How to Dress Up Your Rust Server Listing

The Rust server browser shows thousands of servers, and a player picks one from a name, a banner and a line of text. Everything that appears there is a variable in your panel. Setting them properly takes ten minutes and is the cheapest thing you can do to get players.

1Open the Startup Page

• Log in to your game panel and click your Rust server.
• Click Startup in the left menu under CONFIGURATION, and scroll to Variables.

2Server Name

• Server Name (HOSTNAME) is the single most important field. It is what players scan.
• Put the things people filter for in it: the rate, the wipe cycle, the region. [EU] Vibe Rust 2x | Weekly Wipe tells someone everything before they click.
• The default is A Rust Server, which tells them nothing at all.
• If you run scheduled wipes, the wipe tool can keep the date in the name for you with %DAY% and %MONTH%. See how to wipe your Rust server.

3Description

• Description (DESCRIPTION) is the block of text shown when someone opens your server in the browser.
• Use \n for a new line. Rules, rates, wipe schedule and your Discord invite are what belong here.
• Lead with the rates and the wipe day. That is what people are deciding on.

4Banner and Logo

• Server Image (SERVER_IMG) is the wide banner at the top of your listing. Rust expects a direct image URL, so use a link that ends in .jpg or .png, not a page that shows an image.
• Server Logo (SERVER_LOGO) is the circular logo, used mainly by the Rust+ app. See how to connect the Rust+ app.
• Host these somewhere that will still be up in six months. A banner that 404s leaves an empty box on your listing.

5Website

• URL (SERVER_URL) is where the Visit Website button in the browser sends people.
• A Discord invite is usually a better destination than a website, because that is where your community actually is.

6Restart

• Variables save as you type, but the server reads them at boot.
• Go to Console and press Restart.
• Give the browser a few minutes afterwards to pick up the new details.

Good to Know

• Tags are separate, and they are what filters find you. Name and description are read by humans; tags are read by the browser's filters. Do both. See how to add tags.
• Check the assembled command. The Startup command at the top of the page shows your values in place. If something does not appear there, it did not save.
• Do not stuff the name with symbols. Servers that read as spam get skipped, and Facepunch has removed servers for abusing the listing.

Finished

Your listing says what your server is. If it still does not appear in the browser at all, that is a different problem: read why your Rust server is not in the server browser.