To make yourself the first administrator on a Colony Survival server, stop the server, add your SteamID64 to permissionusers.json with the god group, save the file in the active world folder, and start the server again. Once your permissions load, use slash commands in game; the headless dedicated executable requires the same commands to be prefixed with send. The exact file syntax has changed between versions, so copy the structure used by your current server rather than pasting an old example blindly.
This guide separates built-in administration from commands supplied by optional server mods, explains the peasant, king, and god groups, and gives recovery steps for the most common permission, console, path, and compatibility errors.
How do I make myself an administrator on a Colony Survival server?
The reliable first-admin method is a file edit followed by a restart. You need access to the server files, your account’s SteamID64, and the world save that the server actually loads.
- Stop the server completely. Do not edit the permissions file while the process is running; a shutdown can otherwise overwrite your changes.
- Open the active world directory. One current hosting-panel layout uses
/home/container/gamedata/savegames/world. A local installation or a different world name can use another root, so follow the path in your launch configuration or panel. - Find or create
permissionusers.json. The file may not exist after the first run. Create it in the active world save directory if necessary. - Add your SteamID64 to the
godgroup. A current provider example uses this structure:
{"STEAM_ID64":{"includes":["god"]}}Replace STEAM_ID64 with the account’s numeric SteamID64. A third-party 2026 guide documents a key with a 1. prefix; treat that prefix as provider- or version-specific and preserve the convention already present in your server files. Older developer guidance shows a different key such as Steam: SteamID64, which is historical evidence that the format has changed. Do not combine the old and current forms.
- Save the file with valid JSON. Keep braces, quotation marks, commas, and brackets balanced. Do not add comments inside the file.
- Start the server again. Log in with the account you added and test a harmless administrative command.
Some current guides list /reloadpermission for applying a valid edit without a full restart. If that command is available in your build, use it after saving; otherwise follow the hosting panel’s stop-and-start procedure. A restart remains the safer recovery step when you are unsure whether the running process reread the file.
Which permission-file format should I use?
Use the format already present in the active world’s files, not a snippet copied from an old forum post. Current hosting documentation shows the SteamID64 as the JSON key with an includes array containing god. A separate 2026 guide shows the same group workflow but prefixes the key with 1.. Older developer material uses a key beginning with Steam: and describes an all-permissions entry. Those examples demonstrate version drift; they are not interchangeable templates.
If the file contains existing users, preserve their structure and add a comma between objects. Make a backup before editing, then validate that the file remains ordinary JSON. A malformed comma or quotation mark can prevent all entries from loading, not just the new administrator.
What do the peasant, king, and god groups allow?
Colony Survival uses groups as bundles of permissions. The commonly documented hierarchy is practical rather than a guarantee that every future build will expose identical permissions.
| Group | Documented role | Typical capabilities |
|---|---|---|
peasant |
Default player | Normal play without elevated server administration. |
king |
Trusted helper | Cheats, teleport, time changes, loot, saves, backups, and other server-control utilities documented for this level. |
god |
Full administration | King capabilities plus permission management and whitelist/blacklist administration. |
Give god only to people who should be able to promote other players or alter access lists. For a moderator who needs world utilities but should not control who can join, king is the narrower choice. You can also grant or remove an individual permission instead of assigning a complete group when your build exposes the required permission name.
Choosing an administration approach
| Approach | Interface | Authority | Persistence and compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|
| First-admin file edit | Stopped server and file manager | Usually god |
Persists in the active world save; syntax must match the installed build. |
| In-game administration | Slash commands in chat | Depends on the user’s group | Immediate command effects; permissions still come from the server’s loaded data. |
| Dedicated executable | send plus the slash command |
Depends on the target group | Case-sensitive console input; the wrapper is required. |
| Server-side command mod | Chat or console, according to the mod | Vanilla group plus mod-specific permission | Requires a compatible mod release and can change between game versions. |
How do I run admin commands in chat versus the dedicated console?
Use a leading slash in the game’s chat interface. The standalone colonyserverdedicated.exe console needs the word send before that slash command.
