Palworld Dedicated Server Docker

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This is a Docker container to help you get started with hosting your own Palworld dedicated server.

This Docker container has been tested and will work on the following OS:

• Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)
• Windows 10,11
• MacOS (including Apple Silicon M1/M2/M3).
• Raspberry Pi 4/5

This container has also been tested and will work on both x64 and ARM64 based CPU architecture.

Sponsors

Company	About
indifferent broccoli (:|)	Thank you to our sponsor indifferent broccoli. If you decide to rent a Palworld server, rather than host yourself, try indifferent broccoli's Palword server hosting 2-day free trial

Massive shoutout to the following individual sponsors

Official Documentation

Server Requirements

How to use

Keep in mind that you'll need to change the environment variables.

Docker Compose

This repository includes an example compose.yaml file you can use to set up your server.

services:
   palworld:
      image: thijsvanloef/palworld-server-docker:latest
      restart: unless-stopped
      container_name: palworld-server
      stop_grace_period: 30s # Set to however long you are willing to wait for the container to gracefully stop
      ports:
        - 8211:8211/udp
        - 27015:27015/udp
        - 8212:8212/tcp  # REST API enabled port, enabled by default. DO NOT PORT FORWARD THIS.
      environment:
         PUID: 1000
         PGID: 1000
         PORT: 8211 # Optional but recommended
         PLAYERS: 16 # Optional but recommended
         SERVER_PASSWORD: "worldofpals" # Optional but recommended
         REST_API_ENABLED: true
         REST_API_PORT: 8212
         TZ: "UTC"
         ADMIN_PASSWORD: "adminPasswordHere"
         COMMUNITY: false  # Enable this if you want your server to show up in the community servers tab, USE WITH SERVER_PASSWORD!
         SERVER_NAME: "palworld-server-docker by Thijs van Loef"
         SERVER_DESCRIPTION: "palworld-server-docker by Thijs van Loef"
         CROSSPLAY_PLATFORMS: "(Steam,Xbox,PS5,Mac)"
      volumes:
         - ./palworld:/palworld/

As an alternative, you can copy the .env.example file to a new file called .env file. Modify it to your needs, check out the environment variables section to check the correct values. Modify your compose.yaml to this:

services:
   palworld:
      image: thijsvanloef/palworld-server-docker:latest
      restart: unless-stopped
      container_name: palworld-server
      stop_grace_period: 30s # Set to however long you are willing to wait for the container to gracefully stop
      ports:
        - 8211:8211/udp
        - 27015:27015/udp
        # - 8212:8212/tcp  # Port for REST API if REST_API_ENABLED: true
      env_file:
         -  .env
      volumes:
         - ./palworld:/palworld/

Docker Run

Change every <> to your own configuration

docker run -d \
    --name palworld-server \
    -p 8211:8211/udp \
    -p 27015:27015/udp \
    -v ./palworld:/palworld/ \
    -e PUID=1000 \
    -e PGID=1000 \
    -e PORT=8211 \
    -e PLAYERS=16 \
    -e REST_API_ENABLED=true \
    -e REST_API_PORT=8212 \
    -e TZ=UTC \
    -e ADMIN_PASSWORD="adminPasswordHere" \
    -e SERVER_PASSWORD="worldofpals" \
    -e COMMUNITY=false \
    -e SERVER_NAME="palworld-server-docker by Thijs van Loef" \
    -e SERVER_DESCRIPTION="palworld-server-docker by Thijs van Loef" \
    -e CROSSPLAY_PLATFORMS="(Steam,Xbox,PS5,Mac)" \
    --restart unless-stopped \
    --stop-timeout 30 \
    thijsvanloef/palworld-server-docker:latest

As an alternative, you can copy the .env.example file to a new file called .env file. Modify it to your needs, check out the environment variables section to check the correct values. Change your docker run command to this:

docker run -d \
    --name palworld-server \
    -p 8211:8211/udp \
    -p 27015:27015/udp \
    -v ./palworld:/palworld/ \
    --env-file .env \
    --restart unless-stopped \
    --stop-timeout 30 \
    thijsvanloef/palworld-server-docker:latest

Kubernetes

All files you will need to deploy this container to kubernetes are located in the kubernetes folder.

Follow the steps in the README.md here to deploy it.

Running without root

This is only for advanced users

It is possible to run this container and override the default user which is root in this image.

Because you are specifiying the user and group PUID and PGID are ignored.

