Knowing exactly who is connected to your Rust server is the single most fundamental admin skill. Before you can kick a griefer, hand out moderator rights, ban a cheater by their SteamID64, or simply confirm whether your slots are full, you need a reliable way to pull the live player list. Rust gives you four separate commands that do this, each with a different output format and a different purpose, plus several ways to actually run them. This guide breaks down every one: what fields they return, how to read a SteamID64 out of the output, the difference between running them from RCON versus the in-game F1 console, and how to check your max-player cap. Everything here is based on real, current command output, not guesswork.
The fast answer: the status command
If you only learn one command, make it status. It is the primary, all-purpose way to see who is on your Rust server. Run it and Rust prints a short server header — hostname, version, current map, and player counts — followed by one row for every connected player. It works identically whether you type it in the F1 console as an authed player or send it over RCON from a web console.
statusThe per-player rows of status contain a set of columns, and understanding each one is what separates a confused new admin from someone who can actually manage a population. Here is what every field means:
| Column | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| ID | The player’s SteamID64 — a 17-digit number (e.g. 76561197854018763). This is the value you use for owner, ban and kick commands. |
| Name | The player’s current Steam profile name. |
| Ping | Latency in milliseconds. High ping rows are your laggers and rubber-banders. |
| Connected | How long the player has been connected, in seconds. |
| Addr | The player’s IP address (and port). |
| Owner | Auth level — whether the player holds ownership/admin rights on the server. |
| Violation | Anti-cheat violation level. A climbing number here flags a player the anti-cheat is unhappy with. |
| Kicks | How many times the player has been kicked. |
The combination of Ping, Violation and Connected is your at-a-glance moderation triage: a freshly connected account with a rising violation level is exactly the row you want to keep an eye on. And because the ID column is the SteamID64, you can copy it straight into a ban or owner command without looking anything up elsewhere.
players — the network-focused view
Where status is about identity and moderation, players is about the network and simulation health of each connection. It returns a tabular list of connected players with these columns:
- ID — the player identifier
- Name — display name (note: names longer than 15 characters get truncated to 14 in this view)
- Ping — latency
- Snap — snapshot data
- Update — update rate metric
- Posi — position data
- Dist — distance metric
playersReach for players when you are chasing down a networking or performance problem rather than a person. If players are complaining about desync or hits not registering, the Snap, Update and Posi columns give you per-player visibility into how their connections are being serviced. For day-to-day “who is on”, status remains the friendlier choice because it surfaces SteamID64s and anti-cheat data in full.
playerlist — the machine-readable list for tools and dashboards
If you are building a Discord bot, a live status website, or any kind of automation, playerlist is the command you want. Instead of a human-readable table it returns an array of hashes — a JSON-like structure — that a program can parse directly. Each connected player is one object with a rich set of keys:
| Key | Meaning |
|---|---|
SteamID | The player’s SteamID64. |
OwnerSteamID | Auth/ownership association. Owner auth values: 2 = owner, 1 = moderator. |
DisplayName | Steam profile name (not truncated here). |
Ping | Latency in ms. |
Address | IP address. |
ConnectedSeconds | Session length in seconds. |
ViolationLevel | Anti-cheat violation level. |
CurrentLevel | The player’s current level value. |
UnspentXp | Unspent experience. |
Health | The player’s current health. |
The big advantage of playerlist over status is that you never have to scrape a fixed-width text table — every value is a labelled field. The Health and ConnectedSeconds keys in particular make it trivial to build live “online now” widgets or admin overlays. If you want this to drive a website, send the command over WebRCON (covered below) and read the websocket response.
users — the quick name-and-count snapshot
The simplest of the four is users. It lists connected players in a compact format and finishes with a total count:
users
:""
:""
2 users Each line is a SteamID64:"name" pair, and the trailing line is the head-count. This is the command to use when all you want is a quick “how many people are on and what are they called” — for example mid-raid when you just need to know if a clan is online. It strips away the ping, violation and network noise of the other commands.
A note on global.players
You will sometimes see global.players mentioned in old forum posts and listicles as a way to list players. In current Rust this is not a reliable command — the documented, working ways to list who is online are the four covered above: status, players, playerlist and users. If you have seen global.players recommended somewhere, treat it with suspicion and use one of the four verified commands instead. Rust’s console namespaces (global., server., etc.) do shift over time, so when in doubt, the safest habit is to confirm against the current command set rather than copy a years-old guide.
Reading a SteamID64 out of the output
Nearly every meaningful admin action keys off the SteamID64. It is the 17-digit number you see in the ID column of status, the SteamID key of playerlist, and the left side of each users entry — for example 76561197854018763. Unlike a display name, a SteamID64 never changes and can never be spoofed by someone renaming their Steam profile, which is exactly why moderation commands use it.
Once you have copied an ID, you can act on it. Granting and removing ownership (full admin) is done with:
ownerid 76561197854018763
removeowner 76561197854018763The same ID is what you feed to your kick and ban commands. Because the ID is right there in the status output, the typical workflow is: run status, spot the row with a climbing Violation or an obviously cheating Name, copy its ID, and ban. For a full breakdown of the moderation and console command surface, see our companion guide on Rust RCON server console commands.
RCON vs the F1 console: where to run these commands
There are two places you can run all four player-listing commands, and the right one depends on whether you are sitting in the game or managing remotely.
From the in-game F1 console
If you are actually playing on your server and your account has an auth level, press F1 to open the developer console and type status (or any of the others). This is convenient when you are already in-game — you can see the player list, identify a problem, and act without alt-tabbing. The catch is that you have to be connected and authed to use it.
