How to Install and Configure Oxide Plugins on Your Rust Server

MANAfuel Team

5 min readMay 27, 2026Updated May 2026

Rust server with Oxide plugins installed through MANAfuel dashboard

Install Oxide on your MANAfuel Rust server and add uMod plugins in under 5 minutes using the dashboard mod installer.

Deploy a Rust Server with Oxide
Open the MANAfuel dashboard and click Deploy Server in the sidebar. The deployment wizard opens with a grid of every supported game. Click the Rust tile — it highlights with a green border and a checkmark. The bottom panel shows Rust with version options: Latest Stable or Beta Branch. Leave it on Latest Stable and click NEXT. On the next screen, enter a server name (letters, numbers, and hyphens only), pick a region from the world map, and click NEXT again. The review page shows your Configuration Summary: Game, Version, Core Type, Server Name, Location, DNS address, and Mod Support (uMod / Oxide). Adjust RAM with the slider — 8 GB is the minimum for Rust, 8 GB recommended. Click SUBSCRIBE & DEPLOY.
MANAfuel deploy review page showing Rust server configuration: version latest, US East Virginia, 8GB RAM, uMod/Oxide mod support, and Subscribe & Deploy button
Open the Mods Tab
Once your server finishes deploying, it appears in the sidebar under SERVERS. Click it to open the server panel. Select the Mods tab from the tab bar. The Mods tab has three sub-tabs: Browse, Installed, and Activity. Browse connects to the uMod plugin library and lets you search over 3,000 Rust plugins by name or category. Installed shows every plugin currently on your server with its version and load status. Activity is the install and update history with timestamps.
Search and Install a Plugin
In the Mods tab, make sure you are on the Browse sub-tab. Type a plugin name in the search bar — try Gather Manager for a popular first install. Each result shows the plugin name, author, download count, version, and an Install button. Click Install. MANAfuel takes a pre-flight backup of your server data, downloads the plugin to the oxide/plugins/ directory, and verifies it loads without errors. The plugin appears in the Installed sub-tab with a green status indicator when loaded successfully. If a plugin requires a dependency, the installer flags it and offers to install both.
Configure Plugin Settings
Most Oxide plugins generate a JSON config file in oxide/config/ on first load. Open the Files tab in the server panel. Navigate the file tree on the left to oxide, then config. Click the plugin config file — for example, GatherManager.json. The file opens in the inline editor on the right side. Edit any value directly: resource multipliers, stack sizes, drop rates. Click Save. The change writes to the server immediately. For the change to take effect, some plugins hot-reload automatically; others need a server restart. The Mods tab tells you which behavior applies.
Set Plugin Permissions
Oxide uses a group-based permission system. Open the Console tab in the server panel — Rust servers get a full RCON Console with a command input bar at the bottom and a scrolling output area above. Type oxide.grant group default pluginname.permission to grant a permission to all players. Type oxide.grant user SteamID pluginname.permission for individual players. Create admin groups with oxide.group add groupname, then assign permissions to that group. View all available permissions with oxide.show perms. Every command executes immediately and the result appears in the console output.
Verify Plugins Are Running
In the RCON Console, type oxide.plugins. The output lists every loaded plugin with its version and status. Green means loaded and running. If a plugin failed to load, the error and stack trace appear in the server log — open the Logs tab to search for it. Check the Monitoring tab for server health: CPU usage, RAM usage, and player count charts. If a plugin is consuming excessive resources, the Monitoring tab shows the spike. To disable a problem plugin without removing it, go to Mods > Installed, find the plugin, and click Disable. Restart the server to confirm the issue resolves.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

How do I update Oxide plugins on my Rust server?

Open the Mods tab and go to the Installed sub-tab. Plugins with available updates show an Update button. Click it — MANAfuel backs up the current version before applying the update so you can roll back if the new version causes issues. The Activity sub-tab shows every update with a timestamp and rollback link.

Can I install plugins while the server is running?

Yes. Oxide supports hot-loading for most plugins. Install from the Mods tab and the plugin loads within a few seconds without a restart. Some plugins that modify core game behavior require a restart — the installer tells you when that applies.

How many plugins can I run on my Rust server?

There is no hard limit. Performance depends on your RAM allocation and the specific plugins. Most servers run 20 to 40 plugins comfortably on 8 GB. The Monitoring tab shows per-resource usage so you can identify if a specific plugin is the bottleneck.

What happens if a plugin crashes my server?

The server restarts automatically. The Logs tab shows which plugin threw the exception with the stack trace. The Mods tab Activity log records the recent install or update that likely caused the crash. You can disable the plugin from Mods > Installed and restore from the pre-change backup if needed.

Troubleshooting