diff --git a/docs/README.md b/docs/README.md
index 7eb526f..dfc6a5d 100644
--- a/docs/README.md
+++ b/docs/README.md
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ Generated from the source, so it describes what the framework actually does.
 
 **Configuration** — [TempcordConfig](reference/configuration/tempcord-config.md)
 
+**Messaging** — [DirectMessage](reference/messaging/direct-message.md)
+
 **Enums** — [DiscordLocale](reference/enums/discord-locale.md)
 
 **Plugins** — [Plugin](reference/plugins/plugin.md)
diff --git a/docs/index.json b/docs/index.json
index bb16faf..33b506c 100644
--- a/docs/index.json
+++ b/docs/index.json
@@ -460,6 +460,34 @@
                 "methods": []
             }
         ],
+        "messaging": [
+            {
+                "name": "DirectMessage",
+                "fqcn": "Tempcord\\Messaging\\DirectMessage",
+                "kind": "class",
+                "target": null,
+                "summary": "Writes to a member privately, on a best-effort basis.",
+                "slug": "reference/messaging/direct-message",
+                "parameters": [
+                    {
+                        "name": "discord",
+                        "type": "Discord",
+                        "default": null,
+                        "required": true,
+                        "summary": ""
+                    },
+                    {
+                        "name": "logger",
+                        "type": "Logger",
+                        "default": null,
+                        "required": true,
+                        "summary": ""
+                    }
+                ],
+                "cases": [],
+                "methods": []
+            }
+        ],
         "enums": [
             {
                 "name": "DiscordLocale",
diff --git a/docs/reference/index.md b/docs/reference/index.md
index 69fd048..67dc016 100644
--- a/docs/reference/index.md
+++ b/docs/reference/index.md
@@ -31,6 +31,10 @@
 
 - [TempcordConfig](configuration/tempcord-config.md)
 
+## Messaging
+
+- [DirectMessage](messaging/direct-message.md) — Writes to a member privately, on a best-effort basis.
+
 ## Enums
 
 - [DiscordLocale](enums/discord-locale.md) — The locales Discord accepts for name and description localizations.
diff --git a/docs/reference/messaging/direct-message.md b/docs/reference/messaging/direct-message.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c7990d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/reference/messaging/direct-message.md
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+<!-- Generated from the source by `composer docs`. Do not edit by hand. -->
+
+# DirectMessage
+
+Writes to a member privately, on a best-effort basis.
+
+```php
+use Tempcord\Messaging\DirectMessage;
+```
+
+## Parameters
+
+| Name | Type | Default | Description |
+| --- | --- | --- | --- |
+| `discord` | `Discord` | *required* |  |
+| `logger` | `Logger` | *required* |  |
+
diff --git a/src/Messaging/DirectMessage.php b/src/Messaging/DirectMessage.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..73a47d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Messaging/DirectMessage.php
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace Tempcord\Messaging;
+
+use Tempcord\Discord\Discord;
+use Tempcord\Discord\Rest\Helpers\Channel\MessageBuilder;
+use Tempest\Log\Logger;
+use Throwable;
+
+use function React\Async\await;
+
+/**
+ * Writes to a member privately, on a best-effort basis.
+ *
+ * A member who has closed their direct messages, who shares no server with the
+ * bot any more, or who has blocked it cannot be written to. That is an ordinary
+ * state of affairs rather than a failure — and a bot that lets it throw
+ * abandons whatever it was in the middle of, which is usually the punishment or
+ * the decision the message was only announcing.
+ *
+ * So this reports whether the message landed instead of throwing, leaving the
+ * caller to decide whether it mattered. Reaching a member is almost never a
+ * precondition for the thing being announced.
+ */
+final readonly class DirectMessage
+{
+    public function __construct(
+        private Discord $discord,
+        private Logger $logger,
+    ) {}
+
+    /**
+     * @return bool whether the member could be reached
+     */
+    public function send(string $userId, MessageBuilder|string $message): bool
+    {
+        $message = is_string($message)
+            ? MessageBuilder::new()->setContent($message)
+            : $message;
+
+        try {
+            $channel = await($this->discord->rest->user->createDm($userId));
+
+            await($this->discord->rest->channel->createMessage($channel->id, $message));
+
+            return true;
+        } catch (Throwable $throwable) {
+            /*
+             * Logged at info: closed DMs are the common case and say nothing
+             * about the health of the bot, so reporting them as errors would
+             * only teach whoever reads the log to ignore it.
+             */
+            $this->logger->info(
+                'Could not write to ' . $userId . ': ' . $throwable->getMessage(),
+            );
+
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/tests/Doubles/RecordingLogger.php b/tests/Doubles/RecordingLogger.php
index fe6f74e..9074070 100644
--- a/tests/Doubles/RecordingLogger.php
+++ b/tests/Doubles/RecordingLogger.php
@@ -17,8 +17,12 @@ final class RecordingLogger extends AbstractLogger implements Logger
     /** @var list<string> */
     public array $messages = [];
 
