PalForge

Running your server

From zero to friends on your island. You need the two files from the configurator and a machine that stays on while people play.

1

What you need

  • A machine that stays on: a home server, spare PC, or a cloud VM. Linux is easiest, but Windows and macOS work via Docker Desktop.
  • 16 GB RAM recommended (the server uses ~2 GB idle and grows over time), 2+ CPU cores, ~20 GB free disk.
  • Docker with the Compose plugin (next step).
2

Install Docker

On Linux, the official convenience script installs Engine + Compose in one go:

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER   # log out & back in afterwards

On Windows or macOS, install Docker Desktop and make sure it's running. Verify with docker --version.

3

Put your files in place

Configure your server on the Configure page and hit Download both files. Put them together in an empty folder:

palworld/
├── docker-compose.yml   # server + image settings
└── .env                 # server name + passwords (keep private)

Heads-up: .env starts with a dot, so file managers often hide it - check your downloads folder with ls -a if it seems missing. Your world data will be created next to them in ./palworld-data.

4

Start the server

From inside that folder:

docker compose up -d

The first start downloads the server via SteamCMD (~5 minutes depending on your connection). Watch it come up:

docker compose logs -f     # Ctrl+C stops watching, not the server
docker ps                  # STATUS should say "healthy" once ready

The server keeps running in the background and auto-starts after a reboot (restart: unless-stopped is in your compose file).

5

Let friends join

  • Same network: they join via your LAN IP, e.g. 192.168.x.x:8211.
  • Over the internet: forward UDP 8211 on your router to this machine, then share your public IP as your-ip:8211. If you enabled the community server list, also forward UDP 27015.
  • In game: Join Multiplayer→ enter the address at the bottom. If you set a join password, they'll be asked for it.

Linux firewall in the way? sudo ufw allow 8211/udp

6

Everyday commands

docker compose logs -f                        # watch the log
docker compose restart                        # restart the server
docker compose down                           # stop it (world is saved first)
docker compose pull && docker compose up -d   # update to the newest version
docker exec palworld-server rcon-cli Save     # force a save right now
docker exec palworld-server rcon-cli ShowPlayers   # who's online

Automatic backups land in palworld-data/backups/ (hourly by default, 7 days kept - you chose this in the configurator). To change any setting later: edit docker-compose.yml or regenerate it, then docker compose up -d applies it with a restart.

Or skip the terminal - the Dashboard does status, saves, broadcasts and restarts for you.

7

If something's off

  • Friends can't join:90% of the time it's the port forward - must be UDP (not TCP) 8211, to the right internal IP.
  • Server gets slow after days: Palworld leaks memory over long uptimes; a scheduled docker compose restart (e.g. nightly via cron) is standard practice.
  • Container restarts in a loop: docker compose logs usually names the bad setting; RAM starvation is the other usual suspect.