A headless server management toolkit for tModLoader with Steam Workshop integration, automated backups, world management, mod config editing, and diagnostics — all driven from a single interactive CLI menu.

~/servers/tmodloader/ ├── Engine/ # tModLoader server files (managed by SteamCMD) ├── Mods/ # Installed .tmod files + enabled.json ├── Worlds/ # World save files ├── ModConfigs/ # Per-mod config files (JSON, TOML, etc.) ├── Configs/ # serverconfig.txt, workshop_map.json ├── Backups/ # Automated backup storage │ ├── Worlds/ │ ├── Configs/ │ └── Full/ ├── Logs/ # All script and server logs └── Scripts/ ├── core/ # tmod-core.sh, tmod-server.sh, tmod-monitor.sh ├── hub/ # tmod-control.sh ← main entry point ├── backup/ # tmod-backup.sh ├── steam/ # tmod-workshop.sh, tmod-deps.sh, mod_ids.txt └── diag/ # tmod-diagnostics.sh 

Debian / Ubuntu

sudo apt update -y sudo apt install -y git screen curl jq pigz rsync unzip htop ncdu net-tools dos2unix

Fedora / RHEL / CentOS (untested — community contributions welcome)

sudo dnf install -y git screen curl jq pigz rsync unzip htop ncdu net-tools dos2unix

Note: pigz and dos2unix may require the EPEL repository on RHEL/CentOS.

Debian / Ubuntu

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386 sudo apt update -y sudo apt install -y steamcmd

Fedora / RHEL / all others (manual install) (untested — community contributions welcome)

mkdir -p ~/servers/steam/SteamCMD curl -sqL "https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steamcmd_linux.tar.gz" \ | tar -xzf - -C ~/servers/steam/SteamCMD

If using the manual install, update steamcmd_path in Configs/serverconfig.txt to match your install path.

steamcmd \ +force_install_dir ~/servers/tmodloader/Engine \ +login anonymous \ +app_update 1281930 validate \ +quit

No manual installation needed. On first server start the scripts automatically:

1. Read the required .NET version from Engine/tModLoader.runtimeconfig.json
2. Run tModLoader's bundled Engine/LaunchUtils/InstallDotNet.sh
3. Install the correct runtime into Engine/dotnet/

Install progress is logged to Logs/dotnet-install.log. If the install fails, check that file for details.

After cloning, run once to create required directories, copy example configs, and set script permissions:

make setup

Then edit Configs/serverconfig.txt — at minimum set steamcmd_path to match your SteamCMD install location.

All management goes through Scripts/hub/tmod-control.sh. Run with no arguments to open the interactive menu:

./Scripts/hub/tmod-control.sh # or from the hub directory: ./tmod-control.sh # with debug logging to terminal: ./tmod-control.sh --debug

Every page shows a live status bar with server state, uptime, player count, mod count, active world, folder sizes, and disk usage.

Select World — lists all .wld files with size, last modified, and marks the currently active world. Updates serverconfig.txt automatically.

Create New World — generates a world headlessly via tModLoader's -autocreate. Prompts for name, size, difficulty, and seed.

Import World — paste the path to a pre-uploaded .wld file. Copies it into Worlds/, optionally renames it, sets it as active, and optionally starts the server.

Add Mod by URL or ID — paste one or more Steam Workshop URLs (including concatenated multi-URL strings). Automatically extracts all ?id= values, adds them to mod_ids.txt, and optionally downloads + syncs immediately.

Mod Configs — scans ModConfigs/ and any mod-created subdirectories (e.g. TerrariaOverhaul/) for config files. Select one to open in nano.

Restore and Verify use an inline file picker that scans all backup subdirectories.

serverconfig.txt is not tracked in git (machine-specific paths). A clean template is provided:

cp Configs/serverconfig.example.txt Configs/serverconfig.txt

Then edit serverconfig.txt for your machine. The world= and worldname= keys are managed automatically by the world picker — leave them commented out initially. The tmod-scripts section at the bottom holds script-specific settings:

# ─── tmod-scripts ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── steamcmd_path=~/servers/steam/SteamCMD/steamcmd.sh log_max_size=10M # Rotate logs larger than this (e.g. 5M, 10M, 50M) log_keep_days=14 # Delete compressed old logs after this many days

Paths support ~/ expansion.

