How to join your Rust server

Your players join your Rust server with its Server Address, shown on the server's Overview page in the panel. Rust is a multiplayer survival game where players gather resources, build bases and fight or ally with each other; a hosted server gives your group or community a persistent world that stays online around the clock.

Join in a few steps

1. Open your server in the panel. If the status badge says Offline, click Start and wait until it says Online. See How to start, stop, restart and force-stop your server.
2. On the Overview page, click the copy icon next to Server Address. It looks like address:port.

3. Launch Rust on Steam and wait for the main menu to load.
4. Press F1 to open the in-game console.
5. Type client.connect followed by the Server Address from the Overview page (for example client.connect address:port) and press Enter.
6. If the server is running a custom map, the first connection downloads the map from its host before you spawn, so allow a little extra time.
7. If you cannot connect straight after a Rust update, restart the Rust client from Steam so it finishes updating, then try again.

Ports

Players only use the game port, which is the port in the Server Address on the Overview page. The query port, the remote-admin port and the Rust+ app port are separate internal ports that cannot be edited and are not what players type into the console.

Game version

The client and server must be on the same Rust build. Rust ships a forced update on the first Thursday of each month and the game client updates itself, so a server left behind cannot be joined. The server checks for a game update every time it starts (Auto Update is on by default), so a restart after a Rust patch brings it current.

If you cannot join

• The server must be Online. Check the badge at the top of the page.
• Copy the address again from the panel. A missing or mistyped port is the most common cause.
• Make sure every player runs a compatible game version.
• More checks: How to join your server and Rust server problems and fixes.