If you want to find your UID: id -u If you want to find your GID: id -g

You must set user to NUMBERICAL_UID:NUMBERICAL_GID

Below we assume your UID is 1000 and your GID is 1001

• In docker run add --user 1000:1001 \ above the last line.
• In docker compose add user: 1000:1001 above ports.

If you wish to run it with a different UID/GID than your own you will need to change the ownership of the directory that is being bind: chown UID:GID palworld/ or by changing the permissions for all other: chmod o=rwx palworld/

Using helm chart

The official helm chart can be found in a seperate repository, palworld-server-chart

Environment variables

You can use the following values to change the settings of the server on boot. It is highly recommended you set the following environment values before starting the server:

• PLAYERS
• PORT
• PUID
• PGID

*highly recommended to set

** Make sure you know what you are doing when running this option enabled

*** Required for docker stop to save and gracefully close the server

ARM64-exclusive environment variables

ARM64 hosts can use the following variables to tweak their server setup. This includes known relevant Box64 configurations one can modify for better server stability/performance.

For the Box64 configurations, please see the their official documentation for more info.

Game Ports

Using RCON

RCON is enabled by default for the palworld-server-docker image. Opening the RCON CLI is quite easy:

docker exec -it palworld-server rcon-cli "<command> <value>"

For example, you can broadcast a message to everyone in the server with the following command:

docker exec -it palworld-server rcon-cli "Broadcast Hello everyone"

This will open a CLI that uses RCON to write commands to the Palworld Server.

List of server commands

For a full list of commands go to: https://tech.palworldgame.com/settings-and-operation/commands

Using REST API

REST API is enabled by default.

compose.override.yml

services:
  palworld:
    environment:
      REST_API_ENABLED: true

The palworld-server-docker image provides rcon-cli as well as rest-cli.

$ docker exec -it palworld-server rest-cli
Usage: rest-cli <api> [options]
api:
  announce <json> ... announce message.
  ban <json>      ... ban player.
  info            ... show server informations.
  kick <json>     ... kick player.
  metrics         ... show server metrics.
  players         ... show online players.
  save            ... save the world.
  settings        ... show server settings.
  shutdown <json> ... shutdown server.
  stop            ... force stop server.
  unban <json>    ... unban player.
options:
  '{...}'         ... json.
  -               ... json from stdin.
  --no-flush-log  ... do not flush log after API call.
  -h, --help      ... help.

For example, you can broadcast a message to everyone in the server with the following command:

CLI parameter style:

docker exec -i palworld-server rest-cli announce "Broadcast Hello everyone"

JSON parameter style:

docker exec -i palworld-server rest-cli announce '{"message":"Broadcast Hello everyone"}'

JSON pipe style:

echo '{"message":"Broadcast Hello everyone"}' | docker exec -i palworld-server rest-cli announce -

rest-cli allows you to call REST APIs directly without exposing ports outside the container.

List of REST APIs

For an official documents go to: https://tech.palworldgame.com/category/rest-api

Creating a backup

To create a backup of the game's save at the current point in time, use the command:

docker exec palworld-server backup

This will create a backup at /palworld/backups/

The server will run a save before the backup if rcon is enabled.

Restore from a backup

To restore from a backup, use the command:

docker exec -it palworld-server restore

The RCON_ENABLED environment variable must be set to true to use this command.

Manually restore from a backup

Locate the backup you want to restore in /palworld/backups/ and decompress it. Need to stop the server before task.

docker compose down

Delete the old saved data folder located at palworld/Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/<old_hash_value>.

Copy the contents of the newly decompressed saved data folder Saved/SaveGames/0/<new_hash_value> to palworld/Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/<new_hash_value>.

Replace the DedicatedServerName inside palworld/Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/GameUserSettings.ini with the new folder name.

DedicatedServerName=<new_hash_value>  # Replace it with your folder name.

Restart the game. (If you are using Docker Compose)

docker compose up -d

Configuring Automatic Backups with Cron

The server is automatically backed up everynight at midnight according to the timezone set with TZ

Set BACKUP_ENABLED enable or disable automatic backups (Default is enabled)

BACKUP_CRON_EXPRESSION is a cron expression, in a Cron-Expression you define an interval for when to run jobs.

Set BACKUP_CRON_EXPRESSION to change the default schedule. Example Usage: If BACKUP_CRON_EXPRESSION to 0 2 * * *, the backup script will run every day at 2:00 AM.