Sensitive values (STEAM_API_KEY, STEAM_USERNAME) should be exported from ~/.bashrc_secrets or equivalent — not stored in any tracked file.

mod_ids.txt is not tracked in git (personal mod list). A clean template is provided:

cp Scripts/steam/mod_ids.example.txt Scripts/steam/mod_ids.txt

Then add your Workshop URLs or numeric IDs — one per line. Managed via the menu (Mods → Add Mod by URL or ID) or edited directly. Lines starting with # are ignored.

Optional at Configs/workshop_map.json. Maps mod names to Workshop IDs for use by tmod-deps.sh:

{ "MyMod": "1234567890" }

./Scripts/diag/tmod-diagnostics.sh full # Full system check ./Scripts/diag/tmod-diagnostics.sh quick # Fast essential checks ./Scripts/diag/tmod-diagnostics.sh binaries # Check tModLoader binary ./Scripts/diag/tmod-diagnostics.sh config # Check config files ./Scripts/diag/tmod-diagnostics.sh fix # Auto-fix common issues ./Scripts/diag/tmod-diagnostics.sh report # Generate shareable report

# Server ./tmod-control.sh start ./tmod-control.sh stop ./tmod-control.sh restart ./tmod-control.sh status # Backup ./tmod-control.sh backup worlds ./tmod-control.sh backup configs ./tmod-control.sh backup full ./tmod-control.sh backup auto # Monitoring ./tmod-control.sh monitor status ./tmod-control.sh monitor start ./tmod-control.sh monitor logs # Workshop ./tmod-control.sh workshop download ./tmod-control.sh workshop sync ./tmod-control.sh workshop list ./tmod-control.sh workshop archive ./tmod-control.sh workshop cleanup

Menu & UX

• Removed obsolete Download Mods and Sync Mods menu items — superseded by URL→enabled.json system
• Restructured all 5 menu pages for better headless-server UX flow
• Monitoring page expanded from 4 to 8 items: Status Dashboard, Health Check, Live Monitor, Follow Server Log (tail -f), View Server/Monitor/Control Logs, Attach to Server Console (screen -r)
• Backup page expanded from 4 to 10 items: inline restore and verify file pickers, config/full/auto backups, cleanup, log view
• Mods page: added Mod Configs editor (item 14) — browses ModConfigs/ and mod subdirs, opens selected file in nano
• Server page: added Import World (item 8) — copy a pre-uploaded .wld, rename, set active, optionally start

Logging

• log_it and log_control now write to file only by default — no terminal noise for INFO messages
• WARN / ERROR / CRITICAL always print to terminal
• --debug flag exports TMOD_DEBUG=1 to all child scripts, enabling full verbose output

Configuration

• Directories renamed to match tModLoader convention: Engine/, Configs/, Logs/, Backups/, Scripts/
• Backup subdirectories capitalised: Backups/Worlds/, Backups/Configs/, Backups/Full/
• STEAMCMD_PATH moved from .env to serverconfig.txt (steamcmd_path=)
• Log rotation thresholds now configurable in serverconfig.txt (log_max_size, log_keep_days)
• rotate_logs() improved: timestamped rolling archives, worldgen.log excluded
• server_config_get() helper added to core for reading script settings from serverconfig.txt

Cleanup

• Whitelist system removed — player management is better handled by in-game admin mods
• Secrets (STEAM_API_KEY, STEAM_USERNAME) moved to ~/.bashrc_secrets
• *.bak files excluded from git
• Scripts/steam/mod_ids.txt now gitignored (personal mod list); mod_ids.example.txt added as tracked template
• create_example_mod_ids_file() copies from mod_ids.example.txt when bootstrapping a fresh install

Issues, feature requests, and pull requests are welcome.

Apache 2.0 — see LICENSE for details.