GameAP Daemon

GameAP Daemon is a background application that runs on a dedicated server and manages game servers: it installs, removes, starts, and stops them, monitors their state, and executes commands from the panel.

The daemon itself connects to the panel over gRPC and keeps a persistent connection. The panel does not connect to the daemon, and the daemon opens no inbound ports on the dedicated server.

Installation

Automatically via the Panel

In the panel, go to Administration → Dedicated Servers → Create, copy the command, and run it on the dedicated server.

The full installation guide, including Windows, manual registration, and troubleshooting, is on the Dedicated Servers page.

Process Manager

A process manager is a system utility that starts, stops, and restarts game servers and monitors their state. It can be chosen during installation, in the Additional settings block.

If no manager is specified, the daemon picks one itself: on Linux — systemd, with a fallback when systemd is unavailable or the daemon runs in a container; on Windows — Shawl; on macOS — tmux.

See Process Managers for details.

Configuration

The configuration file is in YAML format:

• Linux — /etc/gameap-daemon/gameap-daemon.yaml
• Windows — C:\gameap\daemon\gameap-daemon.yaml

The path can be set explicitly with the --config (-c) flag. Without the flag, the daemon searches a list of paths: first the current directory, then /etc/gameap-daemon/, /etc/gameap/, then /etc/gameap-daemon.yaml and the user’s home directory. The first file found wins.

The search list still contains names with the .cfg extension — a leftover from GameAP 3. Such a file will be found, but only YAML is parsed: the daemon will exit with an unsupported format error. Use .yaml or .yml.

Unknown keys in the file are ignored. Relative paths to certificate files are resolved against the directory the configuration file itself is in.

Required Parameters

All three are filled in automatically when the daemon is registered.

If grpc.address is not set, the address is derived from the legacy api_host parameter: the host name is taken and the port is replaced with 31718. Setting grpc.address explicitly is more reliable — api_host is kept for compatibility only.

Connecting to the Panel

More on the protocol, reconnection, and mutual authentication — GRPC API.

Certificates

The connection to the panel is protected by TLS, and the daemon presents a client certificate. All three files are issued by the panel during registration.

For each of the three certificates, set either the file path or the content — the value in the configuration file takes precedence. With grpc.insecure: true, no certificates are required.

Paths

Defaults set during installation: work_path — /srv/gameap on Linux and C:\gameap on Windows, steamcmd_path — /srv/gameap/steamcmd and C:\gameap\steamcmd respectively.

Logging

After installation the log is written to /var/log/gameap-daemon/output.log on Linux and C:\gameap\daemon\logs\output.log on Windows.

Metrics Collection

retention_duration values outside the allowed range are clamped to its bounds.

Task Execution

Process Manager

The contents of process_manager.config depend on the manager:

• systemd — scope: system (default) or user. With any other manager a scope key keeps the daemon from starting: process_manager.config.scope is only valid for process_manager.name=systemd.
• docker — connection parameters host, cert_path and api_version. If none of them is set, the client is configured from the standard Docker environment variables (DOCKER_HOST, DOCKER_CERT_PATH, DOCKER_TLS_VERIFY, DOCKER_API_VERSION).
• podman — socket_path, the path to the Podman API socket.

process_manager:
  name: systemd
  config:
    scope: user

For docker and podman the same block also accepts container parameters (image, workdir, dns and so on — with or without the docker_ prefix) as a default for the whole node. Such a value is used only when the same key is not set in the server variables, the mod metadata or the game metadata. Do not set container_name node-wide: it goes through the same lookup, so every server on the node would get the same container name. The list of container keys and examples are on the Process Managers page.

Steam Account

Many game servers cannot be downloaded via SteamCMD anonymously — an account with a purchased copy of the game is needed.

steam_config:
  login: your_login
  password: your_password
  group: gameap

The group parameter sets a shared group for the SteamCMD directory so that game servers running under their own users can update SteamCMD. If not set, the primary group of the server’s user is used.

Two-factor authentication must be disabled on the Steam account used — otherwise the daemon will not be able to log in to SteamCMD.

For that reason, create a separate account used only for downloading server files, not your main one: the password is stored in the configuration file in plain text, and an account with two-factor authentication switched off is noticeably more vulnerable.

The configuration file holds passwords and the panel access key. Keep it readable only by the user the daemon runs as, and do not include it in unencrypted backups or in logs you send anywhere. On registration the daemon creates the file with mode 0600 — preserve that when editing it by hand.

Repository Address Replacement

Lets you substitute the host game server files are downloaded from — for example, with a closer mirror.

remote_repository_replacements:
  files.gameap.ru: cdn.gameap.com
  files.gameap.com:
    - cdn1.gameap.com
    - replace: cdn2.gameap.com
      priority: 10

The first line covers the most common case: files.gameap.ru is a retired address, and game entries created before it was switched off still point at it. This replacement fixes them without editing every game.

The value can be a single address or a list. List items may specify a priority — the higher the number, the higher the priority.

Windows Parameters

With use_network_service_user: true, servers run under a system account with limited privileges — this is the default choice when installing via gameapctl. Otherwise, the accounts from the users block are used:

users:
  gameap_user1: password
  gameap_user2: base64:cGFyb2xi

A password can be written base64-encoded with the base64: prefix.

base64: is encoding, not encryption. Such a value is turned back into the original password by a single command and protects nothing against someone reading the file. The prefix only exists for passwords with special characters that break YAML parsing. The only protection here is the file permissions.

Configuration File Example

ds_id: 1
api_key: your_key

grpc:
  address: panel.example.com:31718

ca_certificate_file: /etc/gameap-daemon/certs/ca.crt
certificate_chain_file: /etc/gameap-daemon/certs/server.crt
private_key_file: /etc/gameap-daemon/certs/server.key

work_path: /srv/gameap
steamcmd_path: /srv/gameap/steamcmd

if_list: []
drives_list: []

log_level: info

This is exactly the file the registration command creates. A complete example with all parameters and comments is available in the daemon repository.

Service Management

Daemon Version

gameap-daemon version

The command (short form gameap-daemon v) prints the daemon version, build date, OS and architecture, and the Go version — include this output when reporting a problem.

The panel reports the same version on the Administration → Dedicated Servers page: the node card shows the version, and the Overview tab of the details window shows it together with the build date. Starting with panel 4.5.0 the version is compared with the latest stable GameAP Daemon release, and an outdated daemon gets the New GameAP Daemon version available banner — see Dedicated Servers. The check is controlled by the UPDATE_CHECK_* variables — see the config.env Reference.

Linux

systemctl start gameap-daemon
systemctl stop gameap-daemon
systemctl restart gameap-daemon
systemctl status gameap-daemon

Upgrading:

gameapctl daemon upgrade

Windows

The daemon runs as the GameAP Daemon service. It can be managed via gameapctl.exe or with standard Windows tools.