Rust plugins with Oxide and Carbon

Rust servers run plugins through a framework: Oxide (also called uMod) or Carbon. You choose the framework as your server type in Settings, then install plugins from Mods with one tap. Plugins run only on the server, so your players don’t install anything.

Vanilla, Oxide or Carbon

To switch, open Settings and change the server type. A backup is made first. Afterwards, check that your plugins and their settings moved across. Carbon has tools to bring over Oxide plugins and data; going from Carbon to Oxide, copy them by hand.

Modded or Community tab

Rust’s server browser has a Community tab and a Modded tab. Facepunch’s guidance is that a server running plugins belongs on Modded. A few admin-only tools that don’t change gameplay are accepted on Community, but kits, shops, gather rates, teleports and the like are not.

Oxide and Carbon mark your server as modded by default: "Modded": true in oxide/oxide.config.json, or IsModded in Carbon’s config.json. Leave that on. A server that hides its plugins on the Community tab can be removed from the server browser.

Install a plugin from Mods

1. Make sure your server type is Oxide or Carbon in Settings.
2. Open Mods and search, for example “kits” or “remover tool”.
3. Install the plugin. We back up your server first, then download the plugin from its source.
4. Oxide and Carbon load new plugins while the server runs. If a plugin doesn’t load, restart the server.
5. Change the plugin’s settings in its .json file in oxide/config/ or carbon/configs/, then reload it (see below).

Plugins never update by themselves. When an update is out, Mods says so, and you can update everything at once with one backup.

Install a plugin by hand

1. Download the plugin’s .cs file from umod.org or its author’s page.
2. Open Files, or connect with SFTP (works with FileZilla) using the details on the SFTP card in Files.
3. Upload the .cs file into oxide/plugins/ on Oxide, or carbon/plugins/ on Carbon.
4. Watch the Console. The framework says when the plugin has loaded, or prints an error if it can’t compile.

Only install plugins from sources you trust. A plugin can do anything on your server.

Give players permissions

Most plugins use permissions, so you decide who can use what. Type these in the Console:

On Oxide, o. works as a short form, like o.reload Kits. Each plugin’s page lists its permission names. Use a SteamID64 instead of a name to be exact.

What your friends need

Nothing. Plugins run on the server only, and Rust players join with the normal game. If you use a custom map, the game downloads it when they join.

Updates and version matching

Facepunch updates Rust every month on the first Thursday, with smaller fixes in between. Each update changes the game’s code, so Oxide and Carbon need a matching release before plugins work again.

On Wilderack, our update rollout installs the matching Oxide or Carbon release together with each Rust update. Your server type keeps working without you reinstalling anything.

Single plugins can still break when Rust changes something they use. If one fails after an update:

1. Look in the Console for the plugin’s name next to an error.
2. Check Mods for an update to that plugin.
3. If there’s no fix yet, unload it with oxide.unload or c.unload and wait for the author.

Custom maps

Custom maps are .map files made with a map editor. Load one with server.levelurl and a direct download link, as shown in the config reference. Players download the map from that link, so it must stay online. Some custom maps need a plugin to make their features work; the map’s page says so.

Plugins and Facepunch’s rules

Facepunch’s server guidelines apply to every plugin you run:

• No plugin may unlock Facepunch DLC or paid skins for players who don’t own them.
• No plugin may stop players from using the DLC and skins they bought.
• Nothing that makes your server look official.

Breaking these can get your server delisted.