Configuring Automatic Updates with Cron

To be able to use automatic Updates with this Server the following environment variables have to be set to true:

• RCON_ENABLED
• UPDATE_ON_BOOT

Set AUTO_UPDATE_ENABLED enable or disable automatic updates (Default is disabled)

AUTO_UPDATE_CRON_EXPRESSION is a cron expression, in a Cron-Expression you define an interval for when to run jobs.

Set AUTO_UPDATE_CRON_EXPRESSION to change the default schedule.

Configuring Automatic Reboots with Cron

To be able to use automatic reboots with this server RCON_ENABLED enabled.

Set AUTO_REBOOT_ENABLED enable or disable automatic reboots (Default is disabled)

AUTO_REBOOT_CRON_EXPRESSION is a cron expression, in a Cron-Expression you define an interval for when to run jobs.

Set AUTO_REBOOT_CRON_EXPRESSION to change the set the schedule, default is everynight at midnight according to the timezone set with TZ

Configuring Automatic Pause

The AUTO_PAUSE feature puts the PalServer process to sleep when there are no online players.

It saves data before going to sleep.

It wakes up when it detects a client connection.

When in paused state, the world time stops.

This feature can be enabled by setting the environment variable AUTO_PAUSE_ENABLED to "true".

[!INFO] This feature requires ENABLE_PLAYER_LOGGING=true and REST_API_ENABLED=true to be set.

If you want timestamps in the container logs for auto-pause events, either run docker logs -t palworld-server or set LOG_FORMAT_TYPE=plain or LOG_FORMAT_TYPE=colored.

AUTO_PAUSE_LOG messages go through the shared container logger, so LOG_FILTER_ENABLED and LOG_FORMAT_TYPE apply to them too.

services:
  palworld:
    cap_add:
      - NET_RAW

Resume manually

A file called .paused is created in /palworld directory when the server is paused and removed when the server is resumed.

Other services may check for this file's existence before waking the server.

Alternatively, resume with the following command:

docker exec -it palworld-server autopause resume

Service control manually

A .autopause-disabled file can be created in the /palworld directory to make the server skip autopausing, for as long as the file is present.

Alternatively, you can control with the following command:

docker exec -it palworld-server autopause stop
docker exec -it palworld-server autopause continue

This autopause stop command is also used during automatic reboots, automatic updates, and container stops. It is also used to shutdown command via REST API/RCON.

With Community Server

If the environment variable COMMUNITY is true, A proxy server is started within the container to maintain registration on the community server list.

The proxy server captures communication with api.palworldgames.com.

The auto-pause service will replay captured data in the paused state.

Editing Server Settings

With Environment Variables

Converting server settings to environment variables follow the same principles (with some exceptions):

• all capital letters
• split words by inserting an underscore
• remove the single letter if the setting starts with one (like 'b')

For example:

• Difficulty -> DIFFICULTY
• PalSpawnNumRate -> PAL_SPAWN_NUM_RATE
• bIsPvP -> IS_PVP

Manually

When the server starts, a PalWorldSettings.ini file will be created in the following location: <mount_folder>/Pal/Saved/Config/LinuxServer/PalWorldSettings.ini

Please keep in mind that the ENV variables will always overwrite the changes made to PalWorldSettings.ini.

For a more detailed list of server settings go to: Palworld Wiki

For more detailed server settings explanations go to: shockbyte

Using discord webhooks

1. Generate a webhook url for your discord server in your discord's server settings.

2. Set the environment variable with the unique token at the end of the discord webhook url example: https://discord.com/api/webhooks/1234567890/abcde

send discord messages with docker run:

-e DISCORD_WEBHOOK_URL="https://discord.com/api/webhooks/1234567890/abcde" \
-e DISCORD_PRE_UPDATE_BOOT_MESSAGE="Server is updating..." \

send discord messages with docker compose:

- DISCORD_WEBHOOK_URL=https://discord.com/api/webhooks/1234567890/abcde
- DISCORD_PRE_UPDATE_BOOT_MESSAGE=Server is updating...

Locking Specific Game Version

If TARGET_MANIFEST_ID environment variable is set, will lock server version to specific manifest. The manifest corresponds to the release date/update versions. Manifests can be found using SteamCMD or websites like SteamDB.

Version To Manifest ID Table

Reporting Issues/Feature Requests

Issues/Feature requests can be submitted by using this link.

Known Issues

Known issues are listed in the documentation