing, and the developer actively asks for bug reports on GitHub. Each user on the machine also gets their own Discord profile tied to their Steam account, which is handy if the Steam Machine in your living room is shared with the family.
Is Steamcord worth installing?
If you’ve ever wanted Discord on your Steam Deck or Steam Machine without leaving Gaming Mode, I’d say yes. It’s easy to set up, the native audio makes voice chat feel just like it does on a PC, and being able to answer a DM mid-session from the Quick Access Menu is a real quality-of-life upgrade. It sits nicely alongside other community plugins we’ve covered, like Decky Nexus for Nexus Mods and the LSFG-VK 2.0 frame generation plugin. That wraps up this Steam Deck guide, so give it a go and let me know how it runs on your setup.
