Create a server
Register a dedicated s&box server with Emrald and connect it to an environment.
A server is a registered s&box dedicated server instance. It belongs to exactly one environment and pulls its config (variables, groups, permissions, addons) from there at boot — then receives live updates via WebSocket while it runs.
Before you start
- A project (Create a project)
- An environment to run the server in (any of the three works —
Developmentis a good first target) - A machine that can run the s&box dedicated server binary (Windows, Linux, or a managed host)
Register the server in the panel
- Open your project → Servers in the left sidebar.
- Find the section for the environment you want and click New server.
- Fill in the dialog:
- Name — e.g. "EU #1" or "Roleplay Main". Displayed everywhere.
- Max players — the cap, between 1 and 128.
- Whitelist enabled — if on, only SteamIDs in the env's whitelist can join. You can edit the whitelist on the server's detail page later.
- Click Create. Emrald generates a one-time auth token and shows it in a dialog.
Copy the token now. It's shown only once and stored hashed on our side — we can't retrieve it later. If you lose it, you'll have to rotate the token and update your server config.
Boot the s&box server
On your host machine, launch the dedicated server with the token:
./sbox-dedicated +authorize <YOUR_TOKEN>What happens at boot:
- The server POSTs the token to Emrald's auth endpoint.
- Emrald validates the token and returns: project / environment / server IDs, the gamemode JWT, the game-api URL, and the WebSocket URL for live updates.
- The server caches all of that and stays connected for the rest of its lifetime.
- The panel's Servers tab flips the server's status to Online.
If you're testing against a local Emrald instance, also pass -allowlocalhttp so s&box allows HTTP calls to localhost.
Status badges
The Servers tab shows one of three states per server:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Online | WebSocket connected, heartbeats received in the last 60s. |
| NoSync | WebSocket dropped but the server may still be recovering. Shown in yellow. |
| Offline | Clean shutdown received, or 60s grace expired without a heartbeat. |
Status, player count, and the player list all update in real time — no need to refresh.
Manage a running server
Click any server card to open its detail page. From there you can:
- Rename the server (the slug stays immutable so external references survive).
- Adjust max players and toggle the whitelist on/off.
- Edit the whitelist — add or remove SteamIDs.
- Browse the live player list — click any avatar for actions (kick, change group, give money, ban, etc.) if you have the right permissions.
- View / rotate the token.
Rotate the token
Use this when:
- You lost the original token.
- You suspect it's been leaked.
- You want to invalidate the running server (e.g. forced restart on a new host).
On the server detail page, click Rotate token and confirm. A new token is shown once — copy it, update your server's launch command, restart. The old token stops working immediately.
Delete a server
Click Delete on the server detail page (Owner / Admin only). The server is unregistered from the panel; if a dedicated instance is still running with the old token, it'll lose its WebSocket connection on the next reconnect attempt and stop applying config.
Next steps
- Environment variables — tune the gamemode for this environment
- Groups and Permissions — set up your admin team
- Install addons — extend the gamemode with extra features