How to install Oxide/uMod plugins on your Rust server

Oxide (the framework behind the uMod plugin library) is how a Rust server gets kits, teleports, clans, gather rates and most of the other things a "modded" server has. Your server's Plugins tab puts it on in one step, then searches uMod, installs plugins, keeps them updated and edits their settings, all without a restart.

Switch the server to Oxide

1. Open your server in the dashboard and take a backup from the Backups tab.
2. Go to the Plugins tab. On a plain Rust server it says Your server runs plain Rust, with Install Oxide and Install Carbon buttons.
3. Press Install Oxide, then press and hold Hold to Install for 3 seconds (with a keyboard, hold Space or Enter). The server stops, the Modding Framework is set to Oxide and the server reinstalls with it. Your map, player data and files are kept.
4. When the install finishes, start the server and watch the Console. Oxide announces itself on the way up and creates an oxide folder in your server's home folder.

Installing a framework reinstalls the server, so a team member needs the Settings and Startup permissions to do it.

Once Oxide is loaded the server appears under the Modded tab of the in-game browser rather than Community. That is expected: it tells players the server runs plugins. If it doesn't show up under either tab, work through the server browser checks in Rust server setup: connect, admin and wipes.

Install a plugin

1. Open the Plugins tab. The Store lists uMod's Rust plugins, plus the universal ones (Better Chat and others) that run on any Oxide game.
2. Search by name, or sort by Most downloaded, Recently updated, Newest, Most watched or Name. A plugin's title links to its uMod page, where its commands and permissions are listed.
3. Press Install. If you have no recent backup, you're offered one first.
4. The plugin lands in oxide/plugins and the panel tells Oxide to load it, which takes a few seconds; the Console shows Loaded plugin Kits (or a red compile error if something is wrong). No restart needed. On a stopped server it loads when the server next starts.

Check the plugin's page for dependencies. Some plugins need another plugin present first (an image library is a common one) and will refuse to load until it is installed, so install that one from the Store too.

A plugin that isn't on uMod (a paid one from another site, or your own) still goes in by hand: upload its .cs file to oxide/plugins in the File Manager. It shows in the Installed list beside the rest.

Update or remove a plugin

Switch the Plugins tab to Installed to see every plugin on the server.

• Update appears on a plugin when uMod has a newer release. Pressing it swaps in the new version, which Oxide reloads by itself; its settings are kept.
• The red Delete button asks once more, then removes the plugin's file. Oxide unloads it on the spot. Its config and data stay behind, so reinstalling it later picks up where it left off.

Configure a plugin

The first time a plugin loads it writes its settings to oxide/config/<PluginName>.json.

1. In Installed, press Config on the plugin. Its settings open as text.
2. Change what you need. The box checks the text as you type and won't let you save a broken file; the error under it says which line is wrong.
3. Press Save. The previous version is kept beside it as <PluginName>.json.bak, in case you want it back.
4. Press Reload plugin so the running server uses the new settings straight away. If the server is stopped, the plugin reads the file when it next starts.

The same reload works from the Console:

oxide.reload Kits

A plugin rewrites its config when it reloads, and drops any setting it doesn't recognize, so a misspelt setting name quietly disappears. If a change doesn't stick, compare your spelling with the plugin's uMod page.

Plugins that store player data keep it in oxide/data. Language strings live in oxide/lang. You do not need to touch either unless the plugin's page tells you to.

Grant permissions

Most plugins do nothing for a player until they hold a permission. Permissions are granted from the Console to a user or a group, and everyone is in the default group:

oxide.grant group default kits.use
oxide.grant user "PlayerName" kits.admin
oxide.grant group admin teleport.admin

Useful companions:

• oxide.show perms lists every permission the loaded plugins register.
• oxide.show user "PlayerName" shows what one player holds.
• oxide.revoke user "PlayerName" kits.admin takes a permission away.
• oxide.group add vip then oxide.usergroup add "PlayerName" vip makes a VIP group and puts someone in it.

o. is accepted as a shorthand for oxide. in every one of these, so o.grant and o.reload work too. Use a player's Steam ID instead of their name if the name has spaces or changes often.

Using Carbon instead

Pick Install Carbon in step 3 above and everything on the Plugins tab works the same way, from the same uMod Store. Carbon keeps plugins in carbon/plugins and their settings in carbon/configs, and reloads one with c.reload Kits.

To change frameworks later, go to the Settings tab: the Modding framework section says which one the server runs. Switch to Carbon (or Switch to Oxide) and Remove Oxide (or Remove Carbon, back to plain Rust) each ask you to hold for 3 seconds, then stop the server and reinstall it with your choice. The old framework is taken off; your map, player data and files are kept, and the plugins and configs in its folder stay on disk. Take a backup first.

Deleting the oxide or carbon folder doesn't remove a framework: the next reinstall or start puts it back, because the server's Modding Framework setting still names it. Use Settings > Modding framework instead.

Keep it working after a Rust update

Facepunch's forced monthly update (the first Thursday of the month) ships a new Rust build, and Oxide needs a matching build before plugins will load again. Once the update is out, press Reinstall server in the Danger zone of the Settings tab and the current Oxide is re-applied; your plugins, configs and data are untouched. Then open Plugins > Installed: any plugin with an Update button has a newer release, often the fix for that Rust build. Rust wipe schedule and forced wipe dates lists the next forced update dates.

Common problems

1. A red error mentioning the plugin name at load - a compile error. Usually the plugin is out of date for the current Rust build; press Update on it in Installed, or check its uMod page.
2. "Plugin X requires Y" - install the plugin it names from the Store first.
3. A player says a command does nothing - they are missing the permission. oxide.show user "Name" tells you what they hold.
4. Nothing loads at all - the server is still plain Rust (the Plugins tab says so and offers the install), or Rust updated and Oxide needs the Reinstall pass above.
5. Oxide keeps coming back after a reinstall - the Modding Framework setting still says oxide. Use Switch to Carbon or Remove Oxide under Settings > Modding framework rather than deleting its files.
6. A plugin uploaded by hand doesn't appear - Oxide only reads oxide/plugins itself, not folders inside it, and only .cs files.
7. Config shows "No config yet" - the plugin writes its config the first time it loads. Start the server, wait a few seconds, then open Config again.

If none of these match, copy the full red error from the Console, word for word, and send it to support with the plugin's name.