In-game chat
/setgroup god PlayerNameEnter the command as the administrator in the server chat. Player targets can be names or SteamID64 values where the command supports them; a stable numeric identifier is preferable for offline players and for accounts whose display names change.
Dedicated executable console
send /setgroup god PlayerNameColony Survival developer Zun wrote in a Steam discussion on December 12, 2017: “If you’re using the colonyserverdedicated.exe you have to prefix them by ‘send’.” The same developer reply warns that command input is case-sensitive. The command name, group name, and player name therefore need to match the spelling expected by the server. If the console appears to ignore a valid slash command, first check whether you omitted send.
Do not paste the console form into in-game chat: in chat, use /setgroup directly. Conversely, sending a bare slash command to the executable can make it appear that the command is unavailable when the actual problem is the interface.
Which built-in commands manage groups and individual permissions?
These commands are the core permission operations documented for the current administration guide. Run them in game with a slash, or add send when entering them in the dedicated executable console.
| Command | Use |
|---|---|
/setgroup <group> <player> |
Set a player’s group. |
/addgroup <group> <player> |
Add a group without replacing the player’s existing group assignments. |
/removegroup <group> <player> |
Remove a group from a player. |
/addpermission <permission> <player> |
Grant one named permission directly. |
/removepermission <permission> <player> |
Revoke one directly granted permission. |
/reloadpermission |
Reload permission data after a valid file edit when supported by the build. |
/setgroup is convenient for promotion, while /addgroup is useful when a player needs more than one group and you do not want to replace an existing assignment. Individual permission commands are more selective, but they require you to know the exact permission identifier used by the server or an installed mod.
For example, a console promotion is:
send /addgroup king 7656119XXXXXXXXXXReplace the placeholder with the actual name or SteamID64 accepted by your build. After a promotion, have the player reconnect or retry the command if the server does not immediately reflect the change.
How do I whitelist or blacklist a player?
The documented access-list commands are separate from colony ownership. A player co-owning a colony does not automatically become a server administrator, and changing colony ownership is not the same as kicking someone from the server.
/blacklist
/blacklist add <player>
/blacklist remove <player>
/blacklist clear
/whitelist
/whitelist add <player>
/whitelist remove <player>
/whitelist clearUse a SteamID64 when possible, especially if the target is offline or has changed their display name. The current guide associates whitelist and blacklist administration with god; a king may be able to use many world tools but still receive a permission error for these access-list operations.
Blacklist versus a temporary kick
The documented base-game access control uses a blacklist rather than a separate temporary kick command. A blacklist is an access decision that remains until you remove the entry or clear the list; it is not the same thing as disconnecting a player for the current session. Commands such as /kick belong to optional moderation mods, not to the guaranteed vanilla command set.
Which commands control the world and server state?
The following world-operation tools are listed for king-level or higher administration. They are useful for maintenance, diagnostics, and controlled events.
| Command | Purpose | Operational use |
|---|---|---|
/save |
Save the world immediately. | Run before planned maintenance or a clean shutdown. |
/backup |
Create a world backup. | Run before a game update or substantial mod change. |
/time |
Change the time of day. | Useful for events, testing, or correcting an inconvenient cycle. |
/tps |
Show server ticks per second. | Check server simulation health when players report lag. |
/worldseed |
Show the world seed. | Record the seed when documenting or reproducing a world. |
/save and /backup are prudent safeguards, not a promise that every game build handles persistence identically. Keep an independent copy of important world data when making upgrades or changing server software. A sensible maintenance sequence is to save, create a backup, stop the server, perform the update, and verify the world before inviting players back.
Are commands such as /ban, /kick, and /jail built into Colony Survival?
No. BetterColonyCommands is a separate server-side mod with its own permission names and compatibility requirements. A command is not available merely because it appears in an online list; verify that the mod is installed on the server and supports your Colony Survival version.