+    /** @var list<string> the level each message was logged at, in step with $messages */
+    public array $levels = [];
+
     public function log($level, string|Stringable $message, array $context = []): void
     {
         $this->messages[] = (string) $message;
+        $this->levels[] = (string) $level;
     }
 }
diff --git a/tests/Unit/Messaging/DirectMessageTest.php b/tests/Unit/Messaging/DirectMessageTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e543a7e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Unit/Messaging/DirectMessageTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace Tempcord\Tests\Unit\Messaging;
+
+use PHPUnit\Framework\Attributes\CoversClass;
+use Tempcord\Discord\Rest\Helpers\Channel\MessageBuilder;
+use Tempcord\Messaging\DirectMessage;
+use Tempcord\Tests\Doubles\FakeDiscord;
+use Tempcord\Tests\Doubles\RecordingHttp;
+use Tempcord\Tests\Doubles\RecordingLogger;
+use Tempcord\Tests\Unit\TestCase;
+
+use function React\Async\async;
+use function React\Async\await;
+
+#[CoversClass(DirectMessage::class)]
+final class DirectMessageTest extends TestCase
+{
+    private const string USER = '254766810296090626';
+
+    private RecordingHttp $http;
+
+    private RecordingLogger $logger;
+
+    private function directMessage(string ...$refusing): DirectMessage
+    {
+        $this->http = new RecordingHttp(failPostsMatching: $refusing);
+        $this->logger = new RecordingLogger();
+
+        return new DirectMessage(new FakeDiscord($this->http), $this->logger);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * The REST calls are awaited, so this runs inside a fiber exactly as the
+     * dispatcher runs a handler.
+     */
+    private function send(DirectMessage $dm, MessageBuilder|string $message): bool
+    {
+        return await(async(static fn() => $dm->send(self::USER, $message))());
+    }
+
+    private function posted(string $needle): array
+    {
+        return array_values(array_filter(
+            $this->http->posts,
+            static fn(array $post) => str_contains($post['url'], $needle),
+        ));
+    }
+
+    public function test_it_opens_a_private_channel_and_writes_to_it(): void
+    {
+        $dm = $this->directMessage();
+
+        $sent = $this->send($dm, MessageBuilder::new()->setContent('You have been warned.'));
+
+        $this->assertTrue($sent);
+        $this->assertNotSame([], $this->posted('users/@me/channels'));
+        $this->assertNotSame([], $this->posted('messages'));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Most of what a bot says privately is one line, and building a message for
+     * it says nothing the string does not.
+     */
+    public function test_a_plain_string_is_sent_as_the_content(): void
+    {
+        $dm = $this->directMessage();
+
+        $this->send($dm, 'You have been warned.');
+
+        $this->assertSame('You have been warned.', $this->posted('messages')[0]['content']['content']);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * A member with closed DMs is an ordinary state of affairs, not a failure:
+     * letting it throw would abandon whatever the caller was in the middle of,
+     * which is usually the punishment the message was only announcing.
+     */
+    public function test_a_member_who_cannot_be_reached_is_reported_rather_than_thrown_at(): void
+    {
+        $dm = $this->directMessage('users/@me/channels');
+
+        $this->assertFalse($this->send($dm, 'You have been warned.'));
+    }
+
+    public function test_a_message_refused_after_the_channel_opened_is_also_reported(): void
+    {
+        $dm = $this->directMessage('messages');
+
+        $this->assertFalse($this->send($dm, 'You have been warned.'));
+        $this->assertNotSame([], $this->posted('users/@me/channels'));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Closed DMs say nothing about the health of the bot, so reporting them as
+     * errors would only teach whoever reads the log to ignore it.
+     */
+    public function test_being_unable_to_reach_someone_is_noted_but_not_as_an_error(): void
+    {
+        $dm = $this->directMessage('users/@me/channels');
+
+        $this->send($dm, 'You have been warned.');
+
+        $this->assertNotSame([], array_filter(
+            $this->logger->messages,
+            static fn(string $message) => str_contains($message, self::USER),
+        ));
+        $this->assertSame(['info'], array_values(array_unique($this->logger->levels)));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/tools/src/ApiReflector.php b/tools/src/ApiReflector.php
index f8a176a..e24ec06 100644
--- a/tools/src/ApiReflector.php
+++ b/tools/src/ApiReflector.php
@@ -48,6 +48,9 @@
         'configuration' => [
             \Tempcord\TempcordConfig::class,
         ],
+        'messaging' => [
+            \Tempcord\Messaging\DirectMessage::class,
+        ],
         'enums' => [
             \Tempcord\Enums\DiscordLocale::class,
         ],