Install Harmony Mods on Your Rust Server

A Harmony mod is a compiled .dll that patches the Rust server's code, rather than a .cs plugin that Oxide or Carbon compiles. Rust's server has a loader for them built in, so a Harmony mod goes into one folder and is loaded by name. This guide covers where the file goes, the two commands that load and unload it, and how it differs from the plugins in the Plugins tab. Checked against Facepunch's commit log for the Harmony loader and Carbon's own repository, October 2026.

Harmony mods and plugins are different

The Plugins tab handles uMod plugins for Oxide or Carbon: .cs files in oxide/plugins or carbon/plugins. Harmony mods don't appear there. You add them by hand with the File Manager, and they don't need Oxide or Carbon at all. Carbon itself is built on Harmony, and its docs say it runs Oxide plugins without patches.

If you only want plugins, you don't need this guide. See How to install Oxide/uMod plugins on your Rust server.

Install a Harmony mod

1. Download the mod from its author's page. You want the compiled .dll, and the mod's page will say if it needs anything else. Unzip it on your computer if it came zipped.
2. Open the File Manager. At the top level of your server files there is a folder called HarmonyMods. It exists on a fresh server and is empty.
3. Open HarmonyMods and Upload the .dll into it. For anything over the 100 MB browser limit, use SFTP, as How to manage your server files explains.
4. Load it. Either restart the server, which loads what is in the folder, or type this into the Console with the mod's file name left off its .dll, so a file called ModName.dll is loaded as ModName:

harmony.load ModName

Facepunch added harmony.load so mods can be loaded after the server has started. Carbon's own release notes for its profiler mod give the same two routes: unzip into the HarmonyMods directory, then start the server, or run harmony.load Carbon.Profiler.

Unload or remove a mod

To switch a mod off without restarting, use the matching command from the Console:

harmony.unload ModName

Facepunch's commit log describes this command as a way to unload one mod, with a fix so that it doesn't unload every Harmony hook on the server. To remove a mod for good, stop the server and delete its file from HarmonyMods in the File Manager.

Using Carbon

Carbon accepts Harmony mods in the same place. Its startup code moves its own carbon/harmony folder to the HarmonyMods folder in the server's root, so upload to HarmonyMods whichever framework you run. If you came from an older guide that says carbon/harmony, use HarmonyMods now.

Check it worked

Watch the Console as the mod loads and read any error it prints. If the mod has a settings file, its page says where it lives. Edit it in the File Manager and restart.

Common problems

1. Failed to load harmony mod 'ModName.dll' from '...HarmonyMods' - the server looked for HarmonyMods/ModName.dll and didn't find it. Check the name you typed matches the file name without .dll, and that the file is in HarmonyMods itself.
2. The server won't start after adding a mod - stop the server, delete the mod's file from HarmonyMods, and start it again. Then check the mod's page for the Rust version it supports.
3. A mod stopped working after the monthly update - a Rust update can break a mod that patches game code. Look for a new release from the author, replace the file, and restart.