BetterColonyCommands command families
- Moderation:
/ban,/banlog,/kick,/mute,/unmute,/killplayer,/killnpcs, and/inactive. - Anti-grief and colony controls:
/antigrief,/customarea,/colonycap,/purgebanner, and/setcolonyname. - Jail:
/setjail,/jail,/jailrelease,/jailrec,/jailtime,/jailvisit, and/jailleave. - Travel and utility:
/travel,/stuck,/whisper,/lastseen,/top,/trade,/trash, and/serverpop. - Staff tools:
/spawnnpc,/beds,/announcements,/war, and/bcreload.
The repository lists compatibility with Colony Survival versions 0.15.1.0, 0.15.1.1, and 0.18.0.0. Its permissions include names such as mods.scarabol.commands.ban and mods.scarabol.commands.jail; having the vanilla god group does not necessarily grant those mod-specific permissions. Read the mod’s permission list and assign only the entries staff actually need.
Older ColonyCommandsMod lists
The older Scarabol ColonyCommandsMod documentation describes a similar optional family, including /ban, /kick, /warp, /warpspawn, /killplayer, /killnpcs, /inactive, and /purgeall. Treat that list as historical context, not as a promise of compatibility with a current server. Check the mod’s release notes and supported game build before installing it. Do not install two command mods solely because they advertise commands with the same names; overlapping implementations can produce confusing permission and behavior differences.
Why does every command say I have no permission?
Start with the identity, file location, and reload sequence rather than changing random commands. Most failures come from editing a file the running server does not use or from using syntax from a different version.
- Verify the SteamID64 and key syntax. A typo, an old
Steam:key format, or an unneeded1.prefix can prevent the entry from matching your account. Follow the format already present in the current file. - Confirm the active world folder. A hosting panel may expose a container path such as
/home/container/gamedata/savegames/world, while a local installation uses another root or world name. - Confirm the group. A
kingcan have world utilities without havinggod-level access-list and permission-management rights. - Stop before editing. If the process remained online, it may have rewritten the file when it shut down.
- Reload or restart. Use
/reloadpermissionwhen your build supports it; otherwise stop and start the server after validating the JSON. - Separate vanilla from mod permissions. A successful
godassignment does not automatically create a BetterColonyCommands permission such asmods.scarabol.commands.ban.
Why does the dedicated console ignore my command?
The executable console is not the same interface as in-game chat. Prefix the command with send and preserve capitalization exactly.
send /whitelist add 7656119XXXXXXXXXXThe example shows the required wrapper and a numeric target; replace the identifier with the actual SteamID64. If a command still fails, test a harmless command after checking that the server process is attached to the world whose permissions file you edited. Also verify that you are typing into the dedicated server console rather than a host shell or panel command box that expects a different syntax.
What should I do if permissionusers.json is missing or edits reset?
A missing file can be normal on a first run. Create it in the active world save directory, use valid JSON, and restart the server.
If the entry disappears or has no effect after a restart, inspect the launch configuration for the world name and save root. Provider panels can mount game data inside a container, so a path shown in documentation may not match your local installation. Make a backup before further edits, then repeat the stop-edit-start sequence in the directory the running server actually uses. If several worlds exist, check which world is selected at launch; editing a similarly named save does not change permissions for the live world.
How can I run a Colony Survival server continuously?
Headless dedicated hosting is supported through Docker, which is useful when the server must run without a graphical desktop. The same administration principles still apply: identify the mounted world directory, stop the container before editing permission data, and restart it afterward.
Operational checklist for persistent hosting
- Record the world name and mounted save path used by the launch command.
- Use
/savebefore planned maintenance and/backupbefore updates or major mod changes. - Keep the game version and every server-side mod version compatible; a command list from another release may be invalid.
- Restrict
godaccess to trusted administrators because it can change permissions and access lists. - After a container or panel restart, test with a harmless command before promoting additional staff.
- Confirm that the provider’s backup process includes the mounted world directory, not only container configuration.
Hosting panels commonly provide a stop button, file editor, and start button, but their paths and backup behavior differ. Confirm the provider’s current Colony Survival support, region, backups, and pricing before moving a live world. Docker is a hosting method, not a replacement for permission configuration: the mounted save still needs the correct file and syntax.
