How to install Oxide and uMod plugins on a Rust server

Install Oxide (uMod) from your browser, add plugins from umod.org or a file you bought elsewhere, keep them up to date, and grant their permissions — all from the rustd.xyz panel, without opening an SSH session or an FTP client.

Before you start

• Your server is added to the panel with RCON. Loading, reloading and listing plugins all go over RCON.
• The server has an SSH credential. Installing Oxide and installing plugins write files into the game directory, which the panel does over SSH. Without one, the install controls refuse and tell you to add it.
• It is a Linux server. The panel installs the Linux build of Oxide.
• You have the right access. The account owner can do everything here. A moderator needs May wipe and modify server files to install Oxide or plugins, and May manage plugins to reload, unload and manage permissions.

1. Install Oxide

Open your server and choose Plugins in the sidebar. On a vanilla server the page says No plugin system detected and offers Install Oxide.

1. Click Install Oxide. The panel fetches the latest Oxide release, backs up the game files it is about to replace, and patches the game directory.
2. If the panel cannot find the game directory on its own, it asks for it. Use the SSH file browser on the server's page to find the folder that contains RustDedicated_Data/Managed, enter it, and install again.
3. Click Restart server. Oxide only loads when the server starts; players are warned before the restart.

Once the server is back, the plugin table header shows the Oxide version instead of No plugin system detected.

Removing or updating Oxide

An Oxide installed by the panel can be taken out again with Remove Oxide, which restores the backup taken before the install; restart afterwards. To move to a newer Oxide release, remove it and install again — every install fetches the latest release. If Oxide was installed some other way there is no backup to restore, and the panel says so; steamcmd +app_update 258550 validate returns the game to a clean, Oxide-free state.

Community or Modded listing

Facepunch delists servers in the Community tab that run gameplay plugins. The Plugins page shows which tab your server asks for, and when you install a plugin on a Community-listed server the install dialog offers to switch it to Modded (it takes effect at the next restart). Admin-only tools are fine on Community, so the switch is never made for you.

2. Install a plugin from uMod

1. In Find on uMod, type a plugin name or keyword and click Search. Results show the author, latest version and download count.
2. Click Install on the plugin you want. The dialog names the file it will write to oxide/plugins/.
3. Confirm. Any existing copy is backed up first, Oxide compiles and loads the new file, and if the server refuses to compile it the old file is put back.

No restart is needed — Oxide picks up new plugins while the server runs.

3. Upload a custom or paid plugin

For a plugin you wrote yourself, or bought on a marketplace such as Codefling:

1. In Upload a plugin, pick the .cs file, or the .zip the marketplace gave you.
2. The dialog lists the plugins and data files found inside. Data files already on the server are kept unless you choose to replace them.
3. Click Install. Uploads are backed up and verified the same way as uMod installs.

The panel never asks for your marketplace login — you download the file, the panel only sees the file.

4. Reload, update and remove plugins

Every loaded plugin is a row in the table with its version, author, file and how much time and memory it costs the server.

• Reload recompiles and restarts the plugin — use it after changing its config file.
• Unload stops it until the next reload or restart. To load a plugin back, type its filename without .cs in the box above the table and click Load.
• Update appears beside any plugin whose uMod version is newer than the one installed; it goes through the same backed-up install as a fresh one.
• Remove unloads the plugin and moves its .cs file aside so it cannot load again. Its config and data files are kept, so reinstalling picks up where it left off.

5. Manage permissions and groups

Most plugins gate their features behind Oxide permissions. Open Permissions under Plugins in the sidebar.

• Groups lists Oxide's groups (default and admin to start with). Create your own with Create, such as a vip group.
• Select a group to see its permissions and members. Grant adds a permission — pick it from the list of permissions your plugins have registered — and Revoke takes one away.
• Add member puts a player in the group by Steam ID, picked from the players your server has seen; Remove takes them out.

Granting to default gives a permission to every player; granting to a group you made gives it only to its members.