From RCON (WebRCON)
RCON lets you run the exact same commands without being in the game at all — ideal for managing your server from a phone, a browser, or an automated tool. Rust uses WebRCON, a WebSocket-based protocol (not the legacy Source RCON TCP protocol). Facepunch hosts the official open-source web client at facepunch.github.io/webrcon. You connect by entering your server’s IP, the RCON port, and the RCON password; the client opens a websocket and you get a live console. The connection URL embeds the IP and port and can even be shared with a teammate, who will then be prompted for the password.
The F1 console and RCON share the same command surface — status, players, playerlist, users, server.save, kick, ban and the rest all behave identically. The only real difference is access: RCON works from anywhere, F1 requires you to be in-game. For anything beyond casual play — scheduled restarts, off-hours moderation, dashboards — RCON is the professional default.
To use RCON you need it configured correctly when the server launches. The relevant convars and their defaults are:
| Convar | Default / Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|
server.port | 28015 | The game traffic port. This is UDP. |
rcon.port | 28016 | The RCON port. Defaults to server.port + 1 in practice; the wiki example uses 28016. |
rcon.password | (none — set it!) | Must be set, or RCON is unusable. Use something strong. |
rcon.web | 1 | 1 = WebSocket/WebRCON mode (recommended). 0 = legacy mode. |
A typical launch line sets only the essentials on the command line and leaves the rest to a server.cfg file, which the server reads at startup and which takes priority over command-line settings:
RustDedicated.exe -batchmode +server.port 28015 +server.level "Procedural Map"
+server.seed 1234 +server.worldsize 4000 +server.maxplayers 10
+server.hostname "Name of Server" +server.description "Description"
+rcon.port 28016 +rcon.password "ChangeThisValue" +rcon.web 1If you host with us, all of this is wired up for you — RCON is enabled out of the box and you get a ready-to-use console, so you can skip straight to running status. You can spin up a managed Rust server and have WebRCON working in minutes, or read the full setup walkthrough in our Rust hosting documentation.
Checking your max-player cap
Seeing who is on is only half the picture — you also want to know how many slots you have. The cap is controlled by server.maxplayers. Run it with no value to read the current cap, or with a number to set it:
server.maxplayers
server.maxplayers 10The status header also shows current-versus-max counts at a glance, so a quick status tells you both who is on and how close you are to full. Bear in mind that raising server.maxplayers increases the load on your hardware — Rust’s server is largely single-threaded and sensitive to player count, entity count and worldsize — so size your slots to your machine. If you find your server straining as population grows, our guide on improving Rust server performance covers the convars and trade-offs in depth.
Which command should you use?
- Just want to see who’s on and moderate? Use
status— it gives you SteamID64s, ping, violation level and connection time in one table. - Chasing a network/desync problem? Use
playersfor the snapshot, update, position and distance metrics. - Building a bot, dashboard, or website? Use
playerlistfor clean JSON-like fields including health, level and unspent XP. - Just need a name list and a head-count? Use
users. - Want to know your capacity? Use
server.maxplayers(or read thestatusheader).
Frequently asked questions
How do I see how many players are on my Rust server right now?
Run status — its header shows the current and maximum player counts together. If you want only the number with names, run users, which ends its output with a total count line (for example 2 users). Both work from the in-game F1 console (if you’re authed) or over RCON, which means you can check the population even when you aren’t playing.
What is the difference between status, players and playerlist?
status is the human-readable moderation view with SteamID64, ping, connection time, IP, auth level, anti-cheat violation level and kicks. players is the network/simulation view with snapshot, update, position and distance metrics. playerlist returns a JSON-like array of hashes — including health, current level and unspent XP — that’s designed for tools and websites to parse programmatically. They overlap on identity but each is tuned for a different job.
How do I find a player’s SteamID64 on my Rust server?
Run status and read the ID column — it is the 17-digit SteamID64 (for example 76561197854018763). You’ll also find it as the SteamID key in playerlist output and as the left-hand value in each users line. Copy that number to ban, kick, or grant ownership with ownerid . The SteamID64 is permanent, so it’s the safe value to act on even if a player renames their Steam profile.
Can I see who’s online without joining the game?
Yes — that’s exactly what RCON is for. Rust uses WebRCON, a WebSocket-based protocol. Connect with the official client at facepunch.github.io/webrcon using your server IP, RCON port (default 28016) and RCON password, then run status or any of the other player-listing commands. You never have to launch the game. Make sure rcon.web 1 and a strong rcon.password are set on your server first.
What does the Violation column in status mean?
The Violation column is the player’s anti-cheat violation level. A value that climbs over time indicates the anti-cheat is flagging that player’s behaviour. It’s not an automatic conviction, but combined with a high ping and a very short Connected time it’s a strong signal to keep watching a specific row. Pair it with the ID column to act quickly if you decide a ban is warranted.
How do I change the maximum number of players?
Set server.maxplayers to your desired cap — for example server.maxplayers 10. You can put it on the launch line, in your server.cfg, or run it live via RCON. Remember that more slots means more load on Rust’s largely single-threaded server, so balance your cap against your hardware. On a managed host the slot count typically matches your plan automatically. While you’re tuning your server, you might also want to read up on essential admin plugins that add deeper player-management tools on top of the vanilla commands.
Wrapping up
Seeing who is on your Rust server comes down to four commands and one habit. Use status for everyday moderation, players for network diagnostics, playerlist for tooling, and users for a quick head-count — and check server.maxplayers to know your ceiling. Run them from the F1 console while you play or over WebRCON when you’re away. Master reading the SteamID64 out of the ID column and you’ve unlocked every downstream admin action, from owner grants to permanent bans. Ignore the outdated global.players advice floating around old guides; the four verified commands are all you need.
Once you’re comfortable watching your population, the natural next steps are tightening up access and tuning the server: set up granular admin rights with our guide to configuring plugin permissions, and keep your build smooth with the performance optimization walkthrough.
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