Requirements

GameAP 4 is a single executable with a built-in web interface. No web server, PHP, composer, or Node.js is needed to run the panel.

System requirements

Panel

RAM: 512 MB or more
Disk: 200 MB or more
The panel is not demanding on the CPU, one core is enough

GameAP Daemon

The values below are for the daemon itself, not counting game servers. Budget resources for game servers separately: some games have high requirements.

RAM: 128 MB
Disk: 1 GB or more, plus space for game server files
The daemon is not demanding on the CPU, one core is enough

The panel and the daemon can be installed on the same server.

Operating systems

Builds are released for:

System	Architectures
Linux	`amd64`, `arm64`, `386`
Windows	`amd64`, `arm64`, `386`
macOS	`amd64`, `arm64`

Installation via gameapctl is described on the Install on Linux and Install on Windows pages.

Supported Windows versions are listed on the installation page.

Network

Port	Who needs it	Required
`8025`	Web interface and API. Needed by the administrator’s browser	yes
`31718`	gRPC. Daemons connect to the panel through it	yes, if there are remote dedicated servers
`443`	HTTPS, when the panel serves it itself	no
`80`	Let’s Encrypt `http-01` challenge	yes, if this method is used

Ports 8025 and 443 are changed with the HTTP_PORT and HTTPS_PORT variables, the gRPC port — with GRPC_PORT. See the config.env Reference.

The daemon needs outbound access to the panel on port 31718 — and that is the only panel port it requires. The panel does not connect to the daemon; no inbound ports need to be opened on the dedicated server.

This is how versions 4.2 and newer work. In 4.0 and 4.1 the exchange uses the old protocol: the panel connects, and inbound port 31717 must be open on the dedicated server. This matters if you are upgrading from GameAP 3 — that upgrade lands exactly on 4.1, see Upgrade from v3 to v4.

Outbound connections from the panel

The panel itself makes a few outbound HTTPS requests. None of them is required to run the panel: without outbound access it only cannot check for updates, refresh the games catalog or open the plugin catalog.

Address	Purpose	Variable
`cdn.gameap.com`, `cdn.gameap.ru`, `api.github.com`	Checking for new GameAP and GameAP Daemon releases	`UPDATE_CHECK_URLS`; disabled with `UPDATE_CHECK_ENABLED=false`
`cdn.gameap.ru`, `cdn.gameap.com`	Games catalog	`GAMES_CDN_URLS`
`plugins.gameap.dev`	Plugin catalog	`PLUGINS_STORE_URL`

Database

One of the following is needed:

DBMS	Note
PostgreSQL	Recommended for installations with several panel instances
MySQL / MariaDB
SQLite	No separate database server needed, the file is created automatically

For a small installation SQLite is enough: it requires neither a separate service nor any setup.

The connection string is set with the DATABASE_DRIVER and DATABASE_URL variables; the formats are given in the config.env Reference.

Upgrading from GameAP 3 while keeping the existing database is possible only to versions 4.0 and 4.1 and only with MySQL, MariaDB or SQLite. There is no such path for PostgreSQL, nor for versions 4.2 and later. Details and the procedure — Upgrade from v3 to v4.

Optional components

Needed only in particular scenarios, not for a regular installation.

Component	When it is needed
Redis	Shared cache and event exchange between several panel instances
S3 storage	Shared storage for files and ACME certificates with several panel instances
Reverse proxy	When HTTPS is served by nginx or Traefik rather than the panel itself

Building from source (optional)

Regular installations use prebuilt binaries and need none of this. A toolchain is required only when the panel or the daemon is built from source — the --github option of gameapctl panel install and gameapctl daemon install, and of the matching upgrade commands. See Install on Linux.

GameAP 4.5.0: Go 1.27, Node.js with npm and git (releases are built with Node.js 24);
GameAP Daemon 4.1.2: Go 1.26.5 or newer, and git (Node.js is not needed);
outbound access to github.com and the Go module proxy (proxy.golang.org).

When run as root, gameapctl installs these itself; in user scope (--scope user) they must already be present.

Dedicated server requirements

Automatic daemon installation needs:

root (Linux) or administrator (Windows) privileges;
the curl, tar, and install utilities — for the Linux installation script;
outbound access to github.com and api.github.com — gameapctl and the daemon are downloaded from there;
outbound access to the panel on port 31718.

The packages required by the daemon and game servers — including SteamCMD and a process manager — are installed by gameapctl itself. See Dedicated Servers for details.

Curl

If curl is not present on the system, install it:

# Debian, Ubuntu
apt install curl

# CentOS, RHEL, Fedora
yum install curl