What is the safest workflow for adding another administrator?
Use the smallest authority that satisfies the job and verify the result before granting more access.
- Ask for the player’s SteamID64 rather than relying on a display name.
- Run
/addgroup king PlayerNamefor a helper who needs world tools but not permission and access-list control. - Use
/setgroup god PlayerNameonly when the person must administer permissions or the whitelist and blacklist. - Test the exact task while the player is online.
- Remove the group or direct permission when the role ends.
For a one-off capability, prefer /addpermission and later /removepermission if you know the correct permission identifier. This avoids giving a temporary helper the broader powers bundled into god. Keep a written record of who received elevated access and why, especially on a public server.
Frequently asked questions
Can I grant one command without making someone a king or god?
Yes. The permission system documents direct grants with /addpermission <permission> <player> and revocations with /removepermission. The exact permission string must exist in your build or installed mod, so copy it from that component’s documentation rather than guessing.
Should I use a player name or SteamID64 in an admin command?
Use SteamID64 whenever the command accepts it, particularly for offline targets or accounts that rename themselves. Names are convenient for quick in-game actions but are less stable identifiers.
Do I need to install BetterColonyCommands on every player’s computer?
It is documented as a server-side mod, so the administrative command set comes from the server installation. Players will still only be able to use commands that the server exposes and that their assigned permissions allow; check the mod’s compatibility list for your game version.
Can a king manage the whitelist?
The current administration guide assigns whitelist and blacklist administration to god. A king may have saves, backups, time, teleport, and other world utilities while still receiving a permission error for access-list commands.
Why does an old tutorial show a different JSON key?
Permission-file syntax has changed. Older developer guidance uses a Steam: form, while current provider examples use the numeric SteamID64 as the key and some guides show a 1. prefix. Preserve the convention already used by the active server and do not merge examples from different releases.
What is the safest way to test a permissions-file change?
Stop the server, make a copy of the existing permissions file, apply one change, and restart. Log in with the affected account and test a non-destructive command before adding more entries.
Is /kick available without a mod?
Do not assume so. The documented base-game access control uses blacklist operations; /kick, /ban, and jail commands are associated with optional command mods and require their installation and permissions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I grant one command without making someone a king or god?
Yes, the permission system documents direct grants with /addpermission <permission> <player> and revocations with /removepermission. The exact permission string must exist in your build or installed mod, so copy it from that component’s documentation rather than guessing.
Should I use a player name or SteamID64 in an admin command?
Use SteamID64 whenever the command accepts it, particularly for offline targets or accounts that rename themselves. Names are convenient for quick in-game actions but are less stable identifiers.
Do I need to install BetterColonyCommands on every player’s computer?
It is documented as a server-side mod, so the administrative command set comes from the server installation. Players will still only be able to use commands that the server exposes and that their assigned permissions allow; check the mod’s compatibility list for your game version.
What is the safest way to test a permissions-file change?
Stop the server, make a copy of the existing permissions file, apply one change, and restart. Log in with the affected account and test a non-destructive command before adding more entries.
Can a king manage the whitelist or blacklist?
The current administration guide associates access-list administration with god. A king may have world utilities but still receive a permission error for whitelist and blacklist commands.
Why does an old tutorial show a different permissionusers.json key?
The file syntax has changed over time. Current examples use a numeric SteamID64 key, some show a 1. prefix, and older developer guidance uses a Steam: form. Follow the structure already present in the active server files.
Is /kick a built-in Colony Survival command?
Do not assume it is. The documented base-game access control uses blacklist operations; /kick, /ban, and jail commands are associated with optional server-side mods and their own permissions.
The Bottom Line
For a dependable setup, stop the server, edit the active world’s permissionusers.json using its existing syntax, grant god only to trusted administrators, and restart or use /reloadpermission when supported. Use direct slash commands in chat, prepend send in the dedicated executable, and treat moderation commands as mod-dependent until compatibility and permissions are verified.