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. Installing it is one setting and a reinstall; installing a plugin is one file.

Switch the server to Oxide

1. Open your server in the dashboard and take a backup from the Backups tab.
2. Go to the Startup tab and set Modding Framework to oxide, then press Save.
3. Go to Settings and press Reinstall. The framework is downloaded and applied during the install; your map, player data and files are kept.
4. 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.

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. Find the plugin on the uMod website and download it. You get a single .cs file, for example Kits.cs.
2. Open the File Manager and go to oxide/plugins.
3. Upload the .cs file there. Oxide watches that folder and compiles the plugin within a few seconds; the Console shows Loaded plugin Kits (or a red compile error if something is wrong). No restart needed.
4. To remove a plugin, delete the file. Oxide unloads it on the spot.

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.

Configure a plugin

The first time a plugin loads it writes its settings to oxide/config/<PluginName>.json. Open that file in the File Manager, change what you need, save, then reload the plugin from the Console:

oxide.reload Kits

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.

Keep it working after a Rust update

Facepunch's forced monthly update (the first Thursday of the month, early Friday morning in Australia) ships a new Rust build, and Oxide needs a matching build before plugins will load again. Once the update is out, run the same Settings > Reinstall you used to install it and the current Oxide is re-applied; your plugins, configs and data are untouched. Check the uMod page of any plugin that stays broken afterwards: some need an update of their own. Rust wipe schedule and forced wipe dates lists the next forced update dates in Australian time.

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; check its uMod page for a newer version.
2. "Plugin X requires Y" - install the dependency it names into oxide/plugins 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 Modding Framework is still vanilla, or Rust updated and Oxide needs the Reinstall pass above.
5. The plugin file is in a subfolder - Oxide only reads oxide/plugins itself, not folders inside it.

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.