How to host a Don’t Starve Together server

JSJesse Schokker·July 13, 2026·6 min read

Processes2Surface and caves, one cluster.

Required firstKlei tokenFree, from your Klei account.

Back upThe whole clusterBoth halves must stay in step.

ResetPer shardYou can regenerate caves without the surface.

Individually light, but remember you are running two of them for a single world. Both need to be up for players to move between the surface and the caves, and both need to be backed up together — a surface save restored without its matching caves save is not a coherent world.

How to install it

Get a server token from your Klei account on their website. Nothing works without it, so do this first.
Install Steam’s command-line tool, then the Don’t Starve Together server using an anonymous login.
Create a cluster folder containing your token and cluster settings, plus two shard folders inside it — one for the surface, one for the caves.
Start both shards. Two processes, same cluster. This is the step people miss entirely.
Check you can travel down a sinkhole in game. That is the only real proof the two halves are talking to each other.

steamcmd \
  +force_install_dir /home/dst/server \
  +login anonymous \
  +app_update 343050 validate \
  +quit

# Two processes, one cluster. Missing the second is why
# so many first attempts have no caves.
./dontstarve_dedicated_server_nullrenderer \
  -console -cluster MyCluster -shard Master &

./dontstarve_dedicated_server_nullrenderer \
  -console -cluster MyCluster -shard Caves &

You need a cluster token first

Generate one from your Klei account and save it as cluster_token.txt in the cluster folder. A public server requires owning the game to get one, and nothing works without it.

How to configure it

cluster.ini — name, password, play style, shard settings

cluster_token.txt — your Klei token

Master/server.ini — the surface shard

Caves/server.ini — the caves shard

cluster.ini

[NETWORK]
cluster_name = Your server name
cluster_password =
game_mode = survival
max_players = 6
pvp = false

[SHARD]
; Without this, the two halves never find each other.
shard_enabled = true
bind_ip = 127.0.0.1
master_ip = 127.0.0.1
master_port = 10888
cluster_key = choose-something

File	Shard	Setting that decides it
Master/server.ini	Surface	is_master = true
Caves/server.ini	Caves	is_master = false
both	—	Each needs its own server_port; setting both as master, or neither, is the usual cause of a cluster that starts but never connects.

Shard mode must be enabled in cluster.ini or the two halves will never find each other, however correctly each one is set up.
Exactly one shard is the master. Setting both or neither is the usual cause of a cluster that starts but does not connect.
Each shard needs its own port as well as sharing the cluster port.
Mods are configured per shard. A mod enabled on the surface only will behave unpredictably underground.

The mistake almost everyone makes

Setting up only the surface and concluding caves are broken or disabled. They are not — they are a second server that was never started.

Written from experience running these servers. If something here no longer matches what you are seeing, tell us and we will recheck it.

Jesse SchokkerFounder & Engineer, GameDash

Building GameDash at Schokker IT — the game server control panel we always wished existed. Writes about infrastructure automation, the SDK and running game servers at scale.

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How to host a Don’t Starve Together server

How to install it

How to configure it

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