abdellaouiamir/palworld-server

This project is a set of shell scripts that automate running a Palworld game server on a Linux computer, specifically Ubuntu or Debian. Palworld is a survival game, and hosting your own server usually means manually installing and updating it, but these scripts turn that into mostly a one command process. Running a single install command on a fresh Ubuntu or Debian server installs the required tools, creates a dedicated user account for running the game, downloads the roughly 8 gigabyte server files through Steam's command line tool, and sets up a systemd service so the server starts automatically and keeps running in the background. You can check on it at any time using standard systemd commands to see its status or watch the live logs. Once installed, day to day operation is mostly automatic. Every time the service starts, it checks for and applies updates before launching the game. Every time the service stops, whether from a restart or a manual stop, it automatically creates a backup of your save data and keeps backups for ten days before deleting the oldest ones. There are separate scripts for restoring an older backup if you ever need to roll back, and for cleanly uninstalling everything, which asks for confirmation before touching your saved worlds or the dedicated user account. The README notes a couple of practical details: the service restarts the game server automatically every twelve hours to work around a memory leak, which will disconnect players without warning when it happens, and it lists the default network ports so you can open the right firewall rules. There is also guidance for anyone upgrading from an older version of these scripts, since the server's installation location has changed and existing saves need to be copied over manually. Server settings themselves are edited directly in Palworld's own configuration file.