Configuration

All configuration is done through environment variables in your .env file.

Server Configuration

Variable	Default	Description
JAVA_XMS	4G	Minimum RAM allocation
JAVA_XMX	8G	Maximum RAM allocation
BIND_PORT	5520	Game server UDP port
AUTO_DOWNLOAD	true	Auto-download game files (x64 only)
SERVER_EXTRA_ARGS	-	Extra arguments for the server
TZ	UTC	Timezone for logs

Release Channels

Each server can follow one of the official hytale-downloader patchlines, selectable in the panel's Config tab:

Channel	Description
stable	Production-ready builds (default, recommended)
pre-release	Latest features and updates, may contain bugs

The Setup tab's update check compares the installed server version against the latest version available on the server's channel (via hytale-downloader -print-version), so "Update available" reflects the real remote version instead of file age.

Panel Configuration

Variable	Default	Description
PANEL_USER	admin	Panel login username
PANEL_PASS	admin	Panel login password
PANEL_PORT	3000	Panel HTTP port
JWT_SECRET	(random)	JWT signing key
MODTALE_API_KEY	-	Modtale API key for mod integration
CURSEFORGE_API_KEY	-	CurseForge API key for mod integration

RAM Guidelines

Players	Recommended JAVA_XMX
1-10	4G
10-20	6G
20-50	8G
50+	12G+

Example Configuration

# Server Resources
JAVA_XMS=4G
JAVA_XMX=8G
BIND_PORT=5520

# Auto-download (set to false if you want to provide files manually)
AUTO_DOWNLOAD=true

# Extra server arguments (e.g., for mods)
SERVER_EXTRA_ARGS=--mods mods

# Panel Authentication
PANEL_USER=myadmin
PANEL_PASS=supersecretpassword123
JWT_SECRET=my-random-secret-key

# Timezone (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones)
TZ=Europe/Madrid

# Modtale integration (optional)
MODTALE_API_KEY=your-api-key-here

# CurseForge integration (optional - note the single quotes!)
CURSEFORGE_API_KEY='$2a$10$your-key-here'

Docker Compose Customization

You can customize volumes and ports in docker-compose.yml:

services:
  hytale-server:
    volumes:
      - ./server:/opt/hytale # Server files
      - ./my-custom-mods:/opt/hytale/mods # Custom mods folder
    ports:
      - "5520:5520/udp" # Game port
    environment:
      - JAVA_XMX=16G # Override RAM

  hytale-panel:
    ports:
      - "8080:3000" # Change panel port to 8080

Timezone List

Common timezones:

Region	Timezone
US East	America/New_York
US West	America/Los_Angeles
UK	Europe/London
Central Europe	Europe/Berlin
Spain	Europe/Madrid
Japan	Asia/Tokyo
Australia	Australia/Sydney

Full list of timezones

Data Storage

By default, all data is stored in ./data/ relative to the docker-compose file.

HOST_DATA_PATH

This environment variable defines where server data is stored on the host machine.

Important: HOST_DATA_PATH must be an absolute path for server volumes to work correctly.

• Default: ${PWD}/data (Linux/Mac only)
• Example: HOST_DATA_PATH=/home/user/hytale-data

The path is used for:

• Panel data storage
• Server container volumes (each server mounts its data from this location)

Windows Users

${PWD} does not work on Windows! You must set HOST_DATA_PATH manually in your .env file.

Use forward slashes (/) not backslashes (\):

HOST_DATA_PATH=C:/Users/YourName/hytale/data

# Linux/Mac
HOST_DATA_PATH=/home/user/hytale/data

# Windows (REQUIRED - ${PWD} doesn't work)
HOST_DATA_PATH=C:/Users/YourName/hytale/data