Disable NPCs on Your Rust Server

Rust spawns NPCs at junkpiles, on the Cargo Ship and in Military Tunnels, among other places. One convar switches the spawning off, and a few narrower ones let you thin them out instead. This guide covers the console route, how to make it survive a restart, and how to check that it did.

Checked against Rust server build 2635, October 2026, using the game's own convar listing (find npc in the Console).

Turn NPC spawning off

1. Open the Console tab on your Rust server.
2. Type this and press Enter:

ai.npc_enable false

The game describes the setting as "If npc_enable is set to false then npcs won't spawn. (default: true)". Type ai.npc_enable on its own to read the current value back.

The Console route lasts until the next restart. The game's description covers NPC spawning only.

Keep it after a restart

Facepunch's server guide says the server reads server.cfg at startup, and that you leave the + off the variables in that file. Our servers don't have the file until you make it, so create it:

1. Open the File Manager and go to server/rust/cfg.
2. Create a file called server.cfg there, or upload one.
3. Add the line ai.npc_enable false and save.
4. Restart the server.
5. When it is back, type ai.npc_enable in the Console. It reports False, where the default is True. We tested exactly this on our own Rust server: with the line in server.cfg, ai.npc_enable read False after a restart.

Rust server.cfg and admin commands has more on the file.

Facepunch also warns that some variables don't take effect from the config or the command line and must be set once the server is running. We saw one of those: an env.time line in server.cfg did not hold after boot. If a convar still reports its old value after a restart, Additional Arguments is the other place to put it:

1. Open the Startup tab and find Additional Arguments.
2. Enter +ai.npc_enable false (this field takes a + in front of the convar) and save.
3. Restart and check the value again.

A + convar in Additional Arguments worked on our test server for a different setting, wipetimer.wipetimezone. For ai.npc_enable itself, server.cfg is the route we tested.

Thin them out instead

If you want fewer NPCs rather than none, these convars come from the same listing. The last column is what build 2635 reported:

Set them the same way: Console to try, then server.cfg or Additional Arguments to keep.

What this covers

The convar is about NPCs, as the game's description says. This guide does not claim it changes wildlife such as bears and wolves.

Common problems

1. The Console says the command was not found. Check the spelling: it is ai.npc_enable, with an underscore.
2. It is True again after a restart. Console changes live in memory only. Add it to server.cfg or Additional Arguments as above.
3. NPCs still appear. Look at which place they spawn. Junkpile, Cargo Ship and Military Tunnels each have their own convar in the table.