Rust: Join Your Server (Server Browser, F1 Console, and Steam)

• The server address from the colored strip at the bottom of your server card on My Servers. Click it to copy it, and send it with the :port part included.

• Rust from Steam, on Windows or Mac. Both join the same way.

• A server that says Online. Rust servers are Always On, so they do not fall asleep, but a server you stopped has to be started again from the dashboard before anyone can join: see Start, stop, and restart your server.

There is no password to share. Rust itself has no join password, so anyone who finds your server in the browser or has its address can join. Your server's Basic tab says Rust has no join password where other games have a Server Password box, and the card has no Copy password pill. To keep someone out, ban them on the Admins tab: see Manage admins, whitelist, and bans from your dashboard.

The card's shortcut row also has a How to join pill that opens this guide. On a computer, click the small arrow at the right end of the address strip to open that row; on a phone the pills sit under the address.

This is the usual way in, and it is how strangers find you too.

1. Start Rust and open the server browser from the main menu.

2. Pick the right list in Rust's browser. A server running Oxide plugins is listed under Modded, not Community. A server without plugins is under Community. More on plugins: Rust: Oxide plugins on your server.

3. Search for your server's name and join it.

The name, Server Description, Server Website, Header Image URL and Logo Image URL in the Details tab of your server settings decide how your server looks in that list. A server only appears while it is online, so right after a start give it a few minutes before searching; the F1 console below works sooner.

This works whether or not the server shows in the browser yet.

1. Start Rust and wait for the main menu.

2. Press F1 to open the console.

3. Type client.connect followed by a space and your full address, then press Enter. For example: client.connect yourserver.yourname.haptic.game:port, with your card's address in place of the example.

Use the address exactly as your card shows it, port included. The name works; you do not need a numeric IP.

On a computer, while your server is Online, open the shortcut row with the arrow at the right end of the address strip and click the Join pill with the Steam logo. It hands Steam your address and starts Rust. Friends get the same button on your public page if you set one up. Phones do not show the pill.

Treat it as a shortcut. If Rust opens but never connects, use the F1 console or the server browser: those always work.

Rust Console Edition on PlayStation and Xbox is a separate game with its own servers, so it does not connect to a Rust server here. Every player on your server plays Rust on Steam, on Windows or Mac.

• Rust just updated. Steam updates players' games quickly, while your server moves to the new build when it restarts. Until then updated players cannot join. Your card says New update available, and the server restarts onto the new build by itself once nobody is on it. To update right away, restart your server.

• The server just wiped. The first start after a wipe spends a few minutes making the new map before anyone can join, and bigger worlds take longer. See Rust: wipes, maps, and seeds.

• Not in the browser. Look under Modded in Rust's browser if you run Oxide plugins, and join with the F1 console in the meantime.

• One player is turned away. Check that they are not on the ban list on the Admins tab.

• Everything else (timeouts, stuck connecting, works for you but not a friend): walk through I can't connect to my server.

Ask in Discord or email support@haptic.gg. Include your server name, which way the player tried to join (browser, F1 console, or the Join pill), and a screenshot of the message they get.