Palworld Server Admin Tools (2026)
There are three ways to administer a Palworld dedicated server: move save data in and out of it, drive it live over RCON, or read structured state from the built-in REST API. This page covers all three as they actually behave on a 1.0 server, and is deliberately explicit about where each one stops.
Corrected July 2026. An earlier version of this page described a bundled PalMigrationTool command-line utility and an "RCON v2" protocol configured with RCONProtocolVersion and RCONRealTimeMonitoring. None of that exists. The official Palworld server documentation lists no migration utility and no such settings, and every working character-transfer tool is community-built. If you added those lines to PalWorldSettings.ini, remove them. The real settings and the full command list are below, both checked against the official documentation.
1. Moving a character onto a dedicated server
This is the most common Palworld admin job and the one that surprises people. Copy a co-op world onto a dedicated server, join it, and the game hands your level 50 character a fresh spawn on the beach. Nothing is corrupted. Co-op stores your progress against a player ID that the co-op host assigned, a dedicated server assigns a different one, so the server looks for your character, does not find that ID, and creates a new one.
The free Palworld Save Converter rebinds a character to a new ID entirely in your browser, so nothing is uploaded. It reads 1.0 Oodle saves and Game Pass wgs folders, derives the server-side ID from a SteamID64 so there is no "join the server first" step, and moves the whole player file: level, tech points, unlocked recipes, map and fast-travel unlocks, Paldeck, effigies, quests, inventory, party Pals and palbox.
If you are not sure which operation your save actually needs, the Palworld Save Rescue tool inspects the whole save folder in your browser, inventories every world and rolling backup, and tells you the single thing to do next. It never edits a byte during the check.
The three questions people always ask
Do my friends' characters come across, or only mine?
All of them, but as separate operations. The converter lets you pick any character in the save, not just the host, and send it to a Steam-derived ID, the co-op host slot, or an ID you paste. Run it once per player. The world, bases and guild live in the world save and move with it regardless.
Why did my tech unlocks disappear when I did this by hand?
Because a co-op world does not use the host's own player ID, so a manual copy moves the world but strands the host's player file. People hit this, get their character back with a save editor, and find technology re-locked because the tech unlock list lives in that player file. Rebinding the player file instead of copying it around keeps the unlocks attached.
Can I go the other way, from a dedicated server back to my PC?
Yes. The rebind is directional but not one-way: download the server save, rebind the character to your local co-op host slot, and load it as a co-op world. Keep the untouched server copy until you have confirmed the local one loads with the right level and Pals.
Always work on a copy. Duplicate the source and destination saves before touching either. Then join with the converted character and confirm level, gear, location and Pal ownership before you reopen the world to everyone else. If anything looks wrong, you still have a known-good file to go back to.
2. RCON: what Palworld actually supports
Palworld speaks standard RCON. There is no versioned protocol upgrade, no JSON handshake, and no separate "v2" client requirement. Three settings in PalWorldSettings.ini control it:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
RCONEnabled | Turns the RCON listener on. |
RCONPort | The port RCON listens on. |
AdminPassword | The password RCON authenticates with. Also the in-game admin password. |
This is the complete documented command set. Casing matters, and most commands take a player ID that you get from /ShowPlayers first:
| Command | Use |
|---|---|
/ShowPlayers | Information on every connected player. Start here, because this is where the IDs come from. |
/Info | Server information. |
/Save | Write the world to disk. Run it before any maintenance instead of trusting the autosave timer. |
/Broadcast <MessageText> | Message everyone in the server. Use it before a restart. |
/KickPlayer <SteamID> | Disconnect a player. |
/BanPlayer <SteamID> | Ban a player. |
/UnBanPlayer <SteamID> | Lift a ban. |
/TeleportToPlayer <SteamID> | Move yourself to that player. |
/TeleportToMe <SteamID> | Move that player to you. The usual fix for someone stuck in terrain. |
/ToggleSpectate | Spectator mode, admin only. |
/AdminPassword | Claim admin rights with the password. |
/Shutdown [Seconds] [MessageText] | Stop the server, optionally after a countdown with a warning message. The graceful option. |
/DoExit | Force stop. Skips the tidy shutdown, so run /Save first. |
RCON is a shell for your server. Whoever holds the admin password can kick, ban, save and shut it down, because the admin password is the RCON password. Use a long random one, and do not expose the RCON port to the open internet unless external tooling genuinely needs it. If you only ever administer from the panel, it does not need to be reachable from outside at all.
3. The REST API
Palworld also ships a built-in REST API, enabled with RESTAPIEnabled and bound with RESTAPIPort. It answers with structured JSON rather than RCON's packed response format, which makes it the better choice when something automated is reading the server: a status page, a Discord bot, a player-count widget. It authenticates with the same admin password.
Pick per job rather than per preference. RCON is the right tool for a one-off action you are typing yourself. The REST API is the right tool for anything on a timer that has to parse the answer, because RCON responses are awkward to parse reliably and the API's are not.
4. Access control
For a private or friends-only world, kicking people reactively over RCON is the wrong shape. Palworld supports an allow list and a block list, so the server refuses unwanted connections itself instead of you watching for them. Set that up once and RCON goes back to being an occasional tool.
Troubleshooting
The converted character joins but is still level 1
The server already created a character for that ID before you did the rebind. It found an existing player file and used it. Remove the character the server generated for that ID, then rejoin so the rebound file is the only candidate. Take a copy of the save folder first.
RCON refuses the password
The admin password is what RCON authenticates with, so the two cannot be set independently. Before assuming the password is wrong, check you edited the right file. The documentation is explicit that editing DefaultPalWorldSettings.ini has no effect: that is the template, and the file the server actually reads lives under Pal/Saved/Config/. It is also worth knowing that those directories are only created once the server has been started, so on a brand new server there is nothing to edit until after the first run.
My settings keep reverting
Palworld does not store settings as one key per line. They live as comma-separated Key=Value pairs inside a single settings string, with text values in quotes. Edit it by hand and a missing comma or an unclosed quote does not just break the value you touched, it changes where the neighbouring values start and end. Change one setting at a time, keep the quoting exactly as you found it, restart between changes, and if a value will not stick, undo your most recent hand edit before assuming the server is at fault.
Can I move a Game Pass save to a Steam-hosted server?
The converter reads Game Pass wgs save folders and will rebind the character. One honest limit: it does not re-serialize the save, so the character's stored platform value is left as it was, and we have not confirmed this path end to end on a live server. Keep your original save and tell us if it does not work for you.
Next steps
- Character transfer: the safe workflow
- Palworld server configuration guide
- Tuning a Palworld server for more players
- Back to the Palworld wiki
What you get on a Supercraft Palworld server. A web RCON console in the dashboard, character recovery for merging a player profile back into a world, allow list and block list management, and Thunderstore mod installation from the panel. Save rebinding is done with the free browser tools linked above, and it stays free whether or not you host with us.
Looking for managed Palworld server hosting? Supercraft runs Palworld dedicated servers with daily backups, instant setup, and 5 region options. Plans from $5.99/mo.