Deploy and Host

Palworld Dedicated Server — one-click deploy with persistent volume, REST API, automated backups, and zero-downtime updates. Includes a bundled playit.gg tunnel agent so players can connect over UDP (Railway's public network is TCP/HTTP only). Powered by thijsvanloef/palworld-server-docker.

After deploying and completing the playit.gg setup, open Palworld → Multiplayer → enter the playit.gg allocation address as the server address.

Connecting Players (UDP via playit.gg)

Railway's public network only exposes TCP/HTTP — Palworld's game traffic is UDP, so players connect through the bundled playit tunnel agent instead of the Railway domain.

The template deploys two services:

palworld — the game server (UDP :8211 game, TCP :8212 REST API, 50 GB volume)
playit — the playit.gg agent, which makes outbound connections to playit.gg's edge and tunnels player traffic over Railway's private network to palworld.railway.internal:8211

One-time setup (after deploy)

Create a free account at playit.gg
Account → Agents → Add Agent → copy the secret key
In Railway, open the playit service → Variables → paste the key as SECRET_KEY
In playit.gg → Tunnels → Add Tunnel:
- Type: UDP
- Local address: palworld.railway.internal
- Local port: 8211
Give players the allocation address playit.gg assigns (shown on the tunnel)

About Hosting

This template runs the Palworld dedicated server wrapped around the upstream Docker image. Game data persists on a Railway volume mounted at /palworld — saves, configs, and backups survive deploys and restarts.

The entrypoint runs as root on boot to chown the Railway volume (root-owned by default) to the steam user, then drops privileges before launching the server. Railway uses the REST API on port 8212 for healthchecks since the game port (8211) is UDP and Railway doesn't support UDP healthchecks.

Key environment variables:

Variable	Default	Description
`ADMIN_PASSWORD`	auto-generated	RCON/REST API admin password — visible in the service's Variables tab after deploy
`PLAYERS`	`16`	Max simultaneous players (1-32)
`SERVER_NAME`	`My Palworld Server`	Displayed in the server browser
`SERVER_PASSWORD`	(empty)	Set to make the server private
`COMMUNITY`	`true`	Show in public server browser
`RCON_ENABLED`	`false`	Enable remote console
`BACKUP_ENABLED`	`true`	Auto-backup world saves
`TZ`	`UTC`	Server timezone

Storage Requirements

The Palworld server requires at least 10 GB of persistent storage for the base installation. The initial game download via SteamCMD is ~5 GB, and world saves, backups, and mods increase over time. Railway provisions a volume automatically, but you may need to upgrade from the default 5 GB plan limit if you plan to run long-term with backups enabled.

Why Deploy

Persistent saves: world data lives on a Railway volume — no lost progress on restart.
Automated backups: scheduled world saves with configurable retention.
REST API: manage players, settings, and server state via HTTP.
No Docker knowledge required: click deploy, configure env vars, start playing.

Common Use Cases

Host a private Palworld server for friends (set SERVER_PASSWORD)
Run a public community server (set COMMUNITY=true)
Experiment with server config without local Docker setup

Dependencies for

Deployment Dependencies

A Railway account
A free playit.gg account (for the UDP tunnel — required